Over the past four years, Garrot never really evolved much at all. In fact, while I pride myself on creating interesting “growth opportunities” for char- acters, I was pretty much at a loss when it came to thinking up good Garrot-centric episodes and adven- tures. Mat played him so dumb that no NPC could communicate intelligently with him, and Garrot had no attachments—even his companions didn’t pay him much attention outside of combat. Garrot didn’t even have a last name (or if he did, it never came up in play). He was like a coat rack with no hooks; there wasn’t much to hang a story on. I also got the impres- sion that after nearly four years of playing the same character, Mat was willing to throw Garrot on a limb just to see if it broke. Put another way, I don’t think Mat would be surprised or horribly depressed if Garrot never returned.
I, on the other hand, am unwilling to let Garrot go. Maybe it’s because I feel like I’ve failed the character somehow. More likely it’s because Mat’s decision to hurl Garrot into the maddening void should be lauded and rewarded. If Garrot is well and truly dead, then the lesson to be learned from
his actions is “Don’t hurl your character into the Far Realm.” However, I think it’s more fun to tell play- ers, “You never know what’ll happen when you hurl your character into the Far Realm.” Or put another way, “If you’re willing to take a risk with your char- acter, you might be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.”
When it comes to building encounters, I have no qualms about layering on adversity, to the point where the players feel overwhelmed. I love having enemy reinforcements arrive just when things are starting to look up. I’m also happy to give players lengths of rope with which to hang proverbial nooses around their own characters’ necks. However, before you accuse me of being cruel, note that my intentions are good: The goal, as I’ve said before, isn’t to annihi- late the party. No, the goal is to reward the players for taking risks.
I tend to think of characters as “chandelier bait,” which is to say that if I hang a chandelier from the ceiling, I expect that at some point during the encounter a character will either (a) swing from it or (b) drop it on someone. The chandelier baits players
into taking risks and making decisions they wouldn’t otherwise consider. In Gar- rot’s case, King Zorrb’s Far Realm portal was the chandelier. It’s also a plot device that can be used to catapult the campaign forward.
Speaking of catapults, there’s some- thing about Garrot that I almost forgot to mention—a seemingly inconsequential bit of character development instigated by Mat many years ago, back when the heroes were looking to buy a magical catapult for their ship. Mat decided that Garrot was fascinated by catapults. He even went so far as to procure a minia- ture catapult that Garrot would carry around with him and play with while his
companions were doing “boring stuff” like obtaining quests and forging alliances. This utterly marvelous bit of nonsense became a running character gag. At some point, I expected the gag to pay off with Garrot firing himself out of a catapult or something equally ludicrous.
After debating whether or not to bring Garrot back, I finally decided to create a campaign “epi- sode” set in the Far Realm. The adventure begins with Garrot plunging into Tyrak’n Bay and finding himself on the island of Kheth, where the campaign began. The island and its inhabitants are constructs of the Far Realm, familiar to Garrot but distorted by the plane’s malign interpretation of his memories and his rather dimwitted view of the world. More importantly, all of Garrot’s adventuring compan- ions are there, including old characters who’ve been dead for many levels. The other players get to bring back some of their old characters to help Garrot escape from this nightmarish realm using the vil- lain’s giant catapult—because in his childlike mind, that’s how Garrot would escape the Far Realm. Not only that, the players get to fight Starlord Evendor for the first time in the campaign, or rather, an effigy of him created by the Far Realm, and learn some of his dark secrets.
Lessons LeaRned
As a DM, if I’m going to create moments of seem- ingly insurmountable adversity, I also need to create moments of opportunity and be prepared for when my players attempt crazy-ass stunts. Although I’m well known for my elaborate schemes and plot twists, some of the most memorable and decisive moments of the campaign happened because of something the players did. I think it behooves every DM to remem- ber that the players have a stake in determining how the campaign unfolds, and the best campaigns are inspired and propelled by the characters’ actions and decisions.
So, to summarize:
✦ It’s the DM’s job to create situations that
encourage players to take risks.
✦ It’s the DM’s job to let players know that with
great risk comes great reward.
Until the next encounter!