What ruins a campaign?

[Twowolves]

Since I'm the guy who brought up "ruined the campaign" line in the other thread, I should be more explicit. In the Deck of Many Things disasters that I've seen, the random magic item created problems so pressing and immediate that they completely changed the DM's and the players' plans. Your buddy's soul got sucked into the void? Rescuing him becomes more important than your current plot. You're carrying the magic maguffin when all your magic items disappear? Too bad for the adventure.

The other problem was one of player frustration. When your buddy has gained levels and multiple goodies, and you're forever dead or you've been struck penniless, it's hard to maintain the same level of fun. I think that's why many DMs I've seen allow one of the Deck's wishes to negate all of the deck's results, even if that's not strictly kosher.

I wish you would have posted this to the DoMT thread, but I'm glad I found it here in any case.

I think that this isn't "ruining" a campaign, just changing it's focus for a short while. It is very campaign specific, and where my game is at the moment (all major plots wrapped up or winding down), it can't really do anything worse than give the party a new direction for the next couple of adventures. But in any case, other than just not using the Deck, what would you do differently or change about it to reign in the worst of the problems?

 

[XO]

Battle Fatigue Brings on Ruin

Playing too often and too much over a relatively short time span can lead to "I've had enough!"

 

[Raven Crowking]

Too few houserules.

 

[Lanefan]

This is why it bothers me so much when a DM does not know the rules and makes it up as he goes.

As a player who knows the rules you plan your actions around the rules and if the DM is doing something different that you don't know about then you often end up making a bad decision.

What makes me really angry about this situation are DM s who when showed the rule hand wave it away with a "I don't think that makes sense" or they get real pissy about the "rule lawyering" going on at the table.

Different viewpoints, I suppose. A low-level character doesn't "know the rules" even if the player does...so if it tries something normally within the rules and that something turns out not to exist, so be it. There's lots of rules that don't make sense to me...if I were to try running a 3e game I'd fix what I could before dropping the puck, but I know I'd miss some if only because there's so many.

What is absolutely critical is that the DM adheres to his own established in-game precedent...if it's ruled something works a certain way once in his game, then it must always work that way in that game, even if broken. Want new rules? Start a new game...

Lanefan

 

[Elf Witch]

Different viewpoints, I suppose. A low-level character doesn't "know the rules" even if the player does...so if it tries something normally within the rules and that something turns out not to exist, so be it. There's lots of rules that don't make sense to me...if I were to try running a 3e game I'd fix what I could before dropping the puck, but I know I'd miss some if only because there's so many.

What is absolutely critical is that the DM adheres to his own established in-game precedent...if it's ruled something works a certain way once in his game, then it must always work that way in that game, even if broken. Want new rules? Start a new game...

Lanefan

If you don't like a rule fine house rule it, but don't do it in the middle of combat. Nothing is more frustrating than having your character killed because of a house rule you didn't know existed.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

Different viewpoints, I suppose. A low-level character doesn't "know the rules" even if the player does...so if it tries something normally within the rules and that something turns out not to exist, so be it. There's lots of rules that don't make sense to me...if I were to try running a 3e game I'd fix what I could before dropping the puck, but I know I'd miss some if only because there's so many.

What is absolutely critical is that the DM adheres to his own established in-game precedent...if it's ruled something works a certain way once in his game, then it must always work that way in that game, even if broken. Want new rules? Start a new game...

Lanefan

I do not agree with this viewpoint. If I make a mistake, I am not going to shelve the campaign in order to fix it. I am also not going to maintain the campaign with the mistake. I've had bad experiences with players (okay, mainly with one player) who tried to push for decisions without verifying the accuracy of the ruling. He would then complain if I tried to correct a mistake, so color me biased.

 

[The Edge]

All players plus dm going to seperate universitys...
Kinda stoped the campain pretty quick.

And games where the players are more concerned with killing each other, ending in the first session with a cry of "We all die here!" and a sack full of alchemists fires in a potion shop. That particular game might of been interesting to watch, but I'm glad I wasn't a player.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Oh I don't know... DM burnout killed some, reactive playstyle also killed some more. I think probably just the burnout.

I know that I can't provide a quality session as dm for at least 3 months, and certainly not a campaign for years.

 

[Nightfall]

May I appropriate your catchphrase and say the one thing that ruins my campaigns is


"Scarred Lands"

I hate you now and forever. May all the forces of ickness stick on your soul!

 

[Seeten]

Send that goat cleric guy after him