Camp Twists

My players have gotten extremely good at accumulating checks and timing their camps well, and four of them have camp-related instincts. So it’s not uncommon to see 10 or more rolls during the camp phase.

Let’s share some good camp twists that you’ve used or are plotting.

*You realize that (piece of gear) is broken.
*You realize the water source is tainted- everyone needs to dump out what they took or have water of questionable quality.

*You make an amazingly beautiful sketch of this tower, but it is of limited cartographic use and uses up your mapping paper. (Failed Cartographer test to map their progress so far.)
*Your instructions confuse his faith. Target is +1 ob to next Theologian test. (Failed Mentor test to teach Arcanist to the Priest.)
*The Dwarf smells excessively like stinky cheese, +1 ob to social tests until he can get properly cleaned up. (Failed Alchemist test to make a healing potion for the Dwarf.)
*Everyone who worked on the Potion has numb fingers for the rest of the camp phase, and the Halfling has no sense of taste. (Another Failed Alchemist test, and the Halfling used Needs a Little Salt-Wise to taste the in-progress potion.)

Also, do people ever use Camp Twists to force an end to a camp phase?

Ah, camp twists. I always feel like a big meanie when players spend their hard-earned checks and do not only not get what they wanted, but also get a twist on top of that for their trouble. Mostly I impose conditions, so at least they get what they were after. That still hurts, of course, especially if they just got rid of a condition the second before.

My favourite camp twists are for failed Cartographer tests. When players camp and test Cartographer to map freshly explored areas, I draw them a little map of that part of the dungeon. It’s a very rewarding moment, and the map gets eagerly scrutinized. If the test fails, I have great fun drawing up complete nonsense. And, of course, when they travel through the garbled area, I drop in a “Wandering Monster”.

This is not something I would do. Dumping players out of camp back into the adventure phase – that’s a Camp Disaster, not just a twist. Also, it robs players of any remaining checks. If I really want to play a twist that would interrupt camp, I save it and then pull it out when camp is over.