The DM always wins... or do they...

[Lord Xtheth]

I like telling the players that I play to win! I've done it for over two years with my current group and I plan on continuing to do it. Whenever I decided not to " play to win" my players start getting scared.
I've even gone so far as to raise my hands and declare victory whenever there's a full team wipe.

 

[mach1.9pants]

The DM always wins....or do they...

Man, some of you guys are taking this too seriously; I guess the OP knows that DMs don't win but it is a joke saying he has twisted to get some funny stories.

The last time I was really surprised by the PCs was definitely a DM win . In a trap a green dragon burst out of a hole in the centre of a maze (I won't elaborate for spoilers). After an epic split PC battle, they won, defeating their first dragon and a dangerous rolling (as I didn't have the right mini; GOLF) ball.

...But didn't check the hole for treasure..."Holy oversight BATMAN!"

 

[Gilladian]

Once as a DM, I totally caused my players to sit and stare at me for several minutes in silence with their mouths open. It was really funny, because I didn't even plan it, and it was at a totally random moment.

I was describing their arrival in a new village; they watched a young boy come out of a building, walk across a yard, and carry out a mundane task. While doing so, he KICKED THE CAT who was playing at his feet.

They were stunned. This was the same group that weeks earlier had bought a goat, butchered it, stuffed its body with explosives, and fed it to a giant alligator... with the expected messy result. I guess DM's are held to different standards...

I was forced to explain that he didn't really HURT the cat - just pushed it with his foot! They breathed a big sigh of relief, and went on to nearly torture the kid to find out where his parents were. Sigh.

 

[howandwhy99]

A DM / Referee cannot win by definition. Not unless they cheat and break the rules and try and run a DMPC, which isn't really possible anyway. They can never win because they are not players in the game.

 

[mach1.9pants]

A DM / Referee cannot win by definition. Not unless they cheat and break the rules and try and run a DMPC, which isn't really possible anyway. They can never win because they are not players in the game.

It is a JOKE about a GAME, see the OP and quote below, don't take it so seriously!

Please cite some examples from your experiences where the DM was taken by surprise by the actions of the characters (and left dumbfounded and temporally defeated), whether you were a player or the DM.

As a DM and as a player, there is always something that another player does that surprises me.

What I was trying to do is get people to share some of their more memorable surprises, events that will be remembered for a long time.

Thank you.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

A DM / Referee cannot win by definition. Not unless they cheat and break the rules and try and run a DMPC, which isn't really possible anyway. They can never win because they are not players in the game.

Which reminds me, you just lost the game. ...D'oh!

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[Keith Robinson]

As a DM I can't win or lose. I just am.



Seriously, though, I've never understood the us versus them attitude. As others have already mentioned, I see DMing as facilitating the game and ensuring everyone (including myself!) has fun.

 

[howandwhy99]

Which reminds me, you just lost the game. ...D'oh!

The Game - Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia

In Soviet Russia the dice roll you!

 

[ExploderWizard]

Or they would surprise me by bypassing large chunks of the adventure (and thus XP) and getting to the BBEG a little too soon, leading to more PC deaths...

I know the feeling. A while back I was running a 3E version of Against the Cult of the Reptile God for my group. After investigating the town and the temple, the party headed to the main dungeon. They got lucky (if you want to call it that) and found secret tunnels that led almost straight to the climactic encounter. Ever since then, whenever the party does something remotely similar all I have to do is shake my head and say: "Straight to the naga." Its become something of a running joke.

 

[Astragoth]

My party had to get a jewel that was around the neck of a duchess in a well defended castle in a fortified city.

I had it completely mapped out and encounters ready to go.

What does the party do?
-they go find out if the duchess has hobbies.

well ok, let's think of something, she collects mirrors. Mirrors came up in my mind because the party had a mirror in a treasure parcel a session before. Boy, was I going to regret that.

-the party has a character with a high streetwise skill. He goes out, and carefully spreads the message that a baroness from some unkown estate is going to visit town, and that she has a exquisite collection of mirrors. Of course, he seems to be unable to roll under 15 for his streetwise checks.

Oh, boy, I didn't really plan for this. Yup, there's a invite coming for the baroness to the next palace ball.

-they let the wizard cast the ritual "hallucinory item" on the mirror they found in the previous session. It was a mirror of 500 gold, so it is suitably special. In the mirror appears the image of another even more beautifull mirror. They claim the mirror in fact has the ritual "view location" cast on it, and the baroness can view parts of her collection through the mirror when she travels!

-They dress up the warlock, give her a quick ettiquete lesson and send her to the ball with the warlord as escort. She is, off course, a natural bluffer and pulls it of with ease. She shows the duchess the mirror, and invites her over to come view and perhaps trade.

blinded by greed, the duches horribly fumbles her insight check (I rolled a 2), and despites heavy protest from the captain of the guard agrees.

The duchess travels with my warlock in a coach to the location. The warlock feeds her a sleep potion, the party raids the coach and hours later the duches wakes up minus escorting guard, minus horses, and minus jewel.....


the bastages! But boy, did we have fun.....