DMs: What emotions do you stir up?

[barsoomcore]

An general question thrown out to all DMs -- or players, if you want to talk about your DM.

What kinds of emotions get generated in your campaigns?

When I first started playing D&D lo these many years ago, the only emotions that ever really came up were frustration (not getting what I wanted) and satisfaction (getting what I wanted). We played a very acquisitive, power-oriented style of gaming -- make your character stronger, keep your character alive, kill those who had what you wanted.

Over the years, though, more and more emotions have been making themselves apparent at my games, which I'm really happy about. Fear is often a big one -- not just fear in the "My character is going to die" sense, but real honest-to-Pete "Holy cow I'm freaked right out" terror. There's been revulsion (my imagination can get really sick, and when my wife's little wanna-be mage had to make use of a half-skinned, mouth-stitched-together, hands-cut-off freakazoid to help power her spells, the whole gang looked a little green), and I think there's even been what I would call heartbreak -- the afore-mentioned freakazoid was known to the party in her pre-freak state and they were pretty upset to see what had happened to her.

How about the rest of you? What emotions get stirred up within your campaign? I'm talking about emotions your players actually feel, as opposed to their characters. It's obviously possible for a character to fall in love and the player not to feel a thing, right? But what do your players feel?

It's very rewarding when you realise you've actually hooked your friends to such an extent that they are feeling real emotions for their characters.

 

[Old One]

Paranoia and Confusion!

I think that my players genuinely feel paranoia and confusion on a regular basis...I have so many plots, subplots and twists going on that they sometimes don't know whether they are coming or going!

Old One

 

[Someguy]

My group general doesn't get that emotional...i guess we are kinda desenseitized from video games...

 

[Leopold]

hatred, joy, happieness, sorrow, anxiety, frustration, disbelief, guilt, lust, power, greed, etc.


i think we run the whole gambit of emotions, my group is big into ROLEplaying my DM is into ROLLplaying..


so interparty action is fun..dm interaction is monotonous..

 

[DungeonKeeperUK]

Emotions

Like most people have said I've had the whole array of emotions..

Fear - When the characters were trapped in house on the moors with a Kyton devil and other nastiness..

Desperation - The time I finished a session with all the PC's dangling from a rope, hung for murder, it was an elaborate plot so the real murderers thought they got off, but the players had to wait a week to find that out

Kind of Love - When two PC's who had been fighting tooth and nail for neary 2 years real time, find out they in fact half brother and sister something I had planned from the beginning

Elation - Hey they are heroes they complete quests thats always nice..

Pity - For one poor player character who over his career, contracted mummy rot, had his dwarven beard burnt off, changed sex, became infested with fleas adn lost a hand

Betrayed - After I agreed with one of the players he would be a disguised Drow who would eventually cause the downfall of the party, this game went on for over 2 years before the party reached their goal got the item and had it stolen from them by "one of their own"...

I sound a bit nasty now don't I lol.. most of the time isn't as nasty as this, its just the nasty moments that stand out more..

 

[rounser]

How odd. I don't see any votes for inducing frustration or boredom in players...

Several DMs I've played under seemed to specialise in these.

 

[Kolvin_dragonsbane]

I generally instill fear into my players, mainly because I run a tough game and player death is not uncommon. Death is also fairly permanent since recovering bodies when you're running away for your life is usually not a priority.

Other commonly felt emotions are disgust (when the party's ship docked in a port with hundreds of impaled bodies was a particularly memorable one).

Elation, when they finally find a permanent magic item. They are rather rare.

Frustration, (one of the best examples of that is when the pacifistic priest was hired to murder the mad king of the aforementioned city, can you say moral dilemma?).

Desperation, when facing what they believe to be, impossible odds.

And finally but certainly not least is mirth, because we are all there to have a good time.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Mostly anger and resentment.

Oh, wait. You meant in the campaign! Well, in that case,

Fear/Paranoia: I'm heavy on the scary/horror side. Comes from my time playing both Call of Cthulhu and Paranoia, I think. I love conspiracies that wrap the world and sticking the PCs right in the middle of it. Then they don't know who to trust and who not to trust until they've had lots of exposure to the PCs. It also encourages the PCs to do more than hit things in the head with lots of pointy steel.

Levity/Fun: I like for everyone to have fun and one-liners are definitely accepted.

Wonder: I work hard on my campaigns. It shows.

 

[Zhure]

Loathing? hee hee

 

[Quickbeam]

Anticipation

I'd like to think that when I've done a good job, I've left my players wishing we could play again RIGHT NOW!!

Like everyone else, though, the emotions during a good session can run the gamut...and if the session wasn't so good, then I think we're all a bit frustrated and disappointed.