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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fenes" data-source="post: 1548118" data-attributes="member: 604">Ah... where to start? I think a fundamental insight we get is that different people need different playstyles. As a DM, I tailor all campaigns to the specific characters and players. If the players want to play more "follower"-characters who do not excel at planning ahead I will provide an NPC party leader for them to take that over (which, incidentally, works very, very well). If the player wants to play the dumb, naive barbarian who always get fooled I will not force him to smarten up or have the character die in the next trap - I will adjust the adventures so the dumb barbarian can shine and get into trouble at the same time. If the players don't have fun getting hit with hold person I will tone the use of those spells down - I won't expect them to all get rings of freedom of action.Tailoring the advenures also seems a neccessity for me when it comes to combat encounters. If I have a fighter/duelist, a barbarian and a fighetr/weaponmaster in my party I won't throw traps at them they need a rogue for to survive, and hit them with spells until they cave in and adjust the party - I will hit them with traps they can barrel through if needed, and hit them with spellcasters they can carve up, and provide melee opponents to feud with. And when preparing, I take the actual stats and capabilities in account - I look at AC, saves and BAB, not CR, and at the situation the encounter will take place, and adjust the monsters and opponents accordingly, like reducing DR, or dropping spell-like abilities. (For major combat encounters, that is - for the rest I wing it on the fly).Lastly, not everyone likes the "challenge of death". I for once do not play in campaigns where I can lose my character against my will. My character fears death, and I can play him or her accordingly perfectly fine without getting stressed by the fear of losing my character. And far too many people mistake "no death" as "always win" - my parties get enslaved, beaten, captured, robbed and so on due to bad luck, or other circumstances. Just not killed off - well, not without a warning and a way out - like "Charge the dragon and you will die unless I roll a dozen 1s in a row - wanna reconsider?".So, in conclusion, players and DM need to make it known what they have fun with, and what playstyle they prefer, and then adjust to each other. Nothing is worse than a DM designing "the ultimate dungeon full of traps, tricks and monsters" for a group who prefers social interaction and hates puzzle solving and hack & slash.</blockquote>

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