I think I found this too late to be of assistance.

But, I'm very interested to hear what you came up with yourself.

I've a group of players who, more often than not, do something completely unexpected. Typically it means I have to improvise on traps, puzzles, and encounter strength all at the last moment without leading on that they either spoiled the original plan, or I realized they would die outright because they destroyed or disregarded something important.

Anyway, let's hear what you came up with, and I'm certain the bunch of us here could provide suggestions on how to modify upon your start.

Happy DM'ing!

Loved the using candy for enemies idea. Kinda like giving a pokemon a rare candy. you can just feel the sweet xp goodness.

So tonight went insanely well. One of my players dropped AGAIN but he wasn't missed a bit. The three of us had a complete blast.

I basically just did a simple little 9 room dungeon for them with some tricks put in for the pure joy of it.

There was a sword they had to get with a cage around it. They basically had to traverse the whole dungeon several times to get the key to turn the lever to open the cage. I put an ooze in a treasure chest, razorfish in a pool they had to climb into and a succubus inhabiting a portrait that enthralled them if they failed a will check while looking at it.

Had my players tearing up over the death of an NPC and actually had them freaking out OOC as well as in... so I'm considering it a win all around. They only pulled the rug out from under me twice and I managed to hide those minor mess ups decently well.

Well now, I see some crafty dm'ing there.

Sounds like things are rolling right along! I love it when players get their feel bads hurt when an NPC dies ~ it means you did your job right!

So... anyone fall to the wiles of your succubi painting?

Had the monk turned on the party at one point because they were trying to kill the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and he wouldn't allow it.

Also the half-orc took a potion that he found on the floor (really?! who drinks stuff they find on the floor in a place you just fought carrion crawlers?!) and it healed him but as a side effect he got really paranoid about the rest of the group betraying him and leaving him down there. (Amazing roleplaying on the part of my player by the way, extra experience for a beautiful performance.)

And I got to experience the joy of secret notes from the DM. *dramatic music* MUAHAHAHA