D&D 5E (2014) Is my brother a problem player? Or am I just a bad DM?

[NotQuiteANoble]

That is entirely tied up in the relationship with the player(s) - so, it really is to do with the personal dispute, and whether it can be managed constructively.

My point was that while we can give broad advice based on our own experiences, our format does not suit actually working through the details of conflicting reports.

I personally think the simplest answer is to start a new campaign. Supporting the past choices of another GM can be hard, especially when they go a bit off the beaten track. Supporting high level play is also hard, if you aren't an experienced DM. Start fresh, and you don't have to worry about the questionable game balance choices someone else made.

My theory was that people would be more familiar with in game disputes than me.

I think the new campaign is a good idea though

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

You are trying to salvage a broken game using the scraps left by a previous DM, those things rarely ends well, in my experience. I would also advise starting your own campaign with your own session 0 about your limits and expectations.

 

[NotQuiteANoble]

You are trying to salvage a broken game using the scraps left by a previous DM, those things rarely ends well, in my experience. I would also advise starting your own campaign with your own session 0 about your limits and expectations.

Thanks for the advice. Don't try and flog a dead horse I guess.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Thanks for the advice. Don't try and flog a dead horse I guess.

Exactly. There's too much baggage and passive resentment and expectation between the group and the game-as-played-previously. If a game starts affecting your family life, you better reset the game, since you can hardly reset said family life

 

[NotQuiteANoble]

Exactly. There's too much baggage and passive resentment and expectation between the group and the game-as-played-previously. If a game starts affecting your family life, you better reset the game, since you can hardly reset said family life

My main concern was over my family life anyway. It's a game after all.

 

[Flamestrike]

Mate they're lucky im not DMing.

I would have made them redo their PCs with point buy as 13th level PCs with drastically reduced magic items- 1 rare, 1 very rare and (1 uncommon, or 5 potions of healing) each.

Theyre all packing legendary items (multiple ones) and god knows what else the prior DM let them do.

And the Ki riin thing would never have happened. He can be a ki rin but I don't allow the shellcasting trait with polymorph so it would be pointless.

 

[prabe]

Supporting the past choices of another GM can be hard, especially when they go a bit off the beaten track. Supporting high level play is also hard, if you aren't an experienced DM. Start fresh, and you don't have to worry about the questionable game balance choices someone else made.

I agree with @Umbran here, especially since every DM adapts different to high-level play--and every high-level party is different, based on the choices they made on their way to high-level. I think you're more likely to adapt well to high-level play if you've seen how the party got there (and any oddness is oddness you chose to allow). I think the combination of A) starting out with high-level play and B) including things another GM chose to allow, which you might not have, is doing you more than a little bit of dirt, here.

The fact some players seem to have been treated more equally than others almost certainly isn't helping.

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

"... and the Artificer through a tantrum ..."
"The artificer began complaining that he wasn't as powerful as everybody ..."
"This morning, he spent half an hour shouting at me ..."

Why is this person still in your game? The fact that he's your twin doesn't excuse this kind of behavior.

"We are playing again tonight(lots of sessions in a short period of time), and I'm afraid a TPK may occur and it'll be my fault, and that the Ki-Rin will suck the fun out, by correcting me at any point."
When the players make bad choices and ignore options, alternative paths or approaches, and outright warnings, a TPK is a possible and legitimate outcome.

"Is it my fault if the party dies?"
It can be, but from what you're describing it doesn't sound like it.

"I don't want to just kick someone out since they annoyed me ..."
I mean ... he's ruining the game for you and for the other players too from the sound of it. It's too bad he's your twin but this is exactly the kind of behavior that gets someone kicked out of a gaming group. They already ran off one DM and now you're seeing why.

It sounds like ending the campaign (whether a TPK or just telling them you're done), taking a break, and then possibly a fresh start is the best answer for everyone.

 

[Dausuul]

You are trying to salvage a broken game using the scraps left by a previous DM, those things rarely ends well, in my experience. I would also advise starting your own campaign with your own session 0 about your limits and expectations.

I agree with junking the existing campaign. Whether you start a new one... do you think it will lead to the same problems? If so, I would consider whether you want to start a new campaign at all.

You can't boot your brother from the group, but nobody can force you to DM a game if it's not going to be a pleasant experience. Don't feel obligated to do so. If the group ends up not playing D&D any more, or falls apart entirely, it isn't the end of the world.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Somebody else's broken game, somebody else's broken party. You inherited a group of people who want to go on a power trip, plus an artificer who doesn't really want to play a support class and appear to get power envy every time a paladin unleashes a critical smite.

What you should do is just let them finish their power trip. Find a deus ex machina reason to keep the party alive through this fight, go Monty Haul with magic items, make sure everything's easy street from here on out, and wrap this campaign up in two more sessions.