So, the party is investigating a hobbit ghost town. On top of a burrow they see a red goblin, buck naked, playing a flute. He shows off some coins, complains there is nothing to buy, then tosses them in the hut saying the party can have them. Then he stands up, dances a jig, and sings a song about how dwarves are greedy and can't help themselves from gold.

Then he runs off.

So a little later the party fighter trots over and boldly kicks in the door, walking inside. He rolls a reflex save. Fails.

I tell him he drops over dead, a goblin drops a bear trap on his head.

So anyway, this group used to be more serious, and they are all new gamers, but have gotten dumber and dumber. They've made a lot of new characters lately.

We stopped then and I told them that either they need to serious up or I can run a different, high fantasy gonzo game where they can be stupid. They all decided that they were going to start trying harder and it would be more fun to actually succeed in the sandbox.

So I guess we will see.

Eeeh... what?

Wasn't it you who introduced the jigging-flute-playing naked red goblin?

I'm a tad confused.

This seems like a classic Bait and Gotcha. What am I missing?

Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;491840Eeeh... what?

Wasn't it you who introduced the jigging-flute-playing naked red goblin?

I'm a tad confused.

I was trying to make the trap as obvious as possible. The player said he knew it was a trap but wanted to boldly walk into it for fun. This sparked the either I change or you change discussion.

Same player has died 4 times now in three months. This time some of the other players told him he needs to stop fucking around.

It's all about setting goals.

He thinks he's playing in a humorous fantasy game, where the main goal is to make funny things happen.

Everyone else is playing something grittier, where the main goals are to succeed and survive to enjoy it. This doesn't prevent you from playing a funny character and doing funny things - but never in direct contravention of the main goals - succeed and survive.

This mismatch of expectations has caused some tension. Hopefully, it's now been resolved.

In our High School group I gained some infamy for pulling a similar stunt... guy was always killing everything...
'you see a mysterious old man...'
'I SMASH HIM WITH MY AXE OF DOUBLE-KILLING!!!'

and charging into the unknown...
'there's a black pit with...'
'I JUMP IN WHILE SCREAMING FIERCELY!!!'

He was pretty lucky and never got hurt too badly... which only encouraged him... so I put a room in a dungeon that was full of smashed bones... and right in the middle of the room, balanced perfectly on its tip... a huge diamond. The party stopped to discuss it... but same guy rushed in and grabbed the gem... the ceiling came crashing down... red goo everywhere.

The guy complained that the trap wasn't fair and he should just be wounded... but I didn't budge. Showed him how I'd written it up.
But to calm him (kinda) I quick drew up a random 'reincarnation' chart... let him roll on it... and had his soul take up residence in a nearby dog (yes, I know that's not 'reincarnation').
Surprisingly he accepted that and ran with it... played the (non-talking) dog for several games after that... was a valuable asset to the party.

Still, I feel kinda dumb about it.

Naked flute-playing goblins taunting greedy dwarves? Doesn't sound very serious, or at least the player could be forgiven for thinking of it as such, and playing accordingly.

I don't think the setup is inherently non-serious.

If my players ran into a naked, flute-playing goblin, they're probably be creeped out as all hell.  First assumption: maybe that's not really a goblin.

But anyway, if the goblin threw gold in there and then mocked the greedy, and the PCs went in after the gold without really investigating, yeah, that's on the dumb side.

I'm just glad this player was schooled on how he was doing it wrong...

My players would have sniped any goblin that was out in the open with a crossbow from cover.  My players are helluva paranoid about goblins for some reason.  Charge a dragon?  Hunt a moose?  Sure!  But goblins?  Keep those creepy blighters away from us.

Sounds like you're a killer DM. Get off on screwing over your players much?

If I ran a scenario like that, I would also think it was a joke. As DM, I'd have something embarrassing happen, but not kill the character.

So he's a 'killer DM' because he signalled an ambush and his players walked into it anway?  Come on, Dan.

Cranewings might be overly dramatic with the 'come to jesus' and 'dammit guys play for reals', but there's nothing super-killer about the setup.

If it had been a nasty trap behind that door, and no warning, and the PCs blundered into it and one got killed, would he be a killer DM then?  Or is he just a killer DM because he gave a warning something weird was going on?

"Whatever you do, don't press the red button".  And they press the red button anyway.  Human nature, maybe.  Not uncommon.  But still a moment of not-thinking.

Quote from: VectorSigma;491882So he's a 'killer DM' because he signalled an ambush and his players walked into it anway?

He signalled it with a butt-naked flute-playing goblin! That's like putting a bouncing betty landmine under a fart cushion!

I do think that the trap is a bit on the "killer" side (a buck-naked flute-playing goblin would probably pique my PCs' curiosity, and they would follow. Not all of them, but some definitely would. Then again I could be missing something).

But I also think that Cranewings handled the situation in the most sensible and straightforward way possible: by spelling it out to his players, and deciding as a group what sort of game do they want to play.