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Message: <blockquote data-quote="UrathDM" data-source="post: 1050122" data-attributes="member: 12560">Comments from a failed DMTake these with a grain of salt, because I am currently not DM-ing for any group. Failed DM Credentials--------------------------------------------Group 1: Tabletop gaming, 12 years campaign play, no PC has survived to rise higher than 9th level. 8 or so campaigns ultimately ended in TPKs. 1st and 2nd Edition, homebrew world. Style:"What happens, happens. Raise Dead, Resurrection, and such are *very* hard to get -- prepare to sell your souls for 1 use. The villains *will* try to kill you if you get in their way. There *are* places you should avoid until you are higher level; the trails if dead heroes should tip you off."Group 2: Tabletop gaming, 2 years off-and-on play. 2 Campaigns, 1 ended in TPK and the other "suspended indefinitely". 2nd and 3rd edition, homebrew and "canned modules". Style:"What happens, happens. Raise Dead, Resurrection, and such are *very* hard to get -- prepare to sell your souls for 1 use. The villains *will* try to kill you if you get in their way. There *are* places you should avoid until you are higher level; the trails if dead heroes should tip you off."Group 3: On-line gaming, 2 years campaign play. 20% of the "story line" accomplished, suspended due to "burn out". 2nd Edition in Cerilia (BirthRight). Style:"What happens, happens. Raise Dead, Resurrection, and such are *very* hard to get -- prepare to sell your souls for 1 use. The villains *will* try to kill you if you get in their way. There *are* places you should avoid until you are higher level; the trails if dead heroes should tip you off."Comments----------------------------------------------Being a "chips fall where they may" DM is incredibly frustrating for the players. Eventually, chance will favor the bad guys. If chance favors the heroes, the game goes on; if it goes the other way, the campaign could well be over. I long-since started pulling punches (despite my stated 'what happens, happens' philosophy); and even that did not help (see next comment). In a hard campaign world, the PCs sometimes refuse to leave anyone behind. In that case, a tough encounter that might have killed one PC becomes a TPK. Even if you *tell* the players that your world has areas that are too tough for them, Players often have a hard time shaking the notion that "[the DM] won't throw anything at us that we can't handle." I lost a party to a TPK for just that reason on the SAME NIGHT I made a point of telling them not to think that way. "Supers" style has other effects. I abandoned my last campaign with Group 1 because they decided that "D&D should be like comic books... easy on the thinking and full of action." In context, this meant "no puzzles or plot twists.. don't make us think about WHAT to do, just HOW to do it."Conclusion---------------------------------------My point is this... don't dictate the style. Ask your players what style of game they wish to play. If the style they want is not the style you are comfortable running, save your campaign for a group that *does* want that style. Disclaimer---------------------------------------Sometimes even asking is not enough; my last campaign with Group 1, I polled them on style, challenge types, mix of dungeon/wilderness encounters, and more. I got answers. I implemented them. I pulled the plug after about 6 sessions, because the answers I got did not match what the way they were playing, and we were all frustrated. Sometimes, you can't win. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />On the other hand, Group 3 members often ask when I am going to DM again. It really does come down to meshing your style with that of the group.</blockquote>

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