D&D General worst (real) advice for DMs

[Lanefan]

My Bad advice...

Bring Beer and whiskey, lots of beer and whiskey and start drinking it two hours before the game even begins...

The only bad advice there is the whiskey part. Change it to vodka and it's most excellent advice!

 

[nevin]

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].

Always followed by the player that likes harsh gritty games and thinks you understand how hard and nasty it should be.

 

[Asisreo]

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].

This one is the most painful. I was about to say this one.

Especially if it was contrived after they done it. They probably had no way to know you didn't like what they were doing but now they've gotten cursed or whatever because you're bitter that your loveable goblin wasn't as loveable as you thought.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

"Sure, you can do X. It won't break the game."

Especially terrible when said by a game developer.

I love this. I've noticed that on podcasts when game devs talk - I think they forget that not every table plays like their group, and usually their playtesters, at least at first, are their 'home' group. They're used to the designer's style and play accordingly to it. The rest of us have to just guess intent.

I don't know where I heard it - it may have been from the game designer John Wick (not the movie guy) - but look at the system. The rewards built into the system are signalling to the players the 'right way' to play, whether intentional or not. And that's why you'll see game designers talk about all the out-of-left-field questions they get that aren't the intent they had. Or when people talk about various editions of D&D not supporting 'roleplaying' as much as they are supporting tactical combat.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

So you searched reddit to find the worst 13 yo dm advice and brought it here? Why not post it back on reddit... or did you try and got downvoted lol.

Mod Note:

So you searched ENWorld to find a place to threadcrap and did it here? Here’s your downvote.

 

[S'mon]

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"

Seems like good advice to me - otherwise what are the level 15+ PCs going to fight?
Of course you don't put the CR 20 monster next door to the PCs, unless it's sleeping/imprisoned etc. You use concentric circles of generally increasing CR, where the immediate vicinity of the PCs is mostly level-appropriate.

 

[S'mon]

This reminds me of Matt Colville saying he believes there are no Bad Players - the players you feel are bad players just aren't right for the table/group/game they're at, but will be perfectly fine with others who share the same ideas.

Matt clearly hasn't run enough open table public games... I've seen players where the other players cheer when the guy's PC dies...

 

[S'mon]

It becomes one of those 'tree falls in the woods' things, I guess, because for every toxic player, I am sure there is a table that will be completely fine with whatever flavor of toxicity it is. Is it a player who's always 'it's what my character would do!' and derails the game? There's a table SOMEWHERE for that person - it doesn't have to be YOUR table, even if it is your dearest friend. Is it the min-max hack-and-slash guy? There's absolutely a table for those players, the type that the whole exercise in gaming is to theorycraft (as as GM, counter-theorycraft) and roll dice.

In a way, I think the players I have the most trouble with are those who are just there because that's what they do. They don't want to interact, they want to just be told when it's 'their turn', they avoid any attempts to engage them. Often times, but not always, it's a players significant other, to who the whole exercise is to just be with their person and be part of the group activity. YMMV

Oh sweet summer child, if those are the worst players you can imagine...
Generally it's the players who insult & abuse other players (& the GM) I find are the worst, especially when they do a motte & bailey tactic of "It's just my character" when called on it.

 

[Orius]

So with talk of playing or running a 5e adventure I have been diving into redit and YouTube for advice on how modified them to make the game go more smoothly.

You're looking for good advice on social media?!


To be fair though, some of that could be from younger and more inexperienced players who haven't learned all the pitfalls.

1)Back in 2e... "First game of each campaign kill a character so the players know you wont pull punches"
2) in 4e "You need to bring back save or die effects for both players and monsters"
however some of the advice I just saw for Rime of the Frost Maiden
3) take all magic weapons out of the adventure so that resistant and immune creatures feel tough...

That's a good way to lose players

It also could be crusty old grognards who are bitter about how the game has changed.

“Balanced encounters are a must.”

Again, common and terrible advice.

Relatively balanced encounters should be encouraged. It's not good to throw stuff at a party they can't handle or stuff that's far too easy. Balanced however shouldn't be seen as a rigid absolute either, since that doesn't exist.

"It's a medieval setting. It has to have racism and sexism to be realistic!"

If there's real racism and sexism in your game, it's because YOU want it to be there.

It depends on how it's handled and presented. If you're playing a historical game, prejudice is going to be a fact of life. A D&D game though should probably be set up to minimize this unless the players want the role playing challenge. The biggest red flag here is a DM that's pretty clearly getting off on a power trip over it.

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

A DM should have a good understanding of what the PCs can do so he can prepare the game properly and not run into bad surprises at the most inopportune moment.

 

[Orius]

I realize some frown on mixed metaphors, but I have to say this one is just--just gorgeous. Seriously.

I like to throw my metaphors into a blender and hit the "puree" button.

Metaphor smoothies!