The Temple With Crumbling Pillars
Sometimes, the best game moments aren’t the ones you plan — they’re the ones you make up on the spot when your players push the story in an unexpected direction.
In one campaign, I had a player who was extremely good at manipulating mechanics. He could end combat in one or two turns, even against powerful enemies. This time, he was about to face a mini-boss guarding an artifact — not a campaign-ending villain, but still an important fight. If I ran it straight, the battle would be over before anyone else had a turn.
So I improvised. I put the mini-boss in an ancient temple with crumbling pillars holding up a dangerously heavy ceiling. I described the cracks in the stone, the dust drifting down, the way each blow echoed through the chamber. The player immediately saw the opportunity — but so did the mini-boss. Instead of going blow-for-blow, the villain started targeting the pillars, threatening to bring the whole place down.
Suddenly, the fight wasn’t about just killing the enemy — it was about positioning, priorities, and keeping the ceiling over everyone’s head. The result? The battle stretched out, every player had a role to play, and the win felt hard-earned.
If you ever need to slow down a fight without railroading your players, give the battlefield its own danger. The terrain can be just as much an enemy as the creature standing in it.
Further reading from Mike’s Tavern:
