What are your favorite RBDM tricks?

[mhensley]

What are your evilest ideas for screwing over the players? By the rules of course. One I used recently was putting some rot grub swarms in an area covered by an antimagic field. Make the swarms fiendish to give them fire resistance and they're damn near impossible to kill.

 

[RigaMortus2]

What are your evilest ideas for screwing over the players? By the rules of course. One I used recently was putting some rot grub swarms in an area covered by an antimagic field. Make the swarms fiendish to give them fire resistance and they're damn near impossible to kill.

Having brown mold be attached to them, then having an enemy wizard teleport them to the Plane of Fire.

 

[mhensley]

Having brown mold be attached to them, then having an enemy wizard teleport them to the Plane of Fire.

Hmm... that makes me wonder why someone hasn't tried that and had the entire plane overrun by brown mold.

 

[mhensley]

Another evil thought I had in a game a couple of weeks ago- have a purple worm attack a pc, swallow him, and then burrow back underground. Unless the pc can teleport, he's doomed. Even if he manages to cut his way out and kills the purple worm single handedly, he's trapped in a small tunnel underground.

 

[el-remmen]

FLESH TO STONE, ROCK TO MUD, PURIFY WATER, then DRINK 'EM!

 

[Darklone]

My favorite RBDM trick? Listen to them. When they are really scared and the discussion runs hot what next evil trick awaits them... Enjoy the ideas, enhance them, exagerate them .... disguise them and use them.

The players will be shocked and motivated because they "have been soooo close!".

 

[mvincent]

At high levels:
BBEG kidnapped and slew a cherished PC, then dominated various good clerics to resurrect her, only to slay her again (repeated until the soul no longer wished to return due to level loss).

Same BBEG later used multiple limited wishes (in advance of combat) to ensure that each PC failed their saving throw vs. a mind-fog (-10 to Will saves if affected). Then cast disjunction (i.e. make a Will save for each magic item you own or it is destroyed).

 

[krupintupple]

threw a villain at them who was an AD&D 2e psionicist when they were 3rd level.

i'm kidding, that's too cruel.

 

[Storme]

As a DM, my job is not to "Screw over the players." As a Player, I don't play with DM's who think its theirs....

 

[0bsolete]

As a DM, my job is not to "Screw over the players." As a Player, I don't play with DM's who think its theirs....

I don't know many DM's who actively try to kill their players. My philosophy is this: I will push my players to the edge. I want at least 1 out of 4 fights to challenge them, pretty hard, but not so that a bit of bad luck will kill them. 1 our of 10 will put them to the test, often times they will have time to prepare, and have hints beforehand. At those points, I take slight mercy on bad luck, but their decisions need to be good and well thought out.

In my games, my goal is to make every player sweat every session, but make sure that they die very rarely, unless they do something so stupid I spit my drink over my DM screen.

Curiously enough, due to my group, I've gone through 3 DM screens after the water stains ruined them.