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Narrated D&D Story: Why A Dungeon Master Should NEVER Try To Win DnD
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- Опубліковано 4 тра 2020
- DnD is about teamwork and good times, always remember this.
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This was my story, thank you so much for showing it! We all never played with that DM again, for good reasons lol
Please tell me you and the rest of the players threw the book at this idiot for his complete and utter bs
@@omegamkx588 We simply stopped playing with him or including him in things overall. After that, he kinda showed his true colors and imploded. He thought he was the linchpin of our friend group and his narcissistic behavior came to a head, so we cut ties. Most people in the party were rather non-confrontational, so it was a quiet thing. Of everyone, he was angriest with me because I dared to tell him he was wrong.
So you're telling me there was nothing prior to that event that may this person lead down this kind of path no kind of sliding no outright disrespect you couldn't notice that your friend was dissatisfied with something clearly you knew that they were angry in this story but it's like if they really wanted to kill you guys he would have done it
Is there a previous campaign you can share that can give us light on how the DM played as a regular player? Since you Did DM the games with him and your friends.
seeing the good thing is that you (and your friends) survive against all adversity and a god (your DM) against you, that's some impressive fit... I applaud that
Honestly, I think A DM has won when EVERYONE at the table is having a good time. this story is an example at how NOT to win at D&D
Well Said.
How to tell if you won dnd as dm: your players still excitedly recount a particular scene you set up ages back with the same spark they had in the moment
Well, it depends on the players, if you say this beforehand and they agree and you play fair, then it can be fun. Sometimes.
In general, tabletop victories are cooperative affairs, even including the DM.
Playing competitive CAN be fun under the right conditions, but remember: the DM is *always* a minority at the table.
Here story i was dm and were doing campaing
Wgen i saw my party was getting a bit bored i pulled my ace
A godam sand shark with legs
I alure my party by showing destroy building and being fast as posiible
They they had kill or more poeple would get killed
And made fight in the open dssereat so they deal sun blistering loghts while gaint sand shark
The fight was hard but there were haveing fun while fight the shark
Started useing water beams and created mini sinkholes while being fast while being predictabele
Dont use story by the why we havent campaing yet
The level 0 thing can be fun, if done on session 0. Everyone starts with a normal life and in that session 0, everyone finds their calling. Maybe something to bring the characters together, like starting with a siege wherein the characters find items that will push them to their level 1. A dead wizard with a spell book splayed out next to him. A paladin's shield. A thief's cloak. A clerical symbol. Something to organically steer the WHY of who the characters are. And it gives you an alternative to the tavern trope.
I love this idea! If I ever run more than a one shot, I might use this idea.
Why I'm I thinking about the Dungeon and Dragons cartoons, they find the crew's old stuff as Dungeon Master and Venger call upon the party to combat an even greater evil.....I should write this down
Hey, not a bad idea. Might actually run something along those lines for my own campaigns.
Thanks guy!
my Space game i plan on doing will be similar all lvl 0 and they get there Skills as they play at the end i show them all the Skills they used and they pick what to keep after word session 1 will start after little touches are done
I love that. Ive seen a session zero where each player had four level 0's. Whichever character made it out alive from that player's first session became the level 1. Difficult games can be fun but if a dm wants to slaughter characters to set a tone it should be stated upfront
If they'd pitched the idea of "Unlocking level one" as part of the campaign idea, and everyone had agreed, then that could have had some fun potential. Suddenly springing it on everyone without any warning, that was the worst possible way to handle it.
In addition, he shouldn't have sprung the bite kills rule on them.
When I pitched my idea to my friends, I made it clear that due to the nature of my campaign. They would only have what was on them when they where drawn into my world, which did mean they had no cash. However it did allow for some very interesting things to be brought in such as archeology tools and a flash light.
nah, it's called subverting expectations. he was a player while the narrator originally DMed. when they swapped, the new DM obviously wanted to change things up. the DM doesn't have to say shit. I agree with you that maybe the DM should have had an in game reason as to why they had weakened stats, but you and the players assumed that he was running a typical campaign.
@@omniscientbeing4224 There are better, more organic ways to subvert expectations. If you want your players to start at Lv. 0, you tell them up front before CharGen so they know how to proceed. With the one-hit kill bite, show them an NPC being attacked by a zombie, getting bitten, and immediately zombifying or dying instead of springing it up and doing a retcon.
This DM did everything wrong from the get-go, even with setting a proper mood with the school, because he tried to force the terror and then gave up when *he* got bored.
You subvert expectations by making it seem like something that is typical, and flipping the narrative so your players realize that doing things the typical way will not work.
@@DrakolfGrimm this. Or you point out that people's expectations don't make sense in the first place
How to nerf any gun-
DM: "You don't have infinite ammo and will have to reload."
And that is how it is done.
"This campaign is set in the U.K. where the only guns are zip guns and antiques from both World Wars."
Yup, the gun had both these attributes as well. It was extremely difficult to come across any ammo, so I basically never used the gun unless I absolutely had to. He imposed a 1d4 rounds of reloading the gun if I ever got to the point of needing to reload it during combat.
Some examples of how I do guns:
All damage and range varies according to model.
Semiauto Pistol=4 shots per normal attack, 8 shots maximum with rapid fire. -1 to attack with each additional shot made with rapid fire, and an additional -1 to attack per target reacquisition. Bonus action to reload, must be taken before an Action, -2 shots for an attack that round.
Revolver=3 shots per normal attack, -1 to attack per target reacquisition. Action to reload.
If have revolver speedloader: Bonus action to reload, must be taken before an Action, -1 shots for an attack that round. Drops unfired rounds to the ground, which can be picked up with a bonus action when inhabiting same space. Rounds may roll down hill.
Bolt-Action Rifle (clip)= 1 shot per normal attack, -1 per target reacquisition. 1 round may be reloaded per Action or Bonus Action.
If have bolt action speedloader: refill all ammo for an Action.
Bolt-Action Rifle (magazine)= Same as clip version, except speedloader reload is standard, and there is no single round reload.
Lever-Action Rifle= 2 shots per normal attack, -1 to attack per target reacquisition. 2 rounds may be reloaded with an Action, 1 round may be reloaded with a Bonus Action.
Pump-Action Shotgun= 3 shots per normal attack, no penalty to target reacquisition. Attack uses a 15 degree cone, and all enemies within cone are affected, but enemies behind other enemies get cover bonuses to AC. Range and damage varies with model. 2 rounds may be loaded with an Action, 1 round may be reloaded with a Bonus Action.
If the Shotgun is using Slug rounds, add +1 attack, and can only target one enemy.
If the Shotgun is using Buckshot, a limit of 3 enemies can be affected by each shot.
Semiauto Rifle (clip)= 2 shot per normal attack, 6 shots maximum with rapid fire. -1 to attack with each additional shot made with rapid fire, and an additional -1 to attack per target reacquisition. Action to reload. Ammunition must be depleted before you can reload.
Automatic Weapon= Maximum shots per attack is on a per model basis, -1 to attack per shot to represent recoil after the first shot, for a maximum of -5. When acquiring a new target with your remaining rounds for that attack, reset the attack penalties from recoil. You will receive a -1 attack penalty for every new target acquisition. Action to reload.
If using duel mag: Bonus Action to reload.
If belt fed: Action and Bonus Action to reload.
@@emberfist8347 Webleys are still good guns
@@darkmanstudios3828 If you maintain them yes.
After every session I talk to my players and ask how they felt about the session and how can I improve. More combat, more roll play, more puzzles, etc.
If it’s not fun for everyone it’s pointless
Even after decades, I am always open to critique.
Not going to successfully tailor the story for the group without feedback!
Yep yep.
I'm really bad at giving feedback right after sessions. And I feel a lot of others are as well. I tend to give it spread out over the next day or or two in private.
I do that too! I always worry that they don’t have fun. Even though they have fully screwed over my campaign, I’m just rolling with the punches and hoping that they have fun. Hey, Atleast it’s a fun story to bring up to other DMs
Mon trainer ash D we’ve completely derailed our DM’s campaign. He was great about it. He let us do our own thing, and brought us back to the story line eventually.
Sounds like the DM had some good ideas that would have been a great campaign if he hadn't of been a jerk and missed the point of the game.
Felt like his good ideas were all engineered to murder the players so...
Yeah or blatantly taken from video games. It's just some of the ideas I heard would have been fun if not done with malice.
You're right, and about a year later, I did run a zombie campaign based around having fun with the setting. It wasn't a long game, but it was fun for the players :]
Just realized, your username is the same as the Russian Sniper the USSR sent over to the US during WWII. She was on a diplomatic mission with the FLOTUS to drum up support for American involvement.
Itsfish3 hey can you send me the details of the plot if you have the notes, I am part of a rp thing and would like to run that
Even the dice gods themselves didnt like the guy, even they wanted to stick it to him.
Best comment down here!
The RNG gods are funny that way
This was a great comment
That DM, was a dick
Altering stats that they had rolled infront of the entire group only to be nerfed "I'll put it back once I feel like you've earned it" and throughout the entire campaign they never earned level 1 until they defeated the BBEG.
Its one thing to knowingly have the game as very relentless and unforgiving (refer to the All Things DnD video of "how the rogue outsmarted the entire party and the DM), its another to have the game entirely stacked against you. (Not like Darksouls, more like HyperCube the movie)
If you were a new player to DnD and this guy was the DM, would you play it ever again? Probably not.
This is how you ruin DnD for others.
What you do, is you have the characters get debilitating injuries.
I would have walked out the moment he said "you get lvl 1 when i feel like you've earned it"
that is a HUGE red warning flag.
@@R3GARnatoractually its how the DM gets debilitating injuries.
The fact that he was self-important should've been a red flag; that's not a personality quirk, it's a cry for help.
I get wanting a challenge, but by god this is pushing it.
And this "challenge" even would've been kinda-sorta okay, if he hadn't been withholding rewards on purpose and actively trying to kill them.
@@rollfortales3069 i agree. Honestly if I was told we would be starting at half stats in a lvl 0 start, from the get go before stats were rolled id be gunho about the idea. But the 0 forwarning was b.s..
Its funny this dm probably wouldve had more fun running Call of Cthulu. Impossible odds and despair which boths sides can enjoy? Thats CoC.
He wanted to have a tpk.
I don't think he cares about fun challenging gameplay.
I wonder what made him want to do that?
I hope ppl wasn't gunning for him when he was just a player.
The idea of having to 'earn' level one is odd to me, but if was done in, say, a personal Session Zero One-shot that showed how the character got to where the rest of the party is, that could be quite interesting indeed. Hell, from the sound of it, although the players were clearly sick of his bullshit, they had a great time basically playing as the characters of The Walking Dead. If he'd just kept his mouth shut and maybe thought about how he just had fun running them through difficult scenarios, even if he didn't "win," this probably coulda been the beginning of a beautiful DM-ing career[figuratively speaking] once his buddy showed him how he could've kept the challenge up while not pissing off his entire player-base.
OP, the first red flag shouldn’t have been the fact that the DM cut your stats in half but rather “he saw himself as self-important” as you said.
That, is your first red-flag that a person is not going to be a good DM.
Nah cutting you stats is a big red flag too.
Blake Tyson yea, I said it shouldn’t be the first red flag, as in it’s a red flag but OP should have seen red flags when the DM has previously displayed narcissistic behaviour.
@@emberfist8347 I'd agree in any circumstance except when you have a "that guy" who insists that he "Totally rolled all 18s for starting stats" and "I did it out of session". But yeah in any real circumstance if a DM cuts down your stats, ESPECIALLY after witnessing you roll them, book it and GTFO.
Cutting stats in half for Level 0 isnt main problem,main problem is fact that he not gave them Level 1 until they beated BBEG . -.
I'm five minutes in. I'd have punched the DM because I can just hear the smug look that was in his eyes.
Same, especially when they said the DM was "self-important"
@@kab6754 When I got to the end I knew I'd have thrown him the hell out of the house. Even if it was HIS house. Then posted his picture somewhere. Seriously, i've heard of power-gaming players, but really?
Yeah I wanted to punch him too. Instead I’ll just picture him as that neckbeard from power puff girls.
After listening, I think there is something actually mentally wrong with that DM. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hurts small animals or emotionally abuses his partner(s) if he can even get one. What an insecure little man-child. He should stick to playing games by himself.
@@arthurshat7793 yeah just dont take it like what you think is written in stone k i have seen so many people giveing a pass because what they think is written in stone k
Okay, the starting at level 0 thing could be a way to start a campaign, if the PCs started out as commoners before becoming the adventuring bags of awesome that we come to love pretending to be. Which should (personal opinion) be done in Session zero to help set the mood/tone of the overall campaign.
That said. The DM was a douche. A DM/GM's reward is seeing your players enjoy the story you are weaving around them as they progress the unknown plot.
I'm a newbie DM, and I prefer homebrew content for my player group - both because I find it easy to come up with interesting storylines becaue of my english degree, and because my players love that "unknown" factor - I had them think they were going to fight a Flesh Golem at level 2, when it just turned out to be more of a lost puppy that followed them around for a bit.
I don't see much of an issue with killing PCs, as long as you *okay it with them first.* Maybe they want to bring in their backup character and want their current one to go out in a blaze of glory or something. But trying to kill them for sh*ts and giggles like that is one of the worst ways to DM I've ever heard of. Without players, how is your campaign going to progress?!
I am a somewhat sadistic DM, and a somewhat Masochistic player. I like when horrible things happen to my character, and I like when horrible things happen to my players because I like to roleplay/watch-them-roleplay out dealing with the horrible stuff they've gone through. I like Lovecraftian Heroes, where they've stopped the ancient evil, but rather than being the victorious, uncorruptable hero, they're instead shattered husks of who they were at the start of the tale.
But the goal for me on either side of the table is always to have a hard-fought victory for the players. Half of us died, one of us was crippled, another is insane, but we stopped that damned thing!
I actually love the idea of starting at lvl 0 definitely gonna suggest it to my dm 🥰
The thumbnail looks like what happens if resident evil mixes with silent hill,
Which I'm surprised hasn't happened yet.
The plot soundes like
_" Left 4 Dead "_ also. :)
There is a stage where a party escaping Zombies goes up a hospital to escape with a helicopter.
@Sgt.Wolf -- i'd play THE HELL outta that game, so long as the conrtol system wasn't based on either one(i.e.- the "tank" conrtols of the original games) ...
To me the plot with the hospital and the helicopter made me think of re3's ending.
maybe one day.
The plant gave me Jumanji vibes.
Still.. playing as a DM intent on beating down a group of players in a one-sided affair sounds.. not only mean spirited but you have to be a special kind of prick to get off of that kind of victory of making a story where everyone loses. :/ I am so glad that the party at least won and didn't satsify this prick.
If this was Call of Cthulu that guy, (after taking away 80% of his doucheyness) probably would have been a great dm
I agree that he was definitely mean spirited.
But at the same time having a story where 'everyone loses' can be fun, especially if you follow it up with a story where the players as their new characters follow their old characters footsteps and manage to overcome the villain that beat them before. (Eg, a TPK leads to ultimate triumph)
Honestly he needed the more experienced DM to step in and inform him 'hey, you aren't having fun, we aren't having fun, perhaps we should step back and look over everything to see how to make this fun for everyone'
The new DM was a meat grinder DM, and he needed to be informed of that fact and shown how to do it properly without sucking his and their fun out of the game. If the experienced DM's father was 1st edition then that guy would have known this fact as many 1st edition modules are meat grinders thus most of the DM's from that era needed to learn how to break out of that mentality. And the father (if he does what I do with my niece) would have taught his son (the experienced DM) the warning signs of meat grinders and how best to make it fun (often is a balance of challenge and reward, as most meat grinders I've met just loves the general challenge their players have to fight by encountering deadly encounters)
Long story short, someone should have stepped in to help the new DM realize that what he was doing would result in no fun for anyone and how best to fix that for all.
@@wolfdog1dmn daughter, not son. But a few points. My dad had been playing since 1st edition, that does not mean I grew up with it. By the time I was old enough to truly pick up on what he was running, he was already done with 2e and invested in 3.5, so that's the system I learned since that's all he played. I'm aware of what meat grinder DMing is like, and for the most part the new DM was doing an okay job, he was *not* the type of person who took criticism or passive suggestions well, so I simply didn't make them and let him do his own thing. He also asked me not to comment or backseat DM, so I respected that. We also weren't aware that he was genuinely upset until the end, as DMs can get frustrated in the game occasionally and I figured that's what was going on. No, we weren't fans of the stat slashing or the high standard bar he set but we wanted to play so we dealt with it. Tbh most of the game, we had fun until the very end when we realized he wasn't mad with the situations, he was mad with us for not dying. It was upon reflection of the game that we figured out all those times he was pissy was actually at us, and the times he commented on how we were acting in game were genuine comments on us as players, and none of it was pleasant. Sometimes people make mistakes, and mine was not noticing the situation being worse than I originally thought.
There's nothing wrong with games where character deaths and even party wipes are a high possibility (Call of Chtulhu, Dark Heresy, Kingdom Death). The key point is that the DM and players need to be be very clear and agreed on what kind of game they are playing.
@@Shad094 agreed. I'm currently running a high-kill campaign, but I let my players know beforehand that it was like that and they all agreed to it
Overwhelming obstacles can be fun early on in a campaign. The amount of character growth you can derive from that is amazing. In my first campaign, the first thing we ran into was a tiny village without even a fence that was about to be attacked by gnolls, which were already hunting merchants on the road. And two cities which both were blaming the villagers and were about to eradicate them. Similar to the grocery store scene in this story, we solved the impossible problem by means other than plot armor and frontal combat. We loved it, our DM loved it.
But this nonsense about only achieving something if you kill all your PCs is crap. PCs should die if they properly blunder, as a result of murder hoboing and such things. But "Look at me, I am the god of this world and managed to kill a lvl 0 group" is just pathetic.
I am a Dark Souls fan.
This is a gross mutilation of the idea Dark Souls had where it is punishing and difficult.
Dark Souls is based around trial and error, the respawn mechanic is essential. Slashed stats are a choice of the player if they want, and you get OK equipment.
Yup, never played but from what i've seen you have infinite chances in dark souls, all you need to do is memorize and improve and you'll eventually win against anything the game can throw at you.
Plus base stats for even peasants are about 10 each so by halving them he made the characters worse then the average peasant, which wouldn't even make sense narrative because supposedly those characters were living lives in that city before the outbreak, so somehow after the outbreak they got stupider, slower, less resilient, ect.
@@Nyghtking Dark Souls is all about the struggle. You struggle, you die, you come back, and each time you learn a little more, get a little better, get a little further. It took me over a month to beat Dark Souls 2 through trial and error alone. It was brutal, but the high that came after I finished was amazing.
Yeah, this dm has the distinct honor of officially creating a game more unfair than any souls game ever. That's saying something.
Unfair crap may happen in souls at times, but at least the game generally gives you a real chance.
Souls tells you to prepare to die in the sense that it wants you to get used to the bloodshed and butchery you'll face time and time again, only to rise and overcome like a real champion.
This dm essentially said prepare to die in the sense that they had no chance, and that they were never meant to have any chance to begin with because it was truly rigged.
By using souls as an influence, this dm disgraced miyazaki.
While I think this could be a good premise for a setting, good enough I have a world concept around 'respawning,' it really is surprisingly difficult to pull off. Although there are many disconnections between a computer game and a table top game, the rolling of dice is probably the primary reason why this concept struggles. That randomness will always have the possibility of nullifying any skill the character/player acquires, making the whole 'hit my head against a wall till it breaks' tactic not just possible but cost-effective.
@@dorianrobinette9712 unfair what are talking about *nervously looks at elevators*
I would've walked out when he said we had to *earn* level 1 when _he_ felt and not gain it through game.
Edit: I definitely would've left after he had zombies 1-hit ko the players and called them stupid
I've never played DnD....only roleplay sessions, but even then, trying to "win" is a big nono...everyone should be having fun, not just the DM.
I don't understand how someone can have fun by torturing their friends
@@paranoidpagan5243 these kind of people don't seen people as friends, they see tools they can use to help them enjoy their own life.
Well, they can at least say they beat the DM at his own game.
I hate to admit it, but I used to be like this DM. My jr high self was all about punishing the players and "winning" at the game. Thankfully, I matured and learned it is all about the fun of spending time with friends crafting a great story.
Me: That image looks like something from Resident Evil
Narrator: "...as this guy ruined [Dark Souls, Resident Evil, and Bioshock] for us"
Me: ...well, shit
1 in 5 chance. That's some bull, what was he using? A dirty 9 mm with aged ammunition.
'Ex-police? Here, have a Zip .22'
Probably made of rotting wood firing musket balls
I'd say he got a Hi-Point, but those are actually surprisingly good, I'd say a Sig, since those have picked up a reputation in law enforcement circles as being a bit...explodey
I mean you might be able to make the case for light strikes but most people think firearms are magic anyway so that's probably not what he was going for
@@loyallycan Agreed, but no matter what, that's a shitty DM
A whole thing "You need to avoid any combat or you will die" is interesting concept and could be a lot of fun if done right. "I want you to die so die already" is a big no-no.
I'm actually dming a meatgrinder zombie apocalypse D&D game right now. It's nowhere near as gruesome as this guys, but being bitten does mean death or amputation. I made sure to let my players know in as much detail as possible what they were getting into before the game even started and so far all of them have loved the challenge. Even though, as of this posting, we're only 3 sessions in and none of the original characters are alive. I still haven't heard anyone complain and received only positive feed back from the players. So you can do a game like this where everybody is happy and without trying to "win".
I'd love to play a game like that
This actually sounds like fun! I'd gladly play that and have no issues. :]
“When I THINK you’ve all earned level one”?!?!?! The frell does that mean?!
it meens fuck you you never getting level one
Luke unknown the galaxy hero@ couldn’t have said it better myself
Honestly seeing how this game is largely Resident Evil inspired then the other Inspirations! It's easy to see he was never going to let them be level one you know because you don't actually half stats or experience points in a Resident Evil game son! It's still shity because we're not playing a Resident Evil Resident Evil inspired but now the Resident Evil because even if it was very heavily inspired by Resident Evil that game at least fair with what it allows you to pick up and have even though Resident Evil Outbreak games which I would see this more inspired by you know working together with other players still allowed you to get what you need and if you are wasteful while that's your own fault! This thing look like it was being played on the hardest difficulty in a Resident Evil game and the developers decide to be even dickish by removing a major amount of supplies and items with the delusion that they're making it genuinely difficult for the b******* realistic mindset when it's not a good idea to plays realism in a horror setting oh, there's a reason why allowances are allowed because if you ever found yourself in a hard situation for all you know you might realistically find supplies everywhere the only way you wouldn't find supplies easily is if someone went jigsaw on you and set you into their man-made game where everything is set as they designed it! Quite ironic since it seemed he was doing exactly that to them
Being a DM means you are there to guide and help the players through the story that you created, for the enjoyment of all in the table. if it isn't fun for you to do that, don't DM. just don't - it won't end well, as you saw here. there's enough enjoyment being a player in DnD, and DMing is just not for everyone. make sure you understand what DMing entails, and what it doesn't - like killing the PCs just because it's fun for you. your job as a DM is to bring joy to everyone in the table.
thanks for reading, I'm out. hope it helps some would-be DMs here.
DnD is about teamwork and good times. Don't be like this DM. Please.
Dont post false things?
Still wondering how a Zombie is a Historical event
I would never. Plus, I don't want to end up looking like a total monster on reddit or an online story posting on Bad FnD experiences.
This is why I don't trust DMs; they're all out to get you O.O
I think it is pretty epic that a DM admits his twisted intentions and that the party escapes the Final-Destination styled campaign. :)
@@Its.Daem0n, what's wrong with you? Why do you wanna bash him for just telling stories.
Real or not, they're just stories, some with morals, others made just for fun. I figured that you wanted to blast him for saying something is a "Historical Event" when the full title is just a What If video.
Please explain yourself.
See, the level zero thing isn’t a bad idea considering the fact that in this setting, most people are likely just normal people, so it’s a fun and realistic challenge. The item thing is kinda dumb, but I can see what he was going for, if you are just a normal person, you likely wouldn’t even be able to afford all the stuff that adventurers have.
I have designed my own roleplaying system, and I think I found a good way to balance starting items. The player and the dm TOGETHER figure out a realistic budget of in game currency that the character would likely have access to, we then spend said budget on items to start with. Whatever you don’t spend becomes your staring pocket money.
Also this whole thing has the makings of an amazing campaign, the DM just wasn’t thinking about the fun of players. He made a great campaign for himself and not his players
"It isn't about winning! It's about fun!"
"What's that?"
"Fun is when you... Fun is.... It's like.... it's kinda.... Sorta like...
What is fun? Let me spell it for you!"
mariofan1ish
F is for friends who do stuff together!
U is for you and me!
N is for anywhere and anytime at all, down here in the deep blue sea!
@Josiah Sepulveda What's a friend?
@@marquisealexander1371 F is for fire that burns down the whole town.
U is for Uranium Bombs
N is for no survivors.
@@emberfist8347 Plaknton!
@Josiah Sepulveda Oh, right. I remember eating something that someone was calling a "friend" once. It was pretty tasty, but the noise was annoying.
My first DM did homebrew crit tables. He was from the 1st edition generation. I'll say he was thorough with the possibilities, but the effects were always catastrophic with no save. My first character was Dwinky the Dwarf. I was 13, so gimme a break. Lol. Dwinky had gotten a homebrew magical battle axe, called Liontooth, that could reflect spells. Dwinky even used it like a tennis racket to knock a fireball back at a Drow mage to save a companion at one point. After reaching level 9 is when the DM's crit tables came into effect. Soon after, the party was accosted by a pair of manticores and poor Dwinky had his throat ripped out by a thrown tailspike.
Yeah, I have a DM that likes to use crit tables as well. on a double nat 20, rare as that is, you then have to roll percentage. Roll low and you do a normal crit, roll mid to and get an enhanced crit, but roll too high and your weapon breaks because your character put too much OOMPH into the swing. Really ruins a dungeon when your weapon breaks after the first fight.
@@NavyMonk89 my DM had a good 75 options, rolled for with percentile dice. 00 was decapitated. Lots of other catastrophic dismemberments on the list too. 2.5 had much better and more varied crit tables. Severity based on weapon size vs target size. Attack bonus from strength and Magical modifiers applicable. The list went from 3-13, but even a large weapon vs a small creature only got to roll like 2d4 to determine severity. And a save vs death was allowed to avoid instant kills.
“YOU CAN’T WIN AT [DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS] _Just like you can’t win at LiFe..._ “ - Magnus The red I think
“YirbeL liveS” - me
“It makes you FEEL like a Dungeon master!” - IGN
Ah, a fellow TTS fan! Hello, welcome to hell.
@@flyboy6392
_You crit fail Tzeench's curse._
*FUCK YOU TZEENCH*
@@BracketsAttackets My faith in the spleen of the cards was well placed.
@@flyboy6392
*Magnus. Your character's Will Power is 10.*
_eh-. Eh?_
@@BracketsAttackets It's even funnier when you realize that's Custodisi's actual willpower!
Had a DM once that couldn't accept when the party liked a weaker NPC and kept trying to insert characters that other DMs wouldn't allow him as our NPC. Just one on a long list of things he did that drove us from his table. Hope he sees this video.
Had a DM like this. Admittedly wasn't totally his fault b/c we were playing without the rules (at a military base) but guy refused to consider giving put any tangible reward
Ie i find a sword
"It does 1d4 dam and is worth 5 coppers"
That's one thing that everyone should remember at all times, TTRPGs should be fun for all players. And that's doesn't only refer to PCs, the DM is also a player.
When a GM flies red flags on high, it is time for you to say goodbye. Rather than allow them to make the game a waste, just gather your things and head to the door with all haste.
That is hands down the most garbage story I've heard yet of a bad GM. If you can't understand the heart and soul of a TTRPG is fun for all, where you and players weave a story together, then you should never be behind the GM screen.
It's a shame that the DM couldn't get that it isn't about who "wins D&D." Sounds like a cool campaign.
You could actually rewrite this video, preface it with the limitations being known and agreed to by everyone, and take out all the DM being angry garbage. It'd basically be a D&D verison of Resident Evil Outbreak. Ordinary people, one special skill or item, trying to survive against all odds. With a large enough group, you could even have some neat social dynamic problems. Maybe one of the characters is selfish, and when it comes to risking their life to maybe save someone, they just nope the fuck outta there. Again, assuming the group is cool with that aspect.
I was thinking the same thing. The school part was practically the abandoned hospital section.
How did Cracked magazine put it? "If you're this obsessed with always winning, odds are that losing is your natural state.
No player should ever have to deal with a dm like that. As he said; dnd isnt about winning and losing, its about having fun with friends!
It upsets me that the dm didnt get just as excited when the players won. Its the best part to me. Setting up crazy difficult challenges and watching their characters grow and overcome. It's so rewarding when I get to see my players enjoy their success and I love when they fail only to achieve even greater feats later down the line
He rigs the whole game in his favor and still can't win, then whines about it like it's a skinned knee. The DM was right about one thing though, he just can't win, and that's because he's a loser at life.
three golden rule of DMing:
1st rule of DMing: don't be a sore loser. because you will face loss, ALOT.
2nd rule of DMing: be flexible. because with every plan you had, the player has five tangents to derail your plans.
3rd rule of DMing: have fun, but not at the expense of your players. it is a game for the group, not just yourself. make sure everyone is enjoying their time together.
Amen, cant believe the unbreakable patience of that party
As a DM you CAN'T win, at all, you're Literally god when you're behind the screen and the only things you can't control are the players's dice and their actions, if you wanna kill 'em all, there is always a way, but it's not gonna be fun for anyone and a hollow victory because you control how many enemies are around, you can fudge your own rolls and know all the enjoinment, it's like winning a game tournament using hacks, you can't lose, but you also can't win.
1- your name is amazing and season 4 just came out on Netflix
2- some people can’t handle the power of being DM
@Nylthanyr IV it's a nice sentiment but that's not how competition works bud
did that father daughter game ever get finished?
I'm glad I've never had to deal with a DM like that. You can often encounter people who turn things into competitions and potentially ruin things for the players, but the DM granted his powers to maximize the fun, no one wants to play a game where the only goal is for the DM to kill their players.
This to me just screams of a person who couldn't create scenarios tough enough or creative enough to actually challenge experienced players and… I mean I don't blame OP for letting the friendship go. It's a trust violation of friendship, and it's mean. It's also really, really, *really* lazy. Even with "normal" story telling (single author) you're not "winning" anything. You're creating. If this DM wanted to make a challenging Level 1 campaign he could have done so many other things. It sounded like he just wanted to torment his "friends." And that's not the point of D&D.
One big thing this DM missed is that the challenging games are the best when they are able to be completed and overcome through hard work or creativity. Making things so impossibly hard and unrewarding that you literally have to break the game to overcome it kind of defeats the purpose of making a challenging obstacle.
He also forgets how great it feels to overcome those challenges on your own and without outside help. Im sure he would appreciate Dark Souls much less if he used cheats to get through some of the harder content
The DM in a nutshell: “Wow y’all are dumb for getting bit by a zombie, y’all need to think clearer with your half stats and one item only” 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Had things been a little different it sounds like this could've been a really cool campaign. I actually like the idea of normal level zero people being thrust into an adventure and having to come up with creative solutions to encounters. Too bad it was just being used as a way to kill the PCs though.
There is only one way as a DM to win in a TTRPG.
And that is if everybody else at the table feels like they won.
If a DM wants to win, he will. If he doesn't he's just really dumb. All that aside, find joy in your players happiness
I've been a DM for literal years, off and on, sometimes through one on one RP with close friends. DMing, or with the one on one collaborative story telling, is literally all about mutual enjoyment and working together to create something everyone enjoys. Game I was running, players ran into a champion of a Dragon, one that i legitimately wrote to be a FF style Dragoon bullshit leap attacker, almost one shot the Barbarian, Wizard killed him with Phantasmal Killer because I as the DM had not thought about that as a spell. Fail the Will save, Fail the Fort, because he was all about Reflex. I just stared at the dice, obviously dumbfounded a 5th level spell killed a CR 18. And then just rolled with it, and the players actually genuinely loved that worked.
As a DM I have felt mentally fatigued after sessions, it is *hard* work entertaining people and responding on the fly if they go in a direction you didn't plan on. But ultimately it is far more satisfying to have to change my plans on the fly and roll with it, than to try to "win". Even the Dragoon, while my *plan* had been for a tough fight before the Dragon interfered to end it, or for the players to "lose" but still the RP aspect with the Dragon. For them to defeat the encounter on the second turn through that, I would never take that sort of thing away from the players.
I dislike metagamers, and power gamers heavily. It ruins the fun for me as a DM, and it tends to ruin the fun for everyone else because it becomes the power gamer showing off how bad ass their fantasy character is. Something I struggle with myself but am working on is DMPCs, and that is mostly because I have *rarely* played a game, I am usually called on to DM them. And I want to take a break, and don't get the chance.
And I have borrowed from other things, for my long running game, I borrowed heavily from Slivers for a unique monster threat, and even did a one shot that two of the regulars showed up for, that set the stage for the world as their players were, and worked some of that in there through their actions.
I enjoy creating for players, but just lately because of work I have just been mentally fatigued and exhausted at the idea of actually running a game again. And as I said above, I am never a player, so that fatigue doesn't go away.
@@DwarfyDoodad i know how you feel, i am in the same position, even the agreement that once in a while someone else DM´s at least a one shot to give me a break hasn´t been honored to this day.
I actually think the first part sounded very interesting. About slashed stats and wanting it to be difficult. And starting at session 0 and lvl 0 and don't get lvl 1 till a lil ways in sounds like a cool concept. But I don't think I would personally slash every stat in half. I would make them a base line of 10(what a normal human with not being heroic has) and if they have any bellow 10 it stays at that one. But does sound fun I wanna try that with a group of experienced players.
You might need to fine tune it first. Something like this is usually done in RPG games when you get a status effect or wear something.
When I DM I often fudge numbers to keep my players alive, I can't imagine someone who is actively trying to kill their players XD
The DM wins when the players tell them they are having a good time and enjoying the story and obstacles they're encountering.
I liked the story setting and concept though. I struggle a lot with power scaling, and I like how challenging this sounded. If the DM had the players to have fun though, it would have probably been a great game.
@ Sandman
Thank you for the great idea!
"The level 0 thing can be fun, if done on session 0. Everyone starts with a normal life and in that session 0, everyone finds their calling. Maybe something to bring the characters together, like starting with a siege wherein the characters find items that will push them to their level 1. A dead wizard with a spell book splayed out next to him. A paladin's shield. A thief's cloak. A clerical symbol. Something to organically steer the WHY of who the characters are. And it gives you an alternative to the tavern trope."
I’m doing an online session with some friends right now. There all actually starting at level 0 but that’s just because I’m doing individual sessions with them right now where they start as normal people by the time the actual campaign begins there going to be level 1 at least I think this is the only fun way to do level 0
Dungen masters are not about trying to get the party killed, they are the narrator of the players story. your not supposed get joy out of getting your players killed, if anything you should be happy about creating tense environments
That being said, it's not necessarily bad if a DM kills a PC, especially if it's a more challenging encounter. Unless it's something like a TPK module, the explicit purpose shouldnt be a TPK, but having a TPK, even if the DM is having fun with it, isnt a bad thing unless the players just have no chance or fun
Oh boi this could be our dm in 2.5 edition. FeelsBadMan
1:05 this sounds familiar. I spent days making a ship and mapping out sea encounters and my players said "naa, lets go back to the druids"
My sessions where and are wacky situations with out-of-the-box solutions. Like a wrestler protecting a magic item to defeat the BBEG who was good at 1v1, and demand that with a solid threat of an entire gang after them if they don't where it was needed to use support spells like Bless and Heroisim on the chosen combatant, and use debuffs on the wrestler with a low chance of them being caught.
This sounds like it could be done well, starting as normal people sneaking around and avoiding the deadly threat, and becoming more like adventurers as you go along. It would just have to have a well made difficultly curve. Maybe start in a town where the virus has just arrived and there aren’t many zombies yet.
As a dm. I have no quarls inst killing my players. But vice versa my players can insta kill my encounters. My rule was, the combat isn't whats meant to he fun. Its the monsters I wanted to use. I just made my players so OP as to survive. Things like my level 20 fighter having a verbal blade, boots of speed, and a +2 sheild of fire absorbation. And add 5 other players just like that. So what if they fought 3 demon lords at once? That was awesome.
Note: we still had fun
Matt Cobil said it best: "If they're having fun, you're having fun."
god, this story gave me flashbacks on a resident evil campaing, the DM litterally gave me a real sinker life saver, specially when in the end i tried hard to play with the party to escape...like i had to roll a crittic to earn a weapon chance...but in a dead end and surprise...it wasnt charged or no munition next...
That GM can call himself lucky he didn't get punched in the face at the end.
I know I couldn’t play with an adversarial DM. The DM should put in challenging encounters, not try to kill the players.
@@DabroodThompson there are two elements that make encounters extremly wonky, the players decissions and the dice, it is crazy lucky rolls and clever decisions for what to do make deadly encounters look like a simple sparing excercise and simple encounters the party should be able to solve in one round or less become the tpk
I love listening to the stories of dnd players so much I started playing and started playing my first campaign as a dwarf who loves potatoes
>You were all supposed to die at level 0!
Gee I was starting to wonder.<
This dm was Soooo transparent too...
What's really weird is that if the way the campaign worked were explained at the very beginning, and if the DM understood that getting through these hard scenarios was actually something to be applauded, this could have been a story the OP could tell with a smile on his face about overcoming all odds and winning nearly unwinnable encounters. If everyone were on the same page, this would have actually been a pretty awesome campaign.
What you described here is what we thought was happening, until the end tbh. Like, yeah we weren't fans of having our stats slashed and the insane difficulty, but we were sporting enough to go along with it. And it was fun for a good chunk of the campaign... it was only really at the end when we realized he was actually angry *with us* for not dying to his traps. When he got mad before, we thought it was because we defeated his traps, not because he was pissed he couldn't kill us yet again. After his outburst at the end, it put everything into context and soured the whole game for all of us. Things we felt pride and accomplishment for in the campaign were suddenly tinged with negativity as we knew the truth of it after. It really sucked.
@@grimmgangler5035 Man, I'm really sorry to hear that. Like, even if he'd intended to just make it hard for a sense of accomplishment, he should've explained that in the start. But he didn't, and he didn't intend for you to even try to win. I can see why he's not a friend anymore.
Had a similar experience with a "former" friend that wanted to host a Unisystem "All flesh must be eaten" Resident Evil the movie style of campaign... There are 3 tiers of PC types in the Unisystem the Norm (basically npc lvl), the Survivor (the actual hero, the final girl etc) and the Inspired (the guy or gal with supernatural powers), he only allowed Norm pcs, it took me 15 minutes of reading the manual to made a Norm pc with stats almost equivalent to a Survivor... after a little discussion in which I demonstrated how I had made the character following every rule in the book he just quitted the campaign.
That was not the first time he tried to make our group play an impossible escenario type of campaign with underpowered characters so he could spend and evening cackling about how he killed us... and I do mean that he tried cause we never gave him the satisfaction no matter what BS he pulled nor how much he cheated we always found a way to overcome it, that time was the last chance we gave him, then we kicked him out of the group
PS: We could tell what he was planning even if he was never upfront about it because he even forbade us from reading the rulebooks of whatever game or system he wanted to run.
Sighs. I would never make a homebrew off the movies, especially as a staunch fan of the games whose mindset is 'Eww, Live Action Movies bad' and let me tell you, there are far more opportunities to cook up a RE-flavored zombie scenario using the games as a basis, rather than the movies. For instance, you can play as BSAA and FBC operatives trying to get civilians out of the hellhole that is Terragrigia or play as people trying to make it out of Raccoon City. Hell you could have played a campaign where you were all villagers who were reacting to Saddler's rise to power within the community pre-RE4. All of this is especially true when you look at the monsters the movies have versus the monsters seen in the games. The games don't limit themselves to just zombies and don't only have humanoid monsters which allows for a lot of versatility.
@@tcrpgfan Oh, we were not trying to play on the world of the movies nor the videogames, his idea was a "Hive" type scenario, underground lab full of Zombies and other monsters, PCs waking up with drug induced amnesia, no weapons, not even clothes besides patient gowns, but giving to the fact that he was not a very smart person I wouldn't put bellow him to rip off the first movie entirely and hoping he would TPK us before we'd realize it.
Me personally, I'd rather play a classic zombie apocalypse scenario with no explanation as to were and how they came to be, I'd even play a more sci-fi inspired version of that just to add BOW-Like monsters to break the monotony. That being said, those are all great ideas for a campaign, thanks!
@@LeonGarnet No prob. The main reason I'm more of a staunch defender of the games is that the storylines are more interesting than the typical Zombie Apocalypse scenario normally provides (Last of Us is awesome) simply because the series shows society as a whole actually beating the virus back and if a situation is truly unsalvageable... we nuke it from up on high. Other Zombie scenarios tend to go into 'Humans are the real monsters' type of stories, which tend to be rather 'bleh'. RE, just doesn't do that, by simply rephrasing the theme by saying '_Some_ people are monsters. A lot really aren't. And really... why are you trying to make some grand statement that a truckload of others have made? Just have some fun.'
@@tcrpgfan Totally agree on that, Zombies are fun and Zombie movies and games don't need to go pseudo-philosophist/bigmessage/myactivism on the viewer/gamer, that just sucks off the fun out of it.
I too love the RE saga, just not the last two games (not my cup of tea). The movies I like to a degree (they are awful bad storywise and an abortion as an adaptation of the games) for the wild action scenes and some of the actors did made a good job with what little was given to them.
@@LeonGarnet Actually... I liked Village. It's first person, sure, but it's closer to 4 than RE1 like RE7 was. The shooting feels better. Ethan isn't a snail, and, shock of all shocks, they Kill off major characters again (I'm of the opinion the MCs are getting close to Donald Glover in Lethal Weapon than their younger selves.)
So I've played with a DM who was similar, who really loved Survival Horror as a genre and kept running D20 Modern with either "You're in Resident Evil" or "You've been kidnapped by Evil Scientists, try to escape" as themes. Between that and his older brother who could pass for the DM from the All Guardsmen Party stories, I learned to minmax and minmax hard. Especially D20 Modern's Unarmed Combat rules, as 9 times out of 10 nobody was allowed a starting weapon, especially not a gun, and on the rare occasions we *were* allowed guns, ammo was so scarce and the penalties for making that much noise were so severe that they were more like traps than useful tools. Even when we played D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder, he was also a big JRPG fan, and he wanted every villain he wrote to be like Sephiroth or Kefka, constant annoyances who'd make several appearances before we'd finally take them down. Of course, that rarely actually happened, as he'd generally forget to have them actually run away once we started winning, and we weren't the prisoner taking sorts after the first few times where the villain would always escape and we'd have to do the whole song and dance over again.
A meteor falls from the sky. Everyone takes 550 (100d10) damage, with no save. The party is surprised by forty invisible Liches, each of them casting Finger of Death at a party member. The room, and the rest of the complex, is filled with deadly neurotoxin; each round everyone has to make a DC 20 save against poison or die.
As a DM, killing the party is no challenge at all if that's really what you want to do. You have that power.
I wanna DM this homebrew campaign I have been designing for about a year now. I am just waiting for exams to finish to run the first session with some friends
I do not intend on "winning" by slaughtering them and putting impossible barriers in their way
I want to channelled them so it feels even better when they overcome the odds. I want them to feel real excitement and joy.
Cool. If you want advice do a session zero to see what your players think of the campaign + any house rules or general tone you want for the game. Not just telling them but getting their opinion and incorporating it.
@@user-mc2qh4nv5g Definetly wanna do a session zero
It'll help me get a feel for what their characters are gonna be like and what backstory they had in mind, so I know how best to get them hooked and invested
I'm sure you'll do it great with that spirit!
If it's your first time: never forget talking with your Players. Ask them questions how to improve after a session and never forget to improvise, if your story doesn't end up as you liked. Never railroad them.
We had a session where we just selled lemonade in a city because we wanted to. The DM played along and the next week we followed his story again after this funny event.
@@onurcradibleable I real wanna give my players choices, and different branching quests to avoid rail roaring them
To begin I only ask the players to make characters that want to Join and adventuring guild, and join a party.
From their it's up to them which quests they accept from the quest board, each providing different styles of game play.
They could choose to do them all or just the one or two which they find interesting.
These quests could vary from: Helping Dwarfen Minners, whom accidently intersected with Kobold tunnels
Collecting ingredients for an alchemist
Assisting with construction work
And so on...
If they decided they wanna push pause on a quest an do something else, they're always welcome to. I've got ideas on how to make fishing and street performances fun
What would winning at DnD in the context of being a DM even mean? As a DM you're a storyteller, storytellers aren't telling a better story when all of their characters are dead.
Another example of one person's power trip attempt, sad. However, we all can be affect by this mindset in one form or another. Thanks for the story @Itsfish3 and the All Things Dnd channel. Here's hoping none of us are making the same error; without learning from it at the very least.
I was actually thinking of having a Level 0 where the players will be "normal" and then they would become the heroes they were meant to be. Def not trying to kill the characters during this level 0 though and I'm still trying to figure out how to do this.
The DM wins by creating a fun game for the players. He challenges and pushes them. When they succeed and have fun, he wins.
I think it’s 100% possible for a DM to win D&D, if the players have fun then the DM has won! In my opinion
I'm a newbie DM, but put on this Facade about rigging encounters to be tougher, so my players feel more triumphant over each encounter. sorta like a villain who hits the heroes with everything he can muster only to be defeated, and return later with more bad guy flunkies. I always reward the players after each encounter, because I figured it keeps the game fresh if they get a pelt, here some gold there, ect.
Tfw yo little baby brother gets his hands on the infinity gauntlet and you take it away from his because he tried snapping adults out of existence
"Sorry kid, you can't handle the power"
He sure did rip his scenarios out of other games. That school scenario with the plant and the psycho? That’s from a survival horror game called Obscure.
i remember that game because of the second game and that BS final boss
but, the psycho trying to feed them to the plant sounds more like the one from resident evil outbreak files #2
@@Leostar-Regalius I mostly remember because I somewhat enjoyed the first game and thought the second one was the biggest piece of crap ever. Also, I love puns, and for better or worse that game makes excellent cannon fodder whenever I want to talk about the most Obscure game I've ever played.
@@nothri the second game was confusing for me, i never beat it because of how stupidly hard the last boss was, even with more then one player
Notes from a NG human Idiot;
Greetings from lovely Restenford(bit breezy here, but otherwise we're good....)!
The DM in this story is the worst example of Arrogance i've ever seen in the "Upper Nobility". I'm honestly glad OP is no longer his friend. I WILL give the DM credit for the Setting and Atmosphere though, as it was a beautifully well done and fit with a Zombie Apocalypse world. I'm reminded of an old saying from my teacher..
"Arrogance is an unhealthy ego in need of repair."
May your pantheon ever favor you(especially in these trying times)
Baron Trevelyan of Restenford
Teacher irl or in character? Either way good advice. *I take*
@1 1 -- in character, but i tend to collect famous quotes and re-write/skin them for stuff i'm doing at the time.
@@johnnysizemore5797 oh then here's one
"If you don't believe in magic, you'll never find it."
@1 1 -- nice one. Thanks for it!
Man, I really want a dm to do one of those "the door slams shut behind you"/"the rocks fall, blocking the cave's entrance" things but then just have it be the wind or a bunch of small pebbles that can easily be moved. Easily avoided "trap" if the pcs investigate.
I DM'd my first session last weekend with my friends and it was so much fun for everyone who was playing including myself. I homebrewed my own content so everything I did I had to start from scratch from the map to the monsters my friends encountered. My friends really enjoyed the first session and are actually asking me to finish writing the content for the 2nd chapter because they want to keep playing my campaign.
(We played our session online and actually streamed online given that Coronavirus ia a thing today)
A DM wins when EVERYONE is having fun.
I'm not normally a vulgar person, but if I was in that group when the DM finally gave up trying to kill them, I'd be flipping him the double middle fingers.
And I bet you he's now not playing any games for that kind of behaviour. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be at his table.
I didn't do this but a friend of a Friend experienced something similar with a d&d zombie breakout. Trapped at level 1 for 20 sessions characters kept dying and rolled up new ones. He then said that they had to earn their classes and that after successfully passing 10 skill checks they could level up 1 stat, they all started at 10 for everything. An if you failed all your stats would go down. The DC was increased more and more for each check ranging from 11 to 20. Only one person was allowed to do it at a time as everyone else would have to fend off a Zombie horde that outta aggro'd for no good reason and their was always 5 per person at the table. It was also more or less like your story with the bite and you die.
I'm not proud of this but I thought it was amazing at how quickly it down poured. I bought a weighted D20 for the first friend who thought she had obtained the Wil Wheaton dice curse do to her bad rolls. It was a Magenta D20 with Dull Gold Numbers. I did a ritual with her to try and shake it and reached from my bag of dice pulling out the weighted one. It helped break her out of her stupor.
Why is this relevant? Because I asked if'd like to borrow my weighed D20 just to mess with the DM. I thought it'd be no harm as they could probally only get away with using it once or twice. I NEVER expected what happened next. He destroyed the DM's campaign and got everyone to their respective Stats. They Focused on the Physical aspects because the DM would blow off any role that required information gathering, judgement calls, or asking NPC's for help. He and EVERYONE else the table went to paint their D20's to look exactly like mine. They apparently would systematically trade off the die when the DM called bullshit. They could keep one in their sleeves and swap it out when they picked it up to do a test role to show that it wasn't weighted. One time a fake die actually rolled a D20 on accident and the DM threw it out the window. The story went better with their improved stats to a Necromancer that was taken residence in tower overlooking a city. The BBEG started Gloating about how'd they've fight their way up and the Friend of my Friend used their exteneded grapple hook the BBEG and withe one final role of Cheat Die he essentially ended him Like how Legolas Ended Sarumon.
BBEG was Surrounded by the Party who then took legit hits at him being prone and when it was clear that all their Attacks weren't doing anything they fed him to the Zombies. He tried to BS his way out of Being immune but shot that down as for the overpowered defenses for his tower.
I was Horrified when the Friend of a Friend Returned the Dice to me and told his Story.
I've only played DND a few times. But I know enough to know that if I see a DM erasing my stats and replacing them without at least discussing it with me, I'd immediately head home lmao. Also it baffles me to no end that he didn't realize his lack of enjoyment was because of him.
I get a DM beefing up an encounter if it is meant to be a challenge and it isn't. There is nothing wrong with that.
The problem is when you do it to "win" rather than enhance the session. This DM sounded like a douche.
A DM's fail condition is all players quit.
To add to the bit at the end, my DM outright stated in one of our campaigns that it would be difficult, you eill either be smart or die. No hand holding, no ressurections or anything like that. It was also a zombie scenario.
Since we were told how it was, it only made it better.
I rekon if the DM outright stated there was a very high chance they would die, it would have been a bit more enjoyable for both sides
I have no idea why people do this. The joy that I felt when one of my players said “dude you’ve outdone yourself, I literally have chills from that scene” can’t be described. And hearing one of my players giggling is funny as well. I mean its just so much fun being at the other side of the table describing things for them.
1. This DM is a sore loser. I guess playing D&D and similar games where "winning" and "losing" are abstract concepts is the only reason they didn't realise that this guy didn't like "losing".
2. This DM has missed the whole point of DMing. The DM shouldn't want to "win"... the DM should want to LOSE because when the players "win", they feel good. Sure, set up tough encounters and make the players work for their victory, but the DM should expect to lose the encounter because the game isn't about them, it's about the players.
Exactly. If we had known from the beginning he had a Win/Lose attitude towards it, I don't think any of us would have agreed to it at all.
@@grimmgangler5035 It's a shame it ended up like that :( . Sorry the game cost you your friendship with them, though I guess there was more to it than just this game.
How far have you gotten with a campaign, and what system was it?
@@Kingpin1880 your question is a bit confusing, so I'll just answer a few versions of it.
How long have I been a player in a campaign? *The longest I've ever simply been a player has been about a year, and it was a game my Dad ran for me and my friends back in high school. It was 3.5*
How long was I a player in that guys campaign? *It lasted about a month and a half, we had more encounters than I described in the story, but they weren't particularly relevant to the point. That was Modern d20*
How long was my longest campaign as DM? *The longest game I've ever ran lasted approximately 2 and a half years, and it was 3.5*
Hope one of those was what you were looking for
Indeed; it was. Sorry if I worded my question weirdly; I seem to have an innate talent for confusing people when I say/ask things XD .
@@Kingpin1880 no problem at all, down to answer any question like that. DnD is a passion of mine :]
It would have been great if he just accepted what happened. They earned that win many times over. I would have boosted everyone to level 5 for that my god the ending sounded amazing till the dm ruined.
School covered in killer plants with a killer inside feeding people to said plants? Someone like RE Outbreak.
Having played D&D and other pen and paper RPG's for the better part of 25 years now, I know a good game is one where everyone is having fun. This is my first real DM run, and though I'm running the old Sunless Citadel scenario I'm tweaking it to make it personalized. The rogue gets plenty of chance to scout ahead and check for traps and ambushes. The Barbarian is given the change to roar and smash. Because of that the clerics get plenty of chance to buff and heal , as well as crack some skulls. Bard and druid get their chances to shine. But as a DM, be ready to go off book at the drop of a hat if the characters do. True story, my player group nearly went away from the citadel to scout the other nearest towns for more info. And I was ready for next session with maps of the area and descriptions of nearby towns just to allow them to go where they want. All because it's fun for them. Ultimately, I was laughing and having a good time letting them guide the story. They would have ultimately found info putting them back "On Book", and that's okay. And if they had REALLY gone off book, it could have led to something else out of another book that eventually led back to the original story. So long as they were having fun, which meant I was having fun playing too. But I'm they kind of guy that loves to tell a good story, as my comment clearly shows. ^_^
Want to know how to win D&D as a storyteller:
Get the party to the end of your story!
@@DabroodThompson Note that they said "get to the end of the story", not "have your characters survive until the end"
I would have walked away the moment he said we had to earn level one.
Preach it!
I would say that if it was brought up to the players before the start of the session, they didn't get neutered stats, AND They could earn level 1 by the end of the first session... then I can see the session being interesting, as it can help set a dreadful atmosphere.. Once you have that first session, setting the tone, then it may be easier to maintain even after players gain levels.
The DM in this story had one highlight of creating tangible horror.. However, he didn't recognize what made the scene so tense for the players... hence why he couldn't recreate it. And suggesting such an idea of level 0 characters can be interesting, but the DM would need to ask the table.. and be able to roll with whatever the table decided on (if they are willing to try it or not).. I have debated on running a "session 0" with everyone being level 0... I've been in a session where I was level 0, and they are actually a lot of fun.. But I can see how being stuck at level 0 can be frustrating if it over-stays its welcome.
I agree with Soul Samurai; if the players know going in that they'd be level 0, 'earning' level one is just the same as earning any other level. I might have given players a slightly nerfed standard array, say, two tens, no thirteen; and I would have done maybe two or three sessions at level 0 since I can never seem to fit a 'first session' into one session. The fact remains, though, that this should not last longer than it takes for the players to 'start their journey'. A few kills under your belt and you're leveling up.
@@SoulGuardianX the way i understand it the DM´s intention was to stack his odds in favor for him, so the players would never gotten to level 1 no matter what they did or survive, and since he didn´t want to argue about it he didn´t told the players before hand.
this failings were born from wanting to win by TPK the PC, so there couldn´t be a session 0 or otherwise he would have lost players before the first gaming session even started.
@@grave2501 In regards to the story, that is very clear and we don't have any disagreements on that part. The DM had a very "US vs THEM" mentality, which is very unhealthy and makes sessions so... draining (both to play and run... I would know.. have DM'd and played in 3.5 where other players and other DMs saw it as a competition, and were toxic about it... I have horror-stories about that).
The only reason I suggested an open discussion was for any sane table, and in response to the original comment about how I would handle this type of session 0. I've ran a "level 0" session, where the players played as kids in a Fable 1 type of origin story--small town raided, had to fend for ourselves. Which was fun since it made everyone have to really consider how to fight 'adults.' I will say.. me and one other player were KINDA OP due to how the DM ruled things. I was a family-taught Wizard with a weakened Cantrip (I think it was like a 1d6 'firebolt' equivalent) that I can only cast a few times a day (like a leveled spell). The other player had a 1d4 'sneak attack' (could deal 2d4 in a turn), so we were the most effective in combat as long as what we fought wasn't too tough (like cultists and commoners, and most CR 0 - CR 1/2 statblocks). for some players, it helped solidify the concept of focus-fire to reduce threat.
The part with the Flesh Eating plant covering the building and the crazed person living in it trying to feed people to the plant was taken from Resident Evil Outbreak: File 2, specifically the Flashback Scenario.
I miss that game.
I thought about running a similar scenario, but changed my mind. I didn't want my group going through a meat grinder, even though I was planning to start them all at level 6 and using 5e stats instead of Roll 20 Modern.