Worlds Worst Dungeon Master - DnD Horror Stories

[@schwarzerritter5724]

"I want to order an ale." "Roll Wisdom to spot the barwench, Intelligence to remember you want ale, Charisma to order the ale, Strength to lift the mug, Dexterity to not spill the ale and Constitution to not pass out from the first sip."

[@axel4196]

I can see how that would get tedious.

[@MontainGoat-AT]

Is that a persona 4 reference here? Meatbowl challenge anyone?

[@elmerthiendoesgames9061]

@@MontainGoat-AT Big Bang Beer.

[@realdragon]

You forgot wisdom to remember to breathe

[@schwarzerritter5724]

@@realdragon Right, I wrote Perception instead of Wisdom.

[@Tbm998]

Damnit OP! You missed the perfect opportunity, when he asked you if you’d join his savage worlds campain, you should have responded “You’ll see, tee hee”!

[@Damalon01]

Hahaha! That would have been awesome!

[@natebernasconi]

Bwaaaaahahaha, perfect!

[@Logitah]

Billy's style of DM'ing reminds me of the game "Manual Samuel" where you have to blink, walk and breathe manually.

[@macro3751]

whith the only difference being manual samuel can be fun and interesting

[@booleah6357]

I like the idea that every single creature has to roll for everything so if a monster or player fumbled their raise a sword check their arm just falls off and somehow end up eating and drinking through a straw but god help them if they fail that

[@MajorMasonGaming]

@@booleah6357 no

[@booleah6357]

@@MajorMasonGaming lol

[@truerandomness]

QWOP

[@koidandi]

"I'm a very good GM and i'm good at integrating characters and story" Oh, okay, roll perception at disadvantage because you can't see past your own ego

[@nunyabeezwax9198]

Um... Ach'ually... Pathfinder doesn't use the disadvantage mechanic... You'd know that if you were a good dm like billy

[@theoverpreparerlamenters3r436]

@@nunyabeezwax9198 fine then. Roll two dice and drop the highest rolled number.

[@stevenschnepp576]

@@theoverpreparerlamenters3r436 Back before we got scared of basic arithmetic, we just applied penalties to the roll.

[@soujemn5]

@@stevenschnepp576 back before munchkins infested tabletop we never had modifiers higher than a 5.

[@solosynapse]

​@@stevenschnepp576🙄 It's not a fear of doing basic arithmetic, it's most people not finding doing mathematics homework dressed up as a game particularly fun. Not everyone likes tons of crunch, the advantage/disadvantage system works just fine, and reducing math speeds up the parts of the game considered most monotonous.

[@Zucca101]

“Was he cheating? I don’t know.” YES. YES HE WAS FUCKING CHEATING.

[@kalajel]

The guy: "You're a powergamer because you took a strong class..." Same guy: "Stats are rolled 3d6, drop 2 lowest, plus twelve..."

[@angiep2229]

Oh thank goodness. I thought he'd said 4d6, and I was just boggling over having stats between 14-24.

[@AdjutantReflex343]

@@angiep2229 no, it was 4d6…..

[@angiep2229]

@@AdjutantReflex343 Jesus. I understand wanting to run a campaign where the characters are special and have high stats. But that's massive overkill, wow.

[@theoverpreparerlamenters3r436]

@@AdjutantReflex343 that's an average of 19 lmao (D6 rolls an average of 3.5)

[@booleah6357]

But look guys the class was what made it overpowered Billy says as he rolls his blinking check followed shortly by his breathing check which he fumbles meaning he now have brain bramage.

[@realdragon]

"Your character is too powerful OP, anyway meet my friend who knows everything about quests and his character could kill Tarrasque 1v1"

[@Rellana1]

Sounds like the player I met once on discord in d&d 5e that could one-shot a elder dragon at about lv5.

[@Bladez10]

The more I think about this story, the more I believe that David was the one pulling the strings while Billy was just a tool. David knew more about the game, had the OP B.S. and the ins and outs of every encounter. Also, feel like the only reason OP's character was nerfed was so David wouldn't be out shown. Billy is still a piece of shit DM that probably took the 2 months just to learn "enough" of the game. This whole thing feels like a power fantasy for David, and they just needed more players to feed Billy's toxic DM v. Player mentality.

[@danielramsey6141]

Spot On man! Goddamn was this annoying as hell to sit through, I can’t imagine going through a campaign this bad! It just about takes the cake!

[@Thoreaux]

I got the same vibe. I can just picture it: These two dudes loved to play at the local game shop but after inevitably getting iced out of all the play groups there because they're dickheads, they decide they don't need those chumps because the two of them are the only ones who know what ttrpgs are really about anyway. David's the most powerful munchkin in the world, but doesn't have the patience for worldbuilding or storywriting (neither activity involves beating anyone at anything) so he convinces Billy that he's the "creative" one and pumps him up to write the ultimate campaign. All they need then is a bunch of random newbies to both play as David's hapless underpowered sidekicks and be the targets of Billy's desire for DM cruelty, because as it turns out maiming/bullying player characters is the only part of DMing he really cares about anyway, and David can't be the star of the game if he's maimed.

[@Azurko]

Listening to this was exhausting, not because of Doges reading but because of how much I wanted to reach through time & space to throttle "Billy" repeatedly. If there was no other red flags, the constant roll checks would have me bashing his head into the table repeatedly.

[@AmaryInkawult]

I want to hear what his screams sound like when his skin meets my bullwhip. But he needs to roll a perception check to see if he feels the pain, but if he rolls a one, I am going to lash his fucking ears off and that won't be the wounds I bandage up because he wouldn't have taken damage then.

[@ShiroTheTraveler]

I felt like that as well

[@AF-tv6uf]

Make a Dex save first tho.

[@MajorMasonGaming]

Kill billy

[@nicholasscovelle1772]

oh no I get you man as someone whos acholy been Playing a pathfinder 1e game for 10+ years(sadly looking like its gana fall apart due to one players mental helth) Im like WTF a 50+ ac at LV10 I run a cheeses dex magus build thats mythic and came in at a high LV so had optamized gear and even i can only hit 40 and only for 1 attack (my magus normal sits in the high 20s to low 30s)

[@kevinchong5424]

The DM really has no redeeming qualities, does he. The whole thing seems to be time well wasted: no goals, no prices, no fun

[@soujemn5]

the fact that he nerfed OP to be borderline unviable in combat and homebrewed a game breaking op character for David tells me that the 7 non-Davids weren't even part of the actual game.

[@RichBensen]

Since Billy is clearly eight years old I'm not sure why OP ever believed he had ten years of GMing experience.

[@LiteraryDM]

OP: We're starting level 10. Me: Oh no. OP: There are 8 players. Me: Oh no! OP: Majority are new. Me: OH NO! OP: We get some help at start but characters are not fully made. ME: *OH NO!* For real though making a Pathfinder/3.5 PC can take a very long time. Especially if you don't know what you're doing. My first DM helped me with every step. We started at level 5, and that alone took two hours with one on one assistance. I was playing a human dual wielding fighter. EDIT: Wow, this kept getting worse. Also there is no feat chain to boost AC like that. (To my recollection the only feat I can recall that boosts AC dodge. Wouldn't be surprised if there were others for Pathfinder, or ones pulled from 3.5. But that's the only one I remember). Getting an AC that high is possible, but usually only possible at level 20. This can be done through race, and several multiclass combos. As well as a lot of magical items.

[@ChaosCounseling]

The character creation process was actually one of the main reasons people wouldn’t join my college tabletop club because only three people in the club actual knew how to do it.

[@LiteraryDM]

@@ChaosCounseling As much as I love the crunch. I absolutely understand why people get turned off by it and prefer systems like 5e or other more lite systems. Which is great. Gets more people into the hobby.

[@shadowscall7758]

​@Literary DM pathfinder 2e really simplified the process.

[@masterjoda999]

In Pathfinder 1e there are ways to get +Cha, +Wis, etc. added to AC, and there's the crane style feats, but those require having at least one open hand and fighting defensively.

[@phobiawitch835]

Just seeing this comment myself and gotta say, YES. You are correct. It tajes a long time. Between researching feats to use, spells if you have them, and magic items if high level. Like, when I played the system last, I had MOST of it down, and even had a concept in the works. I was originally playing a Cleric but due to New-Player Naivety and a DM that was trying to force their will onto my character, I chose to swap. I was gonna switch to a Skinwalker Slayer. Had the entire character set and planned. The only thing I didn’t have was Magic Items because I didn’t know prices for them. But, the DM told me I couldn’t play the character cuz “werewolves have nothing to do with the adventure” when the only mention of them in my backstory was his grandfather was a werewolf (hence why he was a Skinwalker). So instead the DM threw me an NPC. I took it with a forced smile and played along. I was allowed to stat and change them up, but I couldn’t do anything for the backstory since it was an NPC with a pre-established one, and was actually someone my cleric had been trying to redeem. I ended up making them within 30 minutes, though it then took close to an hour to handle Magic Items with the DM discussing the prices of each (I had like, 10-20k gold available cuz of how high level the party was). It was, an okay character, but I know it wasn’t really mine. Well, the DM FIVE MINUTES BEFORE NEXT SESSION, said I could play my Skinwalker concept. Again, 5 minutes before session. Meaning while I had most of the character ready, I had no magic items and that would take a LONG time to do. Meaning either I was playing someone far weaker than the party, or I wasn’t playing that session at all if I did take my other concept. I ended up playing the NPC for like; 5 sessions before I got sick, realized how bad the table was, and ghosted.

[@TriTomMaximum]

After how many times the DM said "You'll see" I would have just assumed everyone, everything, and the town itself would be called "Yulsee" and just address everything as such. "Who is the NPC I see?" "You'll see." "Hail, Yulsee!" "What town is this?" "You'll see." "Hark! Thyn town is also called Yulsee? Is this the capital in which you are the lord over, Yulsee? Is thy god also Yulsee, to which all things in the land of Yulsee named hence?"

[@ajn_rules_5074]

I hate GMs that run their game like this, especially how this dipsh*t of a GM does skill checks. It reminds me of another short horror story of a DM who makes players' role history checks to remember stuff in-game that happen 15 minutes ago. Just, GMs need to understand what skill checks are used for which. For pulling off a least semi to difficult activities, not basic human function like remembering how to breath or see

[@Cheetahgirl_Studios]

As someone who’s GMed, I have a simple rule for skill checks; only use skill checks for something that requires SKILL. Climbing up a cliff face? Yeah ok roll me Athletics for that. Lifting a tankard of ale? Nah you’re good you can do that easily. It really isn’t that hard. Some GMs need to be snapped outta their God complex and dragged back to the real world.

[@DnDDoge]

Damn, those history checks sound tedious

[@jamesarmstrong5316]

The IRL DM sucks I walked into a room the other day and flubbed my history to remember what I was getting.

[@RiveroftheWither]

I've watched so many DM tips videos and every single person Ive seen has said something to the effect of "Minimize how many rolls you make your players do".

[@stevenschnepp576]

@@Cheetahgirl_Studios Not just skill, but impact on the game. Climbing up a cliff face while just going from Point A to Point B? Probably not unless the cliff itself is meant as a challenge. Yeah, sure, it's possible for them to fall and hurt themselves, but that's really not actually increasing the fun except in an exploration-and-survival-type game and thus it's not serving the purpose. Climbing up a cliff face while being attacked by goblins riding giant wasps, on the other hand...

[@MenxiGoblinQueen]

"I'm such a great world crafter!" "Can you tell us about it?" "...no."

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

Meanwhile I'm like... "Oh man I have to find a way to get my players to meet the NPC alpaca farmer named Bob because he's so cool"

[@stevenschnepp576]

@@jacquelinealbin7712 Man, I remember back when I could still convince myself that players gave the ghost of a fuck about the setting. Good times.

[@johngleeman8347]

"You'll see. Teehee."

[@MenxiGoblinQueen]

@@johngleeman8347 What you just posted just triggered some primal and vicious feelings I don't think I can just repeat on command

[@johngleeman8347]

@@MenxiGoblinQueen It is a truly vile incantation. My apologies.

[@jimi_jams]

I hate critical fumbles as a DM. Automatically failing an attack because you rolled a nat 1 is punishment enough in my eyes, adventurers don't suddenly lose all bodily control because they rolled a 1. The way I see it, a nat 1 for an attack is the enemy turning at just the right moment to fully deflect a blow, a loose stone causes the attacker to slip just enough for the blow to miss, or the enemy being acutely aware at that point in the combat and reading your movement, that sort of thing. Not fall on your sword and die.

[@draconicfeline6177]

Yeah, or being parried and leaving an opening for an attack with advantage

[@RiveroftheWither]

I like critical fumbles with skill checks and every table I've played at has used them. They can be great fun IF DONE RIGHT. Bloating the game with over rolling? Having something happen that makes no sense whatsoever? (Such as having your character get distracted by a random shiny object when that's not something they would ever do) Having it cause permanent disability? Those are the wrong ways to do it. However people make mistakes, even when experts in their fields. I've been walking almost 30 years and that doesn't stop me from tripping of bumping into stuff. People can still have a moment of clumsiness or or bad luck. If done right it can be funny, not just for dm but everyone. Some of my most memorable moments were from crit successes and fails on skill rolls. Like when the Bard got a nat 20 on performance so they rocked out on their herdy gerdy and accidentally healed an entire makeshift infirmary of dwarves. Or that time everyone got hammered from some atrocious rolls and we all went with it, half elf rolled a 1 to not be tricked by my character into thinking rat turds were raisins and gobbled them up getting disadvantage on CON until a short or long rest, the fairy was smacking into the tavern lanterns like a moth and at the end of everything 2 party members started worshipping the fairy as their new deity, including my paladin brother. We were all dieing laughing throughout the chaos and everything that happened was done with player consent, my brother actually wanted to RP as an oath breaker and lived how this went down. It's fine if you don't like it and don't want to play that kind of game but don't treat it as something objectively bad or get mad at others for enjoying it because we aren't "playing DND right". At the end of the day the only rule that matters is that everyone is having fun.

[@jimi_jams]

I was perhaps careless with my words there. What I hate are critical fumbles that a DM decides are going to be outlandishly destructive, on what is effectively a 1 in 20 chance which statistically is still quite high at 5%. Seasoned combatants aren’t 5% catastrophically unlucky.

[@rb98769]

In PF1e it absolutely needs to be more rare than simply rolling nat 1, especially considering martials can get a lot of attacks every round, it just turns every combat into slapstick comedy.

[@HappyAspid]

Fully agree on nat 1. But it must make sense.

[@vodostar9134]

I've heard this one before and I don't understand how that game lasted more than one session. Everyone except David should have quit before session 1 was over.

[@kyletucker3811]

I know. After session 2, I was like "HOW IS THIS STILL GOING???"

[@soujemn5]

i think it's from them being new players. alot of new players don't see walking away from the table as a viable option from what i've seen.

[@damienhailey118]

FYI: 1e Summoner is only overpowered with two Archetypes: The Master Summoner(which powers up the Summon Monster spells) and the Synergist (Which takes two separate sets of stats (the Summonerand their Eidolon) and then merges them).

[@o55oono]

Synthesist isn't even that bad. Normally summoner and eidolon get their own actions, but you lose that, so you have the issue that you either attack, or use summoner spells. Since eidolons are very melee based it has very inefficient action economy. You also can't wear armor, and have no weapon to enchant. When i played it, compared to other melee characters, I had much higher health but average damage and below average AC.

[@alexismiracle4105]

I think the main issue is usually the pounce build eidolon. But that's still not that terrible...

[@Stealth_Saber]

@@o55oono mind if I ask how you built it? My last campaign had a guy who did power game it to where he had above average ac, hp, and damage offsetting the combat one-sidedly time and again. I won't lie when I say he had a DC of like 29 or 30. Mind you, we were only level 3 or 4. I'm starting to wonder if he was cheating because he misused life link and seriously thought he had a skill called "Knowledge (All)" and not all knowledge skills.

[@Zaint]

@@Stealth_Saber When you say DC do you mean AC? Because to have a DC of 29-30 for spells that are level 1-2 at most and would need over 40 in their charisma stat which is impossible at level 4 with level appropriate gear/items. If you mean AC you can get pretty high late game but at level 4 your looking at 20-25 ac range. Summoner is more of an advanced class not for someone new to pathfinder 1E, the wording of some abilities can also be a little woolly. And like monk you have to make sure you're not mixing standard and unchained material.

[@Stealth_Saber]

@@Zaint a) damn autocorrect, yes I meant ac. 2) that ac of his was before spells and shit. By the end of combat, his ac was in the late 30s to mid 40s range because he buffed himself obscenely. It's been several months so I don't remember the exact numbers, but it seemed ridiculous even at the time.

[@fcold9402]

How do you get your fingers CUT OFF and not take any HP damage?

[@jimi_jams]

Cat scratch causes 1HP of damage; losing fingers causes 0 🤔

[@diddleswright2288]

Well if you rolled your perception, you would've noticed they were prosthetic fingers

[@le_script.7775]

@@diddleswright2288 Nah, to lose hp you need to roll perception for your neurons to send the relevant signals to your brain to register that your fingers have dissapeared and that panic should set it... Wait, I think I might've skipped a few rolls explaining that... Are the constant "too detailed roll" jokes getting old yet? :D

[@mikedethlefs6326]

Is it wrong that the first thing that went through my mind when Billy claimed to have "10yrs 3e and Pathfinder experience" was "That's cute"?

[@zetram01]

Sounds like to me the GM had no real prep outside of combats that he assumed the players would flee from, and a thin thread of plot that they were making up as they went.

[@Doran_Runeblite]

This guy doesn't care about making a story, he just wanted to fuck with the players, THAT'S IT, nothing else but that. I had a DM who wanted the same thing though he went about it a different way. Forcing those perception checks and keeping the whole world a secret to those who live in it are gigantic red flags.

[@DnDDoge]

Yeah, definitely sounded like a tedious experience

[@soujemn5]

"He seems to be powering up in anticipation of your attack. The ground cracks beneath his feet. Are you sure you want to do this?" At that point I would have just said, "Yes, especially if it kills me."

[@PaladinGear15]

Experience is meaningless if you learn nothing from it.

[@ChaosCounseling]

Experience does not equal wisdom

[@stevenschnepp576]

Some of the best advice I ever got from my father was "Repeating the first six months ten times doesn't mean you have five years' experience."

[@unluckyone1655]

Oh gods, I'm not even remotely morbidly curious how Billy would butcher Savage Worlds

[@ChaosCounseling]

My second campaign I was in Dm claimed to be an expert. And he was…at mid maxing his characters. As a Dm…well I think he didn’t do any work for his campaign and just got drunk the night before set his hard drive of movies and random and just homebrew in monsters from what ever he half remembers from the night before. Then ends the campaign by retconning my whole characters backstory…

[@viennasavage9110]

Does the DM not know anything about passive perception?

[@DnDDoge]

Right?

[@mattlazarus2489]

Jeez, I wouldn't have lasted 5 min in this campaign much less multiple sessions lol. I did have an odd situation I was reminded of by all the perception rolling. In another game other than D&D our group was fighting an enemy in a parking garage. My character got knocked down at one point and when I had them stand up and start to run for cover I was told he ran face first into a wall.....really? I made made a couple comments about how stupid that is and it was retconned out of shame I think. 😔

[@TheOvervoid]

Great timing! A DnD horror short story whilst I do the hovering! Now it's gonna be less painful.

[@REfan2002]

Lucky, being such a cute kitty. And tentacles....

[@funkyweapon1981]

She was Billy's cousin. Gross.

[@marasmusine]

Could you imagine living as a commoner in this world, you're either cowering in the corner of your house not daring to even look at something; or you are a limbless McNugget who took too many 1-in-20 injuries for mundane tasks.

[@melaniescribbles]

Fair warning in advance for all you SA survivors (and potentially for incest survivors) out there: The potentially trauma-triggering stuff starts at 30:52 and ends at 32:22. So if this kind of subject doesn't sit well with you, then please skip to that second timestamp. The rest of the video is safe to watch, and no judgement if you do end up skipping it: The only one we're judging here is that DM. Stay safe, and please enjoy the video :)

[@BlueTressym]

Thank you for posting this; I for one appreciate your considerate nature.

[@michaelleader633]

Yeah, I've had shitty DM's. There was the "You can't escape this fight with your lvl 1 character against a roc," guy, the "I'm raping your male cyborg while performing vital upgrades with my 50 year old horny street doc widow," guy, and the "I don't hand out xp or money rewards," guy lol.

[@sgazzo8712]

im starting my second campaign live in the next weeks and im really anxious, listening to these horrible stories really inspire me that i could never be as bad as this master

[@angiep2229]

For a moment I didn't think the initiative way of managing 8 players sounded that terrible. I've seen it done in some games in order to ensure we all get an opportunity to do something when the party is split up. But that was just to take turns doing SCENES. To hold up entire conversations by turn order? That's absolutely ridiculous.

[@DnDDoge]

Must make role-playing highly enjoyable

[@Denkono]

DM: "Will you be back to play Savage Worlds?" OP: "You'll see" 😊

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

They say patience is a virtue, but there is such a thing as being too patient. Why on earth did these players stick around past the first session?

[@danielramsey6141]

Some people just want to play.

[@GarkKahn]

Both extremes are bad, rushing every minor detail is as bad as waiting 10 months for your pizza to arrive

[@kryptykthecontemplator63]

What a fun character... I can sneeze on God and they explode into paste also nothing can hurt me and I always go first. I don't even need to roll I can take a 20 on any action or save.

[@kryptykthecontemplator63]

The DMs campaign sounds like something a 10 year old who just played Skyrim for half an hour would "design". I would not doubt that the DM was trolling everyone but the OP PC. He wasn't trying to build a world and tell a story, he was just "torturing" everyone as long as he could keep the charade up. The whole "You'll see" bologna was an obvious hook to keep everyone on the line so to speak.

[@ChaosCounseling]

Wow not giving the players any information about the world and expecting them to have fleshed out characters hmm yea because that’s always a good idea

[@BlueTressym]

It's a weirdly common thing too; I've been in way too many games where getting info about the world my character was supposed to *live in* was like getting blood out of a stone.

[@Sinclairelim]

25:45 - Elden Ring godlike hitbox appreciation moment. This is beautiful. Just beautiful. I know it's unrelated to the story, but serously, how can you not see the beauty of that.

[@GarkKahn]

Ermm the enemy rolled a -1 probably

[@booleah6357]

Billy was actually just reminding his players to roll for each individual action but they only get one at a time. So one round was breathing, the next round is blinking, then maybe if you were lucky and succeeded on your breathing and blinking check then you could take a step but you would have to roll a walking check and god help you if you crit failed. Billy would make your character a paraplegic.

[@xydis.06.03]

Starting from halfway through the story, I kept thinking... _'When does it end?'_ _'Is it over, yet?'_ _'Does anyone leave?'_ _'Does anyone else leave?'_ _'You don't have to put up with this! JUST GO!'_ _'MAN, IT AIN'T OVER!?'_

[@ultimateninjaboi]

Crit Fumbles are a massive red flag for me. Just makes me think "the DM really only cares about seeing random awful things happen to us."

[@jeremyriley1238]

Wow, that was a terrible DM, and that ending made me go WTF, as it caused a female player to have an emotional breakdown. I mean, really, he and the other guy he gave favoritism to are messed up.

[@cdcdrr]

"You'll see." Apparently not because I keep failing my perceptions checks when trying to see the most basic and ordinary things!

[@glasshorse6893]

Billy's style of dming feels like a text adventure that cant describe the scene.

[@evangedeon2194]

"You'll see"? You'll SEE?! Are you sure? It seems like they'll actually fail a perception check and see nothing!

[@krybling]

Love the idea that you need perception check to see if the town road splits in two, haha this whole party is just walking around with their eyes closef

[@badideaboys4714]

Dude, I played a pathfinder alot like this. Led to some family problems cause I asked to leave the table. I wasn't having fun and the gm kept telling me I was ruining it for everyone, but he threw a childish fit when I offered to leave.

[@IcebulletZ]

My one DM does use turn order for exploration as our party is bad at just immediately splitting in a dungeon to uncover it. He however let's us finish a scene if we start it or shift the order if a couple of characters are doing one thing. We can constantly speak and respond as long as we're in range of what we're speaking to and not speaking over each other. We know what's going on for the most part with a list of tasks/options and he does a mix of module and homebrew. The other campaign I'm in does not have an order and it does bother me a bit as the most talkative people basically overshadow. I had to have a lot of backstory tie ins to have any say.

[@ZachSeineVideos]

...also, peaking is a free action in Pathfinder 1E by the way, you can do that always.

[@shadenox8164]

There is not a single class so OP that having half the levels of everyone else wont have you lag behind everyone else, I question this DM's experience.

[@BlackClaws]

What is often forgotten... even ten years of bad DMing is still 'experience'... But wow this was rough. I am fairly sure 'Billy' lacked even bad experience.

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

You know what. Halve the group size, properly inform the players ahead of time what to expect, and have it in the hands of an *actually experienced DM,* and Billy's "anything can go wrong" style of game could honestly be fun to try out.

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

That last part though? Hell. Fucking. No.

[@RiveroftheWither]

I HATE DMS who bloat the games with rolling. Yes, rolling is a major part of most TTRPGS, even in rpg lite games like Betrayal at the House on the Hill but it is not the primary function of the game. The primary function is imagination, rolling is just one of the systems to instill a sort of realism. Rolling for EVERY MINOR THING is just as unrealistic as rolling for nothing and letting everyone go hog wild. "Player: I walk do this street. Dm: Roll to not get distracted by shiny things and chop off your fingers on a random sickle you don't see.". Wtf

[@pLanetstarBerry]

I mean, it was a bad habit I had when starting out as a DM, but I was never THAT bad. Thankfully I've learned to calm tf down over the years and even have gotten a few funny moments with my players for not asking for a dice roll. My favorite being this exchange: Barbarian: "I love that you didn't make me roll to tell that was racoon blood." Me: "your character is feral enough, he'd know what racoon blood tastes like."

[@Nesseight]

That is awesome, recognizing a character as feral builds depth. Randomly chopping off limbs and making your own cousin endure drunken tentacle pr*n, probably not so much...

[@catherinecox573]

The "oh me way" really killed me 😂 it was honestly funnier that way It's more like "ohmy wah" and I think (?) It means "it's already over"

[@GarkKahn]

17:48 Bruh i know that feeling There's someone in my family always saying "yes" to everything, now we call him carrey for that comedy movie when his character must answer yes to everything people ask him I hate it so much that i can't even say yes to anything at all, i always say variations like yeah, yup, of course or something similar, but never that stupid word ever again my damn life

[@sasha1mama]

This is the second bad DM in two vids named Billy. Whether it's a pseudonym or not, this leads me to mistrust Billies. Oh - "omae wa" is "oh ma-ey wah", Doge. Y'know, the "you're already dead" meme. "Omae wa mo shin deiru."

[@jinglesbejankin7322]

YOU FOUGHT LINNORMS!? THEY HAVE STATS AS HIGH AS DEMIGODS! "A plus 35 will save modifier. Was he cheating" YES! A MILLION TIMES YES! The fucking Tarasque, son of the God of fuckling chaos and destruction and end of the universe, has exactly one save in the thirties. That shit is literally god tier.

[@kashawn105]

Watching my way through your old videos after subscribing

[@Spastry45]

All those fat rolls in the game play were almost as painful to watch as the story was to listen to (still well read tho)

[@ChaosCounseling]

Second campaign i ever ran 3.5 d&d if your wondering . Were panther druid tries to make a stealth check. Nat 1 I say he walked right into a tree. I tell him to make a balance check to keep his footing. Nat 1 I tell him as he stumbles around to keep his balance he smacked head first into the tree again. I have him roll a con save. Nat 1 he falls out of the tree line alerting the enemy’s and he’s stunned for the first round of combat.

[@dungeonsanddioramas8068]

Omg what a nightmare! D: even on my worst dming days, I was never THAT bad! Helps that I’ve always had great players though

[@soultpp]

God it's like my most hated view of Nat 1s magnified to 1,111,111! This GMs concept of Nat 1s comes close to making me violently ill! I already hate it when regular GMs say stuff like 'you throw your sword' on a nat 1 because it seems 'funny' but this is repulsive. And I'm a bit disappointed that not one player apparently went to check on Anna when she was CLEARLY extremely upset at the end there. It obviously affected her deeply and someone should have at least tried to talk to her and comfort her a little. Maybe they were all so worn down and checked out that they were just existing in a grey fog at that time. I have to say, I used to love 3.5, not for powergaming, but because of the interesting class combos you could make and the very concept of a prestige class. Never did get into Pathfinder though, and this really doesn't show it in a good light. Nowadays my group uses 5e because our forever DM wanted to try it. I think we'd still use other systems that we already know for other settings than fantasy though.

[@jinglesbejankin7322]

I try to be kind to my players with initiative. We experimented with semi-permanent initiative. Only rolling once a session made the game faster but decreased player fun. Now before each combat I always ask my players if they want to keep or reroll their initiative. It gives us the option of continuing straight into combat without needing to worry, but also a chance for better rolls all around. I don't mind flexing the rules for player enjoyment.

[@rentheseer190]

I remember asking my Dm why he doesn’t want us to roll for something else to notice while we act in case we make a new discovery. This is exactly why. Making a new perception roll on every little thing I will do one thing for your game; bog it down. And players who cannot act or are in the scene will check out faster than a hotel with a black widow outbreak.

[@deepseastonecore3017]

Thanks 4 all the hard work.

[@Reddotzebra]

Oh no... When he said "summoner" that's literally what I thought as well... I guess that says a lot about me. When the munchkin player starts describing how he stacks the AC granting class features I immediately assume he's using the ages old exploit of running one level dips into all of them. I just want to play my gnome inquisitor of Cayden Cailean goddammit!

[@zixserro1]

I wonder if OP ever went to Billy, now that his game's over, to ask what was up with that game's world and everything, since he was so secretive about it. Like, no point in hiding anything, and since OP isn't playing in his game anymore, he could get all the information out of him that he could want, and maybe say "Hey, maybe that information shouldn't have been a secret." Like the name of the city or who each NPC is or probably 90% of the things he hid from the players.

[@jakisz]

Wow, that sounds like a nightmare

[@SinnerChrono]

I about died laughing at the random gnome going super sayin. 😂😂😂😂

[@WorstGamer92]

Constant initiative...instant nope, absolutely ridiculous

[@Goldrex434]

15:24 that is bs. you can use mending to attach the fingers back.

[@iank472]

As someone who loves using critical fumbles in my games I loathe seeing someone mess them up this badly. If one of my npcs or players gets a Nat one in combat they do small things like drop a weapon or get it stuck in a wooden wall or barrel and have to use their move action to recover. Other times if it is a non vital skill check I often make it a silly but not particularly problematic issue like being booed offstage with a performance roll or harmlessly faceplanting with an acrobatics roll.

[@kheyonsmith1497]

My first time playing DND went kind like this the DM dm style was like this DM: y'all walk into a room what do you see ? Party: I don't know we didn't create the story. DM: ok roll perception checks Party: we roll a critical fail DM: OK so since you rolled a critical fail you see ( insert giant creature here) in the middle of the town how do you proceed ? And seeing as how it was my first time playing I asked him how to spell the creatures name and when I googled it it was a Tarrasque and there is no way we wouldn't have seen the damn this walking into town. So his story telling was very based on our rolls if we rolled good he would pretty much let us continue onward but if we failed on boy did we fail.

[@VenomousKing]

I'm watching this right after the Ozric Tentacles concert in Turin, but something tells me the tentacles in this story are not related.

[@KurasakubiSaurn]

Permanent initiative? Why import one of the flaws of PbP campaigns to your table? I mean, I do PbP all the time, but having to talk in posting order makes for some unnatural dialog.

[@Pachitaro]

18:06 bro I'm CRYING! 🤣

[@jamesarmstrong5316]

I am a simple man, I see lucky I like. Sadly could only subscribe the one time.

[@OhmegaMan]

Some friends sold me on an isekai style game. I show up and ask the DM about things i can do in the world as i know next to nothing. He tells me i can do the things im describing, sets super hard checks and laughs as i fail. Everyone at the table gets cool abilities and items, I'm basically a commoner still at level 5. Game dies due to argument about goblins and non-consensual encounters (GM was the only person for it) GM days he'll run a new game, by the book, without the 1 player who "started" the argument, even though all of us except 1 player agreed with her. Proceeds to murder all of us but the 1 player for three sessions. Doesn't allow any bonuses to rolls, baby monsters 1 shot us AND counterspell constantly. Dude always talks about how he cant keep a game running, and how hes the best DM he's ever seen, besides his father, and that he helped write/playtest most of 3.5... Easily the worst GM and player (another story) ive ever played with, and I'm including children i ran games for who weren't even in kindergarten (everyone loves rolling dice!)

[@ianshurtleff806]

You know, something i try to do when it comes to these sorts of stories is to take a fes lessons with me. For example, i learned that you dont need to use checks for mundane stuff, as it tends to bring more harm than good. Kinda small, but maybe not something id initially think about, as soneone who is cobsideribg giving DMing a try.

[@jinglesbejankin7322]

As someone who's been playing Pathfinder long enough to be considered a veteran, but know that being a 'veteran' means he truly knows very little, I have to say that the most important thing any GM can do is give their party some sort of hints towards the adventure they have planned. Understanding the potential environments a player might see in a given game is so absurdly important to character creation in a game like Pathfinder where characters are insanely optimizable. Will this be an urban focused game? Will we be spending days and weeks on the road? Will we even be on Golarion? Not telling your players the very basics of what to expect is how my first GM came to run a darklands game with a whole party of humans that couldn't see in the dark. --- Forcing a player that has never touched Pathfinder before to, all alone, build a level 10 character is absurd. It's downright cruel. I love Pathfinder. It is my favorite system. But even I acknowledge the undeniable fact that Pathfinder is massive. If D&D 5e is a toolbox then Pathfinder is a fully equipped mechanic's garage. Someone with no knowledge of tools will walk in and not understand half the machines. They'll hurt themselves or build something wrong. At the very least you should respect a new player enough to give them some help. A voice chat where you explain everything would help. --- What is this shit about waiting until your turn to speak? The only GMs I've had do that in any game of Pathfinder only restricted long dialogue to that. A sentence? Speaking is a fucking free action. You can take those whenever so long as the party and GM agree you aren't wasting time.

[@BlazingKhioneus]

SAY "you'll see!" SAY "you'll see" AGAIN! I DARE YOU! I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA. SAY "you'll see" ONE MORE TIME!

[@liamdalemon1525]

DM: (after player rolls perception) you see a man Player: does he look like an orc? DM: you'll see (BANG) Player: DOES HE LOOK LIKE AN ORC!?!

[@7thsealord888]

"You'll see" and "... Living breathing world ..." Yup, red flags here. But this horror was WAY below my expectations.

[@LCH415]

Dm really said I’m running a IRL westmarch with no passive perception lmao

[@dantles]

now imagine playing with DM like this, 8 people and he is shiting around, I would at least brakin his arm and leave

[@Armedus]

T- "Roll Dexterity to type." 🎲 👋, 4 h- "Roll Dexterity to type." 🎲 👋,13 i- "Roll Dexterity to type." 🎲 👋, 8 s- "Roll Dexterity to type." 🎲 👋, 5 s- "Roll Dexterity to type." 🎲 👋, 17 u- "Roll Dexterity to type." 🎲 👋, 9 c- "Roll Dexterity to type." 🎲 👋, *! 1 !* 👹 "Your fingers suddenly collapse in on themselves, sending a surge of blood to your brain, causing an embolism, tee tee tee."

[@yyflame]

How did this campaign last longer than a single session?

[@orangelightning2352]

Ngl the 1 crit fumble roll thing seems like a good idea but when it applies to everything? That just makes the game so bad that it just doesn't want to be played anymore

[@dougmartin2007]

I'm not even far enough in this story to get to the first session and I am seeing so many flags I would have left the campaign.

[@thomasvontom]

I like crit fumbles. But you got to be reasonable about them. Like a skilled mounted archer. Should not have a 1 in 20 chance of falling of his horse everytime he fires his bow. Further more the more skilled a character is. The more often the critical failure should likely be the result of something out of their control. Mounted archer is blinded by the sun as he wheels his horse around to shoot at new target. Not you fall of your horse and get trambled by it. But at same time. You got to let bad things happen. But they should be intresting or do something to move plot forward.

[@nvfury13]

Holy crap…4d6 drop lowest 2 then add 12? We used what was considered the “OP” stat method 4d6 drop the lowest, reroll 1s. I shudder to think about the stats this would bring to the table…starting stats over 20 would be the norm.

[@snonyabeeswax]

doge knows how to reel in the likes with kitties XD

[@DnDDoge]

😉

[@Damalon01]

First: There are no Crit fumbles in Pathfinder 1E. If you roll a Nat 1 it will either be a auto fail or just a bad roll, depending on what the roll is for. Second: You can lose a limb in Pathfinder 1E but it is quite rare and I have never heard of it being the result of a failed save or skill check, rather is will be the result of a special ability or item. These things are rare because the spell to restore a missing limb is very high level. Third: Adding these things in would be the result of House Rules, something your GM would be obligated to inform you about before you start the game. Personally I would have left the game the moment I realized the GM in question was using these House Rules. Fourth: How the hell are you meant to make character for a game if the GM wont tell you anything about the setting?! Or the rules ?! The best you could do is make a generic, flavourless character with no connection to anyone or anything! (Except for other PCs). Five: The Summoner class is quite powerful but there is an alternate version of the class in the Pathfinder Unchained book, a more balanced version. The GM could have used the Unchained version or simply said no to the class. No need to make a fuss about it. Another class a lot of GMs make a fuss about is the Gunslinger...

[@notoriouswhitemoth]

Split that table in half and let David be the GM. You know, the person who knows anything about the rules and actually gives half a damn.

[@gigaswardblade7261]

the way you pronounced "omae wa" mad me think you were saying "on me way" in a thick scottish accent

[@AdjutantReflex343]

There are no, count them NO feats, in primary or third party content (other than house rules) that let you pull that AC, I managed to have an AC of 46 MAX at level 20 with a VERY specific build that relied on me timing certain abilities to fire at the right time this dude has an AC of 58 without activated or circumstance based abilities? Bull…

[@absolutfx]

This was a wild ride, but honestly the player at that point could have and should have left about 50 times. If they did thought we wouldn't have the gem that is Billy.

[@jamesgotchall7205]

This DM sounds like an absolute pain for the group. Letting a player guide the story is not what the game is about and deliberately controlling what players can play. If they choose a very broken class for multiclass, you can lock them out of multiclass so it isn't broken.

[@rocketprime]

A Natural 1 should be an automatic miss and nothing else.