DMs are too easy on their players

[MerricB]

The play of D&D depends greatly on the expectations of the DM and the group. Let's face it, if you have a rules lawyer DM, you tend to not improvise (because it isn't in the book and so the DM won't allow it), but if you have a wing-it DM, you improvise a lot more.

Some times, it just depends on what campaign the group wants to play. Certainly I've run high-risk dungeon crawls at times, and I've also run strong narrative plotlines as well, where character failure doesn't mean permanent death, but can mean horrible things to the campaign world (and the PC's family, friends and loved ones...)

Cheers!

 

[Presto2112]

Well, I just ran a session this past weekend where the big bad guy ran from the PCs and they shot him in the back as he ran. If the PCs can do it, you can bet I'll be doing it to them too. All's fair in love and war

And if you'll recall, the PCs ran first.

 

[Jupp]

I'm sorry, man, but I'd not play in a game you run (if that's truly how you do things). I play D&D to have fun, not to constantly fight for my character's very survival. ---snipp---

But isn't that exactly what makes RPGs (like D&D) fun? Otherwise you could just as well sit down together and tell good night stories to each other. As a DM I constantly throw enemies at my group that are over their power level. But so far they always managed to make the right decision (run away/fight/dig in and wait).

I like it when I am constantly challanged by a DM because that is what makes the game interesting. Otherwise it would feel like a walk in the park and the only think that could harm you would be that you trip over your own feet. Not fun.

 

[molonel]

I phone people up at random to tell them their character died, on the off chance that they might become my players some day.

I laughed so freaking hard at this post.

 

[Zurai]

But isn't that exactly what makes RPGs (like D&D) fun? Otherwise you could just as well sit down together and tell good night stories to each other. As a DM I constantly throw enemies at my group that are over their power level. But so far they always managed to make the right decision (run away/fight/dig in and wait).

I like it when I am constantly challanged by a DM because that is what makes the game interesting. Otherwise it would feel like a walk in the park and the only think that could harm you would be that you trip over your own feet. Not fun.

For some people fighting for their (characters') lives is what makes D&D fun, yes.

For others, it's the storytelling.

For others, it's creating optimized characters.

For others, it's creating crazily un-optimized characters and still being effective.

Etc, etc.

There is no right way to have fun in D&D, and there definitely isn't an ONLY way to have fun in D&D.

 

[Doctor DM]

There is no right way to have fun in D&D, and there definitely isn't an ONLY way to have fun in D&D.

That is EXACTLY how I feel.

 

[shilsen]

But isn't that exactly what makes RPGs (like D&D) fun? Otherwise you could just as well sit down together and tell good night stories to each other. As a DM I constantly throw enemies at my group that are over their power level. But so far they always managed to make the right decision (run away/fight/dig in and wait).

I like it when I am constantly challanged by a DM because that is what makes the game interesting. Otherwise it would feel like a walk in the park and the only think that could harm you would be that you trip over your own feet. Not fun.

Why does it have to be an all-or-nothing situation? The poster you quoted wrote that he didn't want to constantly fight for the character's survival. You're assuming that means he never wants to fight for his character's survival, which is a big leap. For many people, it's fun to sometimes have characters fighting overwhelming odds for survival, sometimes have them mowing down enemies like wheat, sometimes have them kick back with a session which is all talk and no dice-rolling, sometimes have a lot of hack-and-slash and no real dialogue, etc. The best game, for me, has a good mixture of different things, and having one doesn't mean the other cannot be part of the same game.

Plus, of course, as the previous two posters noted, there really is no wrong way to play D&D. If all members of a group are having fun, then they're playing the game right.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

But isn't that exactly what makes RPGs (like D&D) fun? Otherwise you could just as well sit down together and tell good night stories to each other. As a DM I constantly throw enemies at my group that are over their power level. But so far they always managed to make the right decision (run away/fight/dig in and wait).

I like it when I am constantly challanged by a DM because that is what makes the game interesting. Otherwise it would feel like a walk in the park and the only think that could harm you would be that you trip over your own feet. Not fun.

Do you see a difference between "constantly fight for my characters very survival" and "any level of challenge"? Because you are pretty much saying that disliking one is disliking the other. No, I don't think that consistently overpowered enemies are what makes rpgs fun. I don't think the fight for mere life is what makes an rpg fun. I think that a long term challenge where you have more to gain and far more to lose than your own life is what makes an rpg fun, and a constant stream of barely survivable encounters is boring.

 

[Harmon]

....I think that a long term challenge where you have more to gain and far more to lose than your own life is what makes an rpg fun, and a constant stream of barely survivable encounters is boring.

I agree with this statement.

 

[Particle_Man]

I laughed so freaking hard at this post.

By the way molonel, your character died.