"Does Razzle Dazzle work?" Topic

Have you ever tried to bedazzle or confound your opponents with fancy footwork mixed with unorthodox tactics?

Put a unit your enemy fears out in the dead center of the table. Then do nothing with it. It throws them for a loop because you must have a plan for a trap just waiting to be sprung. It'll really mess with their minds.

Last night in a D&D (5e) game we were battling a trio of hags. They had first appeared as kindly ladies baking pies, then revealed their true selves— they were fakes, but the pies were real.
Things were not going well, so my PC, who had no offensive magic, only a silver dagger, and no armor, rushed to the oven behind one of the hags, who was busy carving up a paralyzed party member, pulled out a pie barehanded and dumped it on the hag's head. (Early experiences suggested the pies might have magical properties, and I'd hoped these would turn out to be of aid against them.)
Alas, it didn't aid us particularly, but it did at least surprise the DM!

I'm pretty much always trying to do the unexpected, both in RPGs and on the tabletop. Sometimes it works, sometimes it just leaves everyone else gaping with expressions of "why in the world did you do that?!?"

We did once try to smoke opponents out of a house in a rural area by making a bonfire upwind of the house. Then we added poison ivy to the fire. It was basically a makeshift tear gas.

Oh, you meant in gaming? No, sorry.

My pic is gone, so here it is again. More razzle, more dazzle.

For me its easy, I just have to throw a 6 more than once in a game.

bonfire upwind of the house. Then we added poison ivy to the fire. It was basically a makeshift tear gas.

This actually happened to me on a camping trip. Some … er … less experienced campers had put some logs with poison sumac on their fire. Three of the four of them apparently had no reaction. My eyes swelled shut and my throat scrunched up a bit (which feels like a lot when it's your throat).

I believe there is a classic 40K gambit with the big scary unit thing. A Tyrranid, maybe?

For me, the best way I can confuse my opponents is to start winning. That causes most to start questioning the foundations of the universe …

A friend threw a curve into a classic WW II game: I was given space aliens, with cloaked mech's, and infantry, armed with stun grenades and light sabers. He had no idea what he had given me…

The other players expected a 'normal' WW II infantry game! One of their infantry units was walking alongside of a two-story factory my guys were in, on the 2nd floor.

Me: "Are there windows on the wall, where my guys can look out, and down upon them?"

GM: "Yes."

Me: "My guys drop stun grenades out each window, on top of them."

GM: "Okay, they're all stunned."

Me: "Great! My alien guys run out the nearest door, at each end of the building, and they walk along the line of stunned Humans, lopping their heads off, with their Light Sabers."

GM: "What?… OMG! No."

The other players finally figured out they had Aliens, and invisible Alien mech's which were reaping havoc on them…

They joined forces to eliminate the 'annoying' SF forces, wiped me out, then they went back to playing their "historical" game, as if I never existed. I found it quite disappointing, overall. It spoke volumes about the players' interests: they loved historical games, but SF elements were not their thing -- period. [Sigh!] Oh, well. Cheers!

I found it quite disappointing, overall. It spoke volumes about the players' interests: they loved historical games,

It is actually quite a reasonable human historical reaction for enemies to band together to eliminate an "annoying" third party before going back to their conflict. Who invited these cretins to our war?!?!!!?

LOL, etotheipi! I agree, it was typical human reaction. Still it was disappointing. I had shared with the GM the old Dragon Magazine article about how a gamer invited one group over to play a fantasy mini's game, and another group over to play a WW II game. When they met, the German Panzer group rolled up on what they thought was a Bavarian castle, in their halftracks. They were attacked by some Ogres and Trolls, and a Wizard in the castle's tower, hit them with a Wand of Fireballs! The Germans returned fire with a Panzerfaust and machine guns! The article was a hoot.

The GM liked the idea. He bought some SciFi mini's, reason unknown, as he is not a SF gamer, normally. He wanted to get them on the table, at least once, to justify his investment. I was game. I loved the idea of re-creating the Dragon Magazine article, in our own, SF way. It was not the same situation, at all: SF, not fantasy; I was the only SF player. Still, 20+ years later, I can laugh about it, in spite of the disappointment. To me, it is a memorable chapter in the history of my life -- disappointing, not what I was hoping for, but memorable, nonetheless! Cheers!

Razzle Dazzle worked in Stripes… :)

I dont know about the "razzle" part but the British Admiralty in WW I, and the US in both wars, put a great deal of stock in the "dazzle" part.
link

@Sgt Slag – I remember that article! While it is a natural reaction (me vs you, but me and you vs the people across the street), it's a shame the other players didn't get into it as much.

There's a Dork Tower article where one of the main characters (Igor) gets another (Ken) banned from his historical gaming group by equating ACW units to fantasy units (your gatling gun is equal to this wizard with a wand of fireballs) to the horror of the other historical players. I like the article, and used it in postgrad work to highlight that gatling or WoF, 'fixed ammo and roll 3d6 for hits at 12" range' doesn't care what it represents.

WWII had several engagements (and WWI even more) where a force was confronted with an new tactic/technology pair that might as well have been magic (see Arthur C Clarke), at least for the duration of that engagement.

That said, bait and switch is a dangerous gambit.

It's good that you understood the opportunity and can still look on it in the right light.

Razzle Dazzle worked in Stripes

… stripes?