D&D General worst (real) advice for DMs

[EzekielRaiden]

“Balanced encounters are a must.”

Again, common and terrible advice.

Y'know...I hear people SAY this is common advice...but I never actually see it.

I see a LOT of people claiming that that's the advice, that it's something people dogmatically insist upon. But I've never--not once--actually seen a real person claiming, "You absolutely must use perfectly balanced encounters all the time."

Where are you seeing or hearing this?

Now, keep in mind, I see a vast, vast, VAST difference between "most encounters should be reasonably balanced" and "literally 100% of encounters should be perfectly calibrated to the party's level." The former is pretty common advice, and generally quite good advice at that. Constantly throwing wildly unbalanced encounters at a party is likely to generate problems. Unless, that is, your players are really ready for a crapshoot where every single time they roll initiative, they may waltz through like the encounter isn't even there, or may get their faces smashed in by a boot in twelve seconds flat. If they really are game for that then awesome, you really can throw almost anything at them and they'll probably be cool with it. But I find most groups are not so relaxed.

The latter is a strawman I see brought up every. gorram. time. people talk about encounter design as though pursuing balance was only and ever exactly two states, "absolute diamond perfection" and "there is no balance in Ba Sing Se."

 

[Yora]

Everything with both published adventures (post ca. 1984) and plotting the story of your campaign. RPGs are not made to play out scripts.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

The DM must know all of the abilities of all of the PCs in the party.

 

[Jack Daniel]

"You should run [module X] for your first campaign, it's great for teaching beginners!"

 

[MatthewJHanson]

The "illusion of choice," especially the example where there are two hallways to choose from, but whichever the PCs pick, it leads to the same encounter. Why not just have one hallway?

 

[Oofta]

If a player is doing something you don't like, go out of your way to punish their PC to teach them a lesson [instead of just talking to the player].

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If a player is doing something you don't like, go out of your way to punish their PC to teach them a lesson [instead of just talking to the player].

oh god some version of this has been going around for ever...

"Just talk to them" seems so much easier.

 

[Lyxen]

If a player is doing something you don't like, go out of your way to punish their PC to teach them a lesson [instead of just talking to the player].

Another version of bad advice would be "solve the problems of the game through the characters..."

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Where are you seeing or hearing this?

Now, keep in mind, I see a vast, vast, VAST difference between "most encounters should be reasonably balanced" and "literally 100% of encounters should be perfectly calibrated to the party's level."

I don't know if every encounter needs to be balanced (or most, or some) but I know another related bad set of advice has to do with sandboxes and levels...

"In a sandbox that you expect to hit level 15+ you need CR20's somewhere...and if your level 1 PCs travel there too bad for them"

normally by the same DM that talks up the 5 kobolds as "Deadly trap makers and ambushers that no sane person would take on" and then wonders why the "Deadly monster XXX that no sane person would take on" sounds like the next adventure quest when it was supposed to be a warning.

 

[Umbran]

“Railroads are fine.”

A commonly repeated and utterly terrible bit of advice for DMs.

Similarly, "Sandboxes always work great!"

Honestly, any advice that pushes a playstyle before the group has found its preferred playstyle is a problem. Railroads are fine, for people who like them. Similarly, sandboxes are fine, for those who like them. Put a player who isn't suited for them in either, and it isn't fun.