Unprepared and Never Better

The heroes summited the mountain, confronting the horrors of broken and dead warforged along the way. Near the entrance to the War Forge, Primus (warforged ranger) recognized the head of his former instructor, Peritus, mounted atop a spear. In a vision, he witnessed their former ally Aphaeleon betraying Peritus and the others. The dead warforged then turned to witness Primus in the vision. He was flooded with their memories as the consciousness of a dozen warforged surged through him, awakening with a new energy. He'd received the Boon: Memories of the Forged. Time to enter the War Forge and deal with Aphaeleon.

Monday night's Dungeons & Dragons (5E) game was a standout for my ongoing campaign. The sequence leading up the mountain was, "one of the most cinematic experiences of the campaign so far," according to one player. That's high praise that both warms me and terrifies me. Why the terror? I'm not sure I could repeat it. I planned for the characters to go right and they went left. I had no notes and improvised the whole thing. I'm not joking when I say this quote rings 100% true for this sequence:

“Sometimes I'll start a sentence, and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way.” - Michael Scott

I normally follow a customized version of the Eight Steps of Lazy GM Prep. In this case, I didn't. I didn't have secrets and clues to drop in. I didn't have this fantastic location ready. The rewards were not prepared. I had nothing for where the party decided to go. Yet that portion of the session received the highest praise I've had in a long time. So what happened?

A Meaningful Choice

I had prepared a fun puzzle where the party needed to manipulate dragon statues to point at a waterfall. Once in position, they would breathe fire, evaporating the water and revealing a tunnel behind (inspired by Minions: The Rise of Gru). That would take them to the dragon in their current quest and a path to the War Forge. But like a mysterious tower spotted in the Skyrim landscape, I teased a beacon in the mountains beyond the waterfall—evidence of the War Forge.

My notes assumed the party would reach the War Forge by way of the dragon's lair. So I'd prepared multiple steps of a puzzle to unlock said dragon's location. With running short sessions, I was confident that we wouldn't reach the War Forge during this game. I was wrong. The party's warforged deemed the lit forge more pressing than the dragon quest at hand. He wanted to head straight there. It would have been very easy to redirect with something like, "It's clear that the path to the War Forge is through the dragon's lair." And I don't think that would have been malicious. But it also didn't feel like it provided a meaningful choice. So into the mountains we went...

A Single Die Roll

The War Forge is the location all warforged were created. But it had been taken over by a one of their kind who was using it to destroy the others. Dark, right?

Heading up the mountain, I knew I was in dangerously "unprepared" territory as a GM. I had about thirty more minutes to "burn" before we normally wrapped up the session so I intended to take my time. But how would I make this interesting? By taking it one step at a time, I allowed the players to engage.

I described shards and chunks of metal scattered about the roadside. As they reached higher elevations, it got worse. Shards turned into limbs and evidence of warforged. Eventually, whole heads were mounted on spears (inspired by my recent watching of the Foundation TV series). I spoke slowly throughout, leaving taking my time on brief but powerful descriptions. That slowness allowed space for players to intervene.

"Do I recognize any of them?" Perfect. Player engagement and it bought me more time. Thankfully with all of my notes in Obsidian, I found a list of his former squad members rather quickly. "You do. One is the head of Peritus, your instructor." I remembered that the player character had broken memories that frequently led to momentary blackouts. "You black out. Roll a d100." Another strategy to buy more time while engaging the players." Higher rolls would reveal more memories and result in a shorter blackout.

He rolled 100.

Everyone gasped. In that moment, I did one thing right. "Give me a moment," I said. I believe in the power of die rolls and I wanted to make this count. All I had was a boon I'd created for when he defeated the evil warforged later in the campaign. But taking my own advice, I used the best idea now. In his vision, he witnessed the betrayal but also connected with the dead warforged. They saw him, connected, and sent him their consciousnesses. He awoke, more aware, motivated, and powerful than ever.

"Primus, are you good?" asked another player character.

"We are fine," responded the player.

Wow.

Lessons Learned

• Let your party go into the unprepared. It makes their decisions more meaningful and forces you to grow as a game master.
• Take your time. Silence can be a tool in your kit. Silence gives room to your players to interact, helping you all navigate the unprepared. In a pinch, you can always ask your players for a minute to think.
• Make extreme die rolls count. These moments are opportunities to stretch the narrative and even break rules. Don't miss the opportunity.

I don't think it's reasonable to advocate for always being unprepared. But there is magic in that space. So maybe from time to time, be unprepared.

Game on.