What makes a BAD DM? It's hard to be labeled as a "bad DM", but there are some ways it can happen...

@plasmyth5501

Жыл бұрын

The biggest thing in my opinion is just putting any kind of story or idea you had and putting it above the player’s creativity and enjoyment. You ultimate goal is not to make a nartive, it should be to let the characters feel either, powerful, a part of the world, loved, or just let them feel cool and loved given they have properly earned a significant amount of any of that by the way they have been trying to act in your games. For example: if a player got high sleight of hand and frequently enjoys pick pocketing people in universe, don’t judge his actions and try to make him feel guilty out of game. Or if a character plays like a smart character with good intelligence, don’t get annoyed if they are frequently asking you if they know about this specific knowledge related thing, because if you get SUPER annoyed by that overtime it’s clear it’s because you didn’t put a lot of thought in this significant room they are currently in or the lord of the temple they are exploring.

I realized about two weeks ago I was a writer and not a DM. I finally accepted that this week. I'll let others take over since I am good at role playing a neutral good dragon.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

Honestly there's nothing wrong with that, some people have so much story in their head that there just isn't room for the dice or player shenanigans. As long as you can keep having fun playing, you're still nailing it, and I'm sure you can revisit DMing soon!

@supernintendosp

Жыл бұрын

@@twistedpinttavern It will take some time, but my guy, Aerobrine the gentle storm dragon, had become the god of space and time. I want to pull off a Chrono Trigger style campaign where the party must figure out how to stop his dark side that has gained a terrifying body from bringing forth a ruined future. That, and Aerobrine links all of our campaigns together with his shenanigans and curiosity.

One mistake one of my friends (a long term DM) fell into, and I feel myself falling into more and more as I continue to DM, is that we can sometimes overthink and overplan our sessions to the point where it drains our time and energy, thinking that our players will appreciate every last detail we write into the game, only to later be disappointed that most of our players don't really care. They just want to play the game. It's hard for me to come to terms with the fact that the vast majority of the little details I work so hard on for my sessions will eventually fall on deaf ears. I hope it doesn't drive me crazy to the point where I one day quit DMing, and I wish the same to all of you DMs out there.

When they ask you if you're comfortable with something, or what would a previous character you played do in a situation and then ignore what you tell them because they are the DM and fuck what your character would do.

I feel the DMPC is more a sign of a person who really wants to play in the game they are GMing. Of course it could be just a power fantasy, or both at the same time.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

I fully agree, usually it's probably just someone who really wants to play and not just run the game. And I fully get that, hence why I'm not too hard on DMPCs, so long as they're done well. I still don't recommend them, but it's USUALLY a sign of someone who just wants to get in on the fun and isn't getting that just by DMing.

@starielyt

9 ай бұрын

In one of the campaigns i play in we have 3 (maybe soon 4) dmpcs however its mainly because our party is 2 players and we all try to take on the rolls of the dmpcs so that its not just self rp. (context on the 2 players is that this campaign is just my 2 siblings and i as we all wanted to play more dnd and scheduling rarely worked out in our main games therefore we made this one XD. Only issue is since we are siblings we do often struggling with bringing out of game conflict into game however other than that its a win. :)

@kittikats

9 ай бұрын

I'm new to DMing and thinking of having a DMPC - solely to fill the role of healer and battlefield controller. Party is going to be: warlock, Ranger, Monk and fighter. So I'm thinking of having a divine soul sorcerer join them. Their entire purpose is to support the party and not take the spotlight. I don't expect them to Mary sue the problems or guide them to solutions. Just be the missing skills that they need to do their best

@krinkrin5982

9 ай бұрын

@@kittikats With unbalanced parties there are generally two schools of though: 1. Create an NPC that tags along and fulfills the missing role, or 2. Let the PCs work around their deficiencies. The difference between a DMPC and a regular NPC I feel is the amount of agency they have. An NPC does not offer solutions, but might push the players in the right direction. A DMPC will solve the problem at hand by themselves, or direct the party in a way where they are the de-facto leader.

My worst DM had solo sessions with his irl girlfriend who was in our party and she got to keep the xp and loot. She was level 12 while we were level 4 and he allowed her to use charm person on me to give her my loot too.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

Yeeeaaahhhh I'm on the train of "solo sessions don't give xp", unless it's a solo session used to catch up to the rest of the party story and xp wise. I hate when characters get to higher levels just because "we could squeeze a mini sesh in..."

@BlackPenzo

Жыл бұрын

@@twistedpinttavern I mean that group was just a huge mountain of red flags for me. Her being more powerful is one thing but to me her being able to charm me to give her my loot just made me feel like an NPC.

For my own contribution, I recently had a DM who was always in a rush. 'You guys are RPing with the quest-giver and each other? Hurry up and stop that so we can get to my next action scene. What do you mean describe it? You just teleport there.' Then, later, 'you won, you find the thing, you return to the quest-giver who tells you good job, and you return home to rest. RP amongst yourselves I guess while I write this next part.' At first, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, figuring that they just preferred putting most of their effort into combat so it would balance out but uh... no. No, it did not. Most of the fights were over by 1-2 rounds and the biggest fight we had was a boss with only 3 rounds. Usually, the moment the tide of the battle was in our favor, you could tell the DM was ready to get things over with and one time he straight up asked us half-way through our first round if we just wanted to say we won and skip the formalities. Like... c'mon. He would then cancel the campaign about a week later due to 'burnout.' 😅

@twistedpinttavern

11 ай бұрын

Yeah it sounds like they just couldn't get what they wanted out of D&D and tried to "skip cutscene" their way through it

So, I wanted to share this and hear people's thoughts. I'm a new DM, having run games for about 4 months now, with two sessions a week. Both feature homebrewed worlds, factions, a deity, demons, and more. Everyone's had a blast, but it's been a lot of work. My advice to new DMs is simply to start with a short, one-off campaign, keeping it small. It'll make story-building much easier. I love homebrewing and crafting my own worlds, but starting small is key. It's not just about ease it's about depth. Invest time in a small area to bring it to life. Even if players miss details, it enriches the world far more when you focus on one area rather than working on a whole world.

Player 1: can I check the bodies for anything of interest? Gm: yes, you find nothing. Player 2: can I check this body (that has already been checked)? Gm: yes, you find a wonderous item.

I was in a game of Pathfinder 2E a few years ago now. The group of us were Level 7. DM let his friend bring his Level 20 character to the game and cast Dominate on PCs to control what they did. I left and didn't return. Was in that game for over a year.

@honkeykong4049

Жыл бұрын

"Alright, well how long is my character dominated for?" "24 hours." "Here is my sheet. Take care."

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

That's just bad. Like, obvious, horrible, bad decision making. You don't do that kind of thing if you want a group to stay together.

You also got that Bad DM "subclass" that I never really got the chance of seeing anywhere besides horror stories which I crave: DMs who just put this road of rails just to make you fall into a situation where they'd force their fetishes onto your character. Yeah it sucks and almost feels imaginary.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

Yeeaaahhh, if you go check out the last story in my "wtf moments" video, I had a DM who tried that... I did not return for session 2...

Worst thing is when it’s obvious the DM is trying to “win” or “beat” the players.

Having more NPC character sheets in a campaign than there are players. Using your Players and punching bags in combat. Fudging dice rolls and not even giving players a saving throw against something that RAW has a saving throw. Reward players that figure out traps by damaging them to near death. Immediately killing off a player at the end of combat for saving another player from a deadly encounter. Telling a player that their character, that they worked really hard on, was worthless and won't work. Changing the Rules Mid-Campaign so your PC is basically nerfed to a Level 1 Character, at Level 20.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

What are player characters if not punching bags? (jokes) No legit I hate when DMs just kill characters off because they want to. I fully understand dramatic moments and "rise from the dead" stories, but you're not writing a book, you're butchering someone else's experience. I once introduced a Cthulu-like eldritch entity for just a brief moment so my party could see the danger that was looming later on in the campaign. By a fluke of dice, one PC ended up being in the radius of it's Terror ability that can kill you if you fail a roll by enough, and he got a nat 1 on the save. I felt AWFUL because he, by the rules I'd laid out at the table, was dead instantly. I had a nearby ally cast revivify on him immediately, so he came back, but I felt so bad. He told me not to worry about it, because it was a super cinematic moment and his character now has a reason to fear/hate this monster.

I love watching dnd stories. I personally haven’t played any dnd just yet but I’d like to get started sometime. This is some fun content and you’ve earned yourself a subscriber!

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I wish you luck in finding a D&D group!

@edackley8595

9 ай бұрын

"Hobby Nightmares" is a whole KZread genre.

ironically, the "sleep lasts 2 turns" is what Baldur's Gate 3 uses for most save or suck spells that last 10 turns.

I am a BAD DM, fear me! My players force me to run the game because they all hate DMing. I am like the BAD MOVIE and they come for the failing.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

At least you wear it with pride!

When they send you to go find something and don’t tell you when you can see it right in front of you!

So.....that long list at 0:30 seconds......I started using that like a checklist for an old DM I had, to see how many things they were doing wrong....... I kid you not......I marked......EVERY SINGLE ONE.....he did all of them ALL OF THEM

@twistedpinttavern

11 ай бұрын

That's... That's rough lol

One thing I have seen be very prevalent is the "DM says" rule. I fully understands why it needs to be there, but I have had more DMS abuse it than not. If a player takes a certain action, or casts a certain spell, or passes certain skill checks without prior announcement of rule changes, then there is an expectation that it will work RAW. DM having authority does not mean they get to selectively enforce rules and not let the players know about it.

First time dm here Actually even first time player ...yet I went directly to DM and created a world With the story asked for help from the players while picking their race All of them are elves except one is a Goliath and he was a slave to an elf I read all three back stories and created it into the world so that everytime they stumble upon something it is something they know I had a bad guy face them early and they turned him into dmpc because of good role play and story and they even ask me to make him have some more spot light I made the mistake of giving some of them so much over powered bullshit but he uses his negative one intelligence wisely in RP so he is not the spot all the time he is experienced player and I really hope they are enjoying this as much as I do It have been 4 or 5 months since we had started

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

It sounds like you're doing the DMPC thing well. Letting your players keep the spotlight is essential. I always advise phasing out DMPCs as soon as possible, just to keep yourself in a position of "story teller" as opposed to making too many party decisions, however sometimes a DMPC can run to the end of a game just fine. Keep up the great work, and we as a community thank you for tackling the beast of DMing as your first experience!

My dm has the cheapest tavern be 8 gold (it was 6 before I made an out of character joke) this is in his words "a very poor town, very ruined" the second cheapest option was a coffin for 2 gold (which i wasent going to pay for even if i could afford it) or hanging my character for 1 gold. Theres also almost no gold on any enemy, or in any chests. He also has "the iron claw discount" which is a price raise if you have a member ship to the thing you start with a memeber ship to (its impossible to get without having the membership)

Bad DMs spend to much time "Balancing," instead of properly sign posting for danger. Bad DMs seem to always fudge dice and baby sit their players instead of allowing them to make mistakes in a dangerous world. Also my players would never need to lie to me to suicide their characters all they would have to do is walk into a dungeon without enough torches.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

For real, there's no clearer way to say "I want to play a new character" than just playing them like they're dumb and have a death wish lol

When the DM TPKs your party so often that you feel it necessary to bring multiple backup characters to every single session and you stop caring about character backstory because it feels like there's no point in getting invested in your character when you know they're going to die next week. A little bit of character death is not a bad thing, but when it gets to this point, your campaign is too hard for your players. It's important to pay attention to the skill level of your players and adjust accordingly. It's hard to get invested in the game or care about roleplaying when you don't want to get attached to your character. Also, the rules lawyer DM. I mean, at an excessive level that is, to the point where it doesn't allow for fun and kills player creativity. Things like "No, you can't use Thorn Whip to swing from this tree branch because the book doesn't explicitly say you can do that." Personally, I'd give that player Inspiration for thinking outside of the box, because that totally sounds like something you could reasonably pull off with that cantrip. I'd ask for an Atheletics check of course, but I'd allow it. Just because it's not written in the book doesn't mean you have to let the book restrict your players' creative thinking.

The only negative GM characteristic is not accommodating player feedback. That’s also the only valid critique that a player can levy. If a player doesn’t clearly express their needs, they’re the person to blame if they do not get met.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

I agree with this about 99% of the way. Honestly, when I have issues with a game or GM, I'm more likely to say "this just isn't the table for me" than blame the rest of the group. Everyone plays their own way, and finding that group/GM you click with can be hard. There are some things people do as game masters that are just abhorrent, though, particularly out-of-game things. While they rarely happen, I've heard some horror stories...

@hodgepodgesyntaxia2112

Жыл бұрын

@@twistedpinttavern oh that’s 100% true. People can be creeps, but that’s not being a bad GM. That’s being a bad person.

Bad dm traits I came across during my player experience: - 2 session long cutscene where the whole party was unable to even move due to"magic stuff" -ignoring the party's agency and force a surprise round despite all the precautions they took to be prepared for danger just because"it sounded cool" -add an homebrew rule last minute and never telling us until the enemy crits, he then reveals that a crit would double the damage that was already rolled, then changes said rule that if an enemy does a nat 20 on a saving throw it gives your own damage back to you istead of taking it(he still thinks it was funny) -baiting players into danger by lying about stuff ooc(or omitting stuff that is in plain sight) -blocking a totally reasonable action behind automatic failure because"that is how I wrote that scene" In all sincerity, if anyone reads this and fits into it, do your players a favor and write a book, because chances are that they're not enjoying it

If a player no longer wants to play a character, and wishes to play a new one, kindly suggest to them that they _retire_ the character instead of killing them off. If the player deems that the character is unlikeable and should die, or that the character would never retire and has to die because that's the only way to get rid of them, they can go ahead. Otherwise, let them retire the character nonlethally.

Any DM who gets upset when safety tools are mentioned.

Worst D&D experience I ever had was DM that was constantly going back and forth with an edge lord evil thief. Arguing was plentiful while party cooperation and loot was low. Played two sessions and simply moved on.

May be a hot take, but the "It's not my task to make the game fun" quote is a bit of a yellow flag for me... I mean, "It's not *only* my task to make the game fun, everyone is a player at this table including the GM, and everyone should bring fun" is completely valid, and "I don't want players to get fun, I want to give them some sort of psychological or spiritual experience" is OK (as long as everyone involved is mentally stable and isn't uncomfortable beyond their limit), just isn't my cup of tea. But it also may be the "I don't care if players like the game or not, and I'm not accepting any feedback" situation, which I did face with.

@twistedpinttavern

11 ай бұрын

I do think it's on everyone to make the game fun, but if the DM just takes a back seat and doesn't care if the players are enjoying themselves or not, that's a problem. The way you said it "it's not *only* my task to make the game fun" is a good way to put it!

The dm who fudge rolls against players and ignores players's ac to make the game harder. They also buff the encounters of a module (curse of strahd in my case) only because they think the players are too strong until they reach a tpk at level 3 because the dm put 10 ennemies on the map.

I've only played with one, and it was pretty rough. Joined a friend's game, had a map of the region and maybe one or two paragraphs of lore. No hook, no mention of the type of game it was. We jump in for session 1 and he hit all of us with the game opening during a town meeting. A council of like 6 dudes are going back and forth dropping heavy lore names of characters and places back and forth. Very deep stuff, no "goblins are causing trouble". After half an hour of this, the floor is opened up to players. We had no idea what to do or say after that. I really felt like my 8 intelligence kobold ranger in that moment. So we just sorta all got into shenanigans for the rest of the session. Me and my husband were dreading going back afterwards so we just bowed out. Expectations are important to settle was something I learned that day.

@twistedpinttavern

11 ай бұрын

If you want to ruin a political intrigue game, that's fine, but you should definitely make sure the players are aware of it lol. That really goes for most game types, I feel like most DMs are worried about giving away too much, but you really need to make sure the players can build their characters to fit into the game, even a little bit, because otherwise they could just end up hating what they're playing. Plus, if someone really doesn't like that type of game, it's best for them to know early and not go through the hassle of getting ready just to leave after session one...

@BunnyWitchcraft

11 ай бұрын

@@twistedpinttavern Hit the nail on the head. I'm not too into political games! Would prefer they got players that would enjoy their story.

1:35 I've only seen the opposite. DMs who I felt were WAY too into homebrew. Two recent pre-session 0 conversations with each of those DMs involved a lot of me pitching my character followed by 1-3 homebrews this reminded them of and heavy-handed recommendations to use that instead of anything remotely official lol

@twistedpinttavern

11 ай бұрын

I mean I like homebrew, but it can definitely go too far lol

A bad DM: punishes you for missing a session (XP penalty, no loot), doesn't know the rules (and argues with you when you do), isn't prepared and can't wing it, doesn't control the game (settle disputes, share the spotlight, keep the game on track, etc.), never lets your character shine, saves party dues ex machina (pointless combats), makes smart characters dumb (same with wis and cha) because the player isn't smart, and doesn't take a break when needed (quits). I think that covers most of mine that are game related.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

On the note of missing a session, I never got why dms don't usually do mini sessions with the player(s) that missed the session to make up for xp and loot if they're so worried about imbalance. Some of my favorite sessions have been with just one or two players to make up for missed story

I used DMPCs on two occasions. First: The Players were all new and didn´t knew combat. I gave them a Paladin as a trainer. Just the basic stuff. Most at the time he trained with them in the wilds, stood aside and gave them advice on positioning, teamwork, and I tried to tell them how their spells worked ingame. He only sprinkeld in some healing or tanked so hits. They liked him and helped him even persuit a personal goal. Second: the players all had squishy characters and they decided to hire two mercenaries for frontliners. They even called one of them meat shield (barbarian) and vhaldrian (forest herb guy in my language). I wasn´t even mad. Without them knowing the characters backstory, the names fitted better than what I called him. So it became name/ nick names. I let them control the mercenaries in combat and I voice them.

Once as a DM I made a mistake where I pretty much ended up ignoring one of my player characters and not bothered making any interactions with him compared to others. This resulted in said player having a blowout expressing his frustration, which admittedly is not a cool move a player should do (definitely a problem player in hindsight), and that blow out made it too awkward for me to even continue the campaign. In my defense I was juggling multiple players and multiple NPC's and any attempts I did try to get NPC's or other characters to interact with him didn't really go well because the player made his character really unapproachable (basically, he was playing this creepy ghost like character, but unlike CR's Laudna, he wasn't the fun-scary kind that liked to socialize...he was cold and completely closed himself from any character that tried to interact with him).

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

It happens sometimes where a certain person doesn't get engaged with as much because of certain things happening, but if you're trying to involve them and they just refuse to take any RP or actual opportunity further, it's on them. You can lead a player to RP, but you can't force them to dance.

@darkpaul1uxgaming269

Жыл бұрын

To me, this sounds like both a player's and your problem. First of all, what did the player expect in the first place? If the player plays a typical **lone wolf edge lord** and is cold, of course, NPCs won't interact with them. But if they meet new NPCs and he doesn't give out right this dark uneasy aura, then yeah, that's a mistake on your part. Additionally, even if he has an uneasy aura, looking creepy, scary, or otherwise would discourage Npcs from interacting. There are always different NPCs you can use, scumbag bandits, brave mercenaries, other edge lords, cheerful oblivious people, manipulative people that want to use others, and other types of characters that you can push to interact with these types of players to prevent them being left behind. Genuinely speaking, DMS should focus on the story and players, making sure that everyone is happy, but the player also shouldn't just sit and expect dm to be all-knowing God and realize that they are upset, both must talk.

@ajerqureshi6411

Жыл бұрын

@@darkpaul1uxgaming269 In hindsight, I probably should have had interactions set with him with a ghostly spirit...and I would have continued the campaign with that acknowledged. The problem was still the player's angry and bitter outburst towards not only me but to the other players as well. I saw kind of too late that he was a bit of a problem player...but I also feel I should have made more effort on my part.

@darkpaul1uxgaming269

Жыл бұрын

@@ajerqureshi6411 Wow, so that guy seriously got jealous and attacked others? How did you handle that player? Have you kicked him, have you tried to talk with him?

@ajerqureshi6411

Жыл бұрын

@@darkpaul1uxgaming269 Not exactly much. After lashing out, he just left. We could have continued on...but the resulting blowout made it too awkward among us we just stopped.

1:41 As a former D&D DM, and now a GM for other games... May I just say, this also applies to much of WotC's own official releases... unbalanced, player power fantasy, bullshite... I recommend to any 5E DM, that they only allow the Core 3 books (DMG, PHB, MM), and then get the rest of their resources from Kobold Press... Tome of Heroes, Tome of Beasts 1/2/3, Creature Codex, Midguard worldbook, etc... all of these things are balanced to the core books of 5E... and frankly, better. Iv had my ToB 1 since it came out, and the binding and quality of that print is still good... my DMG? eehhh...falling apart. And be assured, I use the ToB more then the DMG!

I just gave up (and the rest of my group [4 other players] on today's session after waiting an hour and a half for the DM to show up.

When the ''experienced'' the DM simply read the module and don't know/care about anything about the PC's characters. Got one that, to him, our characters were their race and class and he actually didn't care about anything else and would literally just be reading the module in a monotone voice.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

I understand a new DM having a hard time tracking player details and not being as involved in the module's story and presentation, but an experienced DM doing that just feels lazy. Some people aren't very confident in role play or presenting, and that's okay, but ignoring the players and just not caring about their characters is just lazy.

When a DM constantly makes assumptions about what the players are doing in ways that only hurt those players. For example, I was playing a very high strength character once and decided to push a 15 foot long object through a hallway because I was certain there were traps and I wanted to trigger them before stepping on the target square. Except I used the word "ram through" instead of "push through" so my DM assumed I was carrying the 200 lbs. object (perfectly level in the air from the long end) even though I never said anything about lifting it, then the traps went off only when I stepped on the pressure plates myself. I asked the DM why the object didn't trigger any traps and they said I should have been more clear about not lifting it. Jokes on them though because now every time my character touches anything I take as much time as I can to explain to the DM every possible thing that I'm not doing with it, to his immeasurable dissatisfaction. :)

You can always have a bad player bottle

5:17 mat covil is has good spelled out system for this in strong holds and followers. He also has a vid talking about how to bring in npc retainers + followers Or the side kick system Or several others im not remembering. These characters are not hero's they can be aids to the party but follow there lead. Need to be prompted. Can give small bits lf advice about the world but doesn't have complete information. You could have guides but its focused not expansive. They are the guide for here. This defined location. If you want to give the players a protector for lvls 1 or 2 fine but they are in the back and not involved in the decision making unless the party is really going wrong. Works great with the idea that the first lvl or 2 is the last test before your party goes independent. Basically the players drive the story forward by making impactful decisions. The dm sets this up by setting up Situations where the party members can make decisions like this. Scale should go up or down depending stakes. However npc's in the party should not be makes these choices. They should follow the players lead in basically everything except there own backstory. Even then they should seek the players advice/ aid. Dmpc's should be npc's that assist the party in being awesome. Not the party assisting an npc in there adventure. Now there is a place i think for a 1 or 2 session adventure with a high lvl npc who needs assistance with something. However this is contained. + Is heavily plot related. ++ Gives the players the chance to influence events. Like the high lvl npc turning into a villain, a rift in reality opening or closing, the finnial breath of a great villian that forshadows new geopolitical changes. The players can choose no to go on these assisting adventure they forgo. Possibly accurate information + interactions with major regional changes + rewards. However the story goes on. These are side quests. Not main events. If your characters end up needing high lvl assistance. There will end up being restrictions or the npc will act as the powerful guide. "This is your battle, I will aid where needful + counter what you can not but besides this the fight is yours"

LOL Yep, I'm watching this "just to see if I'm a bad DM." 🤣 My PCs are all family & I feel are scared to tell me. 🙈🙉🙊 However, after watching the video, I feel a lot better about myself. 😉

@twistedpinttavern

11 ай бұрын

Most DMs are great, honestly, there's only a few rough ones out there in contrast! I'm sure you're doing great lol

@jewabeus

11 ай бұрын

@@twistedpinttavern Thanks. Much appreciated.

I am currently prepping for a session in 2 hours in my homebrew world. My characters pointed out that our next quest is essentially Lord of the Rings. Do I feel bad about it, a little. Is it gonna be fun either way, I hope it is for them.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

Homebrew honestly is one of the best ways to play, imo. Yeah, it can get messy, but no other games come close to that table feel of a custom world.

@darkpaul1uxgaming269

Жыл бұрын

It's not a bad thing, Lord of the rings can serve as a simple gimmick, an idea to work on. Just make sure you add some unique aspects obviously, to not make the whole campaign a straight-up copy and you won't need to feel bad.

Worst thing my DM has done is not accept my open bribe .. no he kicks ass

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

Did you try buying pizza for the table? That usually succeeds the bribe check...

@totallynotalpharius2283

Жыл бұрын

@@twistedpinttavern we have pizza one Sunday a month. I’ve tried everything! Cash money , in game money , bringing a lawsuit against him! Good GMs man smh

Not a bad DM, but a thing they do that I consider their biggest fault. What I hate is a DM that over empowers characters, but especially so when they do it in their vision with no input from the player. Your character is also going to get this cleric domain and this other class feature ... Me:" but like, that doesn't suit what I have developed" Or You pick that subclass? Well I'm going to give you this subclass also because that one is too weak. .... not to be ungrateful but, if I wanted that subclass I would have picked it.

I watched this video in order to find out what I did wrong in my campaign that abruptly ended about two years ago. I was a first time DM, and a new player to boot. I did struggle to divide the spotlight evenly between my players, but I tried what I could, and no one complained about being boxed out or favoritism. Once a player complained about me having an NPC they came up with do something they wouldn't do, and got really pissed about it. Was I supposed to ask for a full character sheet with backstory and everything for every NPC they mention in their backstory? I know it sounds sarcastic, but it's a serious question. When one player left, appearently because of scheduling conflicts, I had no idea how to justify him being just... gone.

@CatoftheCanals

5 ай бұрын

Really depends, but I think at least a little run down of players background story NPC's would be helpful if you're going to use them in the game. It really aggravated me when my DM killed off my whole family and then turned my childhood friend evil and forced us to kill him even though several times I had made it clear that my childhood friend was good alignment and for once didn't want to play an orphan in a TTRPG.

#1 sign: He is me

From personal experience* One of the many signs of a bad DM is that they forget the name of the town they were in, what they were doing, AND why they were doing it. Each one of these things happening individually once in a while is of course fine and natural, but it’s clear that if this happens SESSION AFTER SESSION and it’s the PLAYERS who have to remind THE DM what the campaign is about, I feel they aren’t caring enough, and are really just doing a bad job. Other signs from previous experiences including taking 5 minutes to figure out what your going to say for every 7 minutes of the campaign or what your going to have a character say for a pre thought out adventure, not letting me have my 1d6 scimitar be a 1d8 scimitar instead, never letting anyone take a feat, having a constant and never ending stutter stretching simple things like a 2 sentence phrase into 3 minutes.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

I agree on not having things prepped or remembered. It's bound to happen here and there, but yeah, if the DM asks the players every session what they're supposed to be doing, they're not spending much time planning. The scimitar damage thing I think I'd need more info about, because damage dice are important, however some people just tend to say "no, and because I said so" on things that make perfect sense, and that's definitely touchy

@plasmyth5501

Жыл бұрын

@@twistedpinttavern I wont wont get too much into it but basically I just wanted To have a scimitar to match the thematic of my Aladdin inspired fighter, but I still wanted a stronger weapon than 1d6, and he said no.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

@@plasmyth5501 Yeah, honestly the actual "weapon" you use is pretty much all for flavor. There are some occasions where you want to be picky about weapon type, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. You can buy a 1d8 weapon just as easily as a 1d6 weapon, so as long as you use the 1d8 weapon's stats and such, there shouldn't be any issue with saying it looks like something else.

So if the DMPC is only in the story for plot setting purposes and it leaves after 2 sessions is that bad? I do this sometimes…

Until you meet the one who chooses to be an arsehole for no other reason that he clearly has a beef with you.

What's the point in playing D&D if all you are is effectively a DMPC's personal cheerleader?

I almost always let my players try just about anything they want to. If it's too overbalanced they usually get bored with it and want to forget about "that character" and come more in line. My dmpc's, if I give any, are usually way overpowered, although my players usually don't know. My dmpc's exist if I'm unsure of my players needing help or not, not to take the play away from them. If we had fun it went well, if not we talk about it and make adjustments. Nice video, thanks.

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

Honestly you can do a ton of things people would consider "bad" as long as you talk and make adjustments like you said. DMPCs, for example, are 100% fine so long as they don't steal the spotlight from the players, and are more there to help them than to lead them, so it sounds like you've got that down pretty well!

Here's a couple: 1. Using alignment to coerce players into doing stupid things. 2. Making the campaign a "Magical Realm", or in other words, blatantly inserting their fetish(es) into the game without player consent. 3. This one specifically applies to DMs setting their campaigns in the Forgotten Realms... treating the Wall of the Faithless as anything other than either a horrific abomination or non-existent. Ok, I'll admit this one's more of a pet peeve, but my issue with it is that the Wall of the Faithless is, or at least was, an official part of the lore that outright reduces player agency by basically saying "pick a god or your character is screwed after death regardless of how they lived". So using it without making destroying it a campaign objective kinda falls under the whole "reducing player agency" thing.

@twistedpinttavern

11 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, #2 pops up way more than it should...

Me

@twistedpinttavern

Жыл бұрын

That's rough, buddy. (JK I'm sure you're a fantastic DM)

7:15 Big disagree there. I wouldnt play in the forgotten realms in my DnD dependent on it. Sounds like this player just want to be able to use their meta knowledge. 8:00 I'd walk away from a table that tried to have us play in Faerun.