Chekhov's Gun, and a follower?

Last things first... I have a follower? Lolwut? Turns out a Friend of mine has been blogging for longer than I have. The funny part is that we came up with this idea independently. Really, I'm not following you, X, I promise. Or, since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I am following you! Yay, mutually exclusive, but somehow true statements, FTW! I love your blog, did you read my self-contract post where I give myself achievements for good posting? You should take up the same system, then we can laugh at each other failing even our own expectations, ain't it grand?

Okay. So, I am more than a WoW head. I also play DnD. (That's, Dungeons and Dragons, you know, original role-playing? (Although, fun trivia, the late great Gygax originally envisioned more of a 'skirmish' version of a fantasy war-game. The role-playing thing was kinda a happy accident.))

Anyway, I follow several DnD blogs, you can check them out to the left with all the other blogs I follow. Two different DnD Blogs made reference to a literary technique; Chekhov's Gun. Go read about it on Wikipedia for a better-than-this explanation:

Basically, you cant describe or reference a gun without having that gun go off.

In DnD, acceptance of this adage has profound implications. It can also allow you to better understand your role as a DM. But first, an example of what NOT to do, and for this, I pick on an old friend of mine (who also has a blog! Maybe I should tell him about mine? (btw, beware visiting his blog, he has some auto-loading music thingy.))

My friend was DMing, and we were mid-adventure, and though I cannot for the life of me remember the adventure, I do remember we were traveling in the middle of the winter. We happened on a hole in the ground. As I recall, it sorta drew our attention due to the fact that is was a break in the pristine white landscape, oh, and the horrible monster sounds that were coming from it. When the adventuring group peered down into the hole, we saw a humanoid skeleton or two. We asked the DM about the noise, was there anyone in trouble, did it sound human? "No." He said, and proceeded to describe that though the sounds were horrible, and seemed to indicate that there was some monster down there, we COULD see a glint of something shiny down the hole.

Our group heard enough, we said, "We move on." And here is where the night devolved into bad. Our DM made some more attempts to lure us down into the hole, and then he sort of shrugged, and said, "well, that was the adventure, good to have ya, see ya next week." And our DnD game ended in record time, with record low gaming. He told us, as we were leaving, that there was a hydra down there, and that we missed a great thing, but we could neither turn back and go for it anyway ("No, no, your characters left, we cant go back now,") and there was no way to ever be able to face a hydra again.

I deeply regret the hydra incident, as it became known, and it haunts me to this day. Dude is a great DM, his adventures are always very gritty and real, and I always enjoyed them. But sometimes his approach doesn't take into account happy accidents.

DnD has a danger of being extremely formulaic, it has the most simply organized plot-lines. Group meets in tavern, group gets told of some ancient evil guarding some super treasure, group defeats great evil, gets super treasure. It is hard for a DM to get out of that, just like any author. But DMs have a wonderful living canvas, and tons of help, from the players.

How do we apply Chekhov's Gun? Well, you cant have a pit in the middle of a pristine white field (a wonderful symbol, a spot on an otherwise pristine plain? Like I said, it haunts me,) without using it. Dude could have easily had us move on and find a town, or even a lone traveler, limping back from the pit, or any number of other things to re-route the story back to the pit. Maybe the group comes on a group of townsfolk, pulling a sled with some buxom maiden tied to it, they were intent on sacrificing her to the beast in the pit.

Point is, as a DM, one has to focus both on the gun, and how to make sure that gun goes off in the best manner possible. But Chekhov's Gun can be dangerous, too, I think its a wonderful image, a gun. You see, your the DM, and your group opens a door in a dungeon, you describe the room, and one of two things happens, depending on your style. One, you describe sufficient detail as to hide the important bits in the noise. "You see a small chamber, sparsely furnished, perhaps for a monk or ascetic, before this holy place was sacked by the undead horde. The cot has no blanket or padding, there is a small writing desk, and at the foot of the cot is a small footlocker." To a player, it is hard to pick out the gun from the furniture. Indeed, when faced with many such rooms, it can be easy for the player to realize, there is no gun.

But if your a less descriptive DM, you might say, "You open the door to a monk's room. There is a cot, a writing desk, and a footlocker." Immediately, the players will seize on the footlocker (and woe be onto you if you call it a 'chest.') As a DM, this was always just an empty room, its a monastery, its going to have many such rooms! But because the players are looking for the gun, and the descriptions of the room are so small, well, you got trouble.

Last thing I want to mention. Sometimes, the gun is more figurative. For example, your group, which has fought its way through the undead horde, and descended into the catacombs, were the Lady of Pain attempts to awaken her long lost lover from his forced coma. The group faces the Lady, and is defeating her soundly. Whatever the reason may be, perhaps they rolled well, perhaps she is rolling poorly, or perhaps she is simply not powerful enough.

However, the Lady of Pain fight is the last in the adventure, if this gun goes off with a weak little 'pop,' then what was the point, really? As a DM, your just as concerned with the gun going off well as you are with the gun going off at all. Here are some solutions:

• Add minions! She raised a horde of undead, and is in a catacomb, surely she can raise a few more?
• Make her stronger! Perhaps you need to explain this (she rests her hands on her lover's sleeping form, whispering a sweet goodbye, and drains all of his power,) or perhaps not (add another 100 HP.)
• She gets away! Sometimes, the best recurring villains are ones you didn't intend to last, if the gun in this situation is going to be a dud, wait until you can reload!

There is a lot we can learn from good ol' Chekhov. And before you ask, yes, I know the picture is the wrong Chekhov, but even if I found a picture of the real Chekhov, no one would know who he is.