D&D 5E Is Tasha's Broken?

[Maxperson]

no...so far for no one (and we are a year of 1x month with some missed months) but we promised we would let this guy try to run a game... we are playing more out of trying to make him a better DM

Has anyone close to the guy pulled him aside and given some friendly advice and explained how this feels to the players? Trying to make him a better DM includes advice on what works and what doesn't.

 

[Mort]

no...so far for no one (and we are a year of 1x month with some missed months) but we promised we would let this guy try to run a game... we are playing more out of trying to make him a better DM

I agree

last time this type of BS happened the guy DMing now wasn't alive yet (for me it was 2e)

As @Maxperson just said (while I was typing the same thing) - someone needs to tell the DM directly that things are just not fun.

It's not always easy for the DM to pick up on it (certainly harder if he's new) and made even harder if everyone is being supportive. The DM may think he's making things fun by making them challenging - not realizing being denied your primary abilities (all the time) is just not fun.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Has anyone close to the guy pulled him aside and given some friendly advice and explained how this feels to the players? Trying to make him a better DM includes advice on what works and what doesn't.

yes, but he keeps insisting he has 'advice' from others and it will pay off. We have gotten to the point were we warnned him that we are not willing to continue much more without pay off...

funny part is 2 of my co players are in my 2 out of 4 saterday game and I am running ravenloft aswell (curse of strahd) and we are just past were we are in the other game and enjoying it much more. (although while looking for stuff I did find some of the advice he is useing and I have outlined how bad it is)

 

[Maxperson]

As @Maxperson just said (while I was typing the same thing) - someone needs to tell the DM directly that things are just not fun.

It's not always easy for the DM to pick up on it (certainly harder if he's new) and made even harder if everyone is being supportive. The DM may think he's making things fun by making them challenging - not realizing being denied your primary abilities (all the time) is just not fun.

Yep. Just make sure that it's not just done directly, but tactfully. Support him in the idea that hardships like that can be fun for sure, but only if they are limited in duration. If it goes on too long, it can negatively impact how the players envisioned their characters and therefore, their enjoyment.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

As @Maxperson just said (while I was typing the same thing) - someone needs to tell the DM directly that things are just not fun.

It's not always easy for the DM to pick up on it (certainly harder if he's new) and made even harder if everyone is being supportive. The DM may think he's making things fun by making them challenging - not realizing being denied your primary abilities (all the time) is just not fun.

we have had after session reports on what we like and don't like. We have also given advice on how to fix things. He is very stubern and thinks we just 'want things too easy'

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Yep. Just make sure that it's not just done directly, but tactfully. Support him in the idea that hardships like that can be fun for sure, but only if they are limited in duration. If it goes on too long, it can negatively impact how the players envisioned their characters and therefore, their enjoyment.

yup. we even brought up examples of games he has played in where DMs took equipment but replaced (even if it was lesser it was atleast same catagory) within a session or 2. The spell book was the biggest issue, but no finesse weapon is bad too. We have asked for it for months... he keeps telling us soon... however when he had a monster with a shortsword (I think it was 2 sessions ago times is weird for monthly games) it 'broke' before we could loot it.

 

[Mort]

we have had after session reports on what we like and don't like. We have also given advice on how to fix things. He is very stubern and thinks we just 'want things too easy'

A wizard not being able to prep/cast spells of any level worth mentioning for a YEAR isn't "difficult" it's absurd. Unless the player was warned of the limitation going in and chose anyway, but doesn't sound like that's what happened here.

And I'm sorry, if he's actually been told you guys are hating it and thinks you guys are just being crybabies? That's not a new DM problem, that's a jerk DM problem (reinforced by the shortsword breaking. How often do weapons break in standard D&D? This is just the DM being mean!).

Frankly, I can't believe you guys haven't walked. Are there friend group issues, I mean near a year!

 

[Minigiant]

I don't agree with that. It makes it different, and you might have to adjust a bit, but it's not broken. Broken is something you can't handle without demolishing everyone else at the table. Either the broken ability walks all over you, or you walk all over most of the party. That's a break, because the game doesn't work. What you are describing above is a game that still works, but just works differently.

You are correct.

What I meant was that the game element changes the game some much into an entirely different game which could not be adjusted back without severely adjusting or removing said element.

If the game is not longer the same game, it is broken even if it technically works.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I think a proper system for "degrees of success" is needed here as well, especially for characters with Expertise options like the Rogue. Too often, skill checks are "you roll high, things proceed without incident/you roll low, bad things happen".

It was funny, just earlier tonight, I went downstairs and my roommate was watching Critical Role. I don't watch the show, but he paused and was like, "hey, let me show you something".

For years now, whenever we play together, and we take watches for the night, I've noticed this trend. The DM asks you to roll Perception. If you roll high, nothing happens. If you roll low, there's an encounter of some kind (it's a rare day when you roll high and can react to enemies by noticing them first).

So he's showing me this bit where the various characters are roleplaying out their watches, and Matt Mercer is like "roll Perception checks". Two characters roll a 17 and Matt says "It's very cold outside". My roommate said he laughed when he saw that, because he immediately was reminded of my usual gripe.

(Although he then went on to say that in a previous session, someone rolled a 1 on their Perception check and there wasn't an encounter either, so no indictment against Mr. Mercer, it was just an amusing moment.)

At some point, after noticing this trend, I started making sure my characters were good at Perception, and my roommate followed suit (eventually followed by the rest of our playgroup). We haven't had a nighttime encounter since.

FWIW, I use perception checks during watches solely to determine how much time they have to prepare.

Which, if the intruder is friendly, can have amusing and sometimes tragic ( are those the same thing?) consequences.

 

[Bill Zebub]

It's "pretend-elf game" and I use it to point out that the game we're talking about is a creative act of fiction, and that in pretend lots of things can happen that we can justify in many ways. Usually this is brought out to arguments that the only possible way things can happen is in a particular imagining of a specific cause-effect process and that no other ways make sense. Well, we're pretending, and we have elves (which don't exist) and I can imagine quite a number of other ways, so...

Yes, exactly.

As for "infinite dragons" I use this to say why should I care if the players roflstomp this dragon? I have more. It's a point that you shouldn't be wedded to the idea that this encounter needs to come out in that way, because the game doesn't really hinge on this one (and probably shouldn't) -- you always have more you can do.

Here, I disagree. I mean that I literally throw an infinite number of dragons at my players, in a single fight, at level 1. It really cuts down on prep time, and it results in others volunteering to DM when it’s my turn.

I wash my wife’s colors and whites together, for a similar reason.