GM Confessional

[Manbearcat]

I thought of another issue I have that I have tried to correct forever, but it’s just not taking (despite my awareness of it and attempt to resolve it).

I expect players to (a) understand the game’s rule system, (b) understand the game’s premise, (c) understand the game’s meta, and (d) consistently integrate all of these in efficient economy of language/conversation (both give and take).

When that fails and play isn’t as brisk as I expect, there are times that I get a hair more impatient than I would like (and I’m certain it shows). And the reality is, sometimes a minor communication breakdown might be on me (and upon reflection, I’m certain sometimes it is).

Bad trait from how I work in life that on rare occasion seeps into my GMing if all the moving parts come together. Its made worse because I don’t believe I can correct it at this point. The only saving grace is that its fairly infrequent.

 

[James Gasik]

I'm a killer DM. I can't help but to optimize monsters and NPC foes.

"Oh, you're going to play a Complete Warrior Samurai? Good luck with that..." (sorry for the 3.5e aside...)

There was a guy who optimized a CW Samurai once for a PVP match on a forum. He went with an Intimidation build and won easily. It was legendary.

 

[Malmuria]

I expect players to (a) understand the game’s rule system, (b) understand the game’s premise, (c) understand the game’s meta, and (d) consistently integrate all of these in efficient economy of language/conversation (both give and take).

haha yeah my players understand none of that

 

[Blue]

I put in grand plots and mysteries that persist across the campaign (as opposed to just for an adventure or three) that are related to the uber-plots of the campaign. But while I liberally sprinkle clues for the length of trhe campaign, I forget that I have visibility to the whole thing and the players don't. It's the rare player that takes things that come up from various different sessions and stitches them together.

At the beginning of the year I got a new player and like three sessions in listening to various bits of lore she was like "hey, is that guy trying to genocide the elves using the same ritual the dwarves were seven centuries ago?" and I was like "THANK YOU!".

 

[DetachedObserver]

There was a guy who optimized a CW Samurai once for a PVP match on a forum. He went with an Intimidation build and won easily. It was legendary.

Interesting. Intimidate is opposed by a modified Level check, which makes intimidate actually awful, even against other PCs. I'd have to see this build. But, I digress.

 

[James Gasik]

Interesting. Intimidate is opposed by a modified Level check, which makes intimidate actually awful, even against other PCs. I'd have to see this build. But, I digress.

I'm looking for it, so far the only reference I've found is:

Indeed. There was a build, made by Shneeky if I remember right, that used intimidation-based feats to make a Samurai that could automatically immobilize anything that couldn't make a DC42 level check.

The crucial components were the Imperious Command feat (DotU) and the Fearsome armor enhancement that lets you intimidate as a move action.

The link to the character "Takahashi no Onisan" sadly doesn't work. It was made for a "Test of Spite" PVP duel, and his opponent conceded before a single attack was rolled.

 

[aramis erak]

I'm lazy as a GM.

I enjoy fumbles too much.

Biggest issue? I don't like to run the same game for more than 4 months at a shot.

 

[TwoSix]

I hate to prep and I love to improvise. When combined with my allergy to published modules, this generally means my games can often head in weird directions somewhat earlier than I've anticipated if I run a particularly fevered session. I have a few players that prefer games that are a little more by-the-book, and I'm afraid I don't cater to their needs as well as I might.

 

[J.Quondam]

I no longer have a consistent gaming group and I've been out mostly out of active GMing for a while now, except for a few one-shots here and there. That said, my main GM confession is that, given the slow curdling of my brain and a growing unwillingness to deal with certain sorts of gamers, I'm not sure that I enjoy GMing (or even playing) anymore.

 

[CleverNickName]

I don't balance any encounters.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not putting Ancient Dragons on the random encounter table or anything like that. But I'm not carefully trying to dial in a fixed "difficulty" to match the party's ever-changing level/resources, either. I put monsters on the map where they make the most sense, in numbers that make the most sense. I arm them with equipment that makes sense to the campaign setting, and then trust the players to know when they are in over their heads.

I informed the players at Session Zero that encounters will not be balanced to their characters, and that a combat victory is not always guaranteed. They thought I was bluffing until I showed them the rules for Escape and Pursuit that we're going to use for fleeing combat.