Top 5 DM Red Flags

[@dmeep]

I do toy with the idea of a Gandalf NPC saving the players from a BBEG in the beginning and when theyve lvled up they have to save the NPC from the BBEG to show how much they have grown

[@ebrim5013]

The session zero is one of those funny ones where I think people kinda talk past each other. You presented it well here. It’s like you’re planning to play Clue with your friends, they’ve never played before… I imagine they don’t want to just sit down to a mystery board game most of the time. So you kinda introduce it, and you ask if they’re interested, awesome. If not, maybe you choose a different game. It’s really not that big of a deal. I think “session zero” is kind of an intimidating label for something that I think that most people just kinda do without thinking much about it.

[@RurikLoderr]

One of my favorite things to ever say as a GM is "Are you sure?" in response to some insane thing they want to do. It often leads to some of the most memorable events in the game, for good or ill.

[@ncpolley]

I feel bad for not watching for a while. You have a great channel. Trying to support smaller creators I like. BUT: Now I want to talk about this topic. IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE IN "MYTHS" CAMPAIGN, DO NOT READ. I know some of you like to find DnD youtubers. PC agency is so stupid important, and I have made my share of mistakes interferring with player agency, but I'd like to share a recent strategy I employed. Essentially, the players were fighting the great big evil boss villain of the dungeon, and had a few NPCs on their side. They were terrified of the dungeon for a long time, and so I let them recruit some people to go along with them. They set themselves up for these interactions, so it made sense. Against the final boss, some of the NPCs were extraordinarily effective, and it got down to the final round. I had been trying to hit the NPCs and the players equally, mainly to try and get rid of threats to the boss, but also to keep the players on their toes. They all were in danger, so to speak. But in the final round, the NPCs were the ones who actually, technically, landed the killing blow, and I knew it wouldnt be climactic, so I gave the boss a final stand, a last 1 HP, and checked the initiative order. Basically four players in a row. Awesome. One by one they attempted to slay the boss, but they all failed, until the Warlock managed to land a single Eldritch blast, and dealt 1 damage. But it was enough and I was super happy to see one of the players finish the fight. And so was slain Herothemus Ghelmour, the Host of the Insidious Leech and servant of the Hierarch.

[@davidjennings2179]

I agree with letting the players get the killing blow. I've found it works best (through trial and error) to give the players control over NPCs they've got to come along with them. It gives them back that agency and they can decide how much they want to risk the NPC and still get that cool feeling of defeating your bbeg

[@ncpolley]

@@davidjennings2179 Actually, I did let the players run the NPCs in combat. It just felt that the NPC getting the killing blow didn’t feel the same as one of their own characters doing it.

[@davidjennings2179]

@@ncpolley Ah that's fair enough, thought you were saying it in reference to the DM PC comment in the video.

[@ncpolley]

@@davidjennings2179 It might have been in reference to something she said then. It was a little bit ago, can't remember.

[@Basmalo3]

This might feel like a strange one, but for me a red flag is when the DM is noticeably nervous about really pushing the party. I don't mean that every encounter should be life or death, I mean things like enemies constantly making poor choices, or overflooding us with healing items, or keeping the adventure in places where help is a few minutes away at all times. I want to feel some tension! Some danger! I can't feel that way if my character is never in any real peril. The stakes just aren't there.

[@Genx.WRKG68]

I once played with a DM that had players use different rules to create characters. After a few sessions it was obvious that at least one player had an OP character. I asked about it and he said one of the players wanted to have a very powerful barbarian, so he gave that player extra magic items and higher stats. At level maybe 8, the barbarian had an AC at around 23 without armor. If they got hit, he took very little damage. He said that since some players did not want to play OP, he used different rules for them. Additionally, his wife was also part of the group. She would complain about things like missing the target, not finding traps, did not like the magic items we found that she could use, etc. So, he made adjustments for her. He said he did not want to have drama at home. He let some people move 40 feet that only had 30 ft of movement, because what they wanted to do sounded cool. For these and other reasons, I left the table.

[@dfw_sleepypillz1007]

I'm about to run Curse of Strahd, I am slightly concerned with presenting Strahd, as he 'toys with his food'. He's going to be that big bad that I have to play as the big bad. It's definitely stepping outside of my usual DM box. I feel like it could come off as one huge huge DM red flag if I play him as I think he should be played - he IS the BBEG - and I gotta make sure they know it. Any suggestions on how to present Strahd to the group without turning into the Big Bad Dungeon Master? Sure - we session 0'd Ravenloft a loooong while back, and definitely going to touch back on it, but I worry I am going to seem cruel if I bring the Strahd I know to the table.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

I think I’ve been guilty of these things in my younger days. Our group has been playing together for over 30 years. There was no “session 0”, but we did talk back then. We’ve got a good mesh of people in our group.

[@professorx00]

Nice list.

[@lordnichard]

If there's an npc that's good and stronger than the party, they could do all the heroics instead. I want my players to know bad things will happen if an npc fights this werewolf instead of them. You're a hero who can be chewed on by a dragon, catch a full fire breath, and get up with a healing word. The npc knight will die if a dragon looks at them funny.

[@davidjennings2179]

Hope you managed to get some sleep! Its a lot managing a full time job and a side hustle at the same time. Look after yourself.

[@masteringmarv446]

For new DMs I will give tons of grace. But I will not suffer an experienced DM with poor player agency and pacing.

[@DMTalesTTRPG]

This why I couldn’t stand running 5e. The only way I could offer a CHALLENGE is if I felt like I was going out of my way to kill them. That was just not fun.

[@mq1995]

Are you playing Pathfinder 2e now?

[@davidjennings2179]

There are plenty of interesting methods of making a game challenging that aren't killing the PCs. I agree 5e doesn't have specific mechanics for this, but you can use your story to make your combat about more than a fight to the death. Maybe try working those into your game? What mechanics have you found that have helped you with this in other systems?

[@DMTalesTTRPG]

​@@davidjennings2179 I’m aware of these things, thanks. [More snarky than I wanted] I tried any number of things to offer a challenge. Nothing ever clicked. 5e is just a game I don’t enjoy running. I’ll play it and have an ok time, but I don’t enjoy running it because I just can’t get into its mind-set. I’m a “some grit” kind of GM, and they way 5e characters become high-powered by 5/6 level it’s difficult enough to offer that type of style that running 5e just isn’t fun for me. And, yah, to offer a genuine challenge by the time everyone hit 7/8 level it was down to, “Well how can I kill them?” And that was just not fun at all.

[@davidjennings2179]

@@DMTalesTTRPG Don't worry, I'm aware a lot of comments come across as aggressive online. I generally take them in good faith if they can be read that way. There are a lot of good systems out there and I can understand why people would be down on D&D in general, given WotC's behaviour. Personally, I've never found myself needing to resort to killing my players to present a challenge, but perhaps my games wouldn't satisfy your level of grit. Which systems have you found where it's easier for you to bring in a non-lethal challenge for your games?

[@DMTalesTTRPG]

@@davidjennings2179 yah, I was out on 5e before WOTC lost it’s mind, but that has not helped. I’ve had a ton of fun running Basic Fantasy RPG and letting the characters blunder through life instead of plowing through it with ability checks. They’ve had a ton of fun social encounters, and are learning that there are consequences to their actions. And, while their reasonably powered things like traps are still risky for them. We also did a mini-hex crawl and it was fantastic since running out of food became something they had to worry about and got lost a couple of times. So we had to agree to rulings about hunting or foraging and there was actual risk of failure. And random encounters added to the atmosphere. Castles & Crusades was fun because players had to use their wits to survive, and figured out that negotiation was as good as killing everything with their weapons. They became friends with a local kobold tribe, and negotiated passage with rogue hill giant (which was going to come into play later but the campaign fizzled). That game DID have my first character death at the table, which happened ENTIRELY due to player actions which were actually in character. In EZd6 success can easy, but you’ve got to balance success with earning/using karma. And that creates tension. I’m about to start running Numenera, and I like how it handles adjusting rolls and adding both GM and Player intrusions into the mix. So it’s a mix of story based and crunch games.

[@Dyanosis]

1 word for the "DM vs Player" section - Narrator. DMs are narrators. Boom. Cut your far too long description into 1 word. Though come on - what kind of DM are you if you aren't trying to kill your players a few times per campaign? This isn't an anime world where your characters are the most powerful beings in the world.

[@kxs22]

Didnt know what a session 0 was when i started. It wasnt till ive ran through all of crtical role that i realized there was more to do. VLDL was mt first exposure to dnd though... dont wanna be cheesy. But i do record my games and post @symphonyunlimited