Dilemma: The encounter forces the player characters to choose between two or more
alternatives, both equally attractive or equally undesirable.
A dilemma can really get players’ hearts pounding when they have to make a
decision quickly and with minimal forethought. It is best if the potential rewards
and consequences are immediately apparent—such as life or death for the PCs or
an important NPC. For example, the player characters find themselves on a
demiplane where their spells and magical items work erratically and sometimes
misfire dangerously. While exploring, they are caught in a small room with a sphere of annihilation in pursuit. Do the PCs try to control the sphere (not always a safe task),
exit through a magical portal to an unknown destination, or teleport out of danger (and risk a misfire)?
A moral dilemma can help shape the players’ views of the campaign world and
force them to examine their characters’ deepest convictions and emotions. For
example, consider what might happen if the party finds an orphaned drow child in
the wilderness. As DM, you know if the child is born to be evil or if alignment
is something that has to be nurtured over time; perhaps the child is naturally
inclined to become chaotic evil but can learn to follow another alignment. What
does the party do with the child? Abandon it? Adopt it? Kill it? The choice
could spark a lively debate among characters of different alignments.
Note that high-level player characters might frequently be called upon to make
determinations that fall within the gray areas of their experience. Right or
wrong, the PCs’ decisions could profoundly shape commoners’ attitudes toward the
world. Other powerful mortals and even the gods themselves also note the
heroes’ decisions and judge the PCs accordingly.
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