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DM advice: How do you NOT kill your party?
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<blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 7398405" data-attributes="member: 6879661"><p>If you plan and design adventures rather than just reading them straight from a book without any modification as in say Pathfinder Society then I’m sorry you are a writer. Whether it is scribbled notes on a pad or detailed descriptions and tactics etc, you are a writer.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The DM is not ‘in game’ they are not a player. Your definition is irrelevent in the context of our discussion so far. If we broadened the discussion to include examples of NPCs targeting players with information they couldn’t have known because the player specified it was secret (for instance the DM had a thief steal an item a player had hidden that no one could know about) then that would be metagamng. The DM would be presenting a character in such a way as to use knowledge they couldn’t possible have and would be bad roleplaying and unfair. That is TOTALLY different to choosing hobgoblins over goblins because the party will find goblins too easy to defeat.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You can’t MAKE anyone have fun. You can do your best to ensure the experience of being a player in one of your games (that you have written) have as enjoyable an experience as possible. It a the responsibility of all participants but in my opinion the DM has the greatest opportunity to influence this, through their choices.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I didn’t realise they had passed legislation relating the playing of roleplaying games. Is metagaming a state crime? If I play-by-post does it become a matter for the FBI? </p><p></p><p>As said earlier. The DM is not metagaming when they adjust an adventure or write their own. We’re not talking about pathfinder society here where DMs are obliged to follow adventures as written. Even published adventures have advice about adjusting difficulty for player number or level. That requires judgement, knowledge and nuance.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes and no. If you are part of a more experienced group of players and design a more efficient party at my table you don’t get to have an easy ride through the campaign. The difficulty gets reset. Kinda like playing Witcher 3 on a harder mode. Regarding player abilities: If the party had a dwarf instead of a drow then there wouldn’t have been an option to give them the jump on the hobgoblins because of darkvision. In which case I probably would have allowed the character to detect information about the passages or structures that would give them an advantage (this is a modification from the text of the adventure). In my opinion good DMs finds ways to allow a players skills applicable - they aren’t invalidating choices they are enabling them.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I apologise if I have been sarcastic in this post. it was prompted by your post as a whole being pretty condescending. It’s also amusing that after recognizing that you are being critical and suggesting you don’t want to overly so, that you would go on to be even more critical in the next paragraph.</p><p></p><p>I’ve been DMing regularly for the best part of 20 years for several very long running groups of experienced demanding players. I regularly solicit feedback from and we discuss the wider roleplaying experience. We’re doing just fine thanks, but I do appreciate your judgement though on a group of people you have never met.</p><p></p><p>Masking opinion as fact is not persuasive and suggesting other people’s way of playing is badwrongfun is not cool man. I would suggest you broaden your mind to except a plurality of ways of playing this game as other posters have. I may not agree with some of the killer DMs styles, but I bet playing in their campaigns can be a real blast for a player that is ready for them - particularly when they put so much effort into the game world.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheSword, post: 7398405, member: 6879661"] If you plan and design adventures rather than just reading them straight from a book without any modification as in say Pathfinder Society then I’m sorry you are a writer. Whether it is scribbled notes on a pad or detailed descriptions and tactics etc, you are a writer. The DM is not ‘in game’ they are not a player. Your definition is irrelevent in the context of our discussion so far. If we broadened the discussion to include examples of NPCs targeting players with information they couldn’t have known because the player specified it was secret (for instance the DM had a thief steal an item a player had hidden that no one could know about) then that would be metagamng. The DM would be presenting a character in such a way as to use knowledge they couldn’t possible have and would be bad roleplaying and unfair. That is TOTALLY different to choosing hobgoblins over goblins because the party will find goblins too easy to defeat. You can’t MAKE anyone have fun. You can do your best to ensure the experience of being a player in one of your games (that you have written) have as enjoyable an experience as possible. It a the responsibility of all participants but in my opinion the DM has the greatest opportunity to influence this, through their choices. I didn’t realise they had passed legislation relating the playing of roleplaying games. Is metagaming a state crime? If I play-by-post does it become a matter for the FBI? As said earlier. The DM is not metagaming when they adjust an adventure or write their own. We’re not talking about pathfinder society here where DMs are obliged to follow adventures as written. Even published adventures have advice about adjusting difficulty for player number or level. That requires judgement, knowledge and nuance. Yes and no. If you are part of a more experienced group of players and design a more efficient party at my table you don’t get to have an easy ride through the campaign. The difficulty gets reset. Kinda like playing Witcher 3 on a harder mode. Regarding player abilities: If the party had a dwarf instead of a drow then there wouldn’t have been an option to give them the jump on the hobgoblins because of darkvision. In which case I probably would have allowed the character to detect information about the passages or structures that would give them an advantage (this is a modification from the text of the adventure). In my opinion good DMs finds ways to allow a players skills applicable - they aren’t invalidating choices they are enabling them. I apologise if I have been sarcastic in this post. it was prompted by your post as a whole being pretty condescending. It’s also amusing that after recognizing that you are being critical and suggesting you don’t want to overly so, that you would go on to be even more critical in the next paragraph. I’ve been DMing regularly for the best part of 20 years for several very long running groups of experienced demanding players. I regularly solicit feedback from and we discuss the wider roleplaying experience. We’re doing just fine thanks, but I do appreciate your judgement though on a group of people you have never met. Masking opinion as fact is not persuasive and suggesting other people’s way of playing is badwrongfun is not cool man. I would suggest you broaden your mind to except a plurality of ways of playing this game as other posters have. I may not agree with some of the killer DMs styles, but I bet playing in their campaigns can be a real blast for a player that is ready for them - particularly when they put so much effort into the game world. [/QUOTE]
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