* * * Wizards Community Thread * * * -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Thread : Get Lost Started at 08-06-04 01:49 AM by Nifftin Visit at http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=288650 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 1] Author : Nifftin Date : 08-06-04 01:49 AM Thread Title : Get Lost This should, maybe, be in the DM's section, but it's about the 2E. In the 2nd Ed. DM's Manual it gives several factors of being lost, how to get a player lost. But how is it that a DM can keep that player lost? Has anyone become lost in a campaign? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 2] Author : Gandalf_Istari Date : 08-06-04 01:59 AM Thread Title : Re: Get Lost Originally posted by Nifftin This should, maybe, be in the DM's section, but it's about the 2E. In the 2nd Ed. DM's Manual it gives several factors of being lost, how to get a player lost. But how is it that a DM can keep that player lost? Well, one way to keep a group of players lost would be to have a blinding snow storm. Once the characters have lost their way, it should be VERY difficult for them to regain their bearings while in the midst of a 12 hour white out. :) Also, underground catacombs or maze-like tunnels/structures are great ways to not only get players lost but to keep them lost. My preference is for catacomb or cave systems that are as unlinear as possibly. A huge, interconnected series of tunnels that run in ever direction can be completely confusing, and not just from the perspective of the character "in game." Try as a DM describing to the player in your party who is acting as the "mapper" how to map the tunnels they are travelling through when they all curve (i.e., no straight angles at all) and interconnect and cover hundreds and hunders of square feet of space and in which there are no landmarks for them to get their bearings from. :smirk: Darkness is always a great method to keep players lost, but of couse infravision, light spells, torches, etc. often keep this from being a factor. However there are certainly creative ways of putting a party in the dark, even if its only for a little while, in order to get them lost. EDIT: another way for above ground adventures is to have the players get lost in a BIG city that they don't know very well. Sure, they could stop maybe and get directions... ...but not if the local Watch or perhaps the Assassin's guild is hot on their tail for some reason. Has anyone become lost in a campaign? I've been lost in alot of campaigns, both in game and out of game. :D -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 3] Author : diaglo Date : 08-06-04 12:58 PM descriptions give are based on the PCs idea of what is east, west, north, south... not the DMs. so when you describe a room as 40 ft long from east to west and 20 ft wide from north to south. that is what the PC mapping the room thinks. in truth the DM's map may be just the opposite b/c the PC entered a magic circle that spun him around... or he just lost track of direction over time. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 4] Author : Nifftin Date : 08-07-04 01:42 AM Well, so far I've been able to get my players lost in the forest for a few minutes (hours in game time) and right now they are fighting alot of Drow. They use they're darkness on the players, but the players don't care about bearrings and charge through. Any help with something like that? Or should I post this in the DM section? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 5] Author : WizO_Catoblepas Date : 08-07-04 08:00 AM As long as you're asking the question in term of 2E, then this is the right board. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 6] Author : Dugald the Lexicographer Date : 08-09-04 02:12 AM In a fantasy realm with magic, lost is easy. Inexperienced characters can get lost in a forest, a city, or underground, without any help from the DM. Don't give the players any maps that the characters didn't find, unless the area is one they have good reason to know well. If they buy maps, feel free to introduce a certain amount of error to the copies the players get. There's no reason they need to be 100% accurate. When describing rooms or caverns to the party's "mapper" I never use compass directions (North, South, etc) or exact dimensions. e.g. After opening the door, you find yourself entering a room about forty feet wide and maybe twice as long. This keeps the party's maps appropriately rough, as they would be if a person was eyeballing as he walked through an unfamiliar building, mapping as he went. Never correct a player's maps, unless your description produced something totally wrong. Experienced characters can get lost with the help of subtle illusions or alteration magics, which either change their bearing (direction) without their knowledge, or convince them they're lost when they might be in their own back yard. e.g. After walking twenty steps away from your campsite, you realize you left your cookpot on a stone by the fire, and turn to retrieve it. But after walking twenty steps back toward where your campsite should be, you find only underbrush and trees, completely unfamiliar. In fact, looking at the trees around you, they don't even seem of a type common to the woods where you live. With a sinking feeling, you realize you have no idea where you are ... and that you've lost your favorite cookpot! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 7] Author : diaglo Date : 08-09-04 09:26 AM Thread Title : Re: Get Lost Originally posted by Nifftin Has anyone become lost in a campaign? in the OD&D booklet I Men & Magic it says to use Outdoor Survival from Avalon Hill. in this board game it was very easy to become lost. and thus having a ranger class introduced in the Strategic Review was of utmost importance. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 8] Author : rogueattorney Date : 08-09-04 11:23 AM In dungeon or in the wilderness? In the dungeon, getting lost can be as simple as falling through a pit trap into a pool of water dousing the party's torches. By the time they get to the shore and relight their torches, their sense of direction should be gone. Or how about a spiralling chute? R.A. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 9] Author : januarius jones Date : 08-09-04 01:33 PM Thread Title : losing your PC's This post isn't as intricate as others', but on a practical level, it works just as well. Utilizing the darkness spell aspect, as you all are aware, a DM can draw the path, rooms, etc. or reaveals path, rooms, etc. on graph paper. If you reconceal the covered territory so the players can no longer retrace their steps, their characters inevitably get lost too. Such an action usually confused my friends when playing; they couldn't remember which fork to take or where the secret passage was in order to flee from an overwhelming foe (say 300 kobolds - as opposed to someone powerful like ... Yeenoghu ... probably wouldn't pursue you; he'd order 48 gnolls to do it for him); it had a real, psychological effect on them. If one says that there's a darkness spell concealing your paths, but the map is laid plainly before them, the players' confidence remains. Remove their vision as well the characters', pandemonium will break out. This concealment is probably more self-evident, but if not, it makes for a challenging adventure (low on hit points, few spells left, injuries limiting movement - better make your choices good ones). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 10] Author : Cravensson Date : 08-12-04 05:19 PM Heck with that fancy-shmanzy stuff. Our DM got the party lost really easy. We just ran into a giant ant nest. Because we weren't really powerful enough to handle it, we ran away willy-nilly, and when we got away from the ants we didn't know where we were anymore. And yes, this was in 2nd Edition. Of course, this could be done with other monsters too; the Tarrasque is always good for a laugh in this situation. Still, I don't expect people who can go up against the Tarrasque are going to get lost too easily. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 11] Author : shadowelf Date : 08-12-04 05:45 PM The difficulty is not getting lost. The difficulty is in not getting lost. How would you manage without: map compass clock something to keep a diary in? As soon as you're not following a road, river or coast, you're in trouble. "We head for the tall mountain" Later: "You're in a bit of a dip and you've lost sight of the top for a bit. Which way are you going?" Later: "Is that the peak we aimed for? It looks different from this angle." And as for forests, featureless plains, deserts ... Even following the sun takes you in an arc. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 12] Author : Dugald the Lexicographer Date : 08-20-04 01:54 PM The difficulty is in not getting lost. How would you manage without: map compass clock something to keep a diary in? There are other ways of keeping direction than using a compass, map, etc., as long as you know how to use them. e.g. Follow the sun in the morning, keep it on your back in the afternoon; follow the "north star" (or whatever your campaign world has that's similar); moss always grows on the north side of a tree; watch for the direction birds are flying (migration patterns, or nearby bodies of water might attract seabirds) ... You get the point. You or I may not be able to accurately follow such directions, but the denizens of low-tech campaign worlds would be much more acquainted with low-tech methods for telling direction. Especially if they had the NWP for Direction Sense, or Wilderness Survival, or something of that nature! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Downloaded from Wizards Community (http://forums.gleemax.com) at 05-10-08 08:19 AM.