DM Metagaming?

[Dan'L]

I was curious if anyone ever set-up a game, out-side the game?

Not quite the same, but I did something like this as a player, once, to the DM.

Basically, I realized/suspected that the NPC he had tagging along with the group was likely a mole/spy/traitor. Rather than discuss this with the other PC's while the DM was present, I waited until he was out of the room & filled them in (in character, though.)

We decided to turn the tables on the mole & the DM. Instead of confronting the NPC with our suspicions, we simply insured that she never had an opportunity to betray us. We made sure she never took a watch shift alone, had private access to important gear, etc.

When the DM, after many, many sessions of finding little to no openings to exploit, finally worked in the big "reveal" of the NPC's duplicity, the only player with a surprised look on his face was the DM, realizing that nobody else had a surprised look on their face & piecing together just why it was that he couldn't find openings to exploit.

Up until that moment, he really did think neither the PCs nor the players had any idea the NPC was a mole, and so too did the NPC think her ruse was working!

-Dan'L

 

[Piratecat]

I did something similar when the PCs were dealing with an illithid elder brain. Out of game I started critiquing their plans, rejecting any one that would hurt the brain as unfeasible and bad tactics. I started giving them awful tactical advice at the same time.

They caught on within an hour, and the result was great. For the rest of the game they weren't sure if I was talking as elder brain or talking as DM.

You could also do this with the PCs going up against a powerful illusionist. Mess with their sense of reality to get that game-within-a-game feeling.

 

[DracoSuave]

DM metagaming is not the same thing is Player metagaming at all.

For players, it's a sign of bad roleplay. For DM, it's a skill you sometimes need to use when appropriate.

 

[Ryujin]

I did something similar when the PCs were dealing with an illithid elder brain. Out of game I started critiquing their plans, rejecting any one that would hurt the brain as unfeasible and bad tactics. I started giving them awful tactical advice at the same time.

They caught on within an hour, and the result was great. For the rest of the game they weren't sure if I was talking as elder brain or talking as DM.

You could also do this with the PCs going up against a powerful illusionist. Mess with their sense of reality to get that game-within-a-game feeling.

I frequently did this in the Dark Conspiracy RPG, to great effect. When the opponent can present you with the reality of his choice you simply describe that new reality, then make suggestions as DM based on it.

 

[moxcamel]

If I had to describe a battle cry for my party, it would have to be "I disbelieve!"

Yeah, I might have over-played those tactics a little much back in the day.

 

[Raunalyn]

I love doing this with my players. The good role-players eat this up, and it makes for a tense and interesting game.

I've also done this to an old DM. He was of the DM-vs-players mentality and would often deliberately try to kill off our PCs. So, we had found the Machine of Lum the Mad and tinkered with it a bit. My character hit one button, and one of the world's elder evil deities showed up and offered me godhood, but only if I killed all of my companions (my character was a good PC). This was at the end of the session, so fortunately I didn't have to make my decision right then.

Between then and the following session, I got with the rest of my party and conspired with them. I told them what the offer was, and said that I would attack them in the next session. We would spend several rounds fighting, and then they would pretend to die. Since the DM was just watching the action, he wouldn't know.

So, after I "killed" each of the players in spectacular fashion, I was granted godhood. Upon my ascension, each of the players stood up from where I had attacked them and went on their merry way.

That DM never liked having me in his games for some reason....

 

[Kingreaper]

Well, tbh, an evil god shouldn't necessarily be that easy to fool; and there should really have been some roll involved to see whether the God could tell you were faking.

Especially with killing them in "spectacular" fashion. Things like chopping off limbs, and gutting a person, are really hard to fake.

 

[Thatwackyned]

I love doing this with my players. The good role-players eat this up, and it makes for a tense and interesting game.

I've also done this to an old DM. He was of the DM-vs-players mentality and would often deliberately try to kill off our PCs. So, we had found the Machine of Lum the Mad and tinkered with it a bit. My character hit one button, and one of the world's elder evil deities showed up and offered me godhood, but only if I killed all of my companions (my character was a good PC). This was at the end of the session, so fortunately I didn't have to make my decision right then.

Between then and the following session, I got with the rest of my party and conspired with them. I told them what the offer was, and said that I would attack them in the next session. We would spend several rounds fighting, and then they would pretend to die. Since the DM was just watching the action, he wouldn't know.

So, after I "killed" each of the players in spectacular fashion, I was granted godhood. Upon my ascension, each of the players stood up from where I had attacked them and went on their merry way.

That DM never liked having me in his games for some reason....

Well this is different, as the DM is the storyteller and if you were saying "I do X amount of damage to player Green" then player Green would have taken that damage. If I was DMing that session, I would have rulled that the elder evil deities were not as stupid to not see that it was all a sham, have your attacks actually kill them, allignment in question, and no Godhood. And you couldn't call BS, because you described it all as real to the Storyteller.

 

[Ryujin]

So, after I "killed" each of the players in spectacular fashion, I was granted godhood. Upon my ascension, each of the players stood up from where I had attacked them and went on their merry way.

At which point, were I the DM, your character would have awakened from his dream, stripped of any and all experience that he had obtained in that adventure.

..... all while hearing a deep, evil laugh in the back of his mind.

 

[ffy]

wouldnt becoming a god allow you to resurrect your friends as if nothing had happened anyhow? unless you become an evil god and lose all sense of previous identity, in which case you are screwed anyway