Two Dozen Nasty DM Tricks

[Kzach]

Best. Thread. Evar.

I need to become more evil so I can contribute meaningfully to this thread

 

[op1983]

Oh man! This stuff is awesome keep it coming!

 

[Kraydak]

This really has the feel of PCs fail by DM fiat.

Two Dozen Nasty DM Tricks

Are your players too comfortable? Do they run pell mell into battle, wander confidently through dungeon corridors or loot with abandon? Do they leave town without a 10' pole or iron spikes? Are they certain that whatever they might encounter will be little more than a minor diversion along their path to Epic levels, never truly fearing for their characters lives? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it's time to face facts: you're a soft DM, a push over behind the screen. Buit don't despair! It's not too late for you to flex your DMing muscles and remind them that it isn't paranoia if you really are out to get them. To help you find your inner RBDM, I've compiled the following list of Nasty DM Tricks you can -- and should! -- spring on them. And when you've worked through this list, start your own and share it with other DMs, so that they too can free themselves from the shackles of wussification.

1. Vials clearly marked as potions of healing filled instead with one of the following: poison, acid or "cause wounds" (this last one is particularly nasty, as a detect magic spell will not reveal the trick).

Anyone who doesn't ID their potions (by whatever means the edition they play demands) gets what they deserve. IDing potions under 3e/4e is pretty darn trivial.

2. A magical scabbard filled with a powder extracted from rust monsters.

ID your items. Any powder that can rust weapons on contact is magical.

3. A room filled with corpses and covered by an anti-magic zone. When the door on the other side is opened (revealing a wall) a block falls in front of the entrance and the anti-magic zone is removed, reanimating the zombies.

Zombies aren't affected by anti-magic zones... There are ways you can make this work, but note that entering anti-magic zones is usually *really freaking obvious* to people who are strong enough to have enemies willing to make *permanent anti-magic zones*.

4. Smear contact poison on the mechanism by which a trap would be disarmed. To add insult to injury, make the trap itself harmless.

So the Find Traps roll finds the poison. Unless the DM rules by fiat that this "extraordinarily clever" trap somehow bypasses all the normal "find traps" mechanisms.

6. The PCs find a bag of holding; unbeknownst to them, there are already 2 rust monsters placed in the bag.

Quite some bags of holding you have there... how are the rust monsters surviving?

12. A stuck door that is made of balsam wood or an equally weak material, with a pit trap directly behind it.

Find Traps. Low DC... recognizing absurdly weak construction materials is pretty easy.

19. Four mimics in the shape of pillars hold up the ceiling; if they are killed the ceiling collapses.

Mimics can look like stone pillars. That doesn't give them stone pillar-esque load-bearing capabilities.

 

[Reynard]

I won't get into an argument over whether this sort of play is fun or is "fair" or anything else. However, i do find it interesting that many folks seem to have pretty damn strong feelings about it.

 

[Pbartender]

I won't get into an argument over whether this sort of play is fun or is "fair" or anything else. However, i do find it interesting that many folks seem to have pretty damn strong feelings about it.

That's because there's a very fine line between being an RBDM and an AHDM.

Something that's starts out as a unique and interesting challenge or a cunning turn of plot or twist of fate can quickly and easily be turned into a thinly veiled excuse to unavoidably screw your players, if you're not careful about it.

 

[Reynard]

AHDM

A-Hole DM?

 

[Reynard]

Something that's starts out as a unique and interesting challenge or a cunning turn of plot or twist of fate can quickly and easily be turned into a thinly veiled excuse to unavoidably screw your players, if you're not careful about it.

Or the perception of such. If players fall for one of these tricks and start crying foul, it doesn't mean the DM made the "screwing" unavoidable -- just that the players didn't avoid it.

 

[Kraydak]

I won't get into an argument over whether this sort of play is fun or is "fair" or anything else. However, i do find it interesting that many folks seem to have pretty damn strong feelings about it.

The DM comes up with "cool" idea and ends up, consciously or unconsciously, twisting rules to make sure the idea plays out as he envisaged it is a depressingly common scenario, in large part due to human nature.

It is also something that can poison (or at least make queasy) DM-player relations.

Traps that somehow avoid all the trap-finding mechanics in the game (and that thereby punish you for using said trap-finding mechanics) are pretty much "Exhibit A" of this phenomenon.

 

[Reynard]

Traps that somehow avoid all the trap-finding mechanics in the game (and that thereby punish you for using said trap-finding mechanics) are pretty much "Exhibit A" of this phenomenon.

This depends on whether "trap finding mechanics" are the sole determiner of whether a trap is found. I am of the school of thought that you'd no sooner allow a player to declare "I search for traps in the room" and make a roll than you would allow a player to say "I convince the duke to give us men-at-arms and a charter" and make a roll. Both of these situations require more imput from the players to get an effective output from the DM. Of course, YMMV.

 

[shilsen]

Yup. You have to be a DM to really appreciate them.

Depends on the DM. I'm a DM, and my players regularly call me a rat-bastard, but I'd never use 90% of the stuff listed thus far in the thread.

That's because there's a very fine line between being an RBDM and an AHDM.

Something that's starts out as a unique and interesting challenge or a cunning turn of plot or twist of fate can quickly and easily be turned into a thinly veiled excuse to unavoidably screw your players, if you're not careful about it.

What he said.

This depends on whether "trap finding mechanics" are the sole determiner of whether a trap is found. I am of the school of thought that you'd no sooner allow a player to declare "I search for traps in the room" and make a roll than you would allow a player to say "I convince the duke to give us men-at-arms and a charter" and make a roll. Both of these situations require more imput from the players to get an effective output from the DM. Of course, YMMV.

Good point. Whether the stuff in this thread fits your tastes (as a DM or as a player) depends on, well, your tastes. For example, I'm personally absolutely fine as a DM with a player searching for traps with just a roll. In the case of persuading the duke, it would likely take a roll and some roleplaying, but that's as much because my players love to roleplay out things like that (and have no desire to roleplay out the trap-searching) as anything else. Different strokes and all that jazz.