Spineless Puppy DMs Unite!

[barsoomcore]

Okay, I've had it with these macho "Rat Bastard" DMs.

Er, rather, I've had it with envying these "Rat Bastard" DMs and their tough-as-nails ways, their TPKs and their crying 8-year-olds. Clearly I'm never going to make my players devour their own character sheets in horrified frustration, I'm never going to gloat as I slaughter one hapless PC after another, I'll never know the thrill of hearing a player say, "I brought three characters tonight, just in case." These joys are not for me. These pleasures will never provide me with hours of amusement.

I'm a Spineless Puppy DM. It's like being a Rat Bastard, only different.

My characters pout and I give them everything. They keep their characters through thick and thin. I never put them in "save-or-die" scenarios because what if they die? I'd cry. I get anxious when PCs get down to single-digit hit points and you know what? I fudge a lot of die rolls. Funny circumstances pop up when things are getting dire.

I'm a Spineless Puppy. I'm kind of cute, and I make people laugh, but I'm not to be taken seriously.

This isn't a self-pitying thing. Spineless Puppies don't feel bad -- they can't -- they're puppies. Puppies are always happy except when they're lonely. I'm a happy DM. I'm just grateful my players show up. Maybe I worry sub-cousciously that if I get all rat-bastardy that they won't come back. Maybe I don't want to get all weepy because I killed a PC that I've come to care about more than the player.

I've come to the conclusion that Spineless Puppy DMs can run games just as exciting as Rat Bastard DMs. The thrills in a SPDM game are different, however. In an SPDM game players don't fear death -- they fear that they won't figure things out. Or that their ally won't survive (NPCs tend to suffer a lot in SPDM games since they have to take on all the tragedy PCs would otherwise provide). Or that the evil cousin will take over the throne and turn the kingdom into a nightmare of desolation. Not that that would hurt the PCs any, but it would sure be hard on the NPCs (see above).

An exciting SPDM game demands that the players care about things beyond their characters -- they can probably figure out that their characters are at low risk, but if they care about NPCs they'll still get all worried and enthralled and all that.

Maybe being an SPDM means you get practice in involving players in the larger campaign world. It lets players relax a little, stop worrying about their precious character and let their imagination wrap them up in the campaign itself.

So Spineless Puppy DMs (I know I'm not the only one) unite! Stand proud! Say it with me:

I'm Spineless, I'm Cute, I'm a Fat, Wiggly Puppy and I Can STILL Make My Players Freak Out!

Inside each of us there's a Spineless Puppy, isn't there? And a Rat Bastard. Good DMs, I reckon, need a little of both. These days I'm just embracing my inner Puppy.

He's cuter than my inner Rat.

 

[Kilmore]

We're not ignoring you, Barsoomcore. We're just trying to think of something to say.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

We're just trying to think of something to say.

How about, "Grow a pair, ya big Mary!"

Wulf

 

[Dr Midnight]

As a former spineless puppy, let me tell you that it feels good here on the other side. I mean, not all the way rat bastard, but heartless enough to let a longtime PC die if it's called for. I feel more respect from the players, and I have more respect for my DM'ing.

 

[d4]

18+ years DMing, zero PC kills.

if Mongoose wrote a book about me, it'd be The Quintessential Spineless Puppy DM.

i agree that games in which the PCs need not fear death can be just as fun and just as exciting as ones in which three PCs die every session.

obviously, the players i've had over the years would agree as well, or they wouldn't keep coming back.

PC death and mortality just isn't a part (or is rarely a part) of some genres -- comic books, action movies, etc. these are the genres i try to emulate as a DM. i'm not interested in being "realistic". i don't want my players' characters to be "small fish in a big pond". i really like the idea of having a group of larger-than-life heroes who triumph over every tragedy. i don't want them to be just normal people trying to make it in the world; i want them to remake the world for themselves -- to change things up, to get involved, to make a big difference.

the question changes from "Will the heroes win?" to "How will the heroes win?" that shift in emphasis works in action movies, and i find it can work just as well in RPGs.

i've found there are countless ways of challenging PCs that do not require they put their lives on the line.

i find this style of gaming induces the players to take many more risks than they would otherwise. and of course, risky situations are fun. frontal attack in broad daylight? sure, why not? may not be the smartest thing to do, but oh boy, it'll sure be fun!

it's all a matter of taste, really. this is the style i enjoy.

 

[Angcuru]

I think I'm with you on the this, BSC. Not to the completely spineless extent, but I'm there still. I don't have fun by slaughtering PC's, I have fun by messing with their emotions.

EDIT: Agrees with d4. Roll fudging ahoy.

 

[d4]

I feel more respect from the players, and I have more respect for my DM'ing.

see, i've seen it the exact opposite. IMO, it takes a lot more effort to keep PCs alive session after session than it does to just "let the dice fall where they may" and kill off a PC or two every now and then. from my experience, being a non-PC-killing DM requires more skill.

as far as respect from the players go, i've had several situations where i had some players who were playing simultaneously in another campaign under another DM (a more rat-bastardly one), who would then drop that other campaign to play in mine. why? because mine was more fun. why? because they didn't have to worry about their characters dying.

 

[Kilmore]

The party I'm running was able to buy a scroll with Ressurection to fix up a favorite dead NPC. The gloves are off now.

 

[Angcuru]

I believe it would be quite satisfying to have the PCs get all close-knit and friendly, and then snatch one away (I.E. Kidnapping) and see what happens.

It's good to keep the group walking the thin line between life and death, I.E. you'll let them get heavily wounded, and try to avoid deaths. I prefer to style the game in a way that the PCs learn early on how dangerous their professions can be, and keep reinforcing that throughout the game. And this can be done outside of combat as well.

I remember this one time when of the PCs was a cocky half-dragon who basically ruled the local fighing pits, and decided to teach him a lesson, V.D.-wise.... Lets just say that once he had to pluck out, cleanse and sew back on his crotch scales one by one, he was a little less...boisterous....

 

[Hjorimir]

I know how you feel. There are two players in my current campaign that have evaded death time and time again. Granted the other five have sucked dust...some more than once so I guess I can sleep at night. But one day I will grow up and be able to smile at my PC death count.

Mordecai...Dera (not that she reads the boards)...I'm coming for you!