Worst Ways to DM| Game Master Tips

[@Nerdarchy]

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[@mme.veronica735]

Nerdarchy Could you take a look at Cogent Roleplay. I think it's heavily narrative based gameplay is missing in the table top RPG community. I also think it would work well with a oneshot. This system is really simple and I think more people should know about, because it's easy to learn and very flexible with the stories you can tell. Just a thought. (Also it's free)

[@KodyackCasual]

So recently I had a DM who was not big on player agency, and refused to admit when he made a mistake, as well as having us roll for *literally everything* and half the time there was no "positive" result from rolling a die. let me explain; I noticed this was going to be a problem early on, when he said a door was locked to us directly, but we had the key and were setting up an ambush, so my character goes forward to unlock the door so we can bust it open and attack with surprise. He has me roll an investigation roll. natural 1. He says I lock the door, I ask "wasn't it already locked?" to which he replies "no, I never said that." (thankfully this was streamed/recorded, so I have video proof he lied or forgot, but I let it go at the moment, whatever) Either way, we bust down the door and get our attack all the same, great. part way through the fight, we've killed half the opponents and severely wounded two of the last 3, having slain that many before hand. My character wasn't big on killing, so I make an intimidation check to try and get them to surrender, roll a 17, with a +5 mod (sorc with prof. at level 1) I even threw in that I cast thaumaturgy on myself, as a tiefling, to make my voice louder and more intimidating, while I played out what my character said. he decides it fails and we get no benefit, but it cost me my action. Fantastic. Oh, and just to add an extra "fuck you" he said my voice being louder woke up a sleeping pirate and now we have another enemy on the field. Moving on, whatever, we kill them (I manage to medicine to save one who lost an arm) and search the next room, we don't find much, but we do solve a button puzzle to open a treasure room, and loot what we can, as well as our mission objective (should mention, we started out in a prison cell because we were captured by pirates before the session started. This was the first session.) So we grab it and after a bit of searching make to leave. He has us roll investigation *To use the fucking key correctly instead of getting it jammed in the door, it was a standard fucking key* we finally open the door, and there's a huge group of pirates because we "took too long" that we now have to fight, again, at level 1. either way, we win cause we have tactics on our side and make to leave. the boat the pirates had was enchanted, I roll arcana, roll a natural 1. he says I think the codeword to start the ship is "sink". My character isn't an idiot, first of all, but he says I shout it out, to which I immediately say no I don't, why would I do that? Even if I rolled bad enough that I don't know anything besides that word, I'm not going to say it until I try something that *isn't* that. fucking hell. He says it starts sinking anyway, ignoring my protests, and apparently we need perception to see that it's sinking, someone notices, so I yell float (seriously fuck this DM) and it floats again. we get onboard and deliver our mission item. I try to persuade the quest giver to pay us the normal fee, because pirates, even though we were late. Roll a natural 19 with a +3 mod. nope, that fails too, you get nothing have fun and goodbye. needless to say I won't be playing with him again.

[@jeremynadaskay7872]

Personal pet peeve: when the dm punishes you for using tactics. We set up an ambush of a gnoll camp by firing arrows at them from a cliff above them so we could get full cover by pulling back over the cliff face. He had all the gnolls retreat into a cave while still being able to take shots at us even though we had full cover. Then when we got to the cave, they all rushed out thhrough our aoe spell barrier in a clump attacking us. Made perfect sense for them to attack back but our brilliant plan which actually was us thinking tactically, knowing how fast he made his gnolls from previous encounters so we were countering their speed advantage with a range and aoe advantage and he was just like, nah that's not how I wanted you to approach this fight. Seriously, his gnolls were able to move like 120 feet in a single round and still attack for some reason. Just three of them almost tpked us twice and we knew here would be about a dozen in this camp. When we came back with a mostly different party since 3 chars died in the last attack, he didn't use the gnolls' speed thing he had previously been using and was just like, yeah this is how I wanted you to do this and see how well it worked? We should've been completely surrounded and swamped within 2 rounds if he had been playing the same way he had been before. It was just very annoying. Another dm punished us for trying to smoke a party of bandits out of their cave by clumping them all up at the back of the cave where the smoke magically wasn't reaching them for no apparent reason. Like if you tell us in session zero that you encourage creative solutions and tactics, then reward creative solutions and tactics rather than punishing them.

[@Bluecho4]

Sounds like the DM was blatantly breaking the rules of the game. Much as it is the DM's right to fudge systems for the sake of a better encounter, it's generally the default assumption that characters on different sides of a conflict all labor under the same rules and restrictions. Otherwise, the game isn't fun, because the enemies break the rules and have inexplicable precognition (as opposed to justified precognition, if the NPC forces just happened to have a Divination Wizard).

[@KingCreepa]

This is what a railroading DM is they simply want things done there way with no other options.

[@yucaipawarrior]

How long did your group talk about tactics before combat? If my players get really metagamey and create tactics rather than doing what their characters would naturally do, I make stuff like that happen to make it harder for them. This is especially so for when more experienced players try to control the moves of newer players. Idk if this is the reason that your DM did this but it helps me keep everyone in the moment in the game. You wouldn't imagine how much gets done when you don't pause time to talk about how you will take out two 10 hp bandits on the road for 10 minutes before making a move.

[@Damnationization]

Sounds to me like you have bad DMs. I' started before these guys and will let my players do what is within reason. I will not change the creatures in the encounter because I made a mistake or the player(s) out thought me. When players think outside the box that is what makes the game more epic. Just like as a DM crafting the story/module if you think outside the box it's more epic.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Jeremy Nadaskay those tactics circumvented the dice roll melee he wanted. Some dms can’t handle that. That’s the only way I fight now unless the group is surprised. I learned it from drag magazine “ecology of the owlbear” If my opponent ever has a chance to strike back at me than we are in a fight. If I see him before me I make it a hunt. Like a deer or an owlbear those bandits never had a chance.

[@borisstremlin4577]

To me, the key guideline is: avoid extremes. If you railroad too much, the players will hit you with "player agency" (instead of "are you sure you want to do that?", try to at disguise railroading by putting your admonitions in the mouths of NPCs). If you make things too sandboxy, the players will quickly lose their way (for reasons we discussed here last week - parties are just too disorganized to get much done on their own). If you make things too tough, they'll say you want to "win D&D". If you make them too easy, they'll say you're "Monty Haul", and there will be no sense of challenge in the game. Sometimes, showing that you are willing to kill or maim PCs will allow you to softball your players for a long time to come, just because they know what you're capable of. Aside from the Middle Path, always remember that you can self-correct. If an encounter is too tough, take the PCs prisoner instead of slaughtering all of them. If you call for a roll which leads to a bottleneck, allow an alternative solution to work later (you should avoid planning adventures that depend on a single outcome anyway). Last, know and populate your world (so there really are multiple things to do), and have good random tables to whip out if things are grinding to a halt (could be anything form random encounters to drinking contests to funny dungeon noises) - anything that might speed things up and keep things interesting.

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

I’ve made every mistake mentioned and then some; however, there are two I keep repeating: 1. Too much detail and description. I can’t do “Ok, you journey for 2 days and arrive at the keep”. I always seem to drag things out describing every terrain and weather change. Some players like this but they nearly all tire of it. Eventually, I look at all the glazed expressions and remember to skip ahead. 2. Too complicated scenario or plot. I don’t railroad any more but I do come up with ideas- sometimes on the fly - that are so complex there are inevitably plot holes. It is a difficult balancing act because if I make it too simple the players immediately guess the plot and circumvent it - which is okay sometimes but not every time.

[@aquestunending7210]

I don't like DMs that punish you in game for out of game stuff. I also make sure I don't do that but it's so annoying when I say something out of character that's kinda funny or stupid and I get attacked in game

[@Misappropriation]

So... I had set up a story which involved an ex guard captain finding a stone that has power to challenge the gods. During one of the sessions, one of the players mentioned that every PC kinda represents the 4 elements. The pirate aasimar = water, fire genasi = fire, air genasi (they like genasi's) = air and ranger = earth, and this sparked an idea in my head. The four elements will be used to stop the guard captain. So i set up 4 dungeons each representing an element, and i start planting seeds of "the four elements are strong" So the players are currently hiding at a small village at the edge of the kingdom, (i had an npc that i planned for the players to ditch like... halfway through, but they've been keeping him along, and the fire genasi had a particular "liking" towards them) The players are wandering through the village, and the npc suddenly runs off chasing a figure, and they embrace (i set up that the npc had a wife that he never knew what had happened to) this enrages the fire genasi, the ranger wants the npc to continue on adventures with the party, the fire genasi wants the npc dead, this leads into conflict between the two that keeps rising (this is the big mistake) so i let them go into combat, i had planned for the two to deal a little bit of damage to each other, and then call it quits, but nOPE, the ranger does a ton of damage to the fire genasi, and the fire genasi is knocked unconscious (at this point im like o.o') i ask if anyone wants to stabilize the genasi, no one does, and so the genasi rolls for death saves, and they dIE. (i had already deus ex machina'd one person out of death, and i felt like it would take away from the experience if i did it again) so i rp with just the genasi about them going into the afterlife (they were chill about it, i respect that of them) and then suddenly im terrified, ive got the player to make another character, and they drew their genasi in the afterlife. this one is still going on, and i have no idea what imma do,

[@lordzaboem]

How did it turn out for you?

[@ninjasqurl4383]

You asked. Here is one of the worst DM moments for myself. Spoilers ahead! I was DMing Curse of Strahd for an A.L. Group. The party had just watched Ireena disappear with Sergei in the pond inside Krezk. Strahd smote the water (nearly knocking a player unconscious since he had dove in after her convinced she was either drowning or trying to drown herself.) Strahd shows up and menaces the party a little, but being the host (and the reason the party was there in the first place) he showed up to see really if the party had helped Ireena escape. Which they hadn't. I I begin a small monologue which was going to end with Strahd inviting them to his castle. The player that was nearly knocked unconscious interrupts me in the middle of my speech to announce "I'm going to heal myself. I'm casting cure wounds". For some reason this pissed me off to no end (the player was one of those problem players who had this bad habit of stomping on people with his outbursts). So I calmly told him "Strahd counterspells your cure wounds." Now I have no idea if Strahd could do this or not. I just said he did. The player got a little bent out of shape over this. Not a proud moment. But I suppose we all lose our cool from time to time.

[@richards3648]

I tend to be too secretive. I set up these elaborate ideas about what's going on behind the scenes and then never figure out how to reveal it to the players.

[@Zh337a]

me too

[@proudpapaprick]

Richard Strosahl Definitely a common issue. I find a good way to get around it is to take two or three clues about what's going on in the world and wait for them to make perception or investigation rolls. I then follow three steps. 1. Set low DCs to uncover them, and reveal them when they roll. 2. Have them overhear NPCs and villains around the corner, talking about what's going on. 3. If all else fails, have them uncover the secrets at the end - give it to them. Doing this and making the info they get something they can use against the bad guys later not only works well - it makes them feel like geniuses for putting it together, which about triples the fun factor for the party. That'll bring them back every time.

[@KalebBlackBlood]

Now I might not be able to judge things very well as I've never played a game, I'm just looking to start up and doing research, but I'm very used to other kinds of roleplay so I can say I've experienced similar. And I can say that I'd any day prefer a well built scenario that I can't comprehend the complexity of, than one which is completely open, or just lacking and "scripted". The reason is that I feel that it rewards either the player for trying to go out of their way to uncover your storyline's intricacies, or their characters having traits like attentiveness or deductive reasoning. For instance a group of adventurers hear rumors of a murderer that kills one person each night. Let's say it's actually a vigilante who is killing off members of a criminal organisation to avenge his/her parents. It would feel so forced if the same day or night our adventuring party found that out, like an obviously sleep deprived person starting to defend this murderer that the rumor. It's honestly a waste of story potential to hand information over, not to mention that a player with a slow character would be forced to either avoid acting upon his/her knowledge that his/her character wouldn't figure out, or would act out of character. Either way putting player in an awkward situation and slowing progression. Regardless of this rumor being related to the main storyline, or even being the main storyline, it should be dependant of party characteristics. For instance an opportunistic rogue would be asking if there is a bounty, someone righteous would seek out the city guards and seek justice, and so forth. If it really is the main storyline and the players don't see fit to have their characters care, then one would have to railroad it a bit, for instance by an important noble being killed at night and then the city is put under lock down and martial law, until the criminal is caught. If at the same time you had thought through a powerplay between a criminal underworld, a vigilante, noblemen, and cityguards that can only be discovered, by going out of ones way to pick up details and opportunities, then I'd say you are a brilliant gm. But if what you mean is that there is a secret room behind every random waterfall, and nobody looks behind the waterfall, perhabs there is room for improvement. xD

[@Zh337a]

i think there is a balance, which for me is hard to achieve. taking your example, if the party finds the vigilante and kills him because you never even managed to make it plauseble he isnt just a cutthroat... then that is a story wasted. so yes, maybe not hear roumers the first night, but perferably before the story is closed. ... ofcourse that is an ecselent way to get your players to engage more. reveal the vics crimminal stories after, as well as the vigilantes background. that should teach them to kill people before their research is done

[@KalebBlackBlood]

I like your thinking, I missed that point.

[@gedster666]

Its not a massive thing but when i first started i had a unconscious habit of shaking or nodding my head as my players said what they wanted to do (giving away too much info or stumping their creativity) and often said "no" since then i have learned my poker face, and if a player says they want to jump to the moon, i will say "you can try" with a small smirk to let them know it wont work or is a stupid idea

[@jamesplogman8153]

Gave the masochist a necklace of fireballs at early levels. Blatantly killed 2 party members outright

[@starcrafter13terran]

Worst GM Mistake: I allowed a player to taunt a demon into a fistfight by shaming it and saying it was afraid of a fair fight. He had gauntlets of ogre strength or something and proceeded to beat the demon senseless. Later, I thought to myself... he's chaotic evil, why the hell would he fight fair?

[@Never_heart]

starcrafter13terran Better yet why would he not lash out in revenge with the Demon's full power.

[@odinsnivygunner]

starcrafter13terran I guess because it didn’t want to prove that the taunts were true due to some pride or whatever, especially ones from some non-demon, probably. I think that’d be a reason why for a chaotic evil being to fight fair after being insulted.

[@lordzaboem]

This doesn't seem like a much of a mistake to me. This strikes me as a decision made in the moment that you later regretted because arguably an NPC might act differently, maybe. I made three mistakes bigger than that just tonight due to time pressure in a very very tight two hour game session, and no one complained.

[@tonilafountain636]

My worst DM mistake was allowing the player characters to turn the character of a chronically tardy player into a kiyotugh and sell him to a giant as a goldfish!

[@kurtoogle4576]

"True DM Confessions". I'd like to see more of this from all Nerdarchy DM's.

[@suerainey9250]

I let the game get bogged down. I used to have a lot of trouble with letting my players kind of run everything because I wanted them to have fun. However, part of the fun of a game IS the story. They don't run away much any more. Although, sometimes it is like herding cats.

[@videogameplaybynerdarchy1706]

Yeah, not shoving them through the plot you have crafted can leave them goofing off never completing quests

[@crazyscotsman9327]

Well I personally do this. "Alright the party has been assembled. Each of you has a goal. What do you do?" I have plenty of dungeons made, and random encounters for them to deal with and I am usually very good at adapting to the crazy choices of players. (Also my group detests rail roading so much that they will sometimes just sit in the road and say no. Not doing that.)

[@1simo93521]

I always have the plot come looking for them if they don't act on the evil stuff happening in the world. How long can you hide from a demon invasion really?

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

The worst dm thing I ever did was letting a new enthusiastic player die because of a dice roll. Critical hit, max damage. Rerolls were heresy then. I don’t think she ever played again. That was the last time I let people know what dice rolls I was making and the last time I followed the rules and not the fun of the game.

[@GRex7777]

Might be odd to say, but my biggest GM mistake was biting off WAY too much too soon. I'm in a group that has rotating GM duty with you're character becoming basically an NPC while you run. Anyway, I tried WAY too much new stuff for my first time running, and didn't have enough notes on the side, so I was quickly forgetting my own mechanics and rules I'd introduced just a session before, and I ended up kinda cutting short a lot of what I was going to do in order to pass it on before I ruined the campaign. Since then I've both learned to have more options and more notes so things flow smoother, as well as not get overly ambitious on custom stuff.

[@Myydnytes]

I feel very privileged that the DMs I learned from as a player were already doing free form games. I never learned any different so when I ran my first rewritten module and my players went off script I thought it normal and came up with something for them to explore, fix or resolve.

[@lordzaboem]

I feel grateful that I learned gaming in large groups with GMs who handled them well. Now, I feel intimidated in running a game for larger than intended groups, and nobody gets left out. My best games have been proportional to the number of players at the table.

[@alexandraelizabeth8522]

I struggle with telling players no... especially the rules lawyer type players, and unfortunately I've let those players ruin games in the past

[@videogameplaybynerdarchy1706]

If they are trying to run the game when you are the DM, that makes sense to say no to some of the things they are going to try to get by you.

[@deanwinchester9733]

Well... Think about it like this - if you're controlling their enemies, enemies just don't roll over and die. Unless you kill them and start looting them, then with their dying breath break their rod of the magi (wonder in newer versions) or a grenade rolls out of their hands, without the pin

[@Swatman170]

I will admit that I actually Monty Hall DMed on accident for my most recent campaign. My players of my game have been doing very well with their dungeon conquering, and I rolled incredibly well for an item that they got, an Amulet of the Planes, as well as a Portable Hole that they got later on. They are currently level 6 and they are just bouncing around to different planes by stuffing all but one party member into the portable hole, avoiding nearly every encounter I throw out. I think that might be my worst mistake, at least from recent memory, especially since I don't want to continuously play around with or prevent the function of the item.

[@Zh337a]

steal it.

[@zerothecrow7239]

Have a DM-Player discussion. Let the players know the Amulet is not good for the campaign and detracting from the experience. Let them come up with a in-game explanation for how they lose the item, runs out of power, stolen, they run into a powerful being who curses the item, ect.

[@Zh337a]

... or that... makes them less angry. Or just steal it, have them chase big bad who has it and give it back once they defeat it. You know, qt fifteenth to eighteenth level

[@Beezchurgar]

My worst mistake as a GM was rushing a player's story to the forefront. The player felt like it was unnecessary and that really unmotivated him from leaving it until whenever he wanted to get to it.

[@anthonydonnelly1157]

giving a level two rouge gloves of thievery in a stealth/ intrigue campaign. his SoH is +15 now at lvl 6. moral of the story is to pace your magic items. haha

[@crazyscotsman9327]

Hey guys I am dming a game with someone who is brand new and she came up with this really indepth back story about her and her sister being kidnapped and turned into slaves, they got separated as slaves and she is desperately searching for her. The party is all for finding and saving the first character's baby sister. I am trying to decide how difficult I want it to be. Because right now the rest of the party doesn't have any main goals. One party member is a barbarian seeking challenges and glory. The cleric is basically the same as the barbarian, and the Rogue is just like. I want money. And once that first character's goal is fulfilled I am concerned with what they will be without a purpose in the party.

[@revcon2000]

There's all sorts of things you could do to link into a larger story off of that background! Will the sister want to free her fellow slaves? Stage an uprising? Assassinate a cruel master? Is the sister still alive, and, if not, will the player's character want to get revenge? Is her master actually a necromancer using slaves for nefarious purposes? If they successfully rescue her, they could escort her back to her home, only to find that it has been destroyed by something evil/something crazy is going on in the town that they are hired to stop. Just thought I would spitball some ideas. Hope this helped!

[@davetatoo7715]

Have the sister become a big bad for the campaign. She wants to punish those who were involved in making her a slave, so she became involved in the dark arts to gain her freedom and begin her cycle of vengeance. The barbarian and cleric will want to take her down, the rogue will want to take her stuff, and she will want to save her sister. Look at Vecna. He didn't start out as a bad guy but he sure is one now.

[@1simo93521]

Dave Tatoo yes! Do this ^^^^ it wil bel epic and heart rending when she figures out what happened to her sister.

[@alexanderowens7265]

Crazyscotsman how did it go, I am curious on how this gone down?

[@nickmanzo8459]

I’d have it be that the sister, it turns out, has become the main villain of a major plot, having stolen the resources of her former Master, she now intends to use her newfound wealth to hire the biggest mercenary army in the world, and so the players, not knowing who this shadowy person, is stopping the purchase of these warrior slaves, and fighting these henchmen, who are all gladiator slaves that the sister has bought. This means that they’re professional exhibition warriors with big recognizable names. Killing or at least defeating them is like beating a sports legend at sports. Plus, the sister who is now the villain is rich, so bam! You have the sister storyline, you have the battle glory, and you have the money all in one place.

[@PoldaranOfDalaran]

My biggest mistake was the time I managed to accidentally write myself into a corner. About a half dozen disparate things that I hadn't considered together led the PCs to conclude that there was a... um... Half-Orc, Half-Demon... Production plant somewhere. And they wouldn't rest until it was found and destroyed. The logic checked out and I couldn't think of a different explanation that fit, so that's where the party went the next session. It did end up leading further into the adventure where the half-orc Paladin found his father's tribe and became their new leader. But that stop along the way was a little weird. It was a rather interesting first campaign as a GM, that.

[@logannichols2605]

Pathfinder here. So I use to play in a small town and there was a gaming store and there were enough people to form 1 war hammer group, one magic group a mech warrior group and a other group. I was in the other group and we played whatever, most of the time it was 3.5 pathfinder blend. There were two guys that hated each other. One, Law, played a stereotype of a race. His dwarf was always grumpy lawful drank ale lived in a cave and disliked magic. Law was also a rules lawyer and his pet peeve was not playing a race or class "correctly" The other guy, I'll call him snow, only played weird things in female form in string bikinis. His first character was an anthropomorfic unicorn in a bikini that was a combination of 2 3rd party splat book archetypes from 3.5. Snows pet peeve was people that played with no imagination. Law was dming and he brought in a book for his entire campaign and it was thicker than the pathfinder rule book. He explained that he had written down all possible scenarios that we could possibly choose. He gave us no prompting other than x has happened and to be honest for the first 8 maybe 10 game sessions he flipped pages to the choice we had made. We were out of food water and hadn't slept in days when we came to a house. Desperate for substance we were going to go inside But snow decided to light the house on fire burning all the hooks for possible directions law had made. Law through up his book and papers and stormed out. Given how much work I think he could of just relocated the hooks, but due to his nature, it was out side the realm of possibilities he had written.

[@Fauix]

Worst gm mistakes I've seen were not made by me, but by one if my friends who I had *cough* privlage of being in the game for. Long story short, he insisted on keeping the party at lv 1 till the end, railroaded the whole thing so we had no agency, literally no NPCs, and 6ish sessions in when I finally killed it (since i was the one supplying literally all the materials including rule books, map, character sheets, minis, and dice), our party of 8 were still lv 1 and each person had 2-4 opaf homebrewed magic items.

[@Fauix]

Additionally, i was usually the hosting house and the concept of the group pitching in for snacks was completely lost on him

[@bronzieblue63]

I ended up accidentally overnerfing a really high level monster that I wanted my BBEG to be mounted on, because it was WAAAY too tough for my players at their current level and it ended up dying on turn four very anticlimactically

[@joshklein987]

My biggest mistakes are 1) home brewing rules and 2) not planning out the possibilities of critical. 1) is most accurately shown by a few instances, the first being when I homebrewed a specific race of giants who instead of just being giant people, are more or less seven human bodies rearranged into a giant form. When this giant showed up he was supposed to just spout some exposition while my player characters sneaked by him and his friends. Sadly one of the player characters said "wait a second, if he is seven humans all mashed together doesn't that mean he has seven jugulars that I can slash" and then he proceeded to shoot an arrow through four of the giants jugulars, causing him to be knocked out in 3 turns due to blood loss. The other good instance of this was when I homebrewed the ability to assist a skill check with another skill if it made sense. A barbarian in the group decided to charge through a trap room while not attempting to dodge anything at all so I told him to roll an assist with athletics which he had a +7 in. He got a crit on his assist and usually the way I get the number that is added to the non-assist roll is by taking anything over 10 on the assist and dividing by 2. He got a 27 so that was a 8 times 2 because it's a crit. This gave him a +16 to all rolls for avoiding traps in the hall because nothing was there to slow him down meaning that he automatically passed by over 14 traps. Number 2, not planning for criticals, also caused some stupid bullshit. So they see this demon dude riding on a monstrous demon bird with 7 heads and other such fearsome features, I was heavily implying that they should run but instead the resident warlock knocks the demon off of his steed by rolling a 20 on his Eldritch blast. A character with a shield then runs over and slams the tip of his shield into the prone demons eyeball, and then a character with a massive war hammer hits the shield like a nail and explodes the demons head. I was able to get back at them though because the demons power is that when it dies it releases a fire that burns people based on how cowardly they are. It killed one of the characters outright because he rolled a 20 on attempting to run away from the fire. But although this demon wasn't supposed to die, it's death wasn't the thing that annoyed me, the thing that annoyed me was that a character in the group with demonic heritage successfully rolled animal handling checks with all 7 of the demon birds heads and thus was able to form a connection with it due to his demon heritage. This resulted in them permanently having a giant 7 headed bird mount for the rest of the campaign.

[@punkrockzombiekiller]

The biggest mistake I made was being insecure. I had GMd plenty of games before (TMNT, Heroes Unlimited) and was trying to start a new campaign in a new system (ShadowRun). One of my friends asked if he could invite a friend to play and I gave the OK. The new guy brings a pre-made character with all sorts of home brewed spell perks and counters my disapproval with the assertion that he's played ShadowRun for years and all the other GMs he's had were totally cool with it. Now of course it broke the game and THIS thread hasn't mention D&D 5e so far but,... I just got the second player for my 1st ever D&D campaign! I seem to be off to a good start. I've established my thoughts for how the campaign will hopefully go, and even made points for why I'm trying to disallow multi-classing in the campaign. The first 2 guys are totally hyped and wanting to bring more friends in. I think the most important step the Nerdarchs have mentioned is: Establish your gaming style and expectations and receive feedback from your players from the start. If a player doesn't like how you want to run the game, they don't have to play. But also try to be flexible enough to make players want to play. After all they just RP their own characters, you (as the DM) RP everyone else including kings, patrons, and even their gods. It's always easier to have an agreement on how the mechanics should run than just say "Odin won't allow that action" when players do something you don't like. Assert yourself in a "Session Zero" and save trouble and angst down the line.

[@gambent6853]

My biggest mistakes in the past was blatantly saying no to players when they wanted to try something quirky or out of the box. It was mostly because when I started I was very rules heavy, and there were certain things I thought they weren't able to do because of those rules. Now I do my best to err on the side of the rule of cool and let players try different things that they want to try. I'm not perfect at it, but I feel that things have been much better and I'm learning something new every time we play.

[@TheDMGinfo]

If the DM speaks, they're railroading - there is always a track, you just have to be good at hiding it.

[@videogameplaybynerdarchy1706]

My problem early on was burying all other interest until there was only the track. That shiny railroad track

[@TheDMGinfo]

That is/was a common problem. I tend to give a few options that essentially have a similar outcome. In Ted's example he wanted the person to be inside and the player wanted the character outside. To my way of thinking the event just happens outside. The event is always going to happen - just the timing, location and specifics change according to player decisions.

[@proudpapaprick]

TheDMGinfo In the sense that the DM is throwing hooks and plots out there, sure, there's a track. But many a time, I've flat-out taken a whole session of planning and turfed it, and then improvised from their choices. Lots of room for wiggle.

[@TheDMGinfo]

I just have 10 to 12 points that need to be hit to progress the story. Everything else is made up. I even make up monsters as I play. I still believe that that is railroading, because everything is railroading.

[@proudpapaprick]

Suppose that depends on your definitions, but fair enough.

[@Bert_G_Orin]

I have on several occasion been way to generous with the loot that I give out. I also tend to be a bit combat heavy as a GM and let the story fall to the wayside for the purpose of said combat.

[@crytic248]

I'm about to embark on my first DM attempt in 4 years, and the first attempt with 3.5 eberron. I've tweaked the campaign timeline, created what I feel is a good transition for initial railroading to get the story arc started and then opening up so that the players have several options of where to go next, and I've got several encounters and mobs preset for use as need be. My biggest concern is we have a rules lawyer and lore buff in the group that tends to ask the most inane and in depth questions and I'm debating whether or not to prepare information for them to collect, pull it all out of my ass when they ask, or just roadblock them to keep the other players immersed in the game. I don't know how much detail to prepare for national politics and such, which is a big part of his focus. The reason for the quandary is that in theory such information might actually benefit the players depending on how they progress through the story, but he's the only one likely to even consider it. Does that make sense?

[@Murderotica89]

I myself am a big fan of pulling stuff out of my ass and then writing down what I ended up saying afterwards. In my experience this lets you do what seems the most interesting/fun/relevant in the situation and lets you build on it in the future. Most important thing is writing it down though since a campaign of 6 months+ ends up being A LOT of lore and NPCs to keep track of. Also communicate to them that they're playing in your universe, so DM discretion is key; if something is different it just is because you decided to change it.

[@crytic248]

Murderotica89 Thanks for the suggestion! I was kinda leaning towards that option, and it makes alot of sense in that regard. I'm still preparing to have to manage the rules lawyer, but this gives me a bit more wiggle room.

[@waaurufu]

My first time GMing, and making my own campaign, I added in a character that I thought would be a helpful NPC in case my players were struggling. What he ended up being was an unkillable escort quest that my players ended up loathing by the end of the day.

[@broken_mold4074]

My worst DM mistake? I still haven’t DMed yet I think that’s a horrible mistake

[@Phoenix407]

Having nothing prepared

[@lordzaboem]

Is that really a problem for you. I preparea lot, but in practice I have found that my best games are improvised.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

The dm who can remind you of your characters or the world (without pushing you to act his way) is really an amazing game enhancer.

[@anionhero]

In the first game I ever DMed, I had an adventure all planned out, but it was you go and do this. Then go there and do that. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Well instead of doing that the players wanted to explore in a direction I hadn't planned for. They quickly realized where they were supposed to go because everything else was very nondescript. "We want to go check out that area to the north." Nothing interesting here. "We want to go the area to the south." Nothing interesting here. "We want to go towards the cabin to the west." You come across a run down cabin that looks like it has been abandoned for quiet some time. Everyone looked at one another and was like, "Yep. We are suppose to go into the cabin." But in my defense, it was my first time being DM and I really didn't have experience making things up on the fly like I do now.

[@ronishamay]

Allowing 3 pc's out of 5 to take the leadership feat at level 9 in retrospect might have been a mistake...

[@seanmurphy1107]

What I do when a character wants to do something that seems weird or not exactly part of what they have, I ask how they do it and if I like they roll, if I really like it then I might give advantage, if I can see how it would work but don't like it I say disadvantage, if it doesn't make sense I say try something else. If they are have something they want to do I might bend the rules to make since of it or tell them how they could do it.

[@Jamerific]

I made the mistake my first time GMing that I created my world too large for the players to actually explore in. I was using real life distance comparisons to my map. This made travel more of a chore then an enjoyment for my players and in turn didn't really interest them to travel anywhere that was more then a few days away from a town or city.

[@glacialrelic7878]

Will you guys make a video talking about the "Rite of Rebirth" Champion of Bahamut?

[@corywaltz7238]

Funny and good tips! Thanks guys!

[@echossilently1463]

As DM's, Should the DM's rolls be visible to the players or traditionally not? I started playing with friends, but they believe showing the dice keeps the DM honest in his rolls, but I don’t feel that way. I would like to know your thoughts on this matter.

[@crazyscotsman9327]

I always keep mine hidden, so I can fudge the numbers whether to help them or to hurt them. There have been times like just last week where if I hadn't decreased an attacks dmg it would have killed the party members, or would have really fucked them over. However I do sometimes fudge the rolls to make the enemy stronger and to throw them off.

[@NoESanity]

i prefer to hide my rolls, unless there is a decent potential (like greater than 50%) that it will kill a player. One reason i do this, is because i will often bluff my rolls, just rolling the dice to make the players feel uncomfortable, as well as rolling multiple sets of dice when attacking so the players don't meta the encounter. Obviously if there is a chance that the player could die, i try to make that as obvious as possible, even recently i had the players fighting a monster that could basicly only be killed by a crit, and the person fighting it is unable to crit even if he rolls nat20 (a curse). This meant his only hope was to survive long enough for one of his teammates to reach him, so i came out with him and basically said "the abominations is at 1 hp, but he can't be lowered to 0 unless you crit or use magic... you can't do either. so i'm going to let you roll the creature's attacks." his character did end up dying, on the same turn the cleric got there to inflict the abomination, so they were able to revivify him. but the like 15 turns of his 1d6 monster chipping away at a barbie with over 100hp became a memorable moment for the group.

[@gambent6853]

Personally I do a mix of both. I roll out in the open during combat to create tension, and cultivate honesty in the group, since I require that everyone roll out in the open. That being said when we are not in combat, I think it's important to hide rolls to create tension through mystery. If I have an NPC thief or assassin lurking about, I don't want to tip my hand that someone is sneaking by rolling out in the open. The most important thing is to find what works for you and your group.

[@borisstremlin4577]

It really depends. Regardless of what people say, all DMs hide _some_ rolls. I don't have a problem with rolling initiative, attacks, or monster damage out in the open most of the time - the PCs are engaged with the monsters, and can observe certain things. If they figure out the monster is adding +6 to its roll, well, its power level and proficiency is visible, to an extent. But hardly anyone openly rolls monster hit points - it's not something the PCs would know about right off the bat, and no one really wants to see the DM roll all those dice anyway. Most DMs roll against Passive Perception in secret, too - it makes no sense to announce this ahead of time, if the PC fails to see anything of note. I also roll monster death saves (I'm mean like that), and occasionally, contested actions in secret also. On the whole, if you roll in the open a lot of the time, and the players have no reason to suspect you of cheating (especially against them), making some rolls secret won't really be an issue for them.

[@ryanrhino2318]

I don't even use a dm screen i say show them and let the dices fall where they may I don't like fudgeing roles

[@dndbasement2370]

Playing while you are missing some players is really something you dont see while being at school. it is something you pick up when you became an adult and realise that its almost impossible to have a game when there is always someone in the group that works that day. you know because evolving schedules or people working on calls. yeah thats really something you cannot grasp as a DM if you are still at school. took me years to find these games im playing now, mainly because of it. i was trying too hard and the DMs i had found were also trying to hard to every one there at all times. now when people ask, me and the others, we're just come still. even if its 1 weekend on 2. it is still better then none. and really players appreciate that. all they ask is that we tell them before the next game, what hapenned in the last so they dont feel too left out.

[@punkrockzombiekiller]

DnD Basement, one thing to try is actually enforce "encumbered" rules. A player can miss a session because they are carrying the loot out to a waiting wagon or campsite. Of course they miss a bunch of incidents, they were "encumbered" while making the transfer. Next session they show up at a clutch moment and Voila! problem *explained*?

[@dndbasement2370]

whatever fits the boats is fine. had a player not show up, simple, he slept too long on the boat. woke up later as they battled the bad guy, entered the combat in mid combat as he strolled thrut he dungeon to find his friend. thats one way i did it. seems hard at first but somehow if you end the story well, the solution often comes easily by itself.

[@punkrockzombiekiller]

DnD Basement too true

[@nooctip]

You sleep outside. After a few hours you are awoken by the sound of someting moving around in the dark. You don't see what it is but there sseem to be more than one, they have you surrounded, and you occasionally catch a glimpse of there malevolent eyes. The only other feature you see is the secure building your friends went in behind you.

[@a.j.kinney7991]

Man listening to this, and thinking about last nights game, I realize I have a bad case of back set dming, but only for my character. I am the one who says "I am going to do this and I think it needs a skill role. What do I need to role?"

[@fuzzywigschickenemporium]

I would say when you have a role that needs to succeed do the Open Legends method in succeed with a Twist...ie let them succeed but have a bad thing happen along with it... " somehow you broke the code yet you hear click and then aloud groaning and you look behind you to see a giant boulder begin to roll in the towards you."

[@Sunseaker-tg9xb]

my first and worst dm experience was in the savage world's rules of Darwin's world, a post apocalyptic nucler world. now I'm known as an op player more for my luck than just knowing the games. Well I was dm my rolls were high and I didn't fuge them. witch took a player's hand. also I was bad at jumping my rails. by the end of my short starting arc I didn't kill anyone but it took 5 years for my friends to go with a campaign idea just because of that travesty. I learned a lot from that. lol

[@justinclowers5210]

Probably the mistake I make as a DM the most is getting on the railroad. Last time it happened me and my friend( who was the DM and I was the assistant) spent two months designing a setting for the game and as the game was going building out the game but as he was DMing he kinda took away player agency by using road blocks or random events to keep people in line. The game ended great and everyone was satisfied with the ending but I just can't help but feel like if I had insisted that we allow more agency it would have been a better campaign than a story. The worst part is I think it worked so well because it was many of the players first time its just bothering me. We are starting a new campaign (Space Setting) and I'm worried that its going to be worse on the railroading but I don't want to destroy his confidence as a DM or ruin his story by trying to change so much. Anyway thanks guys your awesome.

[@videogameplaybynerdarchy1706]

That is always something to watch out for as the DM. Mindset wise, the less one focuses on cramming people through a story arc the less focused the campaign tends to be but the stories become more of an open end adventure and less like "take this ring to Mordor"

[@Trigfire]

Seriously, never let the players roll if you want a specific outcome to happen. I think that was literally the first mistake I made (letting a player roll Intimidation against a group of thugs they were supposed to fight, in which the player rolled a 20 of course) and I still occasionally think back on how I struggled in that moment.

[@daveramsey5756]

requiring a roll is fine but making sure, it is not the ONLY way to have things continue is the issue. Its always a good idea to make sure you do not have single points of failure.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

I always tell players to make random die rolls for no clear reason and if anybody looks nervous or bold I grin or laugh evilly - then do what I was gonna do anyway.

[@brennangray8712]

LOL

[@tommcd5943]

on the want it to happen and die roll, why not just say they found or missed a random item you didn't know was there

[@AlienoidGamer]

My campaigns are more MMO in base, go wherever, do what ever, players in my most recent game were linear, my work was done in like 8 sessions, was supposed to be 20

[@praisekek181]

Gm 911; hello there I was wondering if you could please give me some advice on how to run a game for COMPLETELY new players(me myself having been practically born on dnd book), its been hard to get them out of their shells of mmos/books when they have no example, PLEASE HELP.

[@crytic248]

bo richards Think back to how you were introduced. I was broken into D&D with a few one-off adventures to get used to mechanics and character creation. It also helps people find the type of character they want to play because everybody can switch up roles after each adventure until they find the character they really like and want to invest themselves in.

[@Fjordgnu]

I make so many mistakes all the time, even after years of DMing. I like to think I improve all the time too, though.

[@wesleyjudson599]

There's so many bad DM choices I've made. How do I choose!?

[@kurtoogle4576]

I have a hard time letting the players be stupid, and may coach to let them see a lot of solutions to in-game problems. Steps on their toes a bit, but trains them up quickly. I'd like to see Ted, Nate, & Dave debate this.

[@Murderotica89]

I do this a lot with new players to let them know that they have choices and that the game is going to be more fun if they think outside of the box :) Given me a bad habit of sometimes doing it with experienced players.

[@darkqueenfenrisulfr]

I don't like to gm when someone is missing cause I feel they'll missing something and I feel bad

[@zaksilva-sampaio7876]

The worst mistake I think I've done is let the players go off on their own ways too much. I know it's okay sometimes, but they always opt out ant split up and I let them. The game gets boring when two of the players are just watching what the other is doing, and i'm juggling what everyone is doing all the time. Who's doing what? how did that guy get there? How did he get that thing? How is she leveling up again? I got good at juggling, but it was so much better for everyone when they were together.

[@zaksilva-sampaio7876]

of coarse I invented ways to mess up as DM, but I though this affected the game the most.

[@bhatfield1417]

Great video

[@RossGerard]

Off topic* One thing I have the biggest problem with is mixing good and evil characters. Talk about Dungeons and Drama.

[@crytic248]

Ross Gerard "The Good and the Ruthless" A D&D original soap opera!

[@djtigon]

You can have players roll in a dice tower, then even if they fail, they didn't!

[@drefk1973]

Maybe 50 people if you're streaming :) Tell that to Mercer

[@DyrgeAfterDark]

I'm pretty sure Ted has an Int alot higher than 3

[@magnusanderson6681]

Gabe Parada Maybe even a 5, or if you are generous, a 6!

[@BoRaiChoWins]

I hate the dice God's and they absolutely hate me.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Oh shit! Don’t dress like an npc! That was slick!

[@dantevanbach251]

if you only upload the Video on 1080ps I and other people with slow connections and slow pcs will not be able to enjoy your show :/

[@frythetentaclepope]

1080p cannot watch

[@Nerdarchy]

Why not? This is how we upload all our vids. -Nerdrchist Dave

[@cranberry6460]

Because of bandwidth. It's too much for what's essentially a podcast.

[@Finkeldinken]

Mac the Impaler Just change your YT settings to show it at a lower resolution?

[@RutilusMonachus]

I think he's saying that 1080p is the only setting on this video, same with me. I can't turn the resolution down at all.

[@Finkeldinken]

RutilusMonachus Oh, that's weird. I can change it up all I want here (Android YT app), haven't tried on the lappie. Huh. Sorry, that is a bit sucky if you don't have a great connection.

[@finnianquail8881]

Ayy lmao