@@commandercaptain4664 see, it starts reasonable. "Of course it makes sense to be paranoid to somebody named Traitor Joe." But that is how it starts. Paranoia is a gateway drug that allows the players to justify firebombing a puppy farm because those puppies were just too cute to be secretly plotting the downfall of the party.
My wife just asked me why was laughing. So I had to perform the hiring of Traitor Joe scene for her, complete with voices. She laughed too. Sometimes I think she just might be on the verge of understanding my passion for D&D
@kiltedcripple her true backstory is linked to the party and she has been plotting her revenge for years and will boast on how her battle against the party will in fact be legendary a la kung fu panda style
Just recently, when one of my player asked if he could take the magic sword from the body of a wight, I specifically described it as a "warped and twisted black sword, very evil looking". He was still surprised when it was cursed!
I had a sci-fi game I ran many years ago (early 2000s) that had a NPC named Jeek Ahswipe. A mewling worm of a man, the group hired him to be the engineer, keep their ship running. He turned traitor and sabotaged their ship before ejecting himself in an escape pod... My friends STILL bring up old Jeek from time to time, 20 years after the fact.
"Have you ever been in a room with excited, screaming thirteen year olds?" As a sometimes English teacher, yes. And admittedly, yes, it's pretty awesome.
I think I've watched this video four different times and each time I'm shocked by your sudden but inevitable betrayal. If only my PC's were this naive.
My daughter's 42 birthday was Sunday. I got her EZD6 as a joint gift for her and her son, who is 8. Since she is new to GMing, I also sent her the link to this video. It contains much wisdom!
My most recent memorable spontaneous NPC, Newt. Yes, an orphaned little girl that the party rescued from the Caves of Carnage. She took a liking to the fighter so he taught her a bit and she kept following the party but they pretty much ignored. Then they found a demonic book and just stashed it. Then they see her reading it and ask how she learned to. "My invisible friend." They shrug it off. By the end of the campaign, they had demon fueled, death machine to contend with.
Love this! Favorite villain was from 2e, a succubus that continually charmed our party and sent us into trouble. She was trying to frame us for all kinds of crimes, but it continuously worked out in our favor. Turned our party into Mystery Inc.
I'd say it's more likely the AI would like to, but Hasbro will shackle it with so many restrictions on what it can and can't say (e g. innocuous phrases they consider "dog whistles") that it will be barely functional at best.
In my Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign, when my players went into Tower of the Stargazer, instead of the usual wizard they found Shelley Duvall who greeted them, "Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall". They loved her. When she showed her real face, the actual wizard's personality but in miss Duvall's face, they felt betrayed.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 the daughter of a player was a guest plsyer that one sessions and she said, 'I'll take a look'. Most memorable character death in that campaign.
I once had to create a landmark so the party would know to turn east at the right time. The group insisted it was essential to the world and linked to a forgotten goddess they’d encountered…so it was. I had no intention of that happening, now it’s one of the most important locations on the map. I love this stuff.
Yep, quite inevitably as if by design, Players forget your NPCs which you spend ages preparing and they more latch onto the "Bill" or :Dave" who you make up on the spot. I had a session where the PCs went into a town and I had a lot of NPCs prepped, but most of them had no background. One of the players latched right onto a Cyborg called Korb who literally had no other details. He later became hired by the PCs and stayed as an NPC ally for the Players the rest of the campaign.
This kind of stuff is always super fun! Often ad-libbing leads to some of my players' favorite sessions. One week we had a player cancel who was core to the plot, which led to me doing an ad hoc "spend the night in a haunted house" plot. This led to them meeting an evil murderous monkey who...the players adopted! That monkey travelled with them for the equivalent of 2 years real-world time.
In our last game the GM said it should be an easy heist for us three thieves but we were betrayed by our Dice multiple times. Rolled at 2, 5, 3, & 4, got another set and rolled a 1.
I love the shoutout to the original B2 "Evil Priest at the Keep" that so many DMs nowadays keep saying "Why is this guy even here? What does he want? Why would he betray the players? Nothing is explained in this adventure!" And I'm like "that's why it's the biggest selling adventure of all time. YOU MAKE THE REASONS AND THE STORY." Too many people need everything neat and tidy, want everything spelled out with letters and arrows for a purchased adventure, but that also removes the magic that an adventure can bring to your table.
I got some time to feed the Idiot God(Algorithm) so I may as well engage in this conversation. If I had to guess, I would say that what is being sold as a product is different. Older products and players seem to be more self guided in the world. The more modern products are more of a guided tour of adventure. When coming from the more guided tour, looking at a product that is not greatly detailed would seem incomplete.
My current problem is that the main character syndrome player and their PC are suspecting everything and everyone of betrayal - yet bizarrely, those NPCs I specifically set up to betray the party enjoy their fullest trust. It's not made me superexcited to see the party burn bridges like crazy on that PCs "hunches", but I am so much looking forward to those sweet, sweet reveals of *actual* betrayal. Consequences are a thing of beauty, particularly when delayed.
I'm running a heavily homebrewed version of Dragon of Stormwreck isle now that had my party of newbies start in local brewery before getting on their ship that wrecks on the island. At the brewery they had a small battle with a fire spider and it was looking bad so I added one of the drunken halfling staff, named Todo, to help in the fight. He kept rolling awful and didnt get swing in leading to the group being annoyed by him. Next session they shipwreck and they wanted to ask if they saw anyone floating on their way to the shore. I had 2/3 other npcs but off the cuff thought itd be funny to choose Todo, who I said got trapped in the cargo hold when loading up kegs for the voyage. The group lands, has a small zombie fight and one member throws Todo into a zombie and off the docks! The dice Gods miraculously allowed him to live! They all made their way to the town, all got patched up, Todo openly expresses despising the group much to their amusement, they laugh and begin their adventures. A few sessions in and now I am trying to find a way for this complete afterthought of a character to get his revenge.....
My party's favorite villain is one I created - Brave, Brave, Sir Douglas, the Brave. He, of course, is a villain who believes he is a hero. He repeatedly appears at opportune moments to "save" the party, but often does so by misunderstanding the situation. The party will take the time and effort to feed the hungry owlbear to befriend it, and Sir Douglas's henchmen will shoot the owlbear, having not seen the fact that it is only hungry, believing instead that it is a dangerous beast beyond redemption. My party really, really want to kill Brave, Brave, Sir Douglas, the Brave.
Used the Caves of Carnage as the basis for my own DND campaign. It has gone far beyond the caves and the keep. The players now have perma bound to self artifacts, a space ship, and guns. The future is the past on Mundora.
You know.. as I've gotten older, if I just had been betrayed by Traitor Joe, and was about to Hire Two Faced Jane.. I'd not hesitate to do it. Because I LOVE that idea of chaos. From a story perspective it is absolutely hilarious and brilliant, and I'm all for it. I remember when I was playing the Genesys narrative dice Star Wars RPG (from FFG at the time) I always loved the despair symbol. As a player I loved coming up with the complications it provided. I love moments like that.
I had a similar situation playing with a younger group. They did something completely unexpected and ended up in the Abyss. I wasn't planning anything for this, so I described it as looking like a normal countryside except things kept changing every few minutes. For example, they'd be along the side of a stream with people fishing and birds singing, then they'd all of a sudden find themselves walking along a long road. They hailed a wagon passing by and the friendly driver gave them a ride to the city of Urb, the supposed capital. There they met the mayor and proprietor of the largest inn, Franz Urb, for whom the city was named. He game them impeccable accommodation and explained how he could get them back to the material plane but he needed help dealing with an adversary. They agreed and dispatched the vile foe. He helped them return and everything seemed like a solid, though slightly weird, side quest. It wasn't until they encountered their primary NPC "expert" who let them in on the (not so subtle) deception. They'd been employed and became unwitting supporters of Fraz-Urb'luu, demon prince of deception. There were no real consequences or their actions but the characters (not players) were really upset about being duped. The players found it hilarious. Fraz was now one of the party's most hated foes even though he never harmed them and the actual BBEG of the campaign was way more challenging. In hindsight, it might have been fun to have them explore a way of getting back at him, but the coolest head in the party reminded them that they had more important things to worry about than their bruised egos.
Amazing. They paid him more money and were super nice because they didn't want to discriminate. Beautiful. I really like your videos like this where you give some funny anecdotes and tie it into some dnd wisdom that helps other dms! Also I have that EXACT lockbox and I use it for dice also.
I agree. My favorite npc was a throw away mage for a group of evil adventures who teleported away before the party could get to him. They made it a point to track him down during the course of the campaign. As the pcs gained xp so did the Black Mage who became a powerful sorcerer and ended up being the big bad for the party. All this from a throw away npc who managed to escape from the pcs early on.
As always, I liked the video you gifted the world, enjoyed the humor and advice… however for the first time in all the years of watching this channel I have a criticism: 1:29 is am image of the Goodman Games edition of “Into the Borderlands”.😀
His name wasn't Heresy. It was just simply Horus (or Horus Lupercal the Warmaster to be exact) The Heresy was the name of the ensuing civil war and the event that caused it.
Absolutely. I don't have a big bad at the end for a boss battle. I try to make arch-rivals for each character so that they get involved. My favourite was how mad I made the druid by having 'Pleasance' the insane Tiefling Sorceror torture and corrupt Dryads, extremely satisfying for all involved, except maybe Pleasance.
I used to write myself entire modules a dozen pages long with dungeon maps, npc's, planned encounter and backstories only for my players to literally wave off the adventure hook and do something else. Now days I have an outline a few adventures ahead but that doesn't amount to much more than a few bullet points on scratch paper. I plan the next session a few days out on two pieces of note pad. My last session, this past weekend, was literally a two room dungeon.
Our group has a similar "random on the spot" Npc. A crewman they recruited during the savage Tide AP. Dwarfbeard Jimmy was his name. Now a pirate known as Captain James Stoutbeard.
"I'm not responsible for the content I make. It's that guy's fault". Thoughts and prayers, ProfessorDM. I'm going to change my profile pic to the dungeon door in solidarity for your suffering.
Impromptu NPCs are the best. My campaign includes the now legendary NPC; "Evil Guard". He was introduced long ago when the first generation of PCs were trying to escape from the watch, and the paladin asked me "So are any of the guards evil?" I said: "Sure, I guess this one over here is..." But the Evil Guard lived to fight another day and became a recurring character, first as he tried to hunt the PC's down, and then later when he was revealed to be a double agent, and ultimately an ally. They learned that his name was Sgt Iblis, and later that his first name was really Gerald. Now fifteen years of gameplay later that not so humble sergeant has risen through the ranks of the inquisition, all while maintaining his cover. He's become a patron to younger PCs, and a major player in the ongoing metaplot of our campaign. There is perhaps an argument to be made that he isn't as evil anymore, but his was never villainous, rather he always felt that the ends justify the means, and that has become the philosophy of his whole faction as the game has evolved over many years of continuous play.
Superhero game with a disposable villan called Pike (was part of a weapon name themed group). He had two basic powers, teleport and and a beam attack. Yet, he managed time and again to escape and all efforts to take him down failed! When they thought they finally had him, turned out to be a decoy. When they took down this 2nd rate henchman, a mook given some powers, it was a moment of joy and satisfaction.
I’m loving this. For my next campaign I’m really going to try to stick with the “only prep the next session”. I’m really looking forward to it. Thanks for all the awesome videos.
If you haven't read it already, you may then find interesting "Return of the Lazy DM", which is focused precisely on the philosophy of preparing as less as possible while stile having all needed elements of the adventure at hand. It has been a very useful read for me and what makes it more valuable is that its chapters, though clearly written with D&D in mind, can be applied to many different rpgs.
Years ago I was striving for more detail. And I put a lot of thought into a medieval fantasy style town. And because I added a bit of detail to the guy with the offal cart, one player decided that this guy, whom I called The Poopsmith (from Homestarrunner), was the _most_ important NPC ....in the world. He wasn't an enemy, or the leader of the thieves guild like that player thought. He was just a guy who got paid to clean shit off the streets.
Years ago I created an enemy lieutenant called Max Damage (heavily based off Max Middenhiem). He was a muscle bound narcissist who led a rival adventuring party and sounded like a cross between Arnie and Baron Cohen's "Bruno". The PCs hated him more than the main villain!
My most memorable campaign had the players do something so unbelievably stupid that it changed the entire course of the campaign thereafter and caused a huge portion of my notes and planning to be useless. Big pain in the ass for me, yet almost 2 years later they still talk about it.
I can certainly get behind "Don't sweat it on the plot details". In my experience sessions are memorable for. 1. Characters: both player and non player. The cast. 2. Settings and encounters. The locations. 3. Unplanned "classic" happenings - spur of the moment improvised genius. The classic quotes. 4. The plot, which rarely follows the GM's intended course. The story. Consider a favourite movie: Casablanca, The Blues Brothers, The Godfather, Forest Gump - no you pick one. You'll recall characters, scenes, events and classic lines.
I find the majority of players usually get more invested in character-driven conflict than plot-driven. Make it personal and they'll traipse across the whole damn map to even a score, and far more willingly, than they ever would to retrieve the Legendary Thingummy of Gleep.
That story reminds me of that webnovel where the world is ending because everyone trusted a dude named "the Trickster". Anyway it is also a good reminder that the best moments in sessions are organic. My players didn't cared for the mad alchemist that wanted to acquire immortality, genocide isn't that much of a crime apparently and he gave them a job once. No, they cared for that random orc that somehow managed to throw his sword at a and almost kill him.
This was hilarious. Love the name Caves of Carnage. Love the miniatures and terrain. Absolutely agree with you on the players creating the memorable NPCs and story elements. I am currently running games for two groups of 3 very good players (in each), and they really make my campaigns amazing and NPCs memorable. The different outlooks and personalities of the players seem to mesh well, and their interactions with the world/challenges and NPCs are very enjoyable for me as a GM. My game notebook is essentially cobbled together into 3 sections: 1) Stats/Information of NPCs and monsters, encounters/challenges, and maps of the areas, 2) Inn prices, random treasure tables, names, etc., and 3) How the PCs interact with section 1. Section 1 keeps me from referring to multiple books and is the largest section initially. I don't even like referring to a Monster Manual (Monsters & Treasure in C&C) if I don't have to. Section 2 again keeps me from having to refer to things (or I just improv this section) and is almost always the smallest. I also like to have unique magic items and treasure types ready beyond the +1 sword or 2d6 gp. Section 3 is where I write the next session because (again) the players drive everything. Also, if someone's character dies, I will often cite some of the great things they did (referring to this section).
My players for one campaign got really attached to a random Kobold npc named "Tom Ato". I named him such as a joke and he was just kind of stuck among them as they were thrown into a gladiator arena. He wasn't even supposed to survive but they got really lucky rolls and made sure none of their "allies" died. At some point one of the players thought outloud that it would be funny if he had a brother named "Torn Ato". So Torn Ato was born as an evil dragonborn who hated his adopted kobold brother Tom.
This last session I ran saw two characters engaging with what I had planned out and the other three going so far off script I had to pull up notes for two sessions ago to run heavily improvised areas they had previously missed. I was "seat of the pants"ing it as we say for like 70% of the session and my players loved it I had several of them tell me it was a great season at the end. I had spent about an hour prepping before the session and that's about it. Plan as much as you want but regardless be ready for your players to go in different directions than you planned because I guarantee they will.
What an absolutely amazing story, I laughed quite hard. Love the stories from your game with teenagers, there's nothing quite like the reactions you can get out of them. Adults can get too dull to this kind of thing, or even react badly towards it. People new to these games, and especially younger people give those magical reactions. Can't wait for the next one.
I once started a campaign where a snooty noble had been sent a mysterious box, which he opened in front of the party. Inside was a cockatrice, which they had to fight after it turned him to stone (for a day). Afterwards there were a few other attacks on that noble, and the party decided it would be funny to force him to come with them as they hunted the people responsible for the attacks down. The noble did end up changing some for the better, given all he ended up going through with the party (and realizing that all those attacks were because he pissed off someone more powerful than himself).
I have a table I use to generate hireling personality called "What the Hell is wrong with this guy?" and it includes "working for the bad guys" on it. Most memorably this happened with a character I made who I then called Villanus (vi-LAWN-oos). They were going into a dungeon that had multiple factions and I didn't know which one he was going to be aligned with so I decided I'd roll a d6 and if I get a 6 during an encounter he's working with those guys. The first thing they bumped into were these intelligent lab rats who had escaped and I rolled the d6 and it came up 6, so he immediately shed his human skin and revealed himself to be like 12 rats in a human suit.
When I play, I think the following. Be polite, be professional, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet. Doesn't mean my PC's will kill everyone. Just that they are ready at the drop of a hat to cut down a threat. Also the best enemy NPC I ever had as a player, was my Character's Paladin Lord. They both were good individuals but my character saw his inaction in trying to save lives as completely in the wrong (It was both because of a Power Play from the Lord and also not wanting to kill mind controlled people). Even though the Lord had his reasons for doing it. This was 15 levels into the campaign, my character had looked up to his instructor since day 1. Many many sessions later he had an epic speech of how we Paladins were meant for more, to do more. Epic duel between my Paladin and his leader and after nearly dying my Paladin won and became the new Lord,.
I feel this message in my soul. My long campaign's major villain was born because the party took an unexpected interest in a shopkeeper that occasionally smuggles goods.
On my first session of first time dm, didn't plan anything,, started a really rough narrative of being on the frontier. No known map, they knew the local area and general parts, but one of the people that were friends with them and gave them work/challenges was a fellow I named Donald Bane. Eventually I made it to where there was a huge migration of people that are trying to get away from some huge Storm called the black winds. Curious as to what it is that people are attempting to escape, Donald Bane suggests to the party to go ahead and check out the Port city and see what all the fuss is about...but before they left he gave them a sealed letter. They arrived at the Port city which appeared abandoned, seeing ships on the horizon coming into port they decide to overnight. They sense a lot of hidden doors and walls within the city and realize that these spots have people inside them who are in hiding. The ships arrive and these Black suited Soldiers file off the ships and surround the city, the party approaches them and get led to the Port master who is with the Captain of these soldiers. Eventually it is stated that they have been sent by Donald Bane to figure out what's going on. Upon hearing this, the port master asks for a letter that Donald Bane should have sent them. They give him the letter, he opens it and to the party's surprise it's a declaration that Donald Bane has offered them up as prisoners to the Black Guard of the Gilded City across the sea. The port city is ransacked, some folks in hiding are found and they all get piled up into one of the ships returning home, realizing that the Black Wind is the term for the excursion of the Black Guard which currently controls the Gilded City and they have mages that summon winds that steer their ships to their desired destinations. My friends were in disbelief...the quote, "We just got Donald Baned" was pinned and unfortunately they haven't had the chance to get their revenge. That was a one shot experience and my first and only time I Dm'd. It was fun and I look forward to another opportunity to do so, but it's been a long time. I was genuinely glad that I was able to pull one over on the group.
I had a game where my players rescued a child from a burning barn. I thought they'd just turn him over to the local church's care, but instead they took an interest in his overall welfare and development, eventuallly becoming a significant NPC in the campaign. All from a random event "burning barn" that I made up on the spot.
My favorite enemy npc was an npc that the players "thought" he was the bbeg but wasn't. Did a one shot use a ArcaneLibrary's adventure (don't remember the name) and ran it with the setting Dark Matter. Ran really well 👌. The players go to a church and ask the head Acolyte what's the matter. He explains that their priest went down an ancient well and hasn't returned in a week. They want the priest. At this point the players are suspecting the head Acolyte had done something to preist. Just then, a bunch of undead come out, scaring all npc and players, and taking captives. The players fight the undead off but unable to save everyone. Then when the undead are gone, one player tackles the Acolyte and begins interrogating with fists and high skill rolls. Even though the Acolyte tells then he has no knowledge of what is happening, even wetting his pants, the players STILL suspect he's the bbeg. Then they have him guide them to the well, but it's dark and tight walkways with angles for the undead to ambush the players. So they tell him this is their concern. Then they force the Acolyte AT GUN POINT to walk first down to the walkway. This guy is crying and begging them to let him go, but still they do it. They do the same thing when they get to well and while traversing the necromancer crypt. Finally, they let him go, after finding injured survivors and ordering him to take the survivors to safety, or they will hunt him down like a dog that he is. The whole time I'm crying on the inside with a straight face feeling sorry for this poor guy. The players find the necromancer who is actually the priest, corrupted by an evil artifact. The players fight him but get stuck and when everything seems lost. Guess who arrived? That's right the Acolyte and he caused fear to the corrupted priest. With the new help the players succeed the new necromancer. Then they promptly apologized the Acolyte. This was all pre made for the adventure, but even then players can do things that make NPCs worth remembering. Every now and then the Acolyte and the adventure get mentioned. When my players show shame for how they acted on that adventure. I know exactly what they are thinking about. The Acolyte.
"A dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. It's the honest ones you need to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly stupid." -Captain Jack Sparrow
Thank you. I needed this laugh today. Sounds like a super memorable experience. PCs learning that NPCs can lie/deceive is always a wonderful lesson to observe.
"OMG! I can't believe Traitor Joe betrayed us!". LMAO.
Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.....
“Do you want murderhobos? Cuz this is how you get murderhobos.”
@@commandercaptain4664 see, it starts reasonable. "Of course it makes sense to be paranoid to somebody named Traitor Joe." But that is how it starts. Paranoia is a gateway drug that allows the players to justify firebombing a puppy farm because those puppies were just too cute to be secretly plotting the downfall of the party.
My wife just asked me why was laughing. So I had to perform the hiring of Traitor Joe scene for her, complete with voices. She laughed too. Sometimes I think she just might be on the verge of understanding my passion for D&D
Yes… another convert for the hobby. DEW IT.
Get her to play!!
Traitor Joe was great but Two Faced Jane is going to be legendary. Thank you for that
Plot Twist: She is not who she seems!
WHO COULD EVER HAVE SEEN THAT COMING? 😆
what if she's acfually the most trustworthy and helpful companion to ever exist who dies a tragic death near the end?
...and it was one of the players long lost mother all along!
I want her to be a werebear.
@kiltedcripple her true backstory is linked to the party and she has been plotting her revenge for years and will boast on how her battle against the party will in fact be legendary a la kung fu panda style
Just recently, when one of my player asked if he could take the magic sword from the body of a wight, I specifically described it as a "warped and twisted black sword, very evil looking". He was still surprised when it was cursed!
This calls for a rollable table of suspicious nicknames!
Yet, they still used him.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Wait until they meet his brother, Turncoat Moe.
@@AdamPreset Or his cousin, Duplicitous Julius.
Plot twist: Traitor Joe, Two-faced Jane, and Turncoat Moe are all the same person; a Doppelganger named Zap Gotchagain.
@@macoppy6571🤣 Love it!
"Most stabbings are committed by someone close to the victim"
"within arms' length"
😂😂😂
YES ! You don't know how much I missed the caves of carnage / veiled society campaign story videos !
Hope you enjoyed it!
I love that their guilty concious caused them to apologize to "Traitor" Joe lmao.
We just played again in the Caves of Carnage again this weekend. These are the best!
Thank you. Please share it so the algorithm doesn't bury it.
I had a sci-fi game I ran many years ago (early 2000s) that had a NPC named Jeek Ahswipe. A mewling worm of a man, the group hired him to be the engineer, keep their ship running. He turned traitor and sabotaged their ship before ejecting himself in an escape pod... My friends STILL bring up old Jeek from time to time, 20 years after the fact.
That's what TTRPG does best.
Our infamous NPC was a guy that kept showing up named "Milwaukee Bob" loosely based on a PC I had in a Call of Cthulhu game several years previously.
LOL
Deathbringer always has the best advice!
I say, a random table of henchmen betrayal sounds like fun!
Good idea.
"Have you ever been in a room with excited, screaming thirteen year olds?"
As a sometimes English teacher, yes. And admittedly, yes, it's pretty awesome.
What a great idea. My players are going to love Thieving Tim and Deceiving Jim!
Nice!
I think I've watched this video four different times and each time I'm shocked by your sudden but inevitable betrayal.
If only my PC's were this naive.
Glad you enjoyed it! It's a favorite of mine but didn't get many views.
My daughter's 42 birthday was Sunday. I got her EZD6 as a joint gift for her and her son, who is 8. Since she is new to GMing, I also sent her the link to this video. It contains much wisdom!
Great game.
After two faced jane's betrayal, they look for another henchman. They are met with "The Betrayer."
LOL
"... but most people call me Betty."
Death bringer at the end with the real advice
Thank you for watching. Please share it!
"You wouldn't discriminate against someone just on account of his name?"
If his name is literally 'Traitor', then the answer to this should be YES!
My most recent memorable spontaneous NPC, Newt. Yes, an orphaned little girl that the party rescued from the Caves of Carnage. She took a liking to the fighter so he taught her a bit and she kept following the party but they pretty much ignored. Then they found a demonic book and just stashed it. Then they see her reading it and ask how she learned to. "My invisible friend." They shrug it off. By the end of the campaign, they had demon fueled, death machine to contend with.
Thanks for sharing that!
....they thought he was Trader Joe, didn't they?
Did the players all drink two buck chuck at the table? :-)
well I mean if they don't see it in writing..
Now I have an idea for an npc called Mando Rin who loves eating chicken so much. But he's salty, like all of TJ's frozen items.
Could've been worse, could've been his cousin Wader Joe, the fisherman who lives two doors down.
No. they were clear.
Please do more of these. I love hearing stories from GMs.
Will do!
Love this! Favorite villain was from 2e, a succubus that continually charmed our party and sent us into trouble. She was trying to frame us for all kinds of crimes, but it continuously worked out in our favor. Turned our party into Mystery Inc.
Check out MY succubus in this video: ruclips.net/video/1RoM66WAdvE/видео.html
@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I actually saw that one. It is truly awesome when your players surprise you.
The DM's ability to ' roll with it' (pun intended) is a quality that I seriously doubt the new upcoming AI DM Hasbro has commissioned can achieve.
I concur.
I'd say it's more likely the AI would like to, but Hasbro will shackle it with so many restrictions on what it can and can't say (e g. innocuous phrases they consider "dog whistles") that it will be barely functional at best.
Traitor Joe runs a secret farmers market called trader Joe's! 😂
In my Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign, when my players went into Tower of the Stargazer, instead of the usual wizard they found Shelley Duvall who greeted them, "Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall". They loved her. When she showed her real face, the actual wizard's personality but in miss Duvall's face, they felt betrayed.
Tough module. Do NOT look through the telescope!
Did the players shout REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM?
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 the daughter of a player was a guest plsyer that one sessions and she said, 'I'll take a look'. Most memorable character death in that campaign.
@@commandercaptain4664 No, bit after that adventure, the other game master started naming his NPCs as not excessively famous actors and actresses.
I once had to create a landmark so the party would know to turn east at the right time. The group insisted it was essential to the world and linked to a forgotten goddess they’d encountered…so it was. I had no intention of that happening, now it’s one of the most important locations on the map.
I love this stuff.
Great stuff.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 it’s so much fun when the players think they figure something out and I’m just like, “Oh…that’s REALLY cool, sure.”
Yep, quite inevitably as if by design, Players forget your NPCs which you spend ages preparing and they more latch onto the "Bill" or :Dave" who you make up on the spot.
I had a session where the PCs went into a town and I had a lot of NPCs prepped, but most of them had no background. One of the players latched right onto a Cyborg called Korb who literally had no other details. He later became hired by the PCs and stayed as an NPC ally for the Players the rest of the campaign.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
This kind of stuff is always super fun! Often ad-libbing leads to some of my players' favorite sessions.
One week we had a player cancel who was core to the plot, which led to me doing an ad hoc "spend the night in a haunted house" plot. This led to them meeting an evil murderous monkey who...the players adopted! That monkey travelled with them for the equivalent of 2 years real-world time.
Murderous monkey? Nice.
I think those kids are learning some valuable life lessons about trusting other people. Now pulling it off a 3rd time... I'd buy you a freakin' trophy
In our last game the GM said it should be an easy heist for us three thieves but we were betrayed by our Dice multiple times. Rolled at 2, 5, 3, & 4, got another set and rolled a 1.
I love the shoutout to the original B2 "Evil Priest at the Keep" that so many DMs nowadays keep saying "Why is this guy even here? What does he want? Why would he betray the players? Nothing is explained in this adventure!"
And I'm like "that's why it's the biggest selling adventure of all time. YOU MAKE THE REASONS AND THE STORY."
Too many people need everything neat and tidy, want everything spelled out with letters and arrows for a purchased adventure, but that also removes the magic that an adventure can bring to your table.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
I got some time to feed the Idiot God(Algorithm) so I may as well engage in this conversation. If I had to guess, I would say that what is being sold as a product is different. Older products and players seem to be more self guided in the world. The more modern products are more of a guided tour of adventure. When coming from the more guided tour, looking at a product that is not greatly detailed would seem incomplete.
I always have Fantasy Name Generator on hand for this very reason, I always leave names until last minute if it’s a rando NPC.
My current problem is that the main character syndrome player and their PC are suspecting everything and everyone of betrayal - yet bizarrely, those NPCs I specifically set up to betray the party enjoy their fullest trust.
It's not made me superexcited to see the party burn bridges like crazy on that PCs "hunches", but I am so much looking forward to those sweet, sweet reveals of *actual* betrayal. Consequences are a thing of beauty, particularly when delayed.
Thanks for sharing that. Hope you get your wish.
I'm running a heavily homebrewed version of Dragon of Stormwreck isle now that had my party of newbies start in local brewery before getting on their ship that wrecks on the island.
At the brewery they had a small battle with a fire spider and it was looking bad so I added one of the drunken halfling staff, named Todo, to help in the fight. He kept rolling awful and didnt get swing in leading to the group being annoyed by him.
Next session they shipwreck and they wanted to ask if they saw anyone floating on their way to the shore. I had 2/3 other npcs but off the cuff thought itd be funny to choose Todo, who I said got trapped in the cargo hold when loading up kegs for the voyage.
The group lands, has a small zombie fight and one member throws Todo into a zombie and off the docks! The dice Gods miraculously allowed him to live! They all made their way to the town, all got patched up, Todo openly expresses despising the group much to their amusement, they laugh and begin their adventures.
A few sessions in and now I am trying to find a way for this complete afterthought of a character to get his revenge.....
My favorite playlist on RUclips is your Campaign series! Please keep them coming!
I think it's time to re-watch them now.
Thank you for your support.
Love it!! Love Traitor Joe, love the improvising and reacting with the players' choices. Love it all.
My party's favorite villain is one I created - Brave, Brave, Sir Douglas, the Brave. He, of course, is a villain who believes he is a hero. He repeatedly appears at opportune moments to "save" the party, but often does so by misunderstanding the situation. The party will take the time and effort to feed the hungry owlbear to befriend it, and Sir Douglas's henchmen will shoot the owlbear, having not seen the fact that it is only hungry, believing instead that it is a dangerous beast beyond redemption. My party really, really want to kill Brave, Brave, Sir Douglas, the Brave.
Thanks for sharing.
Used the Caves of Carnage as the basis for my own DND campaign. It has gone far beyond the caves and the keep.
The players now have perma bound to self artifacts, a space ship, and guns. The future is the past on Mundora.
A roomful of cheering...what? Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my tinnitus.
You had me laughing out loud with this one.
Glad you enjoyed it.
The part where he came up with the name gave me a good belly laugh. I would TOTALLY hire Traitor Joe and then merrily regret it.
NPC: My name is Villain McNemesis Badguy the Third, Esquire.
PC: You’re hired!
NPC: My name is Infodump de Exposition.
PC: *Kill it with death!*
You know.. as I've gotten older, if I just had been betrayed by Traitor Joe, and was about to Hire Two Faced Jane.. I'd not hesitate to do it. Because I LOVE that idea of chaos. From a story perspective it is absolutely hilarious and brilliant, and I'm all for it.
I remember when I was playing the Genesys narrative dice Star Wars RPG (from FFG at the time) I always loved the despair symbol. As a player I loved coming up with the complications it provided. I love moments like that.
I love chaos too!
I had a similar situation playing with a younger group. They did something completely unexpected and ended up in the Abyss. I wasn't planning anything for this, so I described it as looking like a normal countryside except things kept changing every few minutes. For example, they'd be along the side of a stream with people fishing and birds singing, then they'd all of a sudden find themselves walking along a long road. They hailed a wagon passing by and the friendly driver gave them a ride to the city of Urb, the supposed capital. There they met the mayor and proprietor of the largest inn, Franz Urb, for whom the city was named. He game them impeccable accommodation and explained how he could get them back to the material plane but he needed help dealing with an adversary. They agreed and dispatched the vile foe. He helped them return and everything seemed like a solid, though slightly weird, side quest. It wasn't until they encountered their primary NPC "expert" who let them in on the (not so subtle) deception. They'd been employed and became unwitting supporters of Fraz-Urb'luu, demon prince of deception. There were no real consequences or their actions but the characters (not players) were really upset about being duped. The players found it hilarious. Fraz was now one of the party's most hated foes even though he never harmed them and the actual BBEG of the campaign was way more challenging. In hindsight, it might have been fun to have them explore a way of getting back at him, but the coolest head in the party reminded them that they had more important things to worry about than their bruised egos.
Sounds like fun!
Amazing. They paid him more money and were super nice because they didn't want to discriminate. Beautiful. I really like your videos like this where you give some funny anecdotes and tie it into some dnd wisdom that helps other dms!
Also I have that EXACT lockbox and I use it for dice also.
Glad you like them!
My off-the-cuff NPCs are still the players favorite.
Mine too.
Well done. It sounds like everyone had a great time. I can't wait to find out what happens with Two-faced Jane.
Thanks. They did.
I agree. My favorite npc was a throw away mage for a group of evil adventures who teleported away before the party could get to him. They made it a point to track him down during the course of the campaign. As the pcs gained xp so did the Black Mage who became a powerful sorcerer and ended up being the big bad for the party. All this from a throw away npc who managed to escape from the pcs early on.
Thanks for sharing.
I misunderstood and thought traitor joe was a much older criminal. oops
As always, I liked the video you gifted the world, enjoyed the humor and advice… however for the first time in all the years of watching this channel I have a criticism: 1:29 is am image of the Goodman Games edition of “Into the Borderlands”.😀
The betrayal of Traitor Joe was a bigger twist than Horus Heresy himself betraying his father, The Emperor
His name wasn't Heresy. It was just simply Horus (or Horus Lupercal the Warmaster to be exact)
The Heresy was the name of the ensuing civil war and the event that caused it.
Absolutely. I don't have a big bad at the end for a boss battle. I try to make arch-rivals for each character so that they get involved. My favourite was how mad I made the druid by having 'Pleasance' the insane Tiefling Sorceror torture and corrupt Dryads, extremely satisfying for all involved, except maybe Pleasance.
I used to write myself entire modules a dozen pages long with dungeon maps, npc's, planned encounter and backstories only for my players to literally wave off the adventure hook and do something else. Now days I have an outline a few adventures ahead but that doesn't amount to much more than a few bullet points on scratch paper. I plan the next session a few days out on two pieces of note pad. My last session, this past weekend, was literally a two room dungeon.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
great story. their wariness ie spell your name but hiring him anyway, and then the betrayal. *chef’s kiss
Our group has a similar "random on the spot" Npc. A crewman they recruited during the savage Tide AP. Dwarfbeard Jimmy was his name. Now a pirate known as Captain James Stoutbeard.
Nice
"I'm not responsible for the content I make. It's that guy's fault".
Thoughts and prayers, ProfessorDM. I'm going to change my profile pic to the dungeon door in solidarity for your suffering.
Thanks! LOL
Impromptu NPCs are the best. My campaign includes the now legendary NPC; "Evil Guard". He was introduced long ago when the first generation of PCs were trying to escape from the watch, and the paladin asked me "So are any of the guards evil?"
I said: "Sure, I guess this one over here is..."
But the Evil Guard lived to fight another day and became a recurring character, first as he tried to hunt the PC's down, and then later when he was revealed to be a double agent, and ultimately an ally. They learned that his name was Sgt Iblis, and later that his first name was really Gerald.
Now fifteen years of gameplay later that not so humble sergeant has risen through the ranks of the inquisition, all while maintaining his cover. He's become a patron to younger PCs, and a major player in the ongoing metaplot of our campaign.
There is perhaps an argument to be made that he isn't as evil anymore, but his was never villainous, rather he always felt that the ends justify the means, and that has become the philosophy of his whole faction as the game has evolved over many years of continuous play.
Thanks for sharing.
I watched this video to the end and hit the LiKE button as ordered! Good job. Love this stuff. Keep it up, good sir. This is the good stuff. Thanks!
Thank you for watching!
Superhero game with a disposable villan called Pike (was part of a weapon name themed group). He had two basic powers, teleport and and a beam attack. Yet, he managed time and again to escape and all efforts to take him down failed! When they thought they finally had him, turned out to be a decoy. When they took down this 2nd rate henchman, a mook given some powers, it was a moment of joy and satisfaction.
“Go where the players and dice take you”. Brilliant.
Wow, I can't believe its been four years already! I remember when I found the hobgoblin cave vid looking for keep on the borderlands advice!
Time flies! Thanks for commenting and watching.
I’m loving this. For my next campaign I’m really going to try to stick with the “only prep the next session”. I’m really looking forward to it. Thanks for all the awesome videos.
You're welcome.
If you haven't read it already, you may then find interesting "Return of the Lazy DM", which is focused precisely on the philosophy of preparing as less as possible while stile having all needed elements of the adventure at hand. It has been a very useful read for me and what makes it more valuable is that its chapters, though clearly written with D&D in mind, can be applied to many different rpgs.
@@mrmaster9801 I've reviewed all of the Lazy DM's products.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I know, I was answering to Article Noun but forgot to specify this ^^".
Years ago I was striving for more detail. And I put a lot of thought into a medieval fantasy style town. And because I added a bit of detail to the guy with the offal cart, one player decided that this guy, whom I called The Poopsmith (from Homestarrunner), was the _most_ important NPC ....in the world. He wasn't an enemy, or the leader of the thieves guild like that player thought. He was just a guy who got paid to clean shit off the streets.
Sounds cool@
Years ago I created an enemy lieutenant called Max Damage (heavily based off Max Middenhiem). He was a muscle bound narcissist who led a rival adventuring party and sounded like a cross between Arnie and Baron Cohen's "Bruno". The PCs hated him more than the main villain!
I have a Max Manheim. Similar behavior!
Loved the voice acting! Awesome!
Thanks.
My most memorable campaign had the players do something so unbelievably stupid that it changed the entire course of the campaign thereafter and caused a huge portion of my notes and planning to be useless. Big pain in the ass for me, yet almost 2 years later they still talk about it.
I thought he was going to run off with all the trasure while they were dealing with the boss, but he went even further
“This could never happen a second time!”
Hmmmm
Some lucky kids man to have Professor DM as their DM.
I think this is your funniest video yet (including Deathbringer's stabbing joke)! And imho that is saying a lot! Great job🎉
Thanks for your kind words.
I got so many ideas from that campaign video series!
Share them! Sadly, this video is underperforming.
I love the Deathbringer bits at the end. My favorite is still the "MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE" one
Lol. Deathbringer a great bit in the next video. Stay tuned!
Have they come across the helpful vicar at the Keep, Father Trustworthy?
Perhaps in the future....
Haha, that postscript is great! I imagine at some point, the group discussion will be, "Well surely 3rd time is the charm?"
I can certainly get behind "Don't sweat it on the plot details".
In my experience sessions are memorable for.
1. Characters: both player and non player. The cast.
2. Settings and encounters. The locations.
3. Unplanned "classic" happenings - spur of the moment improvised genius. The classic quotes.
4. The plot, which rarely follows the GM's intended course. The story.
Consider a favourite movie: Casablanca, The Blues Brothers, The Godfather, Forest Gump - no you pick one.
You'll recall characters, scenes, events and classic lines.
I find the majority of players usually get more invested in character-driven conflict than plot-driven. Make it personal and they'll traipse across the whole damn map to even a score, and far more willingly, than they ever would to retrieve the Legendary Thingummy of Gleep.
That story reminds me of that webnovel where the world is ending because everyone trusted a dude named "the Trickster".
Anyway it is also a good reminder that the best moments in sessions are organic. My players didn't cared for the mad alchemist that wanted to acquire immortality, genocide isn't that much of a crime apparently and he gave them a job once. No, they cared for that random orc that somehow managed to throw his sword at a and almost kill him.
Thanks for sharing.
Traitor Joe joins Selene the Succubus in the NPC Hall of Fame!
Yep.
Most stabs are committed by halflings.
This one makes me laugh and I think my players would get a good kick out of a similar npc.
It's one of my most underrated and underviewed videos. Thanks for watching!
This was hilarious. Love the name Caves of Carnage. Love the miniatures and terrain. Absolutely agree with you on the players creating the memorable NPCs and story elements. I am currently running games for two groups of 3 very good players (in each), and they really make my campaigns amazing and NPCs memorable. The different outlooks and personalities of the players seem to mesh well, and their interactions with the world/challenges and NPCs are very enjoyable for me as a GM. My game notebook is essentially cobbled together into 3 sections: 1) Stats/Information of NPCs and monsters, encounters/challenges, and maps of the areas, 2) Inn prices, random treasure tables, names, etc., and 3) How the PCs interact with section 1. Section 1 keeps me from referring to multiple books and is the largest section initially. I don't even like referring to a Monster Manual (Monsters & Treasure in C&C) if I don't have to. Section 2 again keeps me from having to refer to things (or I just improv this section) and is almost always the smallest. I also like to have unique magic items and treasure types ready beyond the +1 sword or 2d6 gp. Section 3 is where I write the next session because (again) the players drive everything. Also, if someone's character dies, I will often cite some of the great things they did (referring to this section).
Thanks for sharing that.
My players for one campaign got really attached to a random Kobold npc named "Tom Ato". I named him such as a joke and he was just kind of stuck among them as they were thrown into a gladiator arena. He wasn't even supposed to survive but they got really lucky rolls and made sure none of their "allies" died. At some point one of the players thought outloud that it would be funny if he had a brother named "Torn Ato". So Torn Ato was born as an evil dragonborn who hated his adopted kobold brother Tom.
This last session I ran saw two characters engaging with what I had planned out and the other three going so far off script I had to pull up notes for two sessions ago to run heavily improvised areas they had previously missed. I was "seat of the pants"ing it as we say for like 70% of the session and my players loved it I had several of them tell me it was a great season at the end. I had spent about an hour prepping before the session and that's about it. Plan as much as you want but regardless be ready for your players to go in different directions than you planned because I guarantee they will.
Yes, they will.
What an absolutely amazing story, I laughed quite hard. Love the stories from your game with teenagers, there's nothing quite like the reactions you can get out of them. Adults can get too dull to this kind of thing, or even react badly towards it. People new to these games, and especially younger people give those magical reactions. Can't wait for the next one.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Please share the video!
I once started a campaign where a snooty noble had been sent a mysterious box, which he opened in front of the party. Inside was a cockatrice, which they had to fight after it turned him to stone (for a day). Afterwards there were a few other attacks on that noble, and the party decided it would be funny to force him to come with them as they hunted the people responsible for the attacks down. The noble did end up changing some for the better, given all he ended up going through with the party (and realizing that all those attacks were because he pissed off someone more powerful than himself).
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
I have a table I use to generate hireling personality called "What the Hell is wrong with this guy?" and it includes "working for the bad guys" on it. Most memorably this happened with a character I made who I then called Villanus (vi-LAWN-oos). They were going into a dungeon that had multiple factions and I didn't know which one he was going to be aligned with so I decided I'd roll a d6 and if I get a 6 during an encounter he's working with those guys. The first thing they bumped into were these intelligent lab rats who had escaped and I rolled the d6 and it came up 6, so he immediately shed his human skin and revealed himself to be like 12 rats in a human suit.
When I play, I think the following. Be polite, be professional, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet. Doesn't mean my PC's will kill everyone. Just that they are ready at the drop of a hat to cut down a threat.
Also the best enemy NPC I ever had as a player, was my Character's Paladin Lord. They both were good individuals but my character saw his inaction in trying to save lives as completely in the wrong (It was both because of a Power Play from the Lord and also not wanting to kill mind controlled people). Even though the Lord had his reasons for doing it. This was 15 levels into the campaign, my character had looked up to his instructor since day 1. Many many sessions later he had an epic speech of how we Paladins were meant for more, to do more. Epic duel between my Paladin and his leader and after nearly dying my Paladin won and became the new Lord,.
Thanks for sharing.
I feel this message in my soul.
My long campaign's major villain was born because the party took an unexpected interest in a shopkeeper that occasionally smuggles goods.
Best way to go.
"And they even paid him extra money..."
Just added Backstabber Barry to my list of available NPCs should the opportunity arise.
How does the military put it:
‘KISS- keep it simple stupid’
Great video!
So good.
Thanks.
You absolute monster! I love this. Keep up the trolling.
Keep sharing my videos!
On my first session of first time dm, didn't plan anything,, started a really rough narrative of being on the frontier. No known map, they knew the local area and general parts, but one of the people that were friends with them and gave them work/challenges was a fellow I named Donald Bane. Eventually I made it to where there was a huge migration of people that are trying to get away from some huge Storm called the black winds. Curious as to what it is that people are attempting to escape, Donald Bane suggests to the party to go ahead and check out the Port city and see what all the fuss is about...but before they left he gave them a sealed letter. They arrived at the Port city which appeared abandoned, seeing ships on the horizon coming into port they decide to overnight. They sense a lot of hidden doors and walls within the city and realize that these spots have people inside them who are in hiding.
The ships arrive and these Black suited Soldiers file off the ships and surround the city, the party approaches them and get led to the Port master who is with the Captain of these soldiers. Eventually it is stated that they have been sent by Donald Bane to figure out what's going on. Upon hearing this, the port master asks for a letter that Donald Bane should have sent them. They give him the letter, he opens it and to the party's surprise it's a declaration that Donald Bane has offered them up as prisoners to the Black Guard of the Gilded City across the sea. The port city is ransacked, some folks in hiding are found and they all get piled up into one of the ships returning home, realizing that the Black Wind is the term for the excursion of the Black Guard which currently controls the Gilded City and they have mages that summon winds that steer their ships to their desired destinations.
My friends were in disbelief...the quote, "We just got Donald Baned" was pinned and unfortunately they haven't had the chance to get their revenge. That was a one shot experience and my first and only time I Dm'd. It was fun and I look forward to another opportunity to do so, but it's been a long time. I was genuinely glad that I was able to pull one over on the group.
Reminds me - never make a deal with Dealbreaker Jones
I had a game where my players rescued a child from a burning barn. I thought they'd just turn him over to the local church's care, but instead they took an interest in his overall welfare and development, eventuallly becoming a significant NPC in the campaign. All from a random event "burning barn" that I made up on the spot.
Good DMing!
My favorite enemy npc was an npc that the players "thought" he was the bbeg but wasn't.
Did a one shot use a ArcaneLibrary's adventure (don't remember the name) and ran it with the setting Dark Matter. Ran really well 👌.
The players go to a church and ask the head Acolyte what's the matter. He explains that their priest went down an ancient well and hasn't returned in a week. They want the priest.
At this point the players are suspecting the head Acolyte had done something to preist. Just then, a bunch of undead come out, scaring all npc and players, and taking captives.
The players fight the undead off but unable to save everyone. Then when the undead are gone, one player tackles the Acolyte and begins interrogating with fists and high skill rolls. Even though the Acolyte tells then he has no knowledge of what is happening, even wetting his pants, the players STILL suspect he's the bbeg.
Then they have him guide them to the well, but it's dark and tight walkways with angles for the undead to ambush the players. So they tell him this is their concern. Then they force the Acolyte AT GUN POINT to walk first down to the walkway. This guy is crying and begging them to let him go, but still they do it.
They do the same thing when they get to well and while traversing the necromancer crypt. Finally, they let him go, after finding injured survivors and ordering him to take the survivors to safety, or they will hunt him down like a dog that he is.
The whole time I'm crying on the inside with a straight face feeling sorry for this poor guy.
The players find the necromancer who is actually the priest, corrupted by an evil artifact. The players fight him but get stuck and when everything seems lost. Guess who arrived? That's right the Acolyte and he caused fear to the corrupted priest. With the new help the players succeed the new necromancer. Then they promptly apologized the Acolyte.
This was all pre made for the adventure, but even then players can do things that make NPCs worth remembering.
Every now and then the Acolyte and the adventure get mentioned. When my players show shame for how they acted on that adventure. I know exactly what they are thinking about. The Acolyte.
Thanks for sharing that.
"A dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. It's the honest ones you need to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly stupid."
-Captain Jack Sparrow
This is why I like cats.
If you were using that mini at the time, they deserved to get stabbed in the back. That mini screams "Traitor!".
Right?!
And his name also screams that, lol
Thank you. I needed this laugh today. Sounds like a super memorable experience. PCs learning that NPCs can lie/deceive is always a wonderful lesson to observe.
Glad you enjoyed it!
"two excedrin night" Another good chuckle hearing that.