D&D General "It's not fun when..."

[iserith]

Perception is reality. in one version the character has been knee capped, In the other the creature just had a freakish amount of hitpoints. players shouldnt know everything or be warned about everything. that makes for booooring games

I disagree. Telegraphing makes for fair games and helps spur creativity. It has the added benefit of being honest. Your lightning powers are unlikely to be effective on the BBEG. How do you deal with that ahead of the final confrontation?

 

[Reynard]

no Ive seen DMs get frustrated because they dont know the spell list, or just hate the magic system, take down mage at beginning of every combat, or just throw magic proof monsters at them.

Or only throw monsters that cant be critted at your crit fisher. it can be done to any character.

I mean, intelligent monsters should be focusing fire on the mage as soon as they can ID them. Healer next.

 

[nevin]

I mean, intelligent monsters should be focusing fire on the mage as soon as they can ID them. Healer next.

thats a bit different than take magic user out at beginning if every combat.

 

[nevin]

I disagree. Telegraphing makes for fair games and helps spur creativity. It has the added benefit of being honest. Your lightning powers are unlikely to be effective on the BBEG. How do you deal with that ahead of the final confrontation?

Sometimrs players know what they are fighting sometimes they dont. i wouldnt olay in a game where i always knew what was coming. That would be boring

 

[Reynard]

Perception is reality. in one version the character has been knee capped, In the other the creature just had a freakish amount of hitpoints. players shouldnt know everything or be warned about everything. that makes for booooring games

My issue is telling the player something worked when it didn't is going to change their future decisions, impacting their agency.

 

[nevin]

In that scenario I told player nothing, what they assume is up to them.

 

[Umbran]

There is an expectation that important fights are dramatic and extended. This is a feature of adventure entertainment literally since Gilgamesh was put to clay. So, the wizard dropping the fireball on the guards is awesome. The wizard dropping the fireball on the BBEG and lackeys and killing them all is not awesome.

The party fighting a heroic, effective, but losing, battle until the wizard drops a fireball on them is awesome.

Dropping that fireball and killing them all in the first round... is an issue of encounter design. When the party wizard has Fireball, how did you make an encounter that could be defeated by a single use of the spell? They're all low hit points and bunched up to start? What was the GM thinking?

Or, to put it in this thread's idiom - It is not fun when the encounters are not well-designed for the party.

 

[Xamnam]

A single encounter where one party member can largely resolve it is great. It allows those strengths to shine, and will probably create a memory that is talked about for quite some time. Arguably, something this momentous can be almost as fun to watch and experience as it is to perform.

A slew of encounters, even non-contiguously, where one party member handles everything is a slog, and can likely lead to feelings of incompetence or a lack of importance for everyone else.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For me, the height of unfun are things that result in you "not playing D&D while you're playing D&D." Getting stunned or paralyzed is the immediate example. But also table etiquette things, like when someone spends too long trying to decide what to do on their turn, or hogging the spotlight for an inordinate amount of time.

While it is important to be able to enjoy the game through the other people at the table, exalting in their moments and fearing when they're in danger, you also want to enjoy playing the game yourself.

Shutting down a PC for an extended period can definitely feel unfun.

 

[Vaalingrade]

When the DM gets mad at the players for their own lack of foresight. I've been using heat metal all campaign, so don't get mad at me to using it on the BBEG, you decked out in metal armor for the drip.

When the obviously shady obnoxious guy you've been very patiently not killing turns out to be a secret good guy or god and you can't touch him, let alone slap him anymore.

When someone at the table's weird obsessions become your problem.

When you're getting frustrated at not being good at what your character is meant to do, the guy that's supposed to be incompetent is so much better than you because they own Satan's Dice, and people act like you should be overjoyed.