I have a somewhat bad memory of playing DND as like a 13 year old. We were a mess. There was a cliff, a waterfall, and rope. Someone tied rope around himself and wanted to go down. There was a lot of cross talk and the guy with the rope around said he was going down.
The DM was like “no one is holding the other end of the rope”
“What?”
One by one they went through what everyone else had said they were doing. Searching the cave rocks for secrets. Keeping watch at entrance. Fighting over who got the magic stick. Etc.
Player went over the cliff.
It was decided that the character would wash up downstream with 0 HP and would live, so long as we could get to him in a reasonable time. Lessons were learned, sort of.
I try to avoid “gotcha” DMing. It’s frustrating for players to focus on what feels like an unimportant detail. If the players are wrong about what’s unimportant, then give their characters a wisdom save to notice.
I can easily imagine what a stronger person would be able to lift. But I can’t easily imagine what a wiser person would remember to check.
I have a somewhat bad memory of playing DND as like a 13 year old. We were a mess. There was a cliff, a waterfall, and rope. Someone tied rope around himself and wanted to go down. There was a lot of cross talk and the guy with the rope around said he was going down.
The DM was like “no one is holding the other end of the rope”
“What?”
One by one they went through what everyone else had said they were doing. Searching the cave rocks for secrets. Keeping watch at entrance. Fighting over who got the magic stick. Etc.
Player went over the cliff.
It was decided that the character would wash up downstream with 0 HP and would live, so long as we could get to him in a reasonable time. Lessons were learned, sort of.
I try to avoid “gotcha” DMing. It’s frustrating for players to focus on what feels like an unimportant detail. If the players are wrong about what’s unimportant, then give their characters a wisdom save to notice.
I can easily imagine what a stronger person would be able to lift. But I can’t easily imagine what a wiser person would remember to check.
The mental image of someone securing a rope around their waist, tying it to nothing, and descending down a cliff is hilarious to me.
Wile e coyote ass