PAID DM RUINS His Own Game

Paid DM ruins his own game, players do nothing and let themselves die, and a DM slowly dying in DM hell.
Join the Discord! / discord
Submit Your Story! / critcrab
Support me on Patreon! / critcrab
Follow me on Twitter! / crabcrit
MERCH! teespring.com/stores/critcrab...
if you came this far down the description you get a cookie 🍪

[@cydude5856]

Imagine playing a mystery session and calling the clues your GM gives you "useless lore"

[@Altorin]

a *one shot* mystery session that your character decided to sit idly through the first act of.

[@SapphireDragon357]

@@Altorin and second act. And third act.

[@Vesdus]

They were suffering from leaky brain syndrome.

[@KumaoftheForest]

Zoinks

[@YooranKujara]

@@Vesdus funny joke there, we all know they don't have brains

[@RPGTales]

The first group: "Let's do nothing." Everyone around them: **dead** The group: "I guess our work here is done."

[@watcherofmemelords7967]

Last dm: ok thank you for your money, go fuck yourself, which is now possible with this convenient 25 year time skip. Me: Dude give me back my money, I didn't pay for your fanfiction trash.

[@dennismarinos2129]

I don't know why but seeing dnd reading channels commentimg on other reading channels makes me smile. I am fun of both you and crit crab. Keep up the great work

[@CritCrab]

Ayyy RPG Tales in the chat 🦀❤️🦀❤️

[@watcherofmemelords7967]

@@CritCrab praise the emperor of crab kind and the lamenter of craigs!

[@ASuspiciousCrab]

@@CritCrab yes

[@WolfyFancyLads]

DM: "Ghosts are in this place." Players: "Meh." DM: "The cops think you're useless." Players: "Meh." DM: "The walls bleed." Players: "Meh." DM: "The school burns down." Players: "Meh." DM: "Aaaaaaaaand you're dead." Players: *shocked Pikachu face* "You suck as a DM!" You know, I wasn't even playing and I was mentally taking notes over the investigation...

[@WardNightstone]

yea same

[@yocumaco13]

If you dont listen to the clues, youre gonna have a bad time

[@derrickmelton5844]

Those hints were so brazenly obvious too, that you'd have to let your brain sit in a river for a few hundred years to get it so smooth as to not pick up on them.

[@WolfyFancyLads]

@@derrickmelton5844 I think even a sMoOtH bWaIn™ would pick up at least one of the clues. :p

[@jacobc8036]

Heck I think we could all solve the mystery with just what we were given. I say to find the instruments the ghost used, the knife, bolder, etc., And destroy them. Sever their last link to the corporal world. Or we figure out what drove them to want to take their own lives

[@setojurai]

The first group was the "this is fine" meme in TTRPG format.

[@WolfgangDoW]

Literally

[@TalonBrush]

I love the office had a recently-burnt table and shattered windows and the player was like "yupp, seems like a nice spot for a nap". Honestly, I think they were actually trolling that poor GM. I mean, COME ON, they literally just sit there?

[@sassyviking6003]

This is what my friends back in high school would do every time I try to play with them. They juat sit there and look at their phones and it is like trying to pull teeth to get them to interact in any way. They would also constantly schedule other stuff over our sessions and not even tell me until it was session time and I was reminding them and I would get a "oh, we can't today, i made plans" or some BS. They ere kind of toxic people though and thankfully i don't have muvh to do with them anymore.

[@NefariousDreary]

Lmao!

[@HenkkaArtGames]

@@sassyviking6003 The second half about scheduling sounds like a few groups I've been gaming with, as well. Although we weren't in high school but grown-ass adults, 30-40 years old. We had more cancelled sessions than actual sessions and even our sessions that happened, half of them were the kinds where the GM or someone else starts the session with "Oh, by the way, I need to get to the bus/store/whatever in 2 hours so...".

[@asatowne5234]

The patience of the DMs can be astounding. : You find yourself on the path to the Caverns of Dread. : We turn around and go home. : You live out your lives and die peacefully, thank you and goodnight. : Shitty DM, 0/10.

[@Macrochenia]

Or as it went with one group I GMed for: : You've found the last piece you need to assemble the device you need to stop the Omnicidal Maniac from destroying reality. : We don't put it together, we go somewhere else. : Unopposed, the Omnicidal Maniac destroys reality. You all die. Goodnight.

[@asatowne5234]

@@Macrochenia Had they been like that throughout the game or was that out of left field?

[@Macrochenia]

@@asatowne5234 It was annoyingly consistent. They'd been very excited to have me run the game, but every time we actually started to play they just seemed to lose interest in actually trying: they put no points in social skills, then tried to bluff their way out of problems by telling the most absurdly unbelievable lies, and during major fights they literally would waste multiple rounds not doing anything.

[@asatowne5234]

@@Macrochenia Oof. I enjoyed WW RPGs back in the day, and now as I get older and worse at videogames, I've been considering looking for some D&D to get into... but these stories make it seem like a daunting prospect. Younger me came to relate to the salt, older me just wants to drink XD

[@Macrochenia]

@@asatowne5234 I'm willing to work with players, I just get salty with players who seem to think that they don't have to put any effort into the game.

[@Altorin]

hahahahaha "There's Blood on the wall, and a scream rings out in the distance." "Oh. I sit down."

[@NWolfsson]

"The table is set aflame. -Holy gosh darn! We must flee from this room of Eeeevil!"

[@Lord_Numpty]

And would his highness like a spot of _fucking tea_ to go with his current environment of blazing hellscape? The Lord must have repossessed the entire group's brains for them to take such idiotic inaction.

[@goncalocarneiro3043]

Classic Bethesda NPC programing.

[@PrettyGuardian]

@@NWolfsson *spits on it*

[@adambaryliuk3393]

“The school begins burning down” “Have you heard of the high elves?”

[@autumnmarilyn5216]

Lmao “You didn’t give us clues!” “You gave us too much lore!”

[@zaferoph]

Basically like saying "You didn't give me any food just a life time free pass to a buffet for dinner every day of the year"

[@kaylawoodbury2308]

@Sake rift "I can't eat paper! 😡"

[@zaferoph]

@@kaylawoodbury2308 "You could certainly try"

[@o__o.6212]

In a mystery game NOTHING is useless lore

[@TalonBrush]

@@o__o.6212 GM: "...And so it was that on the first day of Hovermint - the third month in the local calendar - Lord Ronaldio Vel-Soothe and his compatriot, Vinalgo, have spent the afternoon in the meadow. Both shared a passing fascination with the mushrooms of the field and had often recorded their observations, along with illustrations. They were of the habit of taking long walks, as Mrs Maybeaulley's pudding desserts were so rich that both required some constituional time after tea. The surrounding fields and forests in the Vel-Soothe lands were home to the Finckey Furrow, that most lazy of birds with its distinct teal wings and drooping beak. Sir Jomes Jamreys sometimes wrote to Lord Ronaldio of the bird, and sent him his illustrations of the ones he had seen in the Vel-Soothe forests. Lord Ronaldio replied courteously, but since Ser Jomes did not share their interest in the mushrooms of the field, Vinalgo was Lord Rinaldio's preferred companion." Player: "Ok... I was hoping for something a little bit more relevant to the train heist I was investigating." GM: "Oh, you don't know it's not relevant. There could be a connection on board the train..." Player: "This is 200 years later, and none of this is relevant." GM: "Ok, I'll spoil it! Unbeknownst to you, one of the passangers on this train is in fact a vampire! You see, 200 years ago, Vinalgo..." Player: "So Vinalgo is the one who-!" GM: "...Was his barber." Player: "..." GM: " :-) " Player: "Is the vampire our robber?" GM: "No, just a passanger. His presence here is just a coincidence." Player: *rubs nose bridge and sighs*

[@mediamixer7564]

I swear, some of these people are NPCs in real life

[@dylandugan76]

I'm an irl NPC because I don't speak until someone talks to me.

[@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181]

@@dylandugan76 shut-up BOT!

[@asatowne5234]

"....."

[@TheCoffeehound]

Helloooo Adventurer!

[@WobblesandBean]

Nah. Even NPCs are more proactive than these players.

[@adambennett4207]

first group: 'does nothing' also first group: 'dies' also also first group: "wtf you're a horrible gm"

[@wolfjack5802]

“God you should of given us better clues” THERE LITERALLY WAS A BEATING HEART IN THE JANITORS CLOSET AND LOTS OF SUSPICIOUS SUICIDES LATELY IN A MODERN DAY SETTING. My goodness that’s got to be annoying

[@bestaround3323]

@@wolfjack5802 Don't forget the blood curdling screams they heard

[@PUNishment777]

"This is fine" meme intensifies

[@adambennett4207]

@@wolfjack5802 all of them in sync: big deal, we have all those things at our own school

[@LevidelValle]

What happens when the players have lower Int than the characters

[@swindle9695]

Man, the Scooby-Doo gang really is shit without Shaggy and Scoob isn't it?

[@shadenox8164]

I feel like what they were missing was a Velma and a Fred. Because none of them had any curiosity or interest in what was happening or wanted to do anything.

[@artemisameretsu6905]

@@shadenox8164 I sit down -Fred I'm too scared to go without x - Daphne just trying to get alone time with Fred I dont know where to go- Velma without her glasses 😂

[@liquidsandwich1052]

I think Jonathon was trying to be Shaggy while the others treated him like Fred

[@jacobc8036]

"like scooby maybe the team will be fine without us" they were busy "investigating" the cafeteria kitchen for delicious "clues" before the chase scene starts.

[@ExValeFor]

Okay, no, that first story can't be fake. You can't come up with this shit. You cannot possibly invent this idiocy and put it down on paper without cringing unto death

[@tiaxanderson9725]

Wait, is it fake or can't you make it up?

[@ExValeFor]

@@tiaxanderson9725 Can't be fake, as written.

[@jonmcfluffy9699]

@@tiaxanderson9725 hes saying its impossible for it to be possibly not fake.

[@stormisuedonym4599]

I can believe it. The lengths some players will go to in order to avoid engaging with the game is really remarkable. I've stopped playing sandboxes because most players will, after signing up for one, proceed to find the nearest tavern (ignoring everything going on, including what we discussed in Session Zero) and wait for adventures to happen at them.

[@rooky3526]

It does happen. From the sound of it, they were tuning OP out and weren't really paying attention to him. I think they just wanted to fight ghosts and roll dice adm weren't too keen on the whole lore of the story.

[@MadnessStalker]

"You didn't give us any clues just shitty lore!" THAT IS THE CLUES YOU WASTED MEAT SUIT!

[@rachdarastrix5251]

Its the stuff it would be meta gaming for one's character NOT to know. Thank Bahamut for Audiobook.

[@chiachimariachi4682]

WASTED MEAT SUIT OH GOD LMFAO

[@iliketopunchthings9353]

Ong the best insult I’ve ever heard lmaooooooo

[@Caragoner]

I laughed too hard at this

[@declanhuber4250]

*floor is covered in blood and broken glass* "I sit down on the floor" Why

[@Macrochenia]

"Because I want to die of tetanus!"

[@averxion]

"You hear a terrible scream. What do you do?" "I pull out my flask and get drunk"

[@l0stndamned]

I disagree with the "hard to stay mad at them" mindset with the first one. Obnoxious do-nothing players fill me with fury.

[@yuki97kira]

True..im a newb but even then i tried to make things interesting while teetering the "i dont wanna fuck up" walkway

[@Xylarxcode]

In one of the rare few games where I actually got to be a player, I had a barbarian like that. Also a shy rogue and a bit of a blowhard cleric. The rogue also initially didn't say or do much and just kinda tagged along, but slowly began to open up and the campaign progressed, the cleric was active enough, but frequently gave terrible suggestions or wrong uses of his spells and abilities, so he got tuned out a lot. But the barbarian. He filled me with neverending frustrations. I was seated next to him and oftentimes, when we were discussing how to deal with a scenario, I'd stop and turn to him and ask: 'What do you think? Any ideas?' And he'd just briefly look up from his phone and say: 'Nah, I'm good. We'll do whatever you say. Tell me when we get to combat.' He just refused to say or do anything unless it was combat related. Then when we got to combat, he'd start taking basic swings at creatures and never looked over or used his abilities, nor did he bother to check which dice to roll or when to roll them, so I was always having to help him out by telling him which dice to roll, which modifiers to add, etc etc. That campaign lasted 4 months and he was there for every single session, sporting that exact same attitude every single time. He wasn't being a problem player, in the sense that he wasn't actively trying to prevent us from having fun nor did he get in our way by making stupid decisions or making it all about himself or anything like that. He just ... didn't seem interested in doing anything. He just showed up, sat down, rolled some dice when it was combat time and turned to me when he was told those were the wrong dice or what his modifiers were and I'd explain it to him or, on occasion, just rolled for him and he was fine with that. I have absolutely no idea what he got from those games. He never once complained or berated anyone, but he never actually participated either. He'd just sort of be there and browse his phone when it wasn't combat scenarios and occasionally rolled a dice when it was, often getting it wrong or extremely suboptimal.

[@Caragoner]

Honestly it's one thing to be nervous and shy and not forward. It's another to blatantly ignore the plot to sit around and play with your dick. Why did you show up if you have no intention of engaging or at least doing something. If the op had indicating they seemed nervous or anxious about it there was easy solutions like an NPC to help guide them through their first game but no, it seemed like they we're just lazy.

[@PTp1ranha]

@@Xylarxcode Sounds to me like he wanted to spend time with people, but could only do so through tabletop and resigned himself to it.

[@roberttarmann2942]

"Dark Lord Pippin ruling over Middle Earth with an Iron fist and a magic ring" Honestly, I'd watch that movie.

[@Vesdus]

Yeah that sounds badass.

[@funninoriginal6054]

The virgin Sauron vs the chad Pippin

[@davidepepe8486]

Breakfast?

[@curranmckenzie9574]

The Lord of the Rings: |||||||||||||||||||||||| The Lord of the Rings if Pippin got the Ring: |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

[@WiseSageBum]

There will always be second breakfast

[@BrotherRoga]

First group: "We have tried nothing and we're out of ideas!"

[@GlizzyGoblin757]

brony 🤢

[@raventhorX]

Sounds like a Monty python skit

[@guardian2598]

It’s a simpsons joke

[@AmariieMaerthos]

@@guardian2598 It was in both Simpsons AND My Little Pony

[@Luigicat11]

@@GlizzyGoblin757 "You have a profile pic I don't like so I'mma whine about it." Why are there people like this?

[@pazz]

MOTW isn't really a system built for that much fighting... it's more about investigation, figuring out weeknesses and setting up traps. It's so annoying that the players in the first story didn't even understand what system they were playing in. Also, even in combat heavy systems, you can't expect the GM to tell the entire story and hold your hand every step of the way, it's collaborative story-telling... you gotta do stuff to get stuff, ya numb skulls.

[@notanalien5496]

There totally can be big fight sessions, just that you gotta come up unique and interesting ways to win said fight. Like, the fact they avoided the mystery just because they wanted to get to the fight already is w i l d to me 'cause without the mystery build up,they'd never get their big action scene--

[@pazz]

@@notanalien5496 yeah, exactly! That's what I meant, gotta have the investigation, learning any weakness the monster may have, so you can figure out how to win the fight/potentially set up a trap. A fight can go south pretty quickly in MOTW if there is no prep.

[@pazz]

At least, that's how my GM has run the game, others may run it differently.

[@notanalien5496]

@@pazz I'm pretty sure your DM's running it how the game was intended to be played out. Or at least that's how I'm used to playing it as well. I agree with you though, MOTW encounters can v e r y quickly go wrong if you go in blind unless your DM is the kindest of souls-

[@relo999]

That's why I love Paranoia, that can be pretty much anything without setting up player expectation nor is it very rule heavy (don't know about the new one though). It's great for people to try out a RPG with it being wacky fun or super serious depending on how you play it. MotW requires players to know what they get into, but that's not that great for first time players not familiar with RPG's (or only played very combat heavy RPG campaigns before). And DnD is awful when players don't want to know the rules of play.

[@generaldreagonlps6889]

Yeah, a 25 year timeskip is definitely in the "discuss together as an option after the entire party gets killed trying to stop the bad guy" category.

[@jonmcfluffy9699]

also at no point did the player get the chance to even stop his evil clone, that in and of its self could have been a campaign. also "rebuilding your tribe" is not the same as "reaching adult hood, and having to split off to new lands to build up your own tribe." having EVERYTHING that you worked so hard for destroyed will be nothing but a kick in the nuts/coochie.

[@shadenox8164]

@@jonmcfluffy9699 Also make the player suspicious that the DM might do it again.

[@silverdeathgamer2907]

I mean what if one of them was an Aarakockra or something.

[@thomasfevre9515]

General GM advice: You should never ever TPK First story: Well, sometimes...

[@DHTheAlaskan]

I would say never deliberately TPK, the dice land how the dice land.

[@jakeand9020]

Also known as: The worst DM advice ever.

[@TheGamersfolly]

That first story reminds me of the people who show up for DnD and want it to be more like a movie than a game.

[@inky5574]

Then they get bored and start watching anime on their phones until it's their turn to do something

[@ngd0711]

@@inky5574 Or they just look up stupid memes and gifs rather than paying attention during combat. Yeah, I used to play with a group in which two of the members did just that.

[@kradehteno8233]

@@inky5574 I don't wanna be rude but its pretty much your fault if you keep up with that, either talk with them in private or kick them out of the group

[@WolfgangDoW]

Or they think it's Skyrim basically

[@dragonxswords114]

I mean the skyrim one isnt that bad actually. I could work with that. As far as people who think its like a movie i think that might also stem from past DMs. Running combat with more than 6 people can really turn into a waiting game. Especially if some are new players. And lord knows if the party splits up in town people will be waiting their turn. This is why my player cap is 5

[@ArtGuyCharlie]

The idea of an evil cone of a PC trying to undermine their mission and undo their hard work WOULD be a potentially interesting story if the player actually got to interact with it. But not so much jumping ahead to a world where this villain has already won and successfully ruined the character's life without the player ever even having a chance to do something about it.

[@AuntLoopy123]

Yeah. Unless you REALLY QUICKLY (as in before the player has a chance to leave in a huff) say, "That's what the future looks like, if you don't act now," or "But you have a chance to travel back in time and prevent this." Basically, the DM completely removed the player's agency in their story, and smiled about it, saying, "Aren't you glad I made you start over from scratch?"

[@Likynis]

I am amazed to see the extent some people will go. I say amazed, but what I mean is astonished, but what I truly mean is appalled.

[@maxaurdunpow7313]

what are you referring too

[@Snazzydaps]

Maybe you mean flabbergasted

[@tami3456]

I'm not surprised

[@LittleMountain90]

"We come out of the dungeon and find out there's been a 25 year time skip." Well, that could be neat. The player was trying to get his tribe to integrate into society; maybe he gets to see what that looks like 25 years in the future? The fruits of his labors, manifested? "The bad guys cloned my character and enslaved my tribe in the name of Tiamat." Or you could just shit all over his backstory, that works too.

[@michaelaustin2721]

I think it would of been to give him a chance to stop the evil clone

[@hunterd3142]

Your character’s reputation to the world is now that of an evil tyrant kobold, your tribe has a blood stained past, and every NPC ally the party has gained would be lost after such a lengthy time skip due to how people work. You didn’t get set back to 0. You got set back to -5

[@relo999]

Could also be fun in a "your tribe is slowly regressing, after the mysterious disappearance of their hero"

[@skyguy713]

If it wasn't a time skip, and instead of outright destroying the backstory it was a threat to it, I could see it be a good story.

[@politenonparticipant4859]

I don't think a 25 year timeskip is ever a good decision in-game if you're going to be continuing with any of the same characters unless there was literally nothing that character would have done to impact the timeline other than sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labors if they were living through it. It's sort of like having a player decide to leave some of their gold in a bank vault so they don't have it stolen or lost while they're adventuring, only for them to come back and find someone broke into the bank and stole all of it. DM: Oh no! Someone emptied your bank vault! Guess you gotta fill it back up again! Seriously, that DM is among the worst I've heard of. Screwing your player over with no opportunity to prevent the villain's scheme from transpiring? Talk about unfair.

[@Nazo-kage]

1st story: I used to watch a lot of CSI and one of the game series I really enjoy is the ace attorney series. So seeing a group go through that little effort in an investigation RP, while the DM is practically spoon feeding them the information, and then they complain that he didn’t give them clues!? 10 D12 psychic damage on my soul. 2nd story: The whole point of any kind of game is to have fun it doesn’t matter if you’re a player or a DM if you’re not enjoying the game, then either it’s not the game for you, or it’s not the group for you. 3rd story: “25 years go by, And thanks to the machinations of an evil God everything you’ve worked for has been utterly destroyed and any credibility you’ve had is gone...... what do you mean you’re not having fun now? I’m giving you plenty of busywork, so you can continue to play this game and give me money isn’t that fun?”

[@MrJonne2000]

Last story. Paid DM saying "You get to build your tribe back up again!" Sounded a lot like a marketing speech with a "Wait, there's more" in an effort to sell sessions instead of letting players play.

[@archellothewolf2083]

I feel for that first GM. My IRL group used to be like that until I quit being the forever GM. After a few of them read the books themselves and built their own worlds to keep game night going, things got better. That said, I still refuse to GM except for special occasion 1-shots.

[@chamitoempire1672]

Guys im not sure but i think that CritCrab really likes crabs for some reason

[@CritCrab]

i like the crabs

[@chamitoempire1672]

@@CritCrab omg i knew it

[@SapphireDragon357]

Pssh, these conspiracy theorists and their wild ideas.

[@dman1456]

@Fabb Labbacab **ominous banhammer squeaks in the distance**

[@thassalantekreskel5742]

@Fabb Labbacab Ahh, but perhaps the crabs give you crits? Seriously though, I can see some DMs allowing their players to bribe them with a crab dinner (or other delectables) in exchange for one auto-crit at a time of their choosing, but it expires at the end of the session.

[@Flame-rp6yq]

Organs appeared in place on these days, same days that deaths happened, blood and ghosts appear and kills party. The party: um, when are we going to get a hint?

[@MenaceLendil]

Regarding the 3rd one. I try to follow the rule of "never deprive a character of something that is important to that character concept UNLESS the player specifically agrees to it either IC or OOC"

[@basiccatastrophe2863]

That first group must have thought something along the lines of: "If we just ignore the problem, maybe it'll go away."

[@Retlaw32]

Man that second story gets to me. I don’t mind people picking up the rules over time, but when we have been playing a year and you still don’t understand how your druids wildshape works or what your spellcasters concentration is I get triggered.

[@Apokalypse456]

same... But I dont mind if the game is played 2 weekly or even monthly. But watching critical role for example, where seemingly everyone forgets every rule between sessions... still, great roleplay

[@kaylawoodbury2308]

I have one person like that in my group, he doesn't just need rule reminders every game. He needs to be reminded of what his spells/ abilities ARE as well as what they do, needs to be reminded of his equipment, needs to be reminded to add ANY modifier for EVERYTHING, forget to level up his character for multiple levels and the list goes on. He's a wonderful friend but very frustrating to play with.

[@tipsycreations7290]

@Letícia Lopes Don't listen to other comments. Some DM's understand that it's not an issue of focus / desire to play and some people just have issues remembering. I have players like that at my table and I encourage them to make cheat sheets to accompany their character sheets that remind them how to calculate attacks / concentration / spell dc's / etc. Obviously there is still some players who just don't care, but there is usually obvious tells when it's a player's desire to be there and to be focused or a player who just has issues processing all the information on their character sheet.

[@TheOneMarty]

I had a player who'd ask me which die to roll every time I asked for a roll. Had a private call with him like two hours before a session to re-explain the basics of D&D and his charsheet. Gave the option to ask questions, and rehearsed with him a bit. Never had the problem again.

[@Apokalypse456]

I feel the need to clarify, I cannot fathom how people can forget stuff like that in the span of a week. One can argue they dont forget, they never actually knew, but that is also beyond me. I do know though, people are different. Whilst I am capable of remembering combat maneuvers in Starfinder, I can not draw or play an instrument. Last campaign I dm'd we had a new player, he hadnt played any ttrpg before at all (which I was only playing for 2 years at that point, and this is still my second group ever). He played a sorcerer with draconic bloodline, going for an edgy ice mage. But... We were playing Descent into Avernus, and in general devils are resistant to cold damage. He was so mad, in a comical way, every single session that I said for the first time "The spell seems to be weaker than you expected" or thereof. But He went ahead and endured it without changing his character choices, even though I offered. He brute forced through long enough to get to the next level up where he could get a feat, and the entire table told him right away "take elemental adept". He did, and from them on I said every time he attacked something like "You see the thick leathery skin of the devil shortly resist your magic, but after a second it seems to go through". And I said that, every single time. He actually thanked me for not omitting that stuff, which I could have. TLDR: I had a player who didnt remember his spells damage type and enemies' regular resistances, but It led to a lot of laughing at the table, including him.

[@Rebell-mi4zu]

For the first story I think the players simply wanted a more “Fighty-fighty” game then a mystery game.

[@awesomeakc2536]

The real question is if they wanted a fighting game why not follow the scream to an area you know something is happening?

[@Rebell-mi4zu]

@@awesomeakc2536 maybe they thought it would have just lead them to more “useless lore” than the actual monster they wanted to fight.

[@awesomeakc2536]

@@Rebell-mi4zu That's fair

[@grogmadman522]

than

[@damekkoDark]

but they went as paranormal investigators?

[@MrNightsear]

The one with the Paid DM: It angered me soo much, I grew fonds of Kobolds and metallic dragons in general. to see his character's life work is just disheartening, and I'd imagine his Kobold will just feel heart broken by this. Shame on that DM.

[@Draeckon]

That last story is so bad... And to make it worse, by default Kobolds tend not to live very long because of their lifestyle. So if in 25 years an evil clone has taken over, odds are, most if not all of the Kobolds his character knew are probably dead, even if they weren't outright murdered by the clone.

[@aquestunending7210]

Well, kobolds can actually live up to 120 years old, but they hardly do because adventurers

[@ghosty918]

@@aquestunending7210 Dying of old age isnt the same as life expectancy. Due to their lifestyle they usually live 25 years but if not killed they can live up to 120.

[@TheLoraxshadenough]

That payed DM is a poor excuse for an actual DM, messing with a player's backstory/goals after they've already complained about a different issue is a good way to make them just quit the game.

[@Macrochenia]

@@TheLoraxshadenough It'd probably motivate me to see about getting my last payment to them reversed due to failing to deliver the agreed upon service.

[@epsilon-eleven]

Also, aren't "psy-to-play" games against Roll20's TOS?

[@kraiZor]

There is a about 25 year times skip in Fellowship of the Ring right after Frodo gets the ring. He and Gandalf just kinda sit on the ring for a while before it becomes important.

[@aliciacordero7436]

Yeah but to be entirely fair that's closer to the kind of time skip you'd see in a character's backstory than in the middle of a campaign. In session 0: "Hey I'd like to play the adopted son of my character from last time, could i start with that ring he got or would that be too much?" "Sure, but i reserve the right to make plot with it." "Awesome, i get an invisibility ring" Then right at the start of Session 1: "Your father's old wizard friend bursts through the front door. He seems panicked, and begins asking about the ring you inherited: is it secret? Is it safe?."

[@ugan2]

Last one: yeaaah that was a "check with player" thing. If he really wanted to do something like that, have it so instead only half his tribe believed the evil clone and the other half knew something was up and warned Waterdeep to foil the evil clone's plans. The city, now grateful, offers refuge to the remaining members who start over in the city. A bittersweet way for OP to see his dream realized and maybe now have it so he has to re earn the trust of his tribe who don't know if it's really him or just another clone.

[@AuntLoopy123]

This could be an awesome plot twist! He gets more play and character development, but also gets to keep at least some of the stuff he worked so hard to get.

[@MrWarriorace]

Gm destroys the guy's backstory and character motivation. Gm: What do you think? OP: ... Me: I don't think OP likes getting back slapped in the face, do you?

[@TheRuneTail]

Story 1 & 2: The “players” seem like those kinda of people that see these kinda games as the new fad so I’ll play it and be cool.

[@newbienoah9461]

I.E. fake people/gamers.

[@0Fyrebrand0]

Some people just have no imagination.

[@glasshorse6893]

DM: *literally obliterates the character's entire reputation, their connections, and pretty much everything their character stood for and plays it off as a opportunity* player: *leaves cause the DM ruined it* DM: *surprised pikachu face*

[@KumaoftheForest]

Critcrab, do you have any personal DnD horror stories from games you took part in?

[@CritCrab]

I have a few. I plan on telling them one day lol.

[@KumaoftheForest]

@@CritCrab PLEASE tell me your character was a Crab, or at least a Sassy lobster

[@potbreakeer154]

sus

[@WobblesandBean]

@@KumaoftheForest Or at least a Beastmaster that had a giant crab!

[@MadnessStalker]

A giant crab animal companion to a triton beastmaster. The humanoid is the npc to the crab

[@adami9769]

I get what the DM was going for, the "rebuilding the tribe from the ashes" thing is a cool idea, but it was so totally not what the player was looking for

[@bubbykins4864]

It was more "secede from nothingness and pretend like it's the same thing as you slowly get driven to madness, slowly making the clone no worse, if not better, than you, if not merging the two" than something that could be considered "good".

[@CrowePerch]

"You gave us too much lore!" It's Monster of the Week dude. Its like Supernatural, you can't even hit the damn monster if you don't know what it's weak to. Also literally all PbtA games are lore and story. The difference is that you as the player can actually contribute to it.

[@Eppon6]

Regarding the one with the Kobold player, I had a similar experience once in a different roleplaying game, not paid. I won't go into details but the GM of the group at one point tricked all characters into doing something abhorrent that went so badly against the core beliefs of my character that logically, the character would not be able to cope with it. So I straight-up told the GM "My character would either end their own life or leave at this point to focus on recovery away from everything that reminds them of what happened today." He was sad about it but wouldn't budge, negotiate or retcon his decision, so we amicably said our goodbyes and I left. I politely informed the group of my choice and gently explained the reason without going into details or blaming anyone. They asked me if I'd make a new character to join them with or if I was willing to return later but I politely declined and told them I needed a break from it all. Haven't actively roleplayed in that setting since.

[@theerectus2004]

Reminds me of the time I had a player that said his character was ‘aloof’. He said every plot hook he was given didn’t interest him and he had no reason to be with the party. He then got mad when I told him to leave and he was never going to be invited back.

[@kaylawoodbury2308]

" but I'm just playing my character >:(". Sounds like he was going Cloud Strife but minus the parts that make him a 3 dimensional character.

[@theerectus2004]

@@kaylawoodbury2308 I would have settled for 2 dimensions...

[@Michaeljack81sk]

That first group weren't players they were Trolls

[@kaylawoodbury2308]

Moped, trolls put in effort to mess up a guy, those guys were just idiots thinking that motw was just dnd in a modern setting.

[@Michaeljack81sk]

@@kaylawoodbury2308 Since when does D&D mean "Zero Effort" They sat down, refused to ask questions and said they were tired/scared. That's actively declining to play, you don't do that in a D&D game, at least not if you're any kind of remotely capable player.

[@bubbykins4864]

@@Michaeljack81sk So they're even worse idiots.

[@SatoriHaddad]

I feel like the paid DM genuinely thought he was making an interesting plot twist. I kinda feel for him.

[@kaylawoodbury2308]

I get that but when doing so the thought shouldn be "what would my player want" not "what do I think would be cool for my story." A paid dm should know this. Very few players would enjoy having their characters primary goal and reason for joining the party to be completely destroyed and thrown away in such an arbitrary fashion.

[@thassalantekreskel5742]

I agree with Kayla. I can see the DM thinking his story would be oh so cool, but his delivery seriously fell flat. For something this extreme, I'd get several plot ideas together and talk to the players individually. "I'm considering a big time-skip, and I have a few ideas for what you'd learn about what happened in that time right away, I just want to know if anything sounds particularly good or bad so I have a better idea how I want to run this." Then again, your point about busywork is a real danger of pay-to-play games...

[@Thraim.]

The idea itself is pretty good... as backstory for a character in another game, that is.

[@Menelvagore]

25 year time jump? I imagine a good DM would take the players desires for their own characters into account before doing something like that. Also, people pay people to DM? Didn't know that was a thing.

[@Veckoza]

It's so funny to imagine them just sitting there with blank expressions on the floor of broken glass lmao. It's like the PCs are being Oblivion NPCs haha!

[@byronsmothers8064]

In my experience, any timeskip more than singular digits sounds like a bad dm's tool for the purpose of blank slating a player's backstory.

[@BioMatic2]

careful now i can see it, bad DM making time skips of one century/millenium because its in the single digits.

[@Vesdus]

The player asked for more roleplay, when what they really wanted was a happy ending for their character. By blank-slating the character's story the DM literally DOUBLED their roleplay. The player is at fault for not properly communicating what they wanted to the DM. When they didn't get what they wanted they gave up instead of trying to explain what they really wanted. Unfortunately the player is going to have to learn the hard way how important effective communication is in life.

[@byronsmothers8064]

@@Vesdus without hearing the other side of the story, we can't be certain if this was miscommunication, but remember this is a mokey's paw tale because op was paying to attend these sessions.

[@Vesdus]

@@byronsmothers8064 It's clearly miscommunication. The player just dropped the game. There's no telling of them speaking with the DM again about how they were unhappy with how the story was changed, and how they wanted their character's arc to close. If there was proper communication and the DM literally said "Fuck you, it's my story" then they would have included it. The OP's story ended when they walked away upset, unable to convey their emotions. The DM wrote them more story, which is what they asked for.

[@jeremyrugg3015]

@@Vesdus With you laying it out I would agree that it is clear. The dude wanted more roleplay, so he set him up with a crapton of roleplay. He gets to be the leader to guide his people and it would truly have felt like "his" people because he would build the tribe back up, not just lead a pre-existing tribe. The DM wasn't setting that up for their own amusement and it isn't easier than doing what the player wanted. Seems pretty easy to infer that the DM was trying to give out roleplay, the player didn't like the concept and quit without saying they wanted their original tribe to move into civilization.

[@Zeromegas]

My PC Kobolds would be furious if something like that happen specially Ozula that follows Bahamut, her entire life work was throw out the window

[@DandRpodcast]

I'm a professional DM and that last story just bums me out lol. Always listen to your players.

[@edouardio3017]

Am I the only one who thinks that the first story, the DM was just hosting a game for three different variants of Patrick Star? And the DM ended up being Squidward

[@raistlarn]

I've made it clear to my players/friends that just because they are doing nothing doesn't mean the antagonist isn't. That said after I realized that they aren't taking the hooks my first priority would change from story telling/info dumps to getting them out of the office.

[@varedna]

He did try that, the characters decided to sit on the floor and do nothing instead.

[@bubbykins4864]

@@varedna No, he meant the statues that got flesh-cursed (the """""""""players""""""""") when he said to get "them" out of the office.

[@tonyhsloanejr]

There are some players who are into the whole "breaking the DM' thing. Its a rise of the toxic players who have more fun looking for holes, ways to have npcs do quests to frustrate the dm after they work for hours on quests and try to avoid quests since their character isn't "motivated" enough. You got to learn to go with the flow not try to show how smart you are by showing the DM isn't prepared for every single scenerio in the world. Just have fun and make friends not go crazy meta.

[@kaylawoodbury2308]

None of these stories had a scenerio like that. The people in the first story couldn't even be bothered to TRY to break the game. They just thought motw was combat heavy instead of mystery and rp heavy and blamed the dm for their own lack of knowledge on the system.

[@FirestormMk3]

This isn't related to any of the three stories. Did you just come here to say "Follow the railroad or you're a toxic player"?

[@tonyhsloanejr]

@@FirestormMk3 not at all but don't worry about it.

[@cassiswyrm8121]

@@FirestormMk3 ...I honestly don't get this comment. Just...sitting there ignoring everything, then complaining that there weren't any clues offered...I can at least understand how someone might wonder if they were trolling, whether I think they were or not. And, like... there's space between following a railroad and outright trolling? Don't get how the idea that a player COULD be doing something purely to be annoying...and that you'd be annoyed if it turned out they did...can ONLY mean you demand that they follow a railroad.

[@tonyhsloanejr]

@@cassiswyrm8121 nah not railroading but if you are a DM long enough you will come across players who want to "beat" the DM or somehow show the holes in the game. If you are looking for holes you will find them since no DM can be prepared for anything and if you sit around saying I don't feel "motivated" enough to help people in trouble even though you are "good" then you aren't going to have a good time. Sometimes just go with the flow and there will be plenty of time for rping and making choices to determine how the conclusion turns out. If a player spends all their time trying to figure out ways to frustrate the DM by finding ways to not do quests then what is the point of playing? D&D isn't about "winning" or showing you know more then the DM its about having fun and making friends. This is the only bad thing I have seen with D&D becoming so popular you have players who try to troll the DM and show they can do the whole adventure while sitting at the tavern. Why play then? And by doing that all you will do is end up having the DM kick you for being toxic.

[@ukotoa1639]

“Jonathan, Beth and Levander” One of these is not like the other one of these just doesn’t belong

[@15oClock]

None of these things want to play the game!

[@asatowne5234]

I'd respond to this, but I showed up tired so I'm just going to sit down.

[@ryanadams0922]

God I hate that Sesame Street crap jingle so over used like many other memes

[@RIlianP]

Yea, what is Johnny doing there

[@0Fyrebrand0]

I'm picturing a pizza delivery boy, a bookish girl who writes Harry Potter fan fiction, and a 700 year old high elf wizard.

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

There's a line from a musical that the first story reminds me of. "Do you think you could actually *teach* us history instead of just rambling on about the past?"

[@chiachimariachi4682]

The first group: “So you’re playing this mystery campaign, right?” “Yup” “And you want to solve the mystery in front of you?” “Yup” “So in this case, I’m giving you important clues to make it possible for you to solve this mystery and avoid any more deaths!” “That makes sense to me” *”Then solve the case!”* “I sit down and do nothing. We’ve been given no clues and you’re a bad gm.”

[@plumdowner1941]

I feel sorry for the first GM, got stuck playing with game journalists.

[@vansradjmadho8365]

Underrated comment ngl

[@mattiasbrunzell8957]

The second group, the ones who do not care to learn the rules, would probably benefit from playing a lot more rules-Light game system that places all emphasis on story.

[@coolio3267]

I honestly hope that the people in these rpg horror stories read this on reddit, realize their mistakes and try n improve

[@Sophia-vk5bq]

Here’s a fun one for the last DM: reverse the payment for his DMing and let him know that now he can have the fun of rebuilding his bank account from scratch!

[@Birdthefeatheredone]

Going to share a story of my own here. A palette cleanser if you will about why I love my group. So, I run a home brew setting and story. The party started at 4th level, the last campaign ended at 3rd level and I didn’t want to make them sit through the early levels again. The party consisted of elf Rogue, Firbolg monk, and aasimar Celestial warlock. The monk and warlock were the ones behind this story. Early on, the party found themselves guests of a cult to Zariel. The leader of the cult wrote up a contract that basically said “thanks for helping us with these issues, we won’t bother you and you won’t bother us. If you are desperate, here is an extra clause to call me over.” The monk signed it without requesting and changes. Combat with the cult was however, avoided. Later, the party was searching for a thief and found that he was stealing to pacify an Ogre Mage. The party confronted the Ogre Mage but were overwhelmed. In the fight the, warlock was killed. Full dead. Fell splat on the ground. I talk with warlock player and they say they don’t want to resurrect their character so they make a new sorcerer. We decide to not tell the other players, to surprise them in game. Next session rolled around and the monk steals the warlock’s corpse from the morgue and calls upon the cult leader to resurrect the warlock. This idea was not made known to me before the session so I am improving. The cult leader opens up her Demi-plane lab and begins a ritual to turn the warlock into a vampire spawn. I send the warlock’s player a message saying, “do you want to play your desecrated corpse?” He says sure and I send him the Vampire Spawn stat block. Now the party has a vampire spawn. I let the players be for a bit and the vampire goes out into town and starts talking to people on the street. I tell them they find a frustrated woman is there. One persuasion check later, he learns her husband cheated on her and where their house is. So he goes there and gets invited in. And feeds because they are evil and warped thought it is, his sense of justice remains. The rogue tries to fix the problem, the monk considers joining the cult, the vampire can’t be contained. The morgue notices the body is missing. The vampire starts climbing up to the roof and gets in line of sight of a new figure. The vampire’s player’s new character. So we get a PvP situation where one player is controlling both characters and uses their sorcery points to start throwing fireballs like there is no tomorrow. Eventually though, the fight gets broken up when the guard take notice of the mess and the Count’s personal knight finishes the battle smiting the vampire. I love my players for that kind of grounded insanity.

[@thassalantekreskel5742]

It's a rare day when you hear a story about PvP, but it's really "MEvME".

[@fatrobin72]

to be fair... the fellowship of the ring did have a almost 17 year timeskip (in the books). Admittedly the events during the timeskip can be summed up with... well... not a lot happened.

[@lizzistorm7474]

CritCrab should totally do tutorials on how to be a good DM/GM AND how to be a good PC for the newbz so the rest of us don't cause horror stories lol

[@RealCoolstriker64]

Ghost stories one: I would have dragged them back into a voice call (even lie about apologizing) and said “I didn’t give you useless lore. That *was the clues* and you didn’t what’s wrong with not fighting anything? After all you didn’t *feel like getting up* so how could you have fought anything? You all suck, GTFO my server”

[@johnrivers69]

25yr time skip? Thats an entire generation's worth of changes. You're nothing but a distant memory to anyone who knew you... everything will have changed. Shit, even 1-2yrs is enough time for LOTS of changes

[@Chaoticstorm]

sounds like that first group wanted a scooby-doo mystery. Show up, ghost appears, chase scene till ghost trips and captures themselves. No thinking involved and expected the DM to basically tell them a story.

[@waffleworshiper]

As far as time skips go I feel like that’s something that can work if it makes sense and the players are aware of the possibility. A game in which the party enters the feywild is one in which one or more timeskips are appropriate given the different way that time flows there. But the players and characters should be aware of that before they enter. There is a world of difference between a risk the party chooses to take and something forced on them out of nowhere. I’d also generally avoid it period in a game where the players are particularly attached to the immediate state of their local setting.

[@slimek20]

That second story hurts me personally. I've abandoned (as in ended as a GM before any conclusion) a game for similar reason and felt like a complete failure of a GM. I just felt unapreciated - I tried my best to provide a game for people and I felt like nobody cared about my efforts. I felt burned out so much. I still GM a game but I'm kind of thinking of letting it go too - I feel the same lack of attention to anything I do, people seem to not care about anything, I ask them what could interest them then they don't mention anything. I feel terrible.

[@jermainereyem7635]

It needs to be more normalized that Players have to contribute to games as well. Even the best DM couldn't salvage your situation. "TTRPGs are a conversation," as every PbtA game says, and a conversation can't work one sidedly.

[@notanalien5496]

Monster of the Week is a pretty neat module, loved it after getting into the TAZ Amnesty arc. The fact the players went about it like that? Kinda depressing to see...

[@joeyfairey1725]

My worst experience was with a paid DM. Her time wizard "Coral" was the only person who could progress the plot. (including not allowing our Rouge to sneak around for information). And she would constantly cast spells on the party, making us appear to be wearing BDSM gear or just blasting us with a fireball to get a direct hit on an enemy. In my first session she knocked my character unconscious with a fireball, and legit said: "Yeah Coral is kind of crazy". Then proceeded to ignore ALL of my character's background story during any roleplaying aspects.

[@erikkennedy8725]

The entire concept of a paid DM is completely foreign to me. It’s like bringing in a business consultant for team building exercises and a complete anathema.

[@marschel6271]

So, me and my friends are in a group. We're like 8 players (sometimes more, sometimes less) and have been playing our campaign for 3 years. Sometimes, we didn't play for months and sometimes we had sessions back to back, depending on the time schedules of everybody, as we don't really want to exclude anybody. It's all good to me, but my god... After 3 years, I would expect everybody on the table to know how to fucking play the combat. Yes, use the d20. No you don't add your proficiency to your damage. Yes, you may attack an additional time with your Extra Attack. Yes, there's a difference between Action and Bonus Action. We're 8 players and combat is already time consuming enough as it is and having like two players that don't really know shit about any rule is the most frustrating thing ever.

[@inky5574]

If I was the GM in the first story, I would've had them return to HQ to have some superior tell their characters that their either fired or gain 1/3 strikes for not doing their job and if they slack off like they did 2 more times, they will be fired.

[@Ektalon]

I was totally unaware there were paid DMs. You’d think with the number of online campaigns being created, people could find a DM they didn’t have to drop cash on.

[@prkr07]

The sheer logistics to use a *clone* spell on a kobold to stop their tribe getting too close to Waterdeep is...baffling. And even looking past the logistics, that's only supposed to work if the original dies, and the soul then goes into the new body. And all this from a PAID DM? There's no excuse.

[@phatcavy98]

I didn't know you could charge to be a DM. I've been suffering player abusefor free. In all seriousness though, you gotta be delivering some primo content to charge for this stuff and you become basically their servant. They want something, you gotta make it happen or they stop paying.

[@epsilon-eleven]

What's odd is that I think charging for games is against Roll20's TOS, and the OP said that's the platform they were using.

[@derkylos]

It sounds incredibly dodgy...like, can I charge to be a player now? Because in reality, neither party is actually providing more of a service than the other...

[@thomasfplm]

@@derkylos, being the DM usually is a lot more than playing, so it is more frequent for no one in a group to want to do it, or to not have the time to prepare sections. Also, sometimes, a professional DM might buy extra props to make interesting scenarios, that most players wouldn't spend money on, since the professional will have more occasions to use them. To make an analogy, I don't like driving when travelling between cities, and most of my friends don't like it that much either, so if we decide to travel together to another city for an event, instead of going by car with one of us driving, or alternating in it, we could decide to go by bus, we would be paying for the vehicle and the driver. On the other hand, if im travelling with my family, my mother likes drive, so in this case we would probably go by car and she would drive.

[@derkylos]

@@thomasfplm If you don't like DMing, why are you doing it? RPGs should be about having fun. If you approach DMing as a chore, like "someone has to do it", the DM isn't going to have a fun game, and it's likely the players aren't going to, either.

[@thomasfplm]

@@derkylos, exactly, and if no one in your group likes DMing? What do you do?

[@jaytrooper12]

The way the kobold tribe dm handled the situation to keep attention is how Blizzard handles WoW at this point.

[@Jenna_Talia]

Those people were the type of characters who'd skip every dialogue entry, cutscene, tutorial and directed path in a game and complain that they're lost and confused.

[@basementality4924]

Imagine wanting to play an online ttrpg and taking the time out of your day to do so and the first thing you do is. “ I’d like to sit down I’m tired” like what?!?!? What is wrong with people?

[@dripskylark6054]

I have a confession to make. I had crab legs for valentines dinner. Please forgive me

[@sylviastanell2043]

Unforgivable. The crabs are coming.

[@egghat5473]

The ancient crab god will curses you for the entire month

[@tamur466]

Technically crabs will eat other crabs www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-americamovil-us-revc&source=android-browser&q=do+crabs+eat+other+crabs

[@mortalLP]

Consuming the Crab to gain Their powers?! A blasphemer is among uuuuuuusssss!!!!

[@ArcNeoMasato]

I think the worst part of the last story is how the time skip COULD have been a good plot hook. While I don't know the reason for the random timeskip, if it was at least semi reasonable, it could have become a quest where now everyone is looking for a way to move back in time to prevent this from happening. Instead though, it sounds like the DM just went "It happened, have fun", which isn't a good way to run most things.

[@Vesdus]

The thing is it probably WAS a good plot hook, but instead we get the story told from the perspective of the player. Whom gave up and stormed away because they weren't able to effectively communicate that they wanted their character's story to end.

[@AzureKyle]

@@Vesdus But they DIDN'T want their story to end. They had built up so much with the character, only to have it all taken away and told they have to start from the beginning. It's like you spend a few hours building an amazing sand castle, only to have someone stomp through it and happily tell you "Look, now you can build it all over again! Aren't you happy I did that for you?"

[@ArcNeoMasato]

@@Vesdus Fair enough actually, but that's also why I put in the "if it was semi reasonable" part, as there was very little info for such a big event, so either the player ignored what was clearly a good hook, or the DM was 100% going with "Well, you start over now". For sure a story that needs more info.

[@Vesdus]

@@AzureKyle Why do we build sand castles? To FINISH them and then walk away from them, standing strong forever in our minds. The OP wasn't finished building their sand castle with the DM, but they weren't happy with how the DM was building their half. So the DM gleefully tore down their half of the sand castle and told them they could start over.

[@Vesdus]

@@AzureKyle They absolutely wanted their story to end. Otherwise they would be happy to continue playing their character forever, regardless of what changes around them. Teleported to a new world? That's cool, I'll start a sand castle over here now. Dragon destroys your sand castle? That's alright, I'm just enjoying building it.

[@CallMeKes]

That first story is so weird. Like SO WEIRD that it might be a little fishy. The players might just be really weird people, or OP might be altering facts to suit him.

[@kaylawoodbury2308]

It's not that uncommon for combat focused or murderhoboy people to try out other, more rp heavy, investigation/puzzle based systems and, big surprise, hate them. I'm 99% certain that's what happened.

[@CallMeKes]

@@kaylawoodbury2308 Could be. But choosing to just sit there is incredibly weird. Haha.

[@VentricDual]

Stories like these make me feel very honored and lucky I found a great group to play with weekly!

[@15oClock]

Paid DMs sound like a scam.

[@SapphireDragon357]

About as much of a scam as gambling. You set aside a certain amount of money to be entertained. You might lose it all uselessly, or you might get hours of high emotion out of it. Either way, you're probably just gonna lose the money and get some memories.

[@asdergold1]

As much of a scam as your usual shitty paid writer. They could try and write a book one day. But the paid writer ussually and consistently writes like shit. Wonder why. Pretty ideas are just ideas and then there's the paid fanfiction writers. Pure scamming, those. They are real. So real.

[@calvinginn1637]

The first group's players literally didn't know what they were doing, what the heck Wow.

[@ionga]

I'm currently playing a game where the GM does time skips quite often... only we never know if they are going to be forward or backwards. For instance, once we got out of the last dungeon, we returned ten days in time and now had to carefully move around without meeting our past selves because weird shit would happen. Seriously, it's hilarious what weird time shanenigans we end up doing because of that. The bard accidentally starts his own lineage, we have WWII era armies coming in and out of existence and many other weird stuff. It's probably the most chaotic game I've ever played and I absolutely adore it.

[@DGolden247]

For that second story, he should’ve tried a one shot campaign instead, so everyone is introduced to the idea of ttrpg without committing so much time to it before realizing no one else would really put in so much interest or effort.

[@patjacksonpodium]

I can't imagine having the balls to charge for DMing. That makes no sense to me.

[@dangoelgordo3274]

Well have u heard about if u are really good doing something why would u keep doing it for free? i mean sometimes ppl want a dm and can't find a familiar/friend/etc who wants to play but they are already a group so why not to pay some one to do it? i mean u need to put work into a campaing even if it's premade also need to take care of the players so they can enjoy it

[@henriquedelarosa5419]

That's still a very common reaction to professional DMing, but it actually makes a lot of sense. As our friend here already said, there are many, MANY people out there who want to play a good RPG session but doesn't have a group or the time to study a game to GM for others. There's also those who are unsatisfied with their current group, want to play different games, struggle with social anxiety... professional DMing, when done properly, can open up the horizons of the hobby and bring new people in. I actually work as a professional DM and I couldn't ever spend the time I spend preparing and studying if I was not getting paid. To me, it only means we're going the extra mile to create a great experience for players. It's not like professional DMing is an evil business which exploits people or any shit.

[@henriquedelarosa5419]

@@dangoelgordo3274 yes!

[@skorpiongod]

Most people want a high quality dnd game. A (semi)professional dm is offering to dedicate a large amount of his time to give them as good of a game as he can and either earn a bit of extra cash or straight up put bread on the table as compensation. Its basically no different from any other job, but its a dream job for the passionate DMs.

[@henriquedelarosa5419]

@@skorpiongod and there's a lot of people who want to play other games at a high level, too! Which can be even harder than finding a good dnd group

[@euchiron]

Today's theme: when the players want something different from what the DM is offering. And the last one with a DM who's more like an aspiring supervillain

[@shadowjezzter]

The first story reminds me of the “this is fine.” Meme, except at the end where they die.

[@Kune35]

I once had a Choose Your Own Adventure book about sneaking into, and then getting trapped in, an evil amusement park/carnival/whatever. Literally the first choice the book gives you is between climbing the fence to get in, or turning around and going home. If you choose to go home, it takes you to a full page rant chastising you for being a coward, and not understanding the point of this kind of book. These players would definitely choose the latter option, and then leave it a bad review.

[@maxaurdunpow7313]

love the content bro

[@thedarkdungeon1083]

Crit crab I would like to add to your comment on the first story. I think that the players thought they were going into something more combat heavy. And when no combat happened, they waited for it to start, I believe they came from a very combat heavy table, hence why they don’t seem to be to creative with RP and trying to get out of the burning room (really? Spitting on a fire?) sorry if it’s long but I wanted to voice my opinion. Hope you have a good day

[@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181]

Nooo...If they knew anything about the system they were playing (Monster of the Week, which they should. They made PCs and so must have seen the books), they would know its a storytelling game, that plays heavily into RP and mystery, and investigations... Nowhere in the book does it ever present itself as a combat heavy system... It's a game about hunting(investigating) supernatural things, and trying suuuuper hard to not die.

[@newbienoah9461]

If that's the case, then why didn't they say anything about that?!

[@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181]

@@newbienoah9461 Absolutely. If it truly was "they wanted more combat" they could have expressed that to the DM. And it would have been much better than shitting all over the dude that organized it all....

[@sillyking1991]

@@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181 they could have, but people don't always do what they can, or should. it absolutely sounded like they were expecting something more like...idk a super hero show. action focused. likely because they just heard the name 'monster of the week' which sounds like 'go out and kill this monster every week. obviously they missed that even in most action shows, there are significant periods of investigation/planning and its not all 'here's a monster and the heros are fighting it'. Having read enough to create a character doesn't mean they know what the intended tone of the game was. To give another example: i played in a game called 'The Sprawl'. its a powered by the apocalypse game in a cyberpunk setting. the PC's are all criminals. There are a few different 'clocks' in the game. one of them directly related to 'heat'. Metaphorical heat, as in 'how much attention the cops/megacorps are paying to you.' so like, how much noise are you making when you do your job, are becoming a liability? Overall you're meant to be 'professionsals' and try to generate as little heat as possible. I was the only one that really embraced that. literally everyone else in the group tended to go with the 'i spend my [equipment] to get an autoshotgun and just gun down everyone'. They made characater, but they didn't understand (or care) that the intent was for you to...well not do that. To be clear, thats fine approach if you wanna play that type of game. my point is its easy to miss how the game is intended to be played if all you do is look at character creation.

[@thomasfplm]

Even then, it wouldn't make sense for the characters to say there and do nothing when there is screaming outside.

[@Badartist888]

I find a great learning technique for those who don't learn their stuff is to put it back on them. I'm normally fairly blunt but polite about it "You tell me how your characters ability works." "Can you work out how that spell works and gets back to me ." And when it comes to dice I wind the hand holding back, just pausing and nodding when they do it right and look for confirmation. I do find a lot of DMs, to keep the game moving quickly, kind of hamstring their players agency/ confidence. I also don't correct a new player in the moment, unless they ask or it really matters (not talking super easy basic rules but things like if I know a spell is written poorly like Moonbeam). Instead after the game or at the start of the next being more "X didn't sound right to me so I looked into it, does Y sound right to you?"

[@jediprotector216]

I have an RPG horror story that took my weekly game and messed it up due to a beginner's D&D puzzles. This was some time ago, perhaps in 2015/2016, where I'd been sending the PCs on some relatively normal adventuring quests (the details are really fuzzy). I allowed for other people to try out DMing to get their feet wet in the role. This made it good for me to take a break and join the game with the rest of the group. I was very lenient with who could do it. Enter one of the players, let's call him Eli, he's a teenager with a 4e mindset (trying to break the game). I give him my Monster Manual and he gets to work crafting his adventure. When he comes in next week, the MM has bookmarks in it (I don't put any in my books). I don't think any of it at first until the first encounter. The PCs were about level 7 or 8 for context. The first thing he throws at them is a CR 17 Dragon Turtle who demands tribute and the party complies. What I realize it's that he takes my advice to heart giving a ton of XP to the PCs for finding a solution to non combat. I typically gave out more XP for finding peaceful solutions to combat, but not like this. When I did it, it was usually for a combat encounter the players could defeat the enemies. This was also before Xanathar's fixed some classes. Eli would have more "challenges" with high CR creatures the group would be unable to defeat through combat. This would make it so I would have design encounters in Tier 3 after this incident. The campaign I had created was flexible. I did learn a lesson from all this. Make sure I at least check to see the DM has level appropriate monsters for the players. The group did fall apart due to the part that they were more interested in playing Magic, which particularly annoyed me since I was volunteering my time to do D&D on the weekends. I don't know what happened to the other players. I did find another group to play in and later ran Ghosts of Saltmarsh as DM. During Covid-19, I transitioned to Princes of the Apocalypse and concluded the campaign. TL;DR: Let other players DM their own one shot, just in case.

[@tokenblackkid6953]

To any seeing this “Have a good day!”

[@catboygremlin]

you too mate

[@thegreydragonangel2836]

thx man

[@WobblesandBean]

I can't for the life of me imagine paying someone to DM. I'm having a blast in my current group, we keep surprising our DM with our shenanigans, and we just picked him up on Discord. My character was basically raised in the woods alone from the age of 5, she's totally ignorant of how society works so she does things like take baths in horse troughs, and is carrying a towel around like sacred treasure because she's never felt anything so soft. Then instead of fighting a duo of goblins, we found out the rogue spoke goblin, so had her lure the others over into an ambush by flirting with them from behind a bush. It's great, I love it. 😂 We got lucky, everyone's great at RPing even though for two members, it's their first ever campaign. This is why I love Forgotten Realms, there's just so many options for fun stuff like this!

[@AlanAlectai]

Desperation mostly, people who for one reason or another don't have access to reliable gaming, and aren't part of one of the communities where you can just speak up and have a shot at a game. My experience tends to be that an independent player who wants to get started in a tabletop game group often just has to get very lucky and slide in when a more seasoned group has an opening--or just accept they're never going to get to play and they've wasted the money they invested in the hobby. Paid DMs are--in theory--something where the onus on entry is less "Was on at the right time and place to get a spot" and "Which communities you're a member of". Instead, it's "Whoever is willing to pay a nominal fee to play". I mean, I've been tempted to find one for a while, because I don't get to game reliably on the whole, but I do understand the sentiment that would lead someone to trying one.

[@rossjohnstone4689]

I'm really enjoying how you do a few short stories. Perfect to listen to during my break at work, not that i dislike the longer stories as well

[@poisonrain87]

I just wanted to say that I have never played DnD. Not once. This channel popped up in my feed for some reason and I thought I'd check it out, and I have to say, I really enjoy these stories. Maybe one of these days I'll try getting into it. These adventures seem like a lot of fun. I know most of these videos are about things going wrong within games, but the way the stories are told is amazing. Thank you for doing what you do :-)

[@AuntLoopy123]

Whatever you do, when you try it for the first time, make sure you are joining a GOOD group, with a GOOD DM. Maybe watch them play a few sessions, before you actually join.