D&D 5E Your Biggest Gaming Pet Peeve

[hejtmane]

While I understand that to be a classic thing to do (especially as it relates to countering "metagaming"), that would cause me to lose trust in you as DM. Other DMs do it because they think there is a gate on information in the form of an ability check and can't do step 1 of the basic conversation of the game until they've gotten "permission" from the dice to describe the environment. This gets things out of order in my view.

No gate on the description from anything from me and I do not need dice for that; while you just have to lose trust because if the room does have something and you roll you will see it plain and day. I hate having to role a freaking dice every time you enter a room or a hall just time consuming. A random check that even if successful reveals no traps or monster (even no there were none) prevents the gateway. How are you losing trust because you assume I am cheating and will only let monsters get the upper hand or traps. That is not my style guys have noticed traps etc this just prevents the bog down of I do a preception check and roll the dice every room etc we enter game.

All I can say is to each his own

 

[iserith]

No gate on the description from anything from me and I do not need dice for that; while you just have to lose trust because if the room does have something and you roll you will see it plain and day. I hate having to role a freaking dice every time you enter a room or a hall just time consuming. A random check that even if successful reveals no traps or monster (even no there were none) prevents the gateway. How are you losing trust because you assume I am cheating and will only let monsters get the upper hand or traps. That is not my style guys have noticed traps etc this just prevents the bog down of I do a preception check and roll the dice every room etc we enter game.

All I can say is to each his own

Sure, to each his or her own, but to explain my preference, it has to do with your statement that you ask for checks even when there is nothing to resolve, just to keep players on their toes. To me, that's using the game mechanics in a tricky way against the players to evoke some kind of response. I think the DM should be a neutral arbiter when it comes to using the game mechanics, so the technique you mention strikes at that neutrality in my opinion and thus I would lose trust.

As for what appears to be your issue with rolling a lot of dice, there are some options for you: (1) The DM should be deciding on success, failure, or uncertainty of a stated task before thinking about whether dice should be rolled. To that end, players should not be asking to make checks. (2) Passive checks allow for resolution of ongoing tasks that are declared by the players (such as keeping watch for danger while traveling in the dungeon) without the need to roll for dice. These techniques will allow you to avoid the issue I would have with your approach. (But, of course, I'm not saying it's the only way to play.)

 

[RedSiegfried]

and hard to say names.

Thank you for helping me to realize there's another thing in the world that I loathe with the burning hatred of a thousand angry suns. I never thought about it until now but yet I've known this hatred all my life.

Have a nice day!

 

[Wednesday Boy]

DMs who aren't prepared, and can't wing it.

Definitely. I played with a GM who thought he was skilled at improvising, so he would prepare nothing for sessions and try to improv the session instead. This resulted in sessions where all we did was travel and random encounter, four combats in a row that were against one enemy in either empty rooms or open plains, and worst of all, sessions where the plot didn't progress.

 

[Caliban]

Definitely. I played with a GM who thought he was skilled at improvising, so he would prepare nothing for sessions and try to improv the session instead. This resulted in sessions where all we did was travel and random encounter, four combats in a row that were against one enemy in either empty rooms or open plains, and worst of all, sessions where the plot didn't progress.

Or every combat starting with a 10 minute break while the DM decides on the bad guys and reads their stat blocks. (I have been occasionally guilty of this one myself when DM'ing and I hate it as much as the players do.)