7 Game Master Sins Returns - RPG Philosophy

Here's 7 mistakes that many Game Masters (including myself) can make when running a tabletop RPG. Every GM has sinned. These are some of mine.
And because I mentioned them, and you should check them out:
Bud's RPG Review: / budsrpgreview
How We Roll Podcast: howwerollpodcast.com/
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MY PUBLISHED RPG ADVENTURES
A Mother's Love (Call of Cthulhu 7e). This collection of adventures win the 2020 Gold ENnie Award for Best Digital Adventure Book: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Mysteries on Arcturus Station (Mongoose Traveller 2e). This is two adventures. One is written by me, and the other is my update to J. Andrew Keith's brilliant Murder on Arcturus Station: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
And while I didn't write it (Marc Miller has that distinction), I did greatly expand and update the classic Traveller adventure Death Station to Mongoose 2e, which is TOTALLY FREE: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
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Check out the Q-Workshop Seth Skorkowsky RPG Icons Dice, a 10-die set that I designed with Q-Workshop: q-workshop.com/en/221-rpg-ico...
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I mostly ramble about movies and random other things as they occur to me:
/ sskorkowsky
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I HAVE A PODCAST NOW
Check out the Modern Mythos Podcast where veteran RPG writer Jon Hook and I discuss gaming, especially Call of Cthulhu: modernmythos.libsyn.com/?fbcl...
You can find the podcast on KZbin as well (You should totally subscribe): / @modernmythos5229
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Special thank you to my 199 Patrons for their support.
Guest starring Mike, Todd, and Dweebles.
00:00 Intro
00:42 #1 Stingy
04:32 A Bear in Peril and Restart
05:10 #1 The Punisher
08:44 #2 The Sadist
10:03 #3 Fragile
11:30 #4 The Perfectionist
13:02 #5 Hubris
15:14 #6 The Self-Sacrificer
17:27 #7 Forgetting What Playing is Like
21:12 Outro

[@EATherridan]

I give Seth a whole 1 xp for this video.

[@aethon0563]

Wow, only 299 more to go!

[@blablablubb7623]

Depends on the system, I currently run a lot of Numenera, where 1XP is worth a lot

[@Krshwunk]

Whoa, hey now ....

[@user-ni1vu4ht3f]

Too much...

[@emielpeper9248]

I see Jeff, tHe GrEaTeSt DuNgEoN mAsTeR aLiVe got a reference. Always love the continuity

[@robwalker4452]

Right! I did get that reference.

[@stefansneden1957]

facts

[@eleemikolaj]

Haha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who was laughing her ass off at that one!

[@CaptMac42]

Came to the comments section to say the same thing. Lol loved it.

[@zhornlegacy7936]

We all aspire to be as good as Jeff

[@hartthorn]

My big sin: dropping secrets or twists before they are due. Hate pulling this one, but done it a couple times on accident.

[@mnemophage]

Yep, I feel this one keenly. I tend to get so excited about this complex, awesome game mechanism I've put together that I can't keep it in. Once I realize I've done this, I then tend to swing around to my other big sin: Just not giving out the clues. I'll want to stretch out the mystery as long as I can, and as such miss opportunities to organically introduce information where it would make the most sense. Either that or I set in mind a trigger or check that needs to be done in order to convey what may very well be actually vital information, and then when my players blow it or don't know to do it, I can't as easily just slide it in elsewhere.

[@paulduquette1102]

My wife is a player in my game and we talk about RPGs all the time. I've been guilty of this too. It's almost like over sharing. You don't realize you've said too much until you say too much!

[@oasntet]

I have the opposite problem. There's always secret machinations and deeper mysteries, and my players almost never dig enough to get to the bottom of anything. It's better to present many paths to those secrets and twists and let the mystery be what to do about it.

[@richardreumerman5449]

Yeah or bragging about them in between sessions..

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

So tempting. That's why I like a lot of randomization as a GM: I want to be surprised too.

[@robertnett9793]

10:15 - 'You should just play in Jeff's group' I see what you did there. And I tip my hat for this surprising continuity :D

[@d.unterreiner161]

Right now my biggest sin as a GM is not setting aside enough time to do prep work.

[@GooberDragon]

Same here.

[@aWOLtrooper]

Sometimes it's better to adapt your prep work to the time you have, rather than the other way around. It's easier to get *something* accomplished in a short amount of time than it is to get nothing done because you don't have enough time. Its challenging, of course, but there ways to adjust your approach that can make the time you *do* spend on prep more meaningful and successful.

[@alderaancrumbs6260]

That’s why I run Savage Worlds. I really never do prep. 😁

[@davidrosenberg8100]

I feel your pain there.

[@elgatochurro]

Do you realize that prep is never completed? EVER?

[@jellojackalopes]

My players tell me that my biggest issue is being overly apologetic. They messed up real bad in a boss fight and the enemy brutally mopped the floor with them. I felt really bad about it and apologized but they said not to and that it was their fault. Looking back it absolutely was since they made a ton of bad decisions but I felt awful at the time. I felt like I was destroying their fun when they were actually having a blast. They regrouped and came back to that fight with an actual plan and won, and they had fun with it too. I also straight up cannot do puzzles. If I do I have to walk away because I start worrying about whether they'll hate the puzzle or get stumped on it and have it ruin the game. Then I wind up giving hints. It's a terrible habit I still have to kick. My group is wonderful though and I always ask their thoughts at the end of a session to see what I can improve on. It helps me make the game even better for everybody.

[@larsdahl5528]

There is always the nagging feeling: Did I describe what the PCs observe well enough? Or did I overdo it? Sometimes we have to accept that, despite we did describe the wall with windows and a door in it, the players will climb a window to get through it! Players do have their toddler moments, where they try out the borders at what they can get away with. In those cases, remember gravity is a relentless teacher when a toddler learns to walk. A caring parent may feel bad about it and pad the toddler, but that only makes the toddler more wreckless. To other parents' frustration. Erhm... I mean: A caring GM may feel bad about it and give the PCs plot armor, but that only makes the PCs more wreckless. To other GMs' frustration. When lethal weapons are used in combat, those weapons should be that: Lethal! Otherwise, you end up with those boring slow combats where the weapons are as lethal as dull toothbrushes. --- For what puzzles go: Start out easy. See it a bit like the classic murder mystery: It can not be solved in chapter one, but reward the PCs with more clues as they investigate. If they do not understand a clue, then it may be tempting to give a hint, but as you have figured, it is a bad approach. Instead, see it as being still in the early chapters, so move on to give more clues. Careful that it does not become a breadcrumb trail, instead see "a not understood clue" as being a dead end (from the players' perspective) and instead give clues to another path. That can lead the players around to "open the door" from the other side to what they thought was the dead end.

[@rogerb181]

The goal of a GM is to provide a fun and challenging experience for the players. If the players plan poorly or do not work as a team, they will see their performance suffer overall. It is really cool to see players devise a plan and execute it in a manner that decimates the opposition. As a GM, I love seeing them triumph over a tough challenge. I just don't want to make it too easy.

[@AuntLoopy123]

My brother said he wanted more puzzles. The firsts puzzle I gave them, he solved in about 30 seconds. So, I gave them a prop. The goblins dropped a little booklet, that happened to be a section torn out of a wizard's spell book. And you know how the book says it takes them HOURS to transcribe spells from another wizard's spell book, because every wizard finds their own unique and secure way of writing it? Well, I found the Pigpen cypher and wrote down those pages on some parchment paper, that had been sewn into booklet form. I had my niece have some fun, pretending to be a goblin and vandalizing it, and then, I torn half of the last page off, just to annoy him (He got two full spells, and the first part of a third, just to whet his appetite). It would be SO HARD for me to sit there and watch him solve it, but this was something he could take home and work on, in his own time. I just told him, "Keep track of how much time you spend, because that is how much time your PC will have to spend to figure it out. Once. you have it figured out, and transcribed, and you have a time for YOU, then we can have your PC do it, in game. You'll just have to tell me when he's working on it, and when he's finished with it." I also bought a few props. I got some cheap wooden puzzles to give them at the table, for the players (probably my brother) to solve. I even have my line all worked out. "This is a Plotco lock! It's unpick able! You'll have to find the proper key." Thank you, West of Loathing. So, anyway, they can collect the puzzle pieces and then put it together to get the "key" for the lock on the door. Hopefully, that will keep them happy. However, I made sure to practice with all the puzzles before I hand them over, so that if they don't solve them in a timely manner, I can. If you have to walk way, that's a great time for snacks, right? We take a break to eat, and we all fill our plates, but I CANNOT eat while DMing, so I usually wind up pretty hungry. But if I have to walk away, to keep from giving hints, that is a great time for ME to grab a bite to eat.

[@larsdahl5528]

@@AuntLoopy123 Though it sounds nice, I may say: Be careful! There are the "Physical stats vs. Mental stats" -problem: If physical tasks are carried out by the character, and mental tasks are carried out by the player behind the character, then the players will nerf their character's mental stats to boost physical stats. That can lead to; two doors leading out of the room, one is blocked so it has to be forced open, and the other door has a puzzle lock that has to be solved. The players will then force the blocked door, as it will be their characters doing it, thus being the fastest and/or easiest way to go forward. *It is* of course *excellent you have found something a player of yours enjoys!* - Just be careful, the other players may not be as enthusiastic about it. Some ideas, I have collected over the years, you may find inspiring: I have played a board game where the players each play a "character", it had an interesting rule for puzzles: All puzzles consisted of pieces that had to be moved around in order to reach the "solved" position, it was then about counting how many moves used, as the character's mental-stat was the upper limit to how many moves that character could use to solve the puzzle. - In other words the better the mental-stat was, the more moves could be used, and thus the more likely it was that the puzzle was solvable by that character. (I find that one interesting in connection to the "Physical stats vs. Mental stats" -problem, as it takes the character's mental-stat into account, while still leaving something for the player to do.) At work, we have had some "team-building" puzzles, where each member got 3 pieces of which it was possible for each person to form a square if they had the correct pieces, which no one have at the beginning. Now the rules were that they were not allowed to talk or communicate in any way other than giving away pieces, one by one, to the others. The interesting part of this puzzle is that it is easy for one person to assemble all squares correctly, but when people have to do it, as a group effort, under such limitations to how they are allowed to communicate, it becomes really difficult! - It requires that people agree on a strategy (Thus people have to realize they need a system, for how to do it, and everyone has to reach that same conclusion!). When the group has forced their way through something locked, I am the type that let them find a fitting key, when they search something, shortly after. --- For what the eat something while GM-ing problem goes: Did you see the video on Seth's other channel? kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJmshJaOq513hNU If you search the comments on it, you may find the one I made. Think about it: 20 minutes should be sufficient time for a little meal while you are playing.

[@jellojackalopes]

@@larsdahl5528 I found that the simplest puzzles were the hardest to solve for them. They'd solve the hard puzzles pretty much immediately. I had one puzzle with 3×3 tiles that lit up when stepped on. Stepping on one lit it up blue and in response another would glow red. If three tiles in a row glowed red, the tiles would reset. It took them a very long time to figure out that I was just playing tic tac toe with them. My favorite puzzle was this room where two ghosts were sat on opposite sides of a banquet table. They were siblings bickering back and forth and the task was to "get the quarreling siblings on the same side". They'd argue one topic at a time, like what the best fruit is or the ideal temperature for cooking steak. Even dumb stuff like what two plus two equals. The topics don't matter, they just will not agree with each other, and if the party convinces one to change their mind and the other hears it, they will immediately switch their stance. There were two ways I had in mind to solve it. One is to change a sibling's mind while preventing the other from overhearing. If the other sibling is unaware that the stance has changed, they will not change their own opinion. The other answer is to take the riddle extremely literally and physically move one sibling to the other side of the table.

[@Treblaine]

Seth is a really good actor despite having no actor to bounce off, I keep forgetting that all these different characters are played by the same person. Good editing as well.

[@JKevinCarrier]

I am definitely in the Fragile/Perfectionist camp. After the session, all I can focus on is the things I messed up, and I feel like a failure. But the players keep coming back, so I guess I'm doing something right?

[@gunmunz]

I've had dms in the fragile/perfectionist camp and yeah if your players are having fun and keep comming back your doing a good job.

[@Casey093]

I'm fighting the same thing. We run an investigative campaign, the players are heavily interesting in researching their background stories, there are many cool RP situations... and in the end, there is complaint that our missions take so many sessions to finish. How should I speed this up, just for the sake of "completing more quests in a certain time", without dropping out everything we enjoy?

[@thecaveofthedead]

It is important as a player to tell your GM what you enjoyed, I believe. Not dissing your players. But it is a great thing to learn.

[@MakCurrel]

A tool I used to partly overcoming it, was after I goofed something, then I tried to remember when the next game session ends. I think about if I made same mistake again. If not, then I learned and corrected, and I celebrate that. If I did do it again then I know what to work on, and then becomes very aware that I don't beat myself up about it. Tldr: Focus on what we learn more the failure it self. 😅 For instance when I run combat it often becomes a mess, so I try to focus on the narrative in the fight more than the technical. And then I ask for help with the rule stuff of my players. Yes it hurts my ego, but I had to do it to move on. 🙂

[@MakCurrel]

@@Casey093 ask them directly if they enjoy it. If they do, then you're not doing anything wrong. If they don't, then talk about how you together can streamline the game. We have a ST that in a Call of Cthulhu campaign have the same frustration with us players. She have presented a mystery in a 1920's setting, but we like to RP heavy. So much that we had an in game dinner, that off game took 4 hours. She was frustrated and asked what she did wrong. All of us said she did nothing wrong. For us the plot was a backdrop for us to explore the relationship between characters. We still follow the plot and investigate, but every thing takes a long time, when there is in game tea breaks. 😅

[@vellor9145]

Nr.7 really hits Home for me.. when I was a forever DM i ofc like any other person, dreamed of being the player. I would internally scream at my players for being “bad players” for not role playing , paying attention or being invested. I would be the perfect player I thought. Then the day arrive and I get to play, finally. I play through an adventure for about 6 sessions. And my experience after that really changed my perspective.. I got humbled for sure, I learned what players actually have to do and how hard it can be to focus when your not in the spotlight and how long you have to wait for it to dawn on you. But more importantly, I learned that I was a way better dungeon master than player and that I have more fun playing many characters than just one. Tho I will say it’s always nice to have a break once in a while to “just” be a player.

[@pavelowjohn9167]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Me as a GM: "Man, these guys are playing like crap, those tactics are terrible and did they forget how to RP in the last month or so?" Me as a Player, when I finally get the chance: "Damn, this is not how I imagined my character working at all and why is the GM picking on me? It's not my fault I ran out of healing spells, he just threw way too many enemies at us. And I have no idea what he wants us to do with these NPCs, they're just annoying and eat up valuable playing time." Yep, there is some justice in having the shoe on the other foot, so to speak. 🙂

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

Every player should gamemaster and every GM should be a player. The perspective from both sides of the screen is very valuable.

[@jfridy]

My best friend in High School and College didn't GM often, but was pretty good at it. But we all found out he was the Sadist. I was one of the few characters who wrote up backstories and character journals, and he used it. In a long Legend of the 5 Rings game my characters quest to understand why his wife had died became a grueling struggle to cope with her infidelity with a duelist from another clan, and the fact that she hated my character (it was an arranged marriage where my character loved her, but it was not reciprocated, she found my character a simple brute.) The game had some of the best role playing I had been in up to that point. Then I found out he had been sleeping with my fiancée for months when she left me for him. He was living at home with rich parents after dropping out of college, so he did have a lot more time to spend with her than me, getting ready for finals. He said the funniest part was that I never caught on that he was setting up the clues in game as a running joke between the two of them (she was also in the game.) Needless to say, I never spoke to them again, and was promptly kicked out of the group by the others, since she was the only girl and he was the GM. I have to say, he might have been a sadist, and he was a bastard, but he was pretty cunning, I never saw it coming.

[@MisterDantastic]

Shit dude. That blows.

[@jfridy]

@@MisterDantastic It was LONG ago. I've found many a better gamer to hang with, several better GMs, and several other women, all who I'm still friends with, and one who I married. But still, in hindsight, it's amazing how I got played.

[@MisterDantastic]

@@jfridy I'm glad you found better friends and a better woman. I'm sure it didn't feel good at the time, but you probably dodged a bullet with that woman.

[@AuntieHauntieGames]

Much like a Shadow from Wraith: the Oblivion, the Perfectionist DM definitely lurks deep in the back of my mind, whispering things I do my best to ignore.

[@ForeverYoungKickboxer]

I saw a guy with that shirt on couple years ago and texted my brother. He replied "It breaks immersion but I'm glad your GM is taking steps to make sure things don't go too awry"

[@christiankrueger8048]

I recently found out that saying thank you on YT does not cost me an arm and a leg - surprise! - Yeah I know .. so: Thank you! I love all your videos and always look forward to the next episode regardless of topic! Please keep up the good work! I so wish I had a chance to be a player at your table - next reincarnation I will take that as a special merit / background for my character! :D

[@mikethetooth]

I must've summoned this video rolling my new Q Workshop - RPG Icons, Seth Skorkowsky dice. They're beautiful! love the channel.

[@mildsoup8978]

Can't wait till mine come in!!!

[@JackLaPoire]

That teddy bear threat was clearly a revenge for the time you crushed Dweebles’ confidence. You had it coming Seth.

[@c.cooper2877]

Honestly, it could also be revenge for naming him "Dweebles."

[@roundishwhale]

Definetly went on the "fragile to perfectionist" journey when I was starting out as a DM. Managed to largely move past both of them by now, but your depiction was spot on^^

[@RatsofaFeather]

This video made me realize I used to fall into the hubris field. I used to never prepare before running sessions of my Vampire: The Masquerade game. I would just show up to the session with the same Google Doc pages of short character descriptions and just wing it. Never improving on my formula. I broke the habit watching my partner run her own game and how intricate she made it.

[@UwedeGrape]

Started reading your book Daemoren. Wow, great book. You got me hooked in the first 5 pages! Looking forward to the entire series.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Glad you're enjoying it. Look forward to talking with you again at GenCon.

[@deansthedevil1]

"...maybe you shouldn't have interrupted me when I was talking." That gets a 5 star review right there.

[@submarinehandgrenade]

I feel called out. I've done 6 of these in the order you mentioned. I believe this should be called the Skorkowsky Game Master Grief Model.

[@ethanbest9110]

I definitely struggle with fragility and perfectionism. My perfectionism tends to manifest as an irrational fear of failure, especially with world-building endeavors largely due to a fear that I won't be able to communicate my ideas in an interesting and coherent way. I have had the projection onto my players before, but that was primarily an issue of me comparing the group to a previous one and not understanding that I was on a different frequency. As far as fragility I think the best way that I have come up with to deal with it is confronting it. If you aren't sure how it went, ask your players. Tell your players you accept criticism, but ask them to bring it up to you privately so you don't feel like you're under a spotlight. If you feel like you are responding to criticism poorly put some distance between yourself and it so you can examine it. All of this helps build a boundary between you and your anxiety while also letting you know when there's a real problem because it broke these rules.

[@Aargo999]

The first sin reminds me of an Edge of The Empire Star Wars game I was in. Our mercenary band never got paid, eventually the story came to a standstill when we had to go off world and none of us could afford the spaceport fare. (The jokes were great though!)

[@johanneskaiser8188]

The mercenaries who work for free. Interesting concept so be sure.

[@Ephsy]

Broke like Cowboy Bebop

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@Ephsy No matter how hungry you get, do NOT open that refrigerator buried in the cargo hold!

[@andrewlance3898]

@@Ephsy When your bell peppers and bantha steak has no bantha steak

[@robertchmielecki2580]

I think it's better to err on the side of stingyness, tbh. We all know from CRPGs how money quickly loses its worth when accumulated from tons of sold loot. I am yet to see a game where economy is not broken that way and the same can easily happen for tabletop RPGs. It may be uneasonable to not allow players to loot everything, but make it hard to move around and difficult to sell. Why would peasants in a random village want to buy used armour? Why would anyone?

[@johanneskaiser8188]

The loot fairy confession speaks to me. Trying to keep it in check, but I just love to give every PC a uniquely created signature item that is usually stronger than what the game in question has set as the obtainable maximum power (like, +5 and then some). Sometimes I fail at making the effort of getting them enough of an adventure. :( But they are always crafted to be complementing the PC's speciality and depending on how early they get them (and the system in question) they may even scale so they never become obsolete, so I long for them to have it and play around with it, so it can happen they sometimes fall out of the sky, metaphorically speaking. Bonus marks for the Jeff call-back. Perfection!

[@vepristhorn8278]

On the GM sacrifice one, this really falls into a recent trend in the hobby, I've seen it a lot on social and game stores, that due to the recent boom in the hobby GM have to let their players play what ever they want sacrificing their world because if they don't allow it they are "enter discriminatory term." Bullying GMs seems to have become common and it's just wrong GMs need to say no

[@konberner170]

Players need to say no.

[@puffstanley4442]

Honestly as a GM some GMs just need to grow a spine and standup for themselves.

[@konberner170]

@@puffstanley4442 That goes without saying, but the players are the real problem here.

[@OgamiItto70]

There's a reason you're/they're called Dungeon/Game *_Master._* Or, as Admiral "Bull" Halsey said: "When you're in command, *_command._*

[@shaicass]

Glad to see that George is running Cyberpunk again (and the mention fits nicely into the GM forgetting what it's like to be a player). No Bombshells in that game, I hope. ;)

[@MarcinEstkowski]

I love your "RPG Philosophy" videos. I have 25 years of experience in RPG playing and game mastering, but I always find something interesting and useful in this content. Thanks.

[@gnaskar]

Punisher: There's a variant where you find yourself being harsher about consequences for characters of players you don't like than you are with players you like. Less of a problem when you can choose your own group, but between running con games and gaming societies, that's not always an option. The Sadist: There's nothing wrong with a good power trip, but keep the same rules in mind when gaming as in other forms of sadism: Get informed consent from everyone involved, have a safeword or some other out for anyone who gets uncomfortable, and remember the difference between good pain and bad pain.

[@Ephsy]

You probably shouldn't have people you don't like at your table to begin with. Saves you a lot of sanity.

[@Belphegorite]

@@Ephsy In any group I've assembled myself, yes. But as they said, sometimes you don't get to pick them (like cons). That's one big reason why I don't GM cons.

[@Mossmyr]

Nice to see Bud's RPG Review get a call out. Love that guy!

[@BudsRPGreview]

Cheers!

[@blankmind12]

Saw this pop up and listened on my way home from work! These have been super helpful for me when GMing my group! Thanks so much and keep up the fantastic work!

[@britishshock]

That intro was Fantastic, hope the bear is still ok.

[@Winterydee]

I think that is very dependent on two things... 1) If Seth is ever able to tell Dweebles what his real full name is in a timely manner. 2) How evil Dweebles truly is under that nice guy persona?

[@MichaelB-jw5po]

13:04 It's great to see someone giving Hollow Earth Expedition some love. It's one of my favorite RPG systems and sometimes I feel like the only person who even knows it exists.

[@DocEonChannel]

Could be because it was a one-man project and the designer fell off the face of the earth a few years ago, leaving his last kickstarter unfulfilled....

[@KaChowAndTheGang]

Always happy to see an upload by you Seth, keep on doing your thing

[@alqdsemper221]

The Fragility thing is curious: I have seen both my and other GMs being super self conscious about handling certain things, the general story, etc. Funny thing, from talking to the players and switching roles I learned that at least my own insecurities often went by the players unnoticed. Not that they had no criticism of the game, not that they didn't have highs or lows, but I learned that in general these issues are often not as linked to them GM as the GM might think. One player once said to me "I understand that you worry about being good or bad, but for me you're just kinda there." From that I did develop a certain stand point where I do no longer care as much about how good or bad I do GMing. I do GMing, and my ability to know if its any good is so limited, and then I also understand what a group needs is a GM that is resting with themselves and does not feel like they have to prove much. idk if this makes any sense to anyone else, but that kind of letting go has helped me do way more funny stuff and flexibility than overthinking my performance all the time. "How I learned to stop worrying and how to love the crit fail" or some like that.

[@eopatcjo]

Whoof. Seth I'm going to need to start paying you as my therapist. This advice is valuable both at, and away from, the table.

[@asthmatickobold7844]

The asides ("so very tempting" and "mostly joking") and the Jeff the Perfect GM callback are great!

[@JPChereb]

I disagree. I feel Seth is overusing these a bit and they're growing stale. No issue with Jeff tho.

[@gameprose4293]

I've had to deal with a Punisher/Sadist hybrid in my first D&D/rpg campaign and it almost caused me to leave TTRPGs forever. For the longest time, I just refused to join any group where I wasn't the DM/GM. I've shared the events in several other places (comments on other youtube videos and even a reddit thread or two), and I still get people insisting I've made the story up for 'internet points'. So instead of posting it all again I'll be as brief as I can. It was in 2008, the campaign was a 3.5 one, I was playing a Half-Orc Paladin. The DM forced us into a gladiator arena/pit that negated all Arcan Magic, leaving my character as the only one capable of any type of magic. After going from 3rd to 6th level in the arena, he tossed a group of humanoids at us described as killers and the worst criminals the land had to offer. We won, the DM told me that my Paladin lost all of his Paladin powers, was now Chaotic Evil, and there was no way for me to redeem myself or become another cleric or paladin-like class as no deity (Good or Evil) was willing to hear me or take me on as a follower. I said he couldn't do that, he said it's my punishment for killing good humanoids. I said that it was a life and death situation and my character thought they were evil due to the way the announcer talked about them, the DM told me to deal with it. We got in a heated argument and took a break that went on for 1hr because of how upset I was and how long I needed to cool my head. We get back, DM begins to go into as graphic detail as possible about how friends of the gladiators we killed broke into my Paladin's cell and took turns raping him. Once more, I objected and said I was uncomofortable with rape in games, he said that now I'll know my place and wont question him again, so I left the game. Because of this, I am super paranoid about what is done with my characters, and I don't react well to anyone telling me how I should or shouldn't play my characters. As mentioned, it took a long time before I joined a group where I wasn't a GM/DM. The group I play with now is pretty awesome and we do a variety of game systems and campaign settings, the forever GM/DM of the group is pretty chill and has taught me things about GMing over the last 5 or 6 years since I met him.

[@larsdahl5528]

What you experienced is what I consider the #1 worst problem the world of role-playing suffers from: The murder hobo wargame. People know it, but they persistently deny it. I have seen far too many examples of it, and when I talk with those people about it, they deny that they play that way. I am welcome to take a look and see for myself, I sometimes take them up on it, and see they play the murder hobo wargame like everyone else. I see you have figured out the effect: Those who want to role-play leave the hobby. (Or worse: Get converted, becoming murder hobo wargamers themselves.) That way it is a self-magnifying problem.

[@oz_jones]

I get losing powers for going against alingment but that was totally bs railroading

[@telemarkaeology]

"You miserable bastard. I never shoulda pushed you out!" "...Ma?"

[@stefansneden1957]

Such a great movie.

[@ImaginerImagines]

Insightful. I am thankful for the help as I am the forever GM. Keep rolling Mr. Skorkowsky.

[@jeffnicholas6342]

Never a player..? No way

[@ImaginerImagines]

@@jeffnicholas6342 A long time ago yes. Recently, not in several years.

[@--enyo--]

Oh man, even after only a (relatively) very short time being Keeper seven is real. In a surprisingly short time I forget how puzzles and things obvious to the Keeper isn’t so to players. Being a player improves my being a keeper so much, and vice versa.

[@Spaceisprettybig]

I love watching you have to navigate around the horrors of Poe's Law as you refine your videos.

[@june4976]

My biggest sin is too much going with the flow. I'm an ADD GM - I constantly forget that we're going to play that date, and thus, I'm never prepared. So, I usually throw two or three story-bones onto the table and run along with what the players pick, making things up on the go. But since I can't take notes (I can't concentrate on both, GMing and noting), a few sessions later I forget what information I gave the players, or what this whole thing was about, and throw another few bones onto the table - and end up with 100 loose threads building a huge, inextricable knot. And when the players come back to "well, that barkeeper's daughter we were supposed to rescue from the bandits' cave"-plot from aeons ago, I'm sitting there, scratching my head, asking myself if there was something that should lead up to, and get entangled. Another thing I do far too often is change my story in the midst of it. While this CAN make interesting plot twists, it might easily just confuse everybody, because information doesn't line up any more. There's no malice intended, though - it's just that I forgot about a piece of info I gave, or that this twists looks so much more interesting or can lead up to more interesting stuff... I beg my players, bear with me.

[@SquirrelGamez]

Hey I liked Dolph Lundgren as Punisher :P Back then he was all we had, and he was certainly 100x cooler than motorcycle-helmet Captain America! :P

[@UnwalledGarden]

Just what I needed on a lazy Sunday night!

[@Arcboltkonrad13]

Mr Binky being held hostage while captioned "Mr Binky? No! Not again!" needs to be a t-shirt!

[@FlutesLoot]

I've had the "perfection is impossible" manager. Drove me nuts.

[@gendor5199]

So many back calls! First the Teddy bear and then Jeff! THE GREATEST DUNGEON MASTER ALIVE!" I wonder if we'll get that one thing that would never be brought up again!

[@lilcwa]

Great video. Your advice is always sound, ways to understand, and entertaining to listen to.

[@vertigq5126]

Happy Easter Seth! Thanks for all your great content so far, I’m so looking forward to more. God bless you!

[@BRNDMYR]

Pizza is serious business! And keep the GM happy with snacks!

[@kyleharder3654]

Love your videos Seth, keep up the good work!

[@JPChereb]

About that last one. I have issues with something similar. When designing a challenge (combat, puzzle, social, whatever) I have a very hard time realizing how hard or easy it really is because I usually think of a solution along with the problem. Thing is players can't read minds, so what seemed like an obvious solution to me, never occurs to them. It usually leads to the game slowing down and me getting frustrated because they don't realize the really easy way to deal with the issue (in my mind) and them getting frustrated because they stop getting progress. Obviously, this isn't only an issue with me forgetting what being a player it's like, but it's easy one of the roots of it.

[@jeffnicholas6342]

GMs can’t read minds. You’re right Providing adequate information in the moment has been my struggle

[@joelmaynard5590]

I would say that if I have a sin it's not believing in my players. I am hesitant to throw tougher monsters and make/find some tough puzzles/riddles. Even if I know that they could probably take down my monsters and named NPCs I usually pull my punches because I don't want to accidentally kill them.

[@youmukonpaku3168]

in your defense, have you met players? Ask 'em to solve a puzzle requiring that they pick a number between 1 and 3, not including 1 or 3, and they'll guess the letter X.

[@citcoin-official2681]

The puzzle part sounds like you probably need to gauge your players' ability to solve puzzles, just to make sure. Here's the thing on that combat point though: As a DM, you are the single most powerful entity in that world. If you don't pull your punches, you'll send your players flying, and send them back to their tragic backstory in a soup can inside a Pine box. If your players haven't noticed that you're pulling your punches, then there isn't a problem. If they start to see all the ropes and the strings, that's where a problem starts.

[@stonerocks0]

Love the insights, love the humour. Great video!

[@TalonBrush]

When I wake up in the morning and there's a new Seth video, it's already a better day than it could have been before. This one was really great, both for the advice as well as THE GANG!

[@jasonnewell7036]

Loving the callbacks

[@JohnDoe-oh7gf]

Always a good time rewatching.

[@MySqueezingArm]

As always, your videos cheer me up. Definitely feeling the perfectionist sin.

[@samuelfeck8374]

Hey Seth I just wanted to say thank you for working so hard on the set of dice for us they look amazing! I just ran The Cracked and Crookd’ Manse with a couple of my buds and it went super smooth and was some of the best fun I’ve had in a bit. Again thank you for getting me into this hobby and hope you have a great day!

[@samuelfunk4142]

100K congrats! Your videos a really inspiring to get me back into GMing! -I've definitely committed the GM sins of not knowing the game system well enough and winging the story a bit too much X)

[@dawafflesupreme]

2 good vids in a row, you are good at this

[@rogerb181]

Great commentary, as always, thanks Seth! The best thing for a GM to do is to make the time to play in some games, and be an active and engaged player. It really helps to remind those experienced GMs what life is like on the opposite side of the screen. My group has found it improves skills both as a player and a GM.

[@shadowandson3550]

After more than 25 years as a GM I finally found a game to play in.I look forward to putting these thoughts in the front of my mind as I play.Thanks.

[@davidrosenberg8100]

As a fore-ever GM, that last one totally resonates. Thanks!

[@TheDragonHoard_com]

I'm not sure what my sins are yet. I've only run two sessions. I will say that all of the compliments I've received are from things I did based on watching this channel. Thank you Seth

[@Syaniiti]

When my players loot corpses (rarely, everything is tagged and owned by corps), I give them a rule like "those gangers had 4 pistols worth a maximum of 500 each, 1 shotgun worth 1000 and an assault rifle worth 800" if the players want any of those items they choose which pistols, shotguns or assault rifles the gangers had and get them. Sure the damage might be 1 off from what they got shot with but at least they can use the ammo or get a gun they were looking for and I don't have to figure out which exact pistol the mook™ was armed with.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I typically run fantasy games. I let my players loot all they want from defeated foes, then they get to figure out how they're even moving all of that mass, and what they have to leave behind. Once, they picked the best loot, then at the next town hired a bunch of people to come back with them to carry out the rest. They ended up selling common gear and odds and ends for a fraction of what they could have gotten, but still ended up ahead after paying the hauling help. And it game me a session of just them scouring for loot to pad my prep time for the next adventure.

[@Syaniiti]

Yeah loot is very different in different games, some games you steal everything not nailed down and even those if you brought the tools, in others there is no to very little incentive to stealing anything.

[@delnagasktruman7241]

Wow, dweebles made alot of character progression in this video. Poor captain binkie. My first dm sin was making the players roll too much and then killing them when they walked into a trap they knew ooc was a trap but not IC. So i guess punisher for me.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Good tips I’ve been guilty of a couple of these for sure Thanks for sharing

[@blubblubwhat]

such valuable examples.. seen many sins that touched those categorys already without even played much.

[@williamhoover6902]

I am guilty of a bit of Stingy. Always worried that I'll break the game with to much magic or that if treasure is so abundant it becomes meaningless. I honestly think a little stingy is better than to generous but it is easy to get wrong.

[@larsdahl5528]

Then think of it in another way: How much meaning is there in 50 Erobucks and a light auto pistol? Try 50 Erobucks, 1 light auto pistol, 2 vehicle keys, a locker key labeled "38", and a photo of a girl with the text "I ❤ U" written on it.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@larsdahl5528 You just turned loot into a plot hook!

[@shanelorrison5224]

Dang, Seth, you’re super close to 100k subscribers. I’ve no doubt that you’re gonna meet and far exceed that number.

[@robwalker4452]

Hilarious! A lot of work making this one, loved every second of "The Gang" and love these videos. #7 almost nailed me but my sacrifice is so they don't switch to a different GM. This playing online on a vtt adds a whole other level of work.

[@stefansneden1957]

Yeah. My online game has all the story writing and encounter design with a much higher level of visual effort. Kinda sucks to be honest

[@kmoustakas]

Playing with a sadist DM made me the greatest and best warlock in the world (tribute). Every fight started with my warlock surrounded by all the enemies so I learned the value of teleportation spells VERY EARLY.

[@marcchoronzey3923]

I love your list videos. Especially the GM Sins ones. Being a 30+ years experience GM, and having started GMing in my early teens, I have also been guilty of almost all of those 26(?) sins myself at one point or another and I agree with you, playing in a campaign once-in-a-while is a great way to avoid sinning as a GM. Also being open to criticism helps a lot.

[@c.cooper2877]

My big sin: coming up with "creative" new interpretations of the core D&D races to fit my campaign world. No one has noticed yet that my orcs are just Klingons, my elves are just Romulans, my halflings are just Ferengi ...

[@markpenn820]

This was something i needed to hear.

[@dutch6857]

Love those Jeff shoutouts! And love the return of "Excelsior!"

[@craigsisco1894]

Thank you for this video and share. I counted several sins in my past as well. Now, to atonement (breaking out Cat-of-Nine-Tails…)

[@johnf.kennedy5454]

A good time for a video!!!

[@RunnerLogan]

Be a player regularly to recharge your perspective. thanks Seth Skorkowsky. This is genuinely great advice.

[@eanhall7666]

Oh man I'm pumped!

[@enzosanti3278]

Your videos are the best!

[@daveshieldsjr6959]

Hey. I've watched the majority of these DM error guides. I've fallen in several of those traps. I appreciate the instruction. For me there is no room for egos or arrogance in campaigns, unless its roleplaying. When you stop learning it will lead to hubris. My worst sin is being a loot fairy though its not from this vid. We play several campaigns and rotate playing them so I get to be a player in Pathfinder while I GM for Harn as an example. I think the hardest part is that the core or the group have been playing since 1980, so Its a challenge to come up with difficult encounters in the games. We do all work together to make sure the newer players are fully kept up in the rules. For example I bought everyone Traveller core rule books and PDF files so they could study them.

[@bigsarge2085]

Yep, many of the lessons I had to learn as a some-time GM!

[@Retlaw32]

I’m a simple man, I see a Skorkowsky video talking about TTRPG related interpersonal issues or attitudes, I click.

[@justinsinke2088]

I've seen a few of these in action for sure. I feel like a lot of the time, a Stingy GM is often one paranoid of being a Loot Fairy, essentially overcorrecting the other way. After all, you can't accidentally make your players OP and throw off the balance of the game if they never get anything of value, and it's easier to deny then to take away. It's something of a delicate balancing act of the metagame of looting everything for maximum profit from players and trying to keep them in the money and power range the game was balanced for. As for the Punisher, likely the biggest justification pitfall is disproportionate consequences for a character's actions. It's so easy to punish the player for their behavior when you can "justify" it by saying it's a consequence of the character's actions, but if the sentence doesn't match the crime as it were, then you're not actually punishing the character in game, you're punishing the player out of it. Personally, I've never really understood the mentality of "punishing players" by doing things to their characters. Actions should have consequences, even in a tabletop game, and that really should be the most you ever do in game as any form of "behavioral correction".

[@seanroughley4060]

I enjoy giving the players lots of lot, now they have to think where to sell it, and how to get it there. Recently they started supplying their own fortified town

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I'm old enough that we called the "loot fairy" the "Monty Haul" after Monty Hall, the host of the game show "Let's Make a Deal", where he often gave away money for crazy stuff like, "I have a $50 bill if someone has a hair curler and an apple corer!" - And someone would have both of those things in her massive purse.

[@codytarr6796]

Thank you for describing the cycle of the perfectionist dm. I feel very called out but I think you may have just narrowed down a problem I've been experiencing for a good bit.

[@samsampier7147]

Always great content. I think lack of prep is my biggest problem. But yet I arrogantly assume I can improv the cool stuff. Working on that by trying to prep lists of interesting things like Sly Flourish recommends.

[@sephirothii13]

Yes you brought back the gag... YES!!! I love the threating of Mr. Binkie... *stops* wait does that make me a horrible person? Nah... threaten him more.... MORE I SAY!!!.

[@Pile_of_carbon]

I've always found it hard to balance how much and what loot to hand out. When I started out many years ago I was a total loot fairy, like letting one player start the game with a massive machine gun just because he was a special forces veteran who did some mercenary work on the side. The Big Bad Guy in that adventure did his mustache-twirling evil speech, his hands covered in flames the kind of black usually reserved for black holes... and then got turned into a fine red mist by a disturbing amount of armor-piercing bullets. Because why have a machine gun if you can't have AP ammo? I think that event cured me of the loot fairyness.

[@anthonyblister3064]

I like the aneurysm idea. I'll use that.

[@blademonkey29]

That last one hit home. We're 2 yrs and 15 levels into a campaign and i think that has been why i havent been enjoying it in a while

[@pietruszkapietruszkowa9713]

Maaaaaan, I love this series :)

[@alderaancrumbs6260]

I am THE loot fairy but I’m SO lucky to have players who I can give incredible gear and they won’t abuse it. An example is a PC who got some really awesome armor but the player doesn’t always have his character wear it, feeling it’s not always feasible. He even had his character go into combat without it.

[@KillerCrocZilla]

"Forgetting what playing is like" is the one i struggle with.

[@calebskillin2694]

lol, being a loot fairy feels good sometimes tho. the look on my little players faces when they find that flametongue or strong wand. it’s like my kids on Xmas.

I'm soooooo numbers 6 and 7! Thanks Seth

[@dirigoallagash3464]

#3 and sometimes #4. :I Also, very much looking forward to you round table with Third Floor Wars.

[@TheShadowwalker007]

Thanks Seth

[@pudgydog00]

I was a punisher type DM. I had a player, in Pathfinder, who would always play a cleric. He would do the mass healing, but he would make sure to include the enemies. He also had the feat that would allow him to only affect friendlies with this healing, but he would not use it. To him, it was a joke that would have him laughing out loud. So, I would "randomly" determine that the enemies would target him about 3 out of 4r. He would then only heal himself, but it was a boon for the party as they could defeat the baddies quicker. After a while of this, the guy started mumbling about it. So, I started actually rolling this chance, out in the open for all to see. And the fates of the dice smiled upon me for one reason. He was still the random target about 75% of the time. We did try talking to him about his play style. But, for some reason, he had decided we needed to be punished. I think it had something to do with us telling him he was not allowed to run games anymore. He was just a horrible DM giving out loot only to those he really wanted to impress in real life. He finally stopped playing after a while when he realized his antics were not amusing anyone, including himself.

[@roflcopterprods]

That sounds less like a situation where you needed to punish a player for his bad behavior and more like one where you just needed to boot him from the game. I mean this in a kind and constructive way, but "punishing him" was just kicking him out of the group with more steps and more bad sessions for your other, better players

[@TekedixXx]

Honestly the most fun I ever had in a campaign was when my friend Brian put us through a "high magic" campaign. All weapon modifiers and magic was half price, (or less depending) It was so fun because we were able to take on bigger bad guys earlier, and have a more impactful game at a low level. If you're worried about being too stingy, try running a game like this and see how players respond. (Don't tell them before you start, it's so cool seeing them get excited that they might be able to afford magical items)