D&D General Is Your DM Out to Get You? [Humor]

[CleverNickName]

I was rooting around on Reddit today, and there are an above-average number of threads of people complaining about their Dungeon Master. Each thread has its own vibe, of course, but they are all saying the same things: their DM is out to get them. Refusing to allow certain rules or add-on products, setting unfair challenges, rolling better numbers...the list is extensive. Practically everyone in that subreddit (five people, by my count) has a horror story about how their DM only wants to see them suffer.

How about you? Is your DM out to get you?

Obviously, this thread is intended to be tongue-in-cheek. We all know your DM isn't really out to get you. We're here to just blow off some steam, and laugh at how silly we all are at times.

 

[CleverNickName]

I am the DM, and yes, I'm out to get you.

• The players and I were gearing up for a Viking-themed campaign a few years ago, and one of my players asked if he could play a thri-kreen monk who quad-wielded daggers. When I told him no, he acted like I had cancelled Christmas. As a compromise, he offered to name his character "Odin."
• One time, the boss monster double-tapped a downed character. The players looked at me like I had committed an actual murder.
• But probably the worst thing I've ever done was the time I wouldn't let them take a long rest in the middle of a dungeon. (They were exploring a sea cave and they knew they only had 3 hours before the tide came in.) Years later, they still grumble about it.

I'm the worst.

 

[Shiroiken]

I am known as a killer DM, because I have absolutely no qualms about killing PCs. I don't hold back, and I don't build using "encounter design." I make a somewhat realistic world, and the players have to adjust to it.

 

[Maxperson]

• But probably the worst thing I've ever done was the time I wouldn't let them take a long rest in the middle of a dungeon. (They were exploring a sea cave and they knew they only had 3 hours before the tide came in.) That was in 2015 and they still grumble about it.

Given some of the recent threads, one of the ones I picked was "It's in the rulebook under fiat."

As for your example there, I'd have just reminded them about the tide coming in in 3 hours and asked them if they really wanted to start a long rest. If they said yes, they'd have had to roll some really good numbers to find air pockets big enough to allow survival until the tide went back out again.

 

[CleverNickName]

As for your example there, I'd have just reminded them about the tide coming in in 3 hours and asked them if they really wanted to start a long rest. If they said yes, they'd have had to roll some really good numbers to find air pockets big enough to allow survival until the tide went back out again.

A perfectly reasonable approach.

Not that it would have worked with my players; they give me this look every time there's even a hint of time pressure on the adventure:

 

[CleverNickName]

I half-expected to log in this morning and find a "Are Your Players Out to Get You?" parody thread.

 

[Stormonu]

I don't have to be out to get my players. They hang themselves by their own petard.

I just tend to laugh when they do it.

 

[overgeeked]

I am the worst referee in history because I have caused my 5E players to rage quit my games by:

Inflicting one (1) point of damage.

Saying no, they were not a master earth bender because they took the mold earth cantrip.

Giving them a mutation for touching raw warpstone.

Catching them cheating.

Banning broken builds.

Banning broken spells.

Making them roll for stats.

Incorporating their backstory.

Not incorporating their backstory.

Using house rules that made the game more challenging.

Not using house rules that made the game easier.

Making the game challenging in any way.

Expecting them to be good sports, i.e. have good manners and a sense of sportsmanship.

Not fudging dice in their favor.

Expecting them to read some of the rules.

Enforcing the actual rules of the game.

Not agreeing with terribly mangled and self-serving readings of the rules.

And so, so many more.

 

[CleverNickName]

I don't have to be out to get my players. They hang themselves by their own petard.

I just tend to laugh when they do it.

This is the way.

 

[CleverNickName]

Enforcing the actual rules of the game.