Game masters and players constantly challenge each other in Dungeons & Dragons. A game master used an old trick to lure his party into a trap, exciting the community.
What did the game master do? Reddit user polkadotfingers tells in his thread how he tricked his players into a trap. He extracted a heap of gold from them using a well-known trick. All he needed was a few pickled cucumbers.
During a long rest late at night, the group encountered a gnome named Pickle Paul in the camp, who kindly sold them pickled cucumbers for 1 silver piece each. Each group member bought one and later found out that they had a powerful effect. Whoever ate them gained the immediate effect of a long rest.
For months, the players and their characters wished for the sour cucumbers back when they were pushed to the brink of their limits and the timing for a long rest was poor. At some point, the gnome merchant returned to their campfire and brought new cucumbers.
This time, he brought about 100 pieces, but their price had risen to 5 gold pieces each. The group bought all the cucumbers he had in his wagon and managed to haggle the price down to 350 gold pieces. As they divided the cucumbers among themselves, the gnome bid farewell and disappeared.
One of the players immediately ate one of the cucumbers – and found that the effect did not occur. They had paid 350 gold for 100 ordinary sour cucumbers. polkadotfingers ends his post with a plea to other game masters and a moral of the story: “First, you get them hooked on the good stuff, and then you charge them exorbitant prices later, haha.”.
“I can’t wait to hear what happens when they track down Pickle Paul and ‘return’ his cucumbers”
What does the community say about the story? The community celebrates his tale on Reddit with over 9,400 upvotes and 295 comments (as of November 4, 2024, 10:45 AM). They wonder what the group will do with Pickle Paul and the situation.
Many commentators suspect that they will get back at him and probably kill him. Others almost hope that they become paranoid and suspect every shady vendor to be Pickle Paul. Yet others would try to turn the tables on him with his own tricks – or transform him into a cucumber or a pickle barrel.
Others want to adapt his idea slightly and use it in their own campaigns. Many also point out that he should definitely let his players have some sort of revenge, as they would only truly enjoy the situation and not just feel outsmarted.
Many game masters use such tricks or hidden cues to guide, entice, or surprise their players. One game master crafted an almost diabolical and dark storyline that shocked his players when they realized what it was about: Game master hides an evil secret in Dungeons & Dragons, delights in the shocked faces of his players
