D&D General 5 types of DM styles

[jasper]

this for Scott Christan

These are extreme examples.
1. Story Rules. DM and players are writing a story which will be a bestselling book in six months. And blockbuster movie next year.
2.Captain Kirk/ A team. PCs are stars of the TV show and never die. No matter how stupid they get.
3. Action Movie heroes. PC will get hurt and only die when player wants them too.
4.Let the Dice hit the floor/ War movie. AKA monsters need love too. Most encounters are fair and unfair ones are foreshadowed but the dice rule.
5. Crazy Killer DM. I sit on a throne of dead character sheets. I will make you cry and leave this game and change your name and drive a taxi for the rest of your life.

 

[bloodtide]

Well, does this not miss a bunch of styles?

 

[payn]

Seems less like GM styles, and more like a difficulty scale.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm number 4 out of thise options. I don't go out if my way to kill players but if they die they die.

1 fatality that wasn't self inflicted last 5 years. One murder hobo type who picked fights with everything until he dies.

2 total.

 

[DinoInDisguise]

In my experience number 4 is the lethality I see in most DMs I've played with.

I don't know how much 1 through 3 actually happen in the wild. I've never met a player in my travels that doesn't want a game where there is no risk of death. If you read social media feedback on Critical Role campaign 3, you see that lack of a threat of death as a complaint for what people stopped watching it.

I also think, for number 4, that the dice have to decide the death for the vast majority of players. I don't know that DMs "fudging" or predetermining death is acceptable in many circles. So I don't know how much 5 exists in the wild either.

My babbling aside, I am a 4, as is every DM I've met.

 

[R_J_K75]

4 seems about right for me too. 1-3 hold no interest to me. If I was in a game with a 5 who prided themselves on how many characters they've killed I'd leave and pour d20's in their gas tank while I'm leaving. I have a vague recollection of a DM vs PCs mentality in the 80s, and back then DMs weren't easy to come by, so you had to deal with it if you wanted to play.

 

[Zardnaar]

4 seems about right for me too. 1-3 hold no interest to me. If I was in a game with a 5 who prided themselves on how many characters they've killed I'd leave and pour d20's in their gas tank while I'm leaving. I have a vague recollection of a DM vs PCs mentality in the 80s, and back then DMs weren't easy to come by, so you had to deal with it if you wanted to play.

5 would be OK for like a tournament/one off and DM was upfront about it.

Deathtrap Dungeon let's go.

Such DMs probably don't exist though ar least beyond short term or single session games.

 

[R_J_K75]

5 would be OK for like a tournament/one off and DM was upfront about it.

Deathtrap Dungeon let's go.

Such DMs probably don't exist though ar least beyond short term or single session games.

I agree, a one off Gauntlet style game. Matter of fact I think I ran an encounter where players were trying to get into some gang, guild or society and was pretty upfront that they either lived or died. Basically a beat in like a gang. They had the option to back away but they survived. Yeah I wouldnt imagine killer DMs lasting long…oh the irony

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm number 4 out of thise options. I don't go out if my way to kill players but if they die they die.

1 fatality that wasn't self inflicted last 5 years. One murder hobo type who picked fights with everything until he dies.

2 total.

I also support number 4. The world is not designed for the PCs benefit, but I'm going out of my way to murder them either.

 

[bloodtide]

In my experience number 4 is the lethality I see in most DMs I've played with.

I don't know how much 1 through 3 actually happen in the wild. I've never met a player in my travels that doesn't want a game where there is no risk of death. If you read social media feedback on Critical Role campaign 3, you see that lack of a threat of death as a complaint for what people stopped watching it.

Too often. The Safe "Nerf" game is very common. Mix in TV/Movies with video games and you have a huge player base that thinks "characters never die and always win", and they bring this idea to the game.

And so many players want to tell a personal story...their own personal novel....and that has no room for their character death.

I also think, for number 4, that the dice have to decide the death for the vast majority of players. I don't know that DMs "fudging" or predetermining death is acceptable in many circles. So I don't know how much 5 exists in the wild either.

My babbling aside, I am a 4, as is every DM I've met.

There are a few Crazy Killer DMs left out there in the wild....