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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spectre72" data-source="post: 3033739" data-attributes="member: 18885">Well since I have never ate your dog or kicked your homework I took it as a rant.We each have a different style of play, and as long as our players are having fun then we are doing OK.The only comments that I take offense to are those that label me as a BAD DM without ever playing with me.So for those who have said "I would never play with a DM like that", you may have played with me and don't even know it because I often run games at local conventions.Usually my games are full, and people show up in my games year after year.I have players in my games that drive a couple of hours to play with me and my group.Must be doing something right.In the first session of every campaign I warn people that the kid gloves are off, and there will be characters that die.That is my decision as a DM.I do not go out of my way to kill them, but I will not save their butts either.We are currently playing in a very heroic Eberron campaign, but characters have died.Like the swashbuckler who snuck into an enemy encampment (even though the rest of the party pleaded with him not to) and rolled a 1 when trying to sneek away.  8 Elven Muskateers shot at him after spotting him, 4 hit (1 a critical) a few seconds later he was dead.  The rest of the party saw what happened from the top of the ridge where they were hiding and snuck away to regroup.The group discussed what happened and after discussing it he saw understood what had happened and why.  His response was, "That wasn't a very smart thing for me to", and he started rolling another character.  Since then he has been much more cautious, and he knows that bad decisions on his part will have consequences.  He has also learned to at least listen to the other players who have more experience playing than he does.As for invalidating the poll, Online polls are not really scientific so I don't feel bad about adding more information.  It is also interesting to me how the tone shifted from being OK to shafting the characters when you add one little piece of information like them not being able to get any information due to the failed skill checks.  The majority of people who think I shafted the players apparently think that a warning should be given no matter what the check result.  Well I disagree on that point and always will.  I am not saying that I would not warn them if the situation warranted it, but in the example through bad luck they walked into a trapped entrance to the dungeon.  If they had of walked into one of the other entrances they probably would have lost one member of the party instead of a TPK, and after the first trap was sprung or the first creature was encountered they would have known they were over their heads and would have retreated.Of course when getting there they avoided the biggest hazards that were in their way, so good luck turned into bad luck because they missed the warnings along the way (creatures over their challenge level).IMHO luck is a factor that cannot be avoided, sometimes it is good for the characters and othertimes bad.  That is why the game uses dice, otherwise we would just be telling a story.  There is a big difference for me as both a player and a GM on a game that you have a chance of failure, and one that you tell a story.  I ran a PBEM where I had a few players that were horrible about getting in game turns, and I hated it.  As a GM I am a facilitator, not someone who is writing a novel.  Players control their characters destiny, not me.  I do not make decisions for characters, they make their own.  I give them options and assist them if they want help because they do not understand something or need to find a rules reference.  I am not out to get the characters, but at times the monsters I control will get them.  It is nothing personal, and it is not a goal.  I do not use skull markers on my GM screen as a way to keep track of how many PC's I have killed.  I try to make things difficult on the characters so they have a sense of accomplishment when they triumph over evil.Sorry if this seems rantish, but I wanted to vent a little also <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> Good luck in your future games.</blockquote>

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