When Players Derail Our Prep

GM’s Log #7 went out to CampaignCraft members yesterday, and it teaches my 5 Actions Framework that anticipates 90% of encounter derailments and broken adventures.

After you complete the tutorial’s six steps, players can still surprise you, but they’re much less likely to break your encounters.

One of my favourite examples of players ruining my plans happened in Princes of the Apocalypse, before I started using The 5 Actions. The player looked at me and I could tell something was up. Then he said, “I cast polymorph on the vrock.” A failed saving throw later, and the troubadour in tights had turned my big bad Stage Boss into a rabbit he then put under his hat.

His trick instantly nerfed my encounter, my “Room 4”, and the climax to a plot thread. Well played, James!

The lesson I got from that encounter was that I could’ve thought of this easily enough in advance. If I had done that prep, I could have kept GMing smoothly after the twist, whether the derailment came from polymorph, a fighter’s critical hit, or a clever use of the group’s giant magical lobster claw gloves.

Thus, the seeds of the 5 Actions were planted.

Another way to look at it: behind the screen, we prep The What. At the table, players decide The How.

The 5 Actions Framework prepares us for how the encounter itself fails forward when players beat it faster, stranger, or cleaner than expected.

Avoid Ogre Fudge Waving

Once players pull the rabbit out of the vrock, we have three choices: negate it, fake our way around it, or make the consequences interesting.

The standard advice for handling party shenanigans is to Quantum Ogre, handwave, or fudge rolls. But those methods fail for me because they cheapen player agency with false choices that erode table trust.

A better approach is to lean into the crazy moment and let bypassing the obstacle create interesting costs and consequences.

For example, when the metaphorical vrock becomes a rabbit, the bard’s new job is catching the quick hopper, keeping his spell concentration going, and dodging other demons trying to capture the hare.

The aftermath could’ve been more fun than my initial encounter!

Armed with the 5 Actions, I no longer panic when play goes sideways. I’m ready and excited. Instead of developing a skald complex and getting spell-shy around the characters, I embrace the unexpected because I’m prepared for it.

Try this if you have a moment:

  • Pick the most important encounter you’ve got lined up for next game.
  • Ask yourself what could happen if a player, by pluck or luck, figures out a simple way to beat the encounter in the first round.
  • Jot down three ideas for what could happen next: costs and consequences.

For example:

  • The remaining minor demons scream and moan in fury, drawing others nearby.
  • The vrock’s master appears, shakes his eight fists, and swears eternal vengeance on the party before fleeing.
  • Panicked demons open the water valve to escape and the whole level begins flooding.

The key to this technique is to anticipate the categories of unexpected actions, not the dozens or hundreds of specific actions characters might take.

Trying to anticipate every spell, nat 20, or clever gear use is madness. That’s the path to burnout and frustration, because it’s several player brains against ours, and players will always try something we didn’t predict.

If you become a flustered duckus when the party creates a cluster ruckus, The 5 Actions Framework is for you.

GM’s Log #7 Actions: Player-Proof Your Encounters walks you through the framework step-by-step so you can prep encounters that bend without breaking, and turn player chaos into better gameplay instead of GM panic.

Get GM’s Log #7 today and player-proof your encounters with The 5 Actions Framework before your next game.

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

P.S. When you are ready, here are +4 vorpal ways I can help you with your campaign:

+1 Get My Campaign Logger App Free to Make Prep & GMing Easier
For GMs of any system looking to run deep, detailed, and immersive games, Campaign Logger lets you take session notes at the speed of thought in your unique GMing style while improving your preparation experience so you can focus on the parts of the game you enjoy the most.
Get your free Campaign Logger account here.

+2 Level-Up Your GMing With My Books

+3 Get the Demonplague (with 62 5-Star Ratings so far)
A complete level 1-20 campaign D&D 5E adventure path that offers intense roleplay, sandbox and hexcrawl play, cunning combats, and fiendish monsters.
Click here to see more details and to order.

+4 Get More GM Loot
Visit the Roleplaying Tips DriveThruRPG store, or browse books and courses to level up your GMing at the RoleplayingTips.com store.

Join a private community with Johnn