[DF/General] Why prepackaged adventures are good

[hoshisabi]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Another thing that can be done to prevent overkill encounters is to give the PCs the option to avoid the encounter, or at least to prepare for it carefully. Smart PCs with plans can be very, very dangerous.

You need to be cautious about assuming your PCs have plans too.

Last week, had huge cue cards to indicate to the party "You have what you need" and yet they kept looking for more evidence. The entire session last week was completely extraneous (but even more damning) evidence that the mayor was a "bad guy" and something should be done.

I think the key was just to think on your feet, if something feels like it's slow, try to figure out some little clue or at least an interesting diversion to spur the action, and make it seem like at any point everyone could die.

(I developed this reputation for being a killer GM a whiles back, so people expect a TPK every now and then... granted, they don't expect arbitrary TPKs, but they know that if they ignore every bit of warning that says "don't go this way" that it's entirely possible that there will be a "roll up new characters" session the next week. I haven't had one in years, but I still have that rep.)