D&D General DM Authority

[FrogReaver]

The "levitate causes ground pressure" surprise rule was announced after we had send the fighter bobsledding down the hallway of traps resulting in his death not before we sent him.

I do agree with you that, as a GM, sometimes an "adventure" the players pursue can be left hanging in an unfinished state....or even failed. In the situation I am describing the GM was running a one-off adventure, so any off-the-beaten-path choices would have been going out of bounds of the story the GM had to tell. In a campaign we wouldn't have quit just because one character died (even if we all though he was killed unfairly) because a campaign is about a longer term story than any single location.

Edit: In that particular group (this was my High School gaming buddies) several of us had a particular "system" we would run campaigns in. We had D&D, Star Wars, Torg, Shadowrun, Marvel Superheros, James Bond, and Chill campaigns running concurrently. In this particular case the James Bond GM wanted to run a one-off D&D adventure. All that "leaving the game" meant would have been we just started playing some other game with the same group, the decision to ditch was for that adventure only.

Sounds like a great example of a DM not thinking a few moves ahead. One should always think about the immediate result of the players actions and tell them if it would be something obvious (except in a few very specific styles).

 

[Maxperson]

Sounds like a great example of a DM not thinking a few moves ahead. One should always think about the immediate result of the players actions and tell them if it would be something obvious (except in a few very specific styles).

I always do that and the players really appreciate it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

If anyone is hostile over the game, they need therapy and to be removed from the group.

I'll be frank; if someone offers me a game of one type and then plays the "surprise, we're actually playing X" and X is something I actively dislike, I'm going to be pretty hostile about it too. And if I did it to someone else, I wouldn't be even faintly surprised to get some of the same.

Edit: This does not mean an occasional dip sideways would be objected to, but even then I'd want to know its the kind of game where that sort of thing is to be expected, like the kitchen-sink D&D of my (relative) youth.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yes. No one in the 70s would have believe that anyone would take it so seriously as to have threads that reach 55 pages on an internet forum full of ideological arguments about the role of the DM.

Progress.

You were clearly not participating in APAs at the time.

 

[Oofta]

I'll be frank; if someone offers me a game of one type and then plays the "surprise, we're actually playing X" and X is something I actively dislike, I'm going to be pretty hostile about it too. And if I did it to someone else, I wouldn't be even faintly surprised to get some of the same.

Seems like the better way of handling it would be to express that you aren't interested and walk if they don't change. Getting hostile isn't going to do anything other than potentially hurt a friendship or make you look like a jerk.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Seems like the better way of handling it would be to express that you aren't interested and walk if they don't change. Getting hostile isn't going to do anything other than potentially hurt a friendship or make you look like a jerk.

If someone is thoughtless enough to decide springing this on someone blind is a good idea, I think making the response extremely memorable is quite appropriate. If that makes them think I'm a jerk, I can live with it. Honestly, there are plenty of people who would think you were a jerk for walking anyway. I'm not going to flip the table but I'm going to make it abundantly clear I didn't think this was appropriate.

 

[Oofta]

If someone is thoughtless enough to decide springing this on someone blind is a good idea, I think making the response extremely memorable is quite appropriate. If that makes them think I'm a jerk, I can live with it. Honestly, there are plenty of people who would think you were a jerk for walking anyway. I'm not going to flip the table but I'm going to make it abundantly clear I didn't think this was appropriate.

Just saying you could do so politely or you could get visibly upset. I know which one I think is the more mature and better way to handle it.

You do you.

 

[Maxperson]

I'll be frank; if someone offers me a game of one type and then plays the "surprise, we're actually playing X" and X is something I actively dislike, I'm going to be pretty hostile about it too. And if I did it to someone else, I wouldn't be even faintly surprised to get some of the same.

Then you play with people that have anger issues. I mean, I can dislike a game, but I've never become hostile over it.

 

[Maxperson]

Seems like the better way of handling it would be to express that you aren't interested and walk if they don't change. Getting hostile isn't going to do anything other than potentially hurt a friendship or make you look like a jerk.

Or lead to violence.

 

[FrogReaver]

Then you play with people that have anger issues. I mean, I can dislike a game, but I've never become hostile over it.

Rage Quitting is a thing!