Have they tackled Anti-Magic yet?

[DracoSuave]

That's only true if you design the dungeon specifically for that sole party to face.

In my campaign, I made a dungeon that was 8th? level. It was to challenge the 8th level PCs. It was populated by a cult of Orcus, meaning lots of undead for the radiant-damage-free party. There was a TPK in that dungeon.

And as a DM you chose that dungeon for that party.

The party started again at first level. I didn't change the dungeon at all. No matter what composition the party had, the dungeon would stay the same. If they had buffed up on radiant damage, still the same. No radiant damage? Still the same.

And as a DM you chose that dungeon for that party.

The key point is that an impartial DM running a world meant to challenge the players doesn't mean that an encounter difficult for melee PCs is an anti-Fred encounter, or that an encounter with undead is a pro-Claude encounter. It just means that the players have to deal with what they face (which is usually by their choice), nothing more, nothing less.

That's using 'impartiality' as a way to abdicate responsibility for your own setting the story. Your job as a DM is not an impersonal one, you are not a mindless game server. You have the right to, in some way, tailor adventures to your party, whether or not it is to their advantage or disadvantage, it is still supposed to be personal.

Choosing to be 'impersonal' is still making a choice in that regard. And if you have a dungeon full of things your party can't touch, you still made the choice to run that dungeon for them, and you are still responsible for it.

Impartiality is a choice, and choices do not abdicate your responsibility.

You can put anti-magic in a dungeon without it being specifically anti-Mark. "To the west is the dungeon of the Mad Overlord." "What do we know about him?" (roll, roll) "Well, he hated mages and dedicated his life to killing them. People say that magic-draining creatures and traps fill his dungeon." "Okay, let's go somewhere else." "Cool."

Right, at which point you hardly need rules for anti-magic stuff now do you?

 

[Rothe_]

In my campaign, I made a dungeon that was 8th? level. It was to challenge the 8th level PCs. It was populated by a cult of Orcus, meaning lots of undead for the radiant-damage-free party. There was a TPK in that dungeon.

The party started again at first level. I didn't change the dungeon at all. No matter what composition the party had, the dungeon would stay the same. If they had buffed up on radiant damage, still the same. No radiant damage? Still the same.

I actually read this in a different way. Originally the DM makes an adventure for the party at 8th level. Then he runs it. Result is TPK. This may, or may not, be a mistake from the DM. It can just be poor luck on behalf of the PC's.

Now, the DM runs the same adventure for the new party. New adventurers enter the same dungeon. The players had a chance to make characters according to what they saw the last time, but perhaps they just go with what they want to play in general.

This is fair to me. I'd do the same thing. I might try to avoid impossible situations later on (just to check that they don't need some very specific thing to advance that they don't have), since having TPK twice in a row might be really bad for any kind of plot and it gets repetitive since the PC's have to pass through encounters that they have already played. The best thing would be to somehow insert the new party in the same spot (roughly) in the adventure and continue with the adventure plot line from there.

 

[LostSoul]

Impartiality is a choice, and choices do not abdicate your responsibility.

You must have missed the part where I made it the player's choice.

edit: Oh yeah, there is no plot. The "plot" is what the players end up doing. I, as DM, have no place deciding what is going to happen. I just place the challenges.

 

[DracoSuave]

You must have missed the part where I made it the player's choice.

Nothing is -not- the DMs choice.

If the players choose between A, B, or C, then you chose to give them A, B, or C.

If you give them A, B, or C, and they decides to say 'Screw you, DM, we're taking Q' then you decide how to give or not give them that Q, and what manner of Q it is.

For every player action, there is a DM choice in how to run the party -through- that action.

There is no way for the DM to abdicate his responsibility.

That said, if Q happens to be 'Kick a 30th level dragon in the eye' at first level, then no one will call you bad for choosing to have the result of Q be 'He eats you, start again.'

You're not necessarily a bad DM for denying players, for giving them the result of choices they make that make things more difficult... far from it. -But- you are still responsible for those choices, and should they turn out to damage the game it is -your- responsibility as much as anyone else's.

 

[LostSoul]

I don't know what you are saying.

If Tommy knows there's a place where anti-magic exists and Tommy has a number of choices of where to go, when Tommy chooses to go face the anti-magic it's hardly a "Haw haw screw you Tommy" moment.

 

[DracoSuave]

I don't know what you are saying.

If Tommy knows there's a place where anti-magic exists and Tommy has a number of choices of where to go, when Tommy chooses to go face the anti-magic it's hardly a "Haw haw screw you Tommy" moment.

I never said it was a 'Haw Haw' moment, but it's still a -screw-Tommy- moment. He knows it going in there, and it's -not- a bad thing.

But, who put the anti-magic in there in the first place?

The DM is ultimately responsible for the content of his own game. No one else is putting this stuff there.

 

[LostSoul]

Oh, okay, yeah. I must have misunderstood you there. I don't think we have any real disagreement.

 

[The Little Raven]

I created an encounter for my upcoming campaign, which features a group of Far Realm-touched creatures that stymie each power source.

Feeling of Serenity (Aura 1; powers with the Martial keyword may not be used)

Overwhelming Heresy (Aura 1; powers with the Divine keyword may not be used)

Witch Hunter's Presence (Aura 1; powers with the Arcane keyword may not be used)

Spirit Slaying Aura (Aura 1; powers with the Primal keyword may not be used)

They also have attacks that impose a -2 penalty or an effect/condition (dazed until the end of your next turn) when a power from the power source is used.

I also created Dead Magic areas, which do not allow rituals to be cast within them, nor do they allow magic items to function.

 

[DracoSuave]

Feeling of Serenity (Aura 1; powers with the Martial keyword may not be used)

Overwhelming Heresy (Aura 1; powers with the Divine keyword may not be used)

Witch Hunter's Presence (Aura 1; powers with the Arcane keyword may not be used)

Spirit Slaying Aura (Aura 1; powers with the Primal keyword may not be used)

And what are the power sources of your party?

 

[The Little Raven]

And what are the power sources of your party?

Those four. Each one of the main monsters in the fight can shut down at least one of the characters by getting close. This means the fighter cannot just handle the anti-martial one.