My favorite "pointless room" in my dms campaign was a room with nothing but a small chest, a broom, a mop, and a couple barrels, my dumb butt threw my dagger at the chest assuming mimic, then got whapped over the head by an animated broom, my party then entered to me beating the corpse of a broom with my sword cursing at it, and promptly assumed i was crazy, i then had to convince them over the next 4 sessions that i was in fact, not crazy
MY CHARACTERS HAD THE EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE We were running the Death House in Curse of Strahd, one of them (Bard) ran into an Animated Broom and got knocked unconscious in two turns. Our Paladin had to save him while our two Druids were off (smartly) not getting involved.
so...fun fact the poster of this actually deleted the post after redditors dug into his history and found that he bragged about the group giving the DM a bad time the same DM who wrote all these rules wrote them in response to their own horrible behavior, and it shows
I expected the player posting it was rewording a bunch of things to try and make the DM look bad, but htis was a plot twist I hadn't seen coming. Redditors actually doing some digging instead of knee-jerking is a new one for me, lol.
Yea, nobody creates a list of rules like this unless it is either a complete joke/troll post, or there's a long history bad and toxic behavior at the table. Personally, I'd love to see the DM in question post the list and site examples of why each rule was created.
@@torgranael yes, they're usually very shallow thinkers. And if you click on the old post, you will still find a lot of those shallow thinkers being smugnorant about what went on here. But littered among them are actually intelligent and perceptive responses who figured out who the real villains here are .
Note There's a reason for the DM going on a Hiatus, apparently in the Reddit post comments it was revealed that the players themselves were that reason, and not only that but they were apparently BEGGING the DM to come around and DM for them again despite not wanting to, and when they finally did, they created these 44 rules *specifically* for this ONE GROUP. All of these rules seem to have been made because of things that *these* specific players were doing ranging from the destruction of the DM's gear, trying to cheat through the game with their dice rolls or using divination/owls to presumably ALSO cheat the game, and all these other rules, so safe to say that this list of 44 rules was not just a rule list, it was a VERY spiteful "break-up" letter by calling out every single thing the players have done
Also Turns out the reason the poster deleted the tweet was because the internet found a post of the OP bragging about being dicks to this DM. makes all the sense in the world
@@lahlybird895you didn't understand, the players made him have a bad time on purpose and he started writing these rules because his players were assholes
So on rule 5, my table has an unofficial rule where if the speech is done, we are asked what do you say. If it is a really rousing or intimidating, our Dm holds the right to say no roll needed, that is a success. But if it’s someone not as comfortable, they give the idea they want to convey then roll.
Isn’t that standard? In my table one of my players is a negotiator. As in he works in company and usually he’s in charge of deals and stuff. He always knows what to say, and cause of that I make DC for those checks low. And he’s not even charisma type class)
@@danzansandeev6033 I wouldn't allow my players to do that. Because one of my players is a successful business lady who can talk anyone to do anything. I'm protected myself from her silver tongue by the dice. And yes, she plays a Barbarian.
This is how I run things too. If the speech is good or if the trick or action is clever or creative, I just say you succeed. If an enemy is unable to defend itself in any way, attacks auto succeed as well. If someone were to roll anyway and failed (which happens sometimes and I allow it) I would have to change the situation, like enemy wakes up or breaks out of their constraints. If a player is in an auto succeed scenario, sometimes I have them do a roll just to determine how cool they can do their action. I don't like when players don't give any context to what they're trying to roll. "I want to investigate." What are you investigating and how? You're not a detective so I can't assume your character will do so like one and just automatically find anything regardless of how good the roll is. Rolling a 20 while staring at a wall won't get you anything.
It sounds to me as if there have been multiple conversations about a lot of these rules and his players continued to exhibit the poor behavior. The rules regarding being late and meta gaming in particular stand out to me here. I think the reason the punishment is so severe is because they've had this discussion multiple times now and he's trying to get across just how serious he is about this.
Yeah cause if it was first time rules I get it’s a bad DM, but when it is later in the campaign it’s the players. Plus someone went over the OPs post history and there were a lot of comments about their group trying to make this DMs life hell. And breaking their stuff is insanely rude
I read the Reddit post in the 1st half hour, didn't comment but left shaking my head. About an hour later, it was still on my mind as I though "What did you players do to hurt your GM so bad"
i read the first three rules out to my parents (my dad who dm'd first edition dnd and my mum who has no real knowledge on dnd but is a psychologist) and my mum immediately said that it sounded like a burnt out dm and that they needed a longer break before they came back. tbh i think that this group needs to find new people to dm/play with bc its quite clear theyre not healthy/good for each other.
Yeah the OP had comment history about making a DMs life hell and everyone in the party was in on it. If someone broke my stuff I’d have already left unless it was some accident obviously
Of note, if it was the *player* that submitted this... How big are the odds that they snuck some worse rules in, or changed the wording to make the DM's rules seem worse than they actually were?
It was a player posting this. He deleted his post because people dug up his comment history about making fun of the DM. This is just a classic case of shit players.
14:51 id interpret that as "im not just gonna magic your character into it, therye gonna be introduced organically, which means you may have to wait a couple minutes" but i could be wrong
"My dm just posted this after a hiatus" His players mocked his NPC, ignore his plot hooks, compare his campain to CR, drink, smoke and overall, disrespect him, of corse he need a hiatus my brother in chirst.
My thoughts exactly. It sounds to me like this DM has players who don't want to accept his rulings, don't want to experience consequences for their actions, and generally want to mess around and do whatever they want, both in and out of game. He needs to get some new players.
Pretty sure the DM's list of rules breaks rule 29. He's setting up this list of rules, not for the players to have fun, but so that they all play D&D by his rules. This is because, to the DM, D&D is serious business. Which goes against Rule 29, as written. Now, if he has to go _this_ far with his players, and his players really are _this_ bad, I figure that he'd be better off with starting over with a whole new group. His players sound like absolute garbage, who are there more to get stoned off their asses than play D&D. They also trashed some of his stuff, lied and gaslit him, and basically ruined the whole experience. As such, if I was in the DM's position, I'd simply call an end to the campaign then and there, and would refuse to give anyone in that party so much as a second glance, let alone a second chance. That being said, the level of pure spite in these rules makes me feel like spiting the DM in kind. I personally wouldn't consider myself to be a "bad player," but with this list, I would want to do everything I could to maliciously comply with his rulings to _just_ such an extent that I wouldn't get kicked out of the group. However, I'd always be the one rolling skill checks (rule 18), I'd _auto-fail_ those checks for the _whole party_ (Rule 21), I'd constantly be making Wizards with _no_ spell lists (Rule 39), constantly accruing exhaustion/half-health damage (various rules [in particular, I would be showing up exactly _one_ minute late each time, _specifically_ for Rule 13]), swan-dive into every insta-kill trap/mechanic I could (Rule 22), and I would constantly bring a full playlist that's comprised of nothing but the most obnoxious Polka music I could find (Rule 42). Oh, and every time I lose one of the _several_ Wizards I have written up for that day? I'd ask the DM to help me write a new one. I double and triple-checked his rules, and *_none_* of them say that you can't ask for the DM's help, when it comes to writing new characters (which I will make double and triple-sure is _always)._ The DM can't complain, since I'm following his punishments for breaking his rules, without complaint. In fact, I'm _smiling_ as my fifth character of the day goes down, as that's the fifth character that he'll have to help me replace before tomorrow. If he doesn't like it? All I'm doing is just enforcing the punishment for breaking his rules (far more than he'd desire). TL;DR: I'm making my own Rule 46, where the DM's spite gets repaid in triplicate. I normally don't try to ruin campaigns, especially not to _this_ extent, but if there's one thing that ticks me off, it's someone being _this_ spiteful, and not expecting to be repaid in kind. I'm not defending his players, as they sound like hot garbage. However, his spite gets my ire far more than the players do, since he could have simply stopped DMing for the toxic group altogether, instead of doubling-down on the toxicity, and trying to nail them with 45 rules of pure spite.
I believe a lot of people are misreading rule #1. It's not 1 minute to do your entire turn, it's 1 minute to start telling the dm what you are going to do. Doesn't mention a time limit on actually resolving your turn.
Thanks for pointing this out! When hearing people talk about timed turns, it always frustrates me, since i have mental/neurological issues that make it hard to have complicated turns done fast. But i also always do my best to plan ahead to minimize how it affects the turn It makes absolute sense to say 'if you cant engage to your turn, you dont get to have it" but i never read it that way till you pointed it out
@@brackencloud well you also have the turns of the other players and monsters to figure out what you're going to do so with an averag group of 4-6 players, you cna expect at least 5 minutes from their turns, and if enough creatures are involved probably 10 minutes per round to think. so unless you're super early in initiative you should be good but as a caveat with timed turns, the ruling i prefer instead of skipping is "your character moves(if needed) to attack/cast a catrip at the closest enemy in range, if nothing is in range, dodge action"
@@xolotltolox7626 not sure if you missed my point, but what i was saying is i DO plan what to do before my turn, but all the little details get mixed up in my head, so executing turns with multiple actions or complicated maneuvers leads to pauses as i have to re-remember what/how to do my stuff.
So far I'm at rule 12. If I had this much hostility and this much need for these kinds of rules I'd A) get new friends. B) demand more money. C) get new clients/whatever. People who are beautiful enough to pay a DM and deserve it are surely out there. D) lash out with wild contempt into an unstoppable onslaught of prompt and immediate violence. It could happen.
@@pauloandrade925 I didn't say it but since they're written by a DM I'm imagine my need for them would have been as a DM so finding a DM would do nothing. It'd just be 2 DMs who're hugging and weeping due to clearly losing their minds.... And they would definitley need a therapist at that point. Groupon baby!
I feel so bad for this GM, because they were being tormented by their players to the point where this rules list was the nicest way of moving forward with the group. Wild shit.
I have a No Orphans rule. My reason is explicit: My players were killing more parents than Disney, and it needed to stop. Like, seriously, *every* character was an orphan, and what few had A parent still alive, that parent wouldn't know they existed, or they're some mysterious figure that could be an antagonist. It just gets SO boring as DM to keep presiding over. I kind of agree with Rule 2. "If you want harder fights" is really the key here. So what I'm seeing is that the players were ASKING for the DM to crank it up, and then.... the DM did, and they expected to be able to just immediately hop back in the game.
My first character was a rogue. I didn't do the trope of his parents were dead. I went with they were trying to force him to have a lifestyle he hated and he just ran. The best part is that he's a changeling so it was easy for him to hide from them
The reason why we keep making orphans is because the DM keeps screwing with our parents every time we have them. So if the DM’s going to make us orphans, might as well just make ourselves orphans at the start to save you the effort. 😂
@@Lobsterwithinternet See, I don't do that, because it makes for WAY better scenes. Like, yeah, you almost died fighting a lich, and now your mom's apoplectic about how you could've died.
@@dragonstryk7280 Then you're the exception. Because many DMs' go-to for creating drama is kidnapping/killing whatever family you have. It gets boring after a while.
@@Lobsterwithinternet I sort of get this. (I'm a DM. I started my circle of players and never get to play myself, as reference) It's sort of DM 101. You let your players have things they care about so you can threaten those things to motivate them. Inherently, it's not really an issue. It's more *how* you do so and how obvious. I.E. Yeah, if every campaign has your daughter or your girlfriend or your mom get kidnapped: boring. But what if...your mom found a new boyfriend who...happens to be working for the bbeg? Maybe he's not even a bad guy, but it could create tension. Or a monster moved into the local caves, and the goblins moved out, but now they're disrupting your merchant parents' trade. You can motivate players easily using things they care about without always going the same route...or you can find other options.
I agree. I prefer not to curse, or associate with those who curse frequently. That said, I think it odd he censors "shit" with "crap". I view both as equal curse words and choose not to use either. Someone using them, in moderation, doesn't bother me much, but it seems strange to substitute one for the other. Seems to imply a view of one being "cleaner" than the other.
@@mentaya11Two words which can mean the same thing, but “crap” can also mean something more like garbage. Also, vulgarity can vary between words referring to the same thing. You probably don’t view “having sex” and “the f-word but uncensored” as having the same level of vulgarity, but both can mean the same thing and refer to the same action. Just like using the proper term for a sexual organ may be less vulgar than a slang term in some contexts.
@@FentonHardyFan It can mean that primarily because the term and its usage in common parlance, which is, ultimately, how all language evolves. In that, while a literal definition is feces, people do *use* it to say "Don't leave all this **** around". Over time, such meanings change, even for vulgarities. I'm sure some dictionaries, if they use the word at all, would provide both definitions as acceptable usage. Whether the word *itself* is considered vulgar, and how much, is variable. Many people do use it in common language, but I think most would agree it's not the most polite term. I choose not to. It crosses my chosen threshold. I imagine I am in the minority on that, however.
Look I am new to DnD, but even i could understand most of these rules. Most of them are just "Don't be a d-bag" rules. Ok some of them are kinda over the top, but I suspect that it is because these people tried to use them in some unnatural ways and the DM had to put a stop to them, because they could be abusing them. So yeah I feel for the DM. My advice: just don't play with these guys.
Yeah it's a mix between reasonable rules made by a very, very tired GM. But on the other hand some of these rules are insane, contradictory and openly hostile and yeah, this guy should just not play with these people anymore, and the GM needs to take a long, lomg break before playing with anyone again.
Not timing but my DM does have a “please prepare your turn before it comes up” rule. There will always be exceptions though like if the player before you gets in the way of your spell range or suddenly needs healing or something. But having your turn prepared is just basic etiquette.
Yeah, there have been so many times where for the entire round I know exactly what I'm going to do, then the player before me does something that destroys all my plans
I feel like something that should be acknowledged is that this is clearly a conflict that should NEVER have gone public. While this is definitely a combination of the Players being very antagonistic and the DM being very retaliatory, the fact of the matter is that the Players were the ones who made it public, so GIVEN the background context, I’m more likely to give a bigger side eye the players for airing their group’s dirty laundry when it absolutely didn’t need to be public.
The guy that posted the tuleset was one of the truoble player that got high and drunk and broke stuff in the DM's house and when the DM tried to move away from them through a huatus they begged and moaned for him to run the campaign again and he spitefully sent this rules to them, they posted online as another attempt to bully the DM
@@murilosampaio1264 That’s why I’m side eyeing them, and am more likely to believe the accounts of their shitty behavior. They knew they were in the wrong, and figured to try and get one last hurrah by airing this shit in public. Something that, near as I can tell, did not work after people uncovered the reason certain rules were put in.
For number 2, I never try to murder my Player's characters, that being said I will also not protect them from what I like to call Deaths by Stupidity, if the players knowingly go into a situation that they know they will probably kill them, then I'm not going to pull my punches, they will face it at full strength.
Yeah, for me, that depends on the game. I don't like killing players, so I'd probably find some lesser penalty and save their sorry hides, at least usually. That said, I am planning to run a campaign where character death is likely soon too.
Re: rule 3:I have had a 3+ hour game against a mini boss who was a freaking mind flayer. I did not roll over a 5 (on a d20) the entire game, where I was the only intelligence based character. It happens. I just relied on buffs and saving throws
2:11:30 While you make a good point, I think the angry GM here is going “I don’t care what your other table did, I’m not going to use the same ruling.” Edit: XD I shouldve waited a minute!
Personally i think for rule 35, if the person's sheet is lost or ends up unusably damaged then they get a pass once. I would probably have each player update a spare sheet that i keep with the rest of my stuff at the end of each session, so that they have the single back up, however if they use the backup spare sheet, its up to them to provide another spare sheet, if they want another back up.
My players were given the option at the start of the game to leave their sheets with me; all but one of them happily took that option. I keep them in a binder on a bookshelf so they're always ready to use. If we do level ups between sessions, I update the sheets (while talking to the players). They also have the option to keep it digitally (as long as their phones don't become distracting). I think it's reasonable for the DM to say no sheet, no play, but there are ways to make that rule easier to follow.
I think this video has the fairest take about the DM rules. Everyone is so quick to bash the DM without considering what kind of players inspired those rules
"You already have enough dice." That goes against the 11 Yahzick Commandments 1. Find a group of friends who can agree to meet up on the same day. 2. You gotta decide what you want to do. The role that you play is entirely up to you. 3. Never be ambiguous when you can be precise. 4. Don't be mean spirited when you can be nice. 5. There's no such thing as too many dice. 6. Think twice before starting a fight. 7. Make sure you have a rope and a light. 8. Try to avoid any unnecessary confrontation. 9. Pay attention to your story line's dictation. 10. Everything you do has an affect on the narrative. 11. Understanding your character is imperative.
From what I have heard this DM, plays with stoners and drunks that have broken actual things in their house refused to pay for them show constant disinterest in the game and when they do it with complaints distrust and misusing of rules. This DM doesn’t need to make rules he needs to get into fights with these people these are fighting words, bro has been disrespected too much.
My question becomes at that point, why did he come back at all. I understand it can be hard to find a group, but with online options now it seems he should be able to find a new group better than the people wbo inspired these rules.
@@Larper64 he didn't come back. He did a hiatus, they begged him to come back, and these 44 rules are his conditions for returning. Per the actual reddit post
@@robinmohamedally7587 Yeah at that point just ignore them and find better people. Block them or do somthing to keep them away (not to hard with tresspasing and restraining orders) going out like this makes you a DM automaticly no matter if you were treated like shit.
While I disagree with the rule about deadly fights, I also disagree with Duke's take on this. I don't think you need a player's consent for killing their character. In the same way that stupid decisions or suicidal ones can make it reasonable to kill a character, bad tactical decisions and rolls can pile up and make it reasonable too. If I'm fighting a giant and my character falls at 0 hit points, let me die if I fail my save rolls. We've got a lot of ways to avoid these PC deaths. Someone may heal the downed character. They may be resurrected if they fail those death saves. You can even have an enemy heal them just to keep them alive and ask the group to surrender if they don't want the PC to die. I'm also a great defender that attacking a downed player should only be done in very rare occasions, because the enemies usually are still fighting the rest of the group, they would prioritize defeating them before making sure every enemy is really dead. There are a lot of ways to reduce the chance of death and to avoid it being a definitive goodbye to the character. That being said, if I'm fighting a bossfight and my character dies, even if they haven't fulfilled their objectives, their death can be satisfactory. Not only is an appropiately dramatic time for a character's death, it's also a reminder that the PCs are mortals. Removing the death "by chance" and only allowing it with the player's consent makes it feel like there's no real danger. Yeah, I know that if I do something dumb you may say "okay, that was suicidal, so I won't let you survive", but what about less obviously deadly acts? If I fight head on against the troll to avoid him reaching my badly hurt players, are you just going to kill me because it's suicidal? What if the troll was practically dead and I at full health but bad rolls make me loose anyway? Can I tell you that I don't want my character to die yet, removing any sense of danger from the troll's fight? I get that in most games you wouldn't want to kill a player's character in a normal fight against goblins or something like that. Player's deaths should usually be left for dramatically appropiate moments. But asking for permission? To me, it takes away any stakes. If I know that unless I do something dumb I can ask you not to kill my PC, I know I'm virtually immortal. I won't worry if I see my HP getting really low. I won't feel any urgency when I see another PC fall unconscious. I may not even feel excitement from winning a difficult fight because, in the end, I know it doesn't really matter, because if we lost we would all still be alive and fine. Yes, DND or any other TTRPG is a narrative-driven game, so narrative is important. Killing a player for a bad roll in an insatisfactory way should usually not be done, because it's ignoring the narrative aspect of the game. But the opposite, asking for permission, is ignoring the game aspect of the game. The game is built upon those two pillars, and the ideal is balanced between them. You shouldn't treat the game like a wargame, but you have HP and death saves because death should still be possible through the game's mechanics, not just by player's choice.
Hey, long time GM here. (I run almost exclusively Star Wars tabletop). I actually agree with you 100%. I appreciate the well written comment. I would add that not every campaign has everything you described. In mine, true death is pretty darn final. No resurrections spells and the like. I also don't like having PCs that I've grown attached to die. As such, I don't think I've ever had a true death of any character that was still playing the game. That said, I never rule it out, either. Usually I'll find some other punishment suitable for the situation. That said, I am planning to run a campaign where death is not only possible, but probably for at least some of the characters during a particularly brutal war. In approaching this I fist asked prospective players if they would be interested in playing such a campaign. Not everyone wants to play Dark Souls, after all, and everyone should be having fun with a game they want to play. Second, I told them we needed to prepare at least 2 characters for each player, so that if and when someone dies it won't derail the game. Third, I fully intend to play to the narrative as said above. If someone dies, it will be epic. Standing alone against an enemy army, letting the rest of the party and the refugees escape to safety, they channel the Force through them, doing things they never thought possible before feeling it burn them away from the inside. So, to an extent, they will likely know death is imminent. That's just my two cents. Like I said, I actually agree with your assessment.
My old group was awful about ordering food so I relate to 30. I was one of the few people who would either eat dinner beforehand or grab food on the way over to eat immediately once there and then be ready to play, but most people not only would show up incredibly late(I'm talking two to three hours), but as soon as they walked in the door they were ordering food or running back out as a group to go get food and bring it back, which just held the game up even worse. And I lived nearly an hour away and couldn't stay until the usual 2-3 in the morning because I had to get a few hours of sleep in before I got up at 6 for work. Did I mention I was the voice of reason? Imagine the Voice of Reason leaves at midnight and in the next two hours you F- it up so bad that when she comes back you have the gall to say "So we did something stupid, wish you were here to stop us." Well if you ate in a timely manner and arrived in a timely manner maybe things would be different.
For real!! Sometimes, as a player who has ADHD and arrives late (like 15 min max) I'll order food for EVERYONE because I feel bad. And I'll let them know about being late/food!
Just wanted to say, that you made my day today. I had a terrible time until I saw that your livestream was up and now I am so much better. Thank you so much :-)
Rule 2: I disagree with the player deciding when they die if it's due to their dice rolls or decisions. Zero hits, 3 failed death saves, at best you're getting some last words once someone can get to you or start digging through pockets/embark on a quest for a ressurection
"So the dragon your charged into as a lvl 2 character predictably oneshots you. May I please kill your character? No? Ok, you only get a slight sunburn from the scorching flames and wake up after the fight.". Pathetic. Just do improv if fights mean nothing.
At my table we have a "injury system" which is, I think, is a good compromise - you don't really die (if its not a teamwipe which is rare) but you roll a die to learn the consequences. Once my first-level gnome ranger distracted ogre all by himself while party was busy by orc gang around the corner and got absolutely obliterated (I mean, five turns without boss was a huge deal) but we won that encounter so I "just" got permanent brain damage (-1 INT). It wasn't that big of a deal, but I just got lucky - it could be a missing leg or arm which would be quite dire, suffice to say
@@SiPistolathat's not what he said though? Like he explicitly said it was in the event of like, bad rolls, not a player doing something stupid. Like maybe just how I interpreted it but it seemed he meant like "if you go down I'm not gonna have npcs attack your downed character and kill them." Like I assume you'd still have to make death saves and stuff like that.
My biggest thing that I don't agree with you on is character death. If the character can't die in a fight without their permission, that hurts tension and breaks immersion. That being said, if your players are about to do something really stupid, "So to clarify, you wish to go up to the Legendary creature at LEVEL 4! and attack? Are you sure?" if they say yes that is on them.
This, but i'd also add, "If the GM/Player thinks it will serve the story to kill a character, then it needs to be with GM/Player consent", A sacrificial player character can have more impact than a sacrificial NPC, both as a story element to create tension, and immersion, also a gentle reminder that their characters are not immortal (unless the setting has them as immortal), but to do it well you need a player who is ok with doing it and can do it, they need to play that character as if they want to keep it.
Yeah, his opinions on character death are the exact opposite of every person I've ever known's opinion of ruling. Why would you have to give consent to kill a PC in combat? It should be assumed that that is a possible consequence of any combat. If people want a deathless campaign, that needs to be a discussion at session 0, not in the middle of combat. Also, if your character dies, why would your second character be able to immediately jump into combat? That makes no mechanistic or narrative sense for the game. If I've prepped 5 characters, can I just keep rotating them out when they die until I kill the boss monster?
@@thomasdegroat6039 the rotation of characters on a death can work, but it has to be done at the right time in the right circumstances, i.e. it serves the narrative of the story or a hand of GM resurrection serving the narrative, but either the whole group needs to know beforehand or the player. example of the first is session zero of "the all guardsmen party" example of the second is a player wants to multiclass into cleric at some point but hasn't been the most religious, they go down in combat, deity saves them, boom set up for multiclassing into cleric, other players get the "Oh shit" moment and the "Oh damn" moment and a reminder that deities exist in your setting and can act on their own bidding.
@@MrTrilbe I agree but that's a pretty niche situation that would require agreement between the player and DM beforehand and would not normally occur in regular gameplay, unlike what One Questers Questers was suggesting.
@@thomasdegroat6039 yeah, I guess, but I think GMs and players are I wouldn't say lacking imagination, because they're not, maybe missing opportunities to use unusual situations and options to start the game off or ways to rp changes, I don't know it could just be my dislike of the "you all meet in a tavern" start and the optimised build with no in character reason, other than "cool abilities". But each to their own, my idea of a good game differs from others and that's fine.
With rule 2, one of my DMs has that rule as a condition of him DMing. It makes his games very intense. Our group is down for it, but I know not everyone is.
Part of the fun of hard encounters is that death is a real risk, so winning the encounter with no casualties is so much sweeter, and loosing someone is so much more dramatic. The DM shouldn't be deliberately trying to kill the party, but if a pc death happens that's fine. If the player isn't ready for the pcs story to end, give the party a chance to revive them.
Yaeh, honestly when he was commenting on the rule and said that PC death should have player consent in order to happen....i just wanted to puke and stopped watching the video entirely. I'd NEVER DM for a group Who just wants their hands to held for the whole adventure and also demand to have plot armor...yuck
@@gianlucaguidotto8920 I'm like... That... That isn't a GAME ANYMORE 🤣 If it's just roleplaying at a table and writing fan fiction you can DO THAT 😅 Shit there are even narrative based systems for those kinds of games Why butcher D&D into something it isn't? Why say "I love this game" then ignore half the rules ? 😅
@@gianlucaguidotto8920 That was my response as well. Death happens as part of the game, that's what makes it tense at all, without it, what the heck are you even doing?
No offense but that play group sounds awful to deal with and that DM is a saint for even dealing with their nonsense. Rule 13/14 says a LOT if you have to make it that explicit. These rules didn’t come out of thin air, they came out because the group is toxic af. These consequence are extreme because the group is so bad that they’re late all the time
THANK YOU for pointing out that this whole post smells of toxicity on both sides. I've played with groups where shit started to feel like this as a DM and it's usually problem players with a DM who's bad at communication that leads to these horror stories. It's rarely ever on one party unless someone is being stupidly unreasonable (like if someone starts sexually harassing people, that is clearly just a bad apple.)
Personally I do not agree the Duke's point of avoiding character deaths. I enjoy tough fights where the threat of death/defeat is there. So, I do not enjoy a DM making it so that you can not die unless you specifically say so. If a player makes a tactical blunder or gets full of themselves feeling that they are invincible, I feel that the DM has the right to punish them.
I think with rule 2 it was already a situation where the players were wanting harder fights then complaining if their characters were killed/knocked unconscious and thus they had to wait for the fight to finish at minimum to join again
I took it that way too. I'm thinking of starting up a harder campaign where character death will likely happen. I chose a different approach. 1: Say what I am thinking and see if the players *want* that sort of campaign 2: Tell them to prepare at least 1 back up character from the start, so no crises mid-session 3: make sure that any deaths feel epic and heroic. If the player is going to die, they should still be afforded that feeling of being cool and epic as they do it.
1:21:00 Yeah, this was definitely an endpoint, not something he threw out there early on just to be a dick. This is a key example of why there needs to be communication not only between the players but with the DM as well, and that is a two-way street. You're supposed to be there to have fun but there does need to be a little discipline insofar as basic etiquette and gameplay are concerned, and if people just aren't there to play and the game is suffering as a result, it can easily turn into a shitstorm. This strikes me as a group that has been together for at least a little while and the DM, trying not to cause problems, just let things happen until he needed a break; then, when he comes back, he starts stressing over all the problems with the players and just blows up over it. This was very much an angry post, not a logical one, even though there are some very good points in it. One thing I do have to mention is the need to be aware of mental health issues or other things going on outside the game, as these can have a significant effect on gameplay as well as the general well-being and entertainment of the group as a whole. That includes the DM as well. He obviously took a break from this and came back to write these rules, so it seems that he was legit affected just as well. And while some people might not be as assertive and won't talk as much or interact as much for whatever reason, or maybe they can't effectively communicate issues they might be having, I think people need to at least have some level of awareness even just to the point of checking on their fellow players and DM from time to time. A simple "how are you doing today" could be enough, but also consider your dnd group could be your support network. So while some of the rules are a bit out there, if not in the rules themselves then in how they're enforced or just how they're worded, I do agree that having some rules and boundaries as well as at least a modicum of communication and awareness can go a long way to making a game and group that much better. And you have to have a little sympathy or understanding because life should always come first. That's how it typically is in the forum RP communities, and that's how it should be in dnd as well. But also, if you're there to play a game, play the game in the best way that you can and try to be fair to everyone, not just yourself. Also, dunno who needs to hear this, but you're amazing and you totally slay.
Yeah, I hear this. I had an abusive player, would attack me on a personal and emotional level. Thing was, it was subtle and I'm not even sure intentional, even now. He'd be very friendly about it. The big problem was, I had a boss doing the same thing. I couldn't see it there either. i was too close. It took other coworkers stepping in to see what I was receiving was, in fact, abusive, though I kept defending her. Then the explosion at work, her bosses (sort of) firing her over the reports that started elsewhere and then came to me. It was only after that that I started to really recognize what I was getting from my player had been, in fact, the same.
Business calls, texts, emails, etc. during your time off is so annoying. That happened to my son when we took a short trip in March. Thank you for leaving this up! It's always interesting when toxic people claim someone else is toxic for standing up for themselves.
honestly from the vibes of this, after listening to all the rules, this is a dm who loves the game, who used to love dm-ing, but has been so worn down and burnt out by these players that they can’t take it any more, and it made them lose passion for the game. clearly there has been either very little communication happening or the players have been so dismissive of the dm setting boundaries that the dm’s communication has been ignored.
I had a bad interaction with some players that resulted in me leaving DMing entirely for a few years. Part of the problem was my lack of confidence in myself after it. I was never sure how much was my own fault and I blamed myself. Another was an abusive player who was hitting me in the same place as an abusive boss at the time. I was too close to it and could not see either for what it was until others started opening my eyes to the fact that what my boss was doing was unacceptable.
Rule #19: Instead of Vicious Mockery, I would compare it more to getting SAN-damage for trying to tap into information from a higher dimensional plane🙂
From the rules alone….sounds like the worst group of humans attended this DM’s group💀🤷♀️ I don’t blame this dm for laying down the law, seems fair to me🤷♀️
Regarding rule 18, there are checks that every character can choose to make if they are present in the scene such as perception or insight. As to specific actions like persuasion, if multiple players want to do them at the same time I try and pick the second best role; 12, 14, 16, 12 means picking the 14. If they do it one after the other, because the first failed, I set a higher DC and/or ask the second player to come up with a different method. To take the guard example out of the lifestream, first character tries to persuade them by getting all chummy and friendly with the guard but fails the roll. The second PC tries a persuasion roll but rather than going smooth talker, they offer the guard 3 silver pieces to let them pass. Also, using the same example, there are other ways to get past the guard. If those two persuasions fail, the fighter or barbarian can try to intimidate the guard in letting them pass. Same end result, different method. But again, I'd set a higher DC and at a certain point, if they failed too many times for my liking, I simply explain to my players that they've tried everything to get past this guard and failed to do so and to find another way.
Also keep in mind that all of this was posted by one of the potentially rude players to make him look bad and not the DM himself. That seems a bit messed up if you ask me.
Hey if you're going to turn these rules into a skit. Why not make it easier on yourself by making it a small series of videos covering 11 rules each. Given how the rules slowly sound angrier and angrier. Perhaps each episode has you looking more disheveled and beaten up by an abusive player group that are taking advantage of you.
Honestly it sounds like this DM and their players just have absolutely no trust in each other, which is not a good thing for a group and hopefully they solved that or broke up. At that point you’re not playing together, you’re playing against or in spite of each other
At 26min. You should make the comedy sketch on what you think prompted the rule to be made. What outrageous things did this group do that caused such crazy rules to be made?
That's reasonable. It's how I play too. I'd encourage you to have that be a discussion point before the first session though. That's the type of thing not everyone is on the same page on and the goal is for everyone to have fun.
i've DM'd hundreds of games and played in hundreds more and I've never run into anyone who was so uptight about character deaths. I tend to play with heavy RPers and even they understand death is part of the world and the story and would be appalled if I broke immersion to ask if killing them was okay when they just ran into the Kobold Warren despite all the warnings. The only people I could ever conceive would need this time of coddling would be brand new players or children.
Bring a second character sheet doesn't necessarily mean the new character will just magically appear to jump in the same round as the previous character dies. If the players play badly in combat and they can't handle their characters dying and say "I do not consent to dying" then there are no meaningful rules or stakes and the player is playing the wrong game.
Rule 5: I actually agree with. "I persuade the guard", "what do you persuade them to do exactly?". I don't mind players who are third person the entire time, but I'd at least like to know what they're intending, plus it also lets me understand how much the player understands what is going on so I can give extra info or check in if they think this NPC is someone else.
Do you have the same expectations for history checks of the palyer being able to remember any in game lore they have heard in the past, or have them do some quick cardio if they do an athletics check to do something? Characters, especially those with high stats are likely to have a better understanding than the players themselves would have in those same situations. Requiring a player to have to replicate social skills in order for them to work is comparable to doing the same for other skills. If you think it would be absurd to require a player to do a standing cartwheel everytime they do an acrobatics check or provide a mathematical proof for thermodynamics in order to use arcana to recognize a spell, then it would be equally absurd to require a person who may lack real social skills to act out persuading someone, or a meek person intimidating someone.
@@Larper64- YES, I would have the same expectations. Tell me *specifically* what you want to know. Otherwise, I could end up telling you something entirely irrelevant. And you end up upset, and blame me as the DM. YOU are playing; YOU are the only person who can tell me what YOU need to know
@@Larper64 sounds like a pretty lazy and worthless player, tbqh. "YOU baby me! I am a special person, because my mommy told me so! YOU do everything FOR me! I just have to show up! Now wipe my bottom! WWAHHHH!"
@@robinmohamedally7587 Gotcha you want to break down a door using your character's strength, I expect you to deadlift 400 pounds to prove your character is strong enough.
@@Larper64 You're being obtuse on purpose. Its a SOCIAL game about social encounters and social play. Also, he isnt asking for super crazy voice acting or anything super clever, just asking how hes persuading him. Blackmail, intimidate, promising a favor, bribe? Lots of options with lots of potential implications that honestly the dm should know, and it what makes the game half as fun as it is. Honestly, I WOULD ask the same for a strength check. If my fighter tells me hes gonna use strength to break down the door, I WILL ask him how he does it. Using his greatsword to chop through the wood, or smashing the hinges his armored foot? At worst it only adds a bit of fun character, at best it ACTUALLY changes the outcome. (the wood could be magically enchanted, for example but not the hinges.) Yes, you can't expect everyone to voice-act, I don't at all. But players should input some amount of active choice in their decisions, to not JUST roll for what stat is appropriate. Its just a little bit of engagement is all I'm asking, 99% of players can do that.
The thing about good role play. My group once failed a deception check, but the guard was so amused by the con we tried to pull that he let us through anyway. Much better way to insensitive role play than demanding it.
I love seeing how many DM's are psychotic types with a power trip, and I'm running with a DM who I was worried would become one because he's a very opinionated fella with some weird personality quirks, and he's turned out to be such a gem of a DM. He's learning as much as the rest of us, he's open to homebrew rules, but keeps enough core mechanics that we can refer to the set rules, he sets up a deep and challenging narrative, but lets us make our own decisions and has even said outright he doesn't want to guide us too heavily since we're making this story together. Greatest example is that he's set enough high DCs that basically all of us have almost killed ourselves and one another by rolling low, but last session he rolled low on a goblin attacking my wizard, the goblin whiffed his scimitar swing, tripped, and landed F.D.A.U in front of me, I think he also fell on his own sword, but as I had already burned my spell slots for the day fighting the Bearbug leading the goblins, I figured I'd see if I could use 1,000 Years of Death on the Goblin. DM rolled(found out after the session it was a 2), tells me with a shit eating grin that I can roll 2d20 for my attack, DM says dex not an issue as the vulnerable goblin booty is like 2 feet in front of me and the goblin is staggered, I roll and with modifiers it's somewhere around 30( I'm a level 1 wizard at this point and this goblin has lower HP than me) DM JUMPS UP AND DECLARES THE GOBLIN IS ROCKETED INTO THE CEILING OF THE CAVE, HITTING IT'S HEAD ON A HANGING ROCK, FALLS ABOUT 60 FEET BACK TO THE GROUND, DYING IMMEDIATELY FROM THE IMPACT!!!!! When we were all chatting in the discord later, DM tells me that he was so stoked that I'd pose such a ridiculous idea that he was going to make sure I got the roll no matter what, so when he rolled a 2 on the goblin, he gave me 2d20 to give me a 99% chance of success, but still enough of a chance that it could go bad for me(which I think would've been hysterical too) Sorry for the rant, but I wanted to give the cliffnotes so everyone could see that there are still fun DMs out there that just want to work with their players to make a good story. We've even been discussing finding a way to make our bard immortal so he carries on all the pain and all of the lore of this campaign as an NPC or an item in future campaigns. I want him to stay alive but become jaded by the deaths of his friends and carry on my spellbook when I'm inevitably smoked by a heavy attack, but our DM and a few of the group have been leaning heavily towards turning his head into an enchanted bag of holding that just keeps talking smack and telling the stories of the current lineup. I'd PREFER my idea, but I'm open to anything at this point because we've had so much fun just hitting ideas from left field.
This is great. It's always fun to hear stories of players (especially new ones) still carrying on the tradition and having a good time. I'm glad you're working well with your DM.
41:00 if the RP is good and the roll is bad, they are intimidated, but it doesn't do much. Like a guard doesn't let you through but they are shaking and backing away, but they don't shout for help just because you had a 1
This guy genuinely said a player should decide when and how their character dies then what is the challenge that's so incredibly dumb its invincibility
58:10 yeah we're here to read, but more importantly to read with you. I appreciate the pauses where you speak with chat and get emotional. No need to rush.
I will say, if you tell your players at the start that they should expect they’re characters to die, then that’s also fine for them to just die in combat. At that point they’ve been warned and should be prepared to lose people
So, with his discussion of how he handles player death reminds me of when my party in Highschool did a Halloween one off campaign, I normally run pretty casual when I DM, lax rules, lower stakes, it's more about the roleplay and story for me, but one of them kept trying to cause trouble with the creepy butler in a manor they were summoned too, and eventually I let them fight him, only to reveal the spoiler that the butler was Death himself (Which I intended to reveal at the end but they pushed me), let's just say that player was glad this was a one off
I feel like number 2 was meant to be, if you die in middle of combat you can't just immediately introduce your new character and start blasting (or play their identical twin with the same sheet). Edit - I once played with a guy who just changed the first letter of his character name after death. He was scarily attached to that character. Number 19, a couple of sessions ago I literally said, 'player' is very worried about this, but 'character' wouldn't be, so he eats all the food that the completely innocent old lady offers him.
VLDL has a D&D logic series that has that exact player; a dwarf wizard with infinite brothers. It is my biggest pet peeve for players to pull something like that between campaigns.
@@rob.3143 Seems like, even if the stats were the same, the experiences wouldn't be. An experienced and proficient roleplayer could make that work, conditionally. For example, one campaign I've always wanted to run is a Star Wars Clone Commando campaign. All players start with the same stats (They are clones of each other) but are different *people*. Perhaps one has a bit more heavy weapons training or another with demolitions, but that's about it. The key is to find experienced roleplayers that aren't bogged down by that and can interact with each other despite that as their experiences start to vary their sheets.
15:43 I had a simple single yeti encounter, and I love using inspiration as a tool when I DM since we currently don't have a bard in our group for bardic inspiration so I was pretty lenient on when I gave it out. It was the middle of a blizzard and I attacked everyone pretty fairly as most of my players are new. The dice gods weren't in their favor that night. The cleric was the only one dealing consistent damage because sacred flame is a good cantrip. When the Rogue went down, I scared the living daylights out of her because she failed her death saves twice(nat 1). She had a damn near anxiety attack, but I was able to calm her down after a couple of minutes of meta-game talking and maybe a 15 minute break (everyone goes through that first character attachment I thought). In my eyes for this experience, I had successfully accomplished the fear of death that I felt every new player should experience, but never was the goal a TPK. To me, that's what boss fights are for depending on the monster or villain. So far, things had been going their way and I had given them a false sense of security and they felt invincible so I kinda felt proud as much as I felt a little bad. I told her when it was her turn that she could give herself advantage with her inspiration or gamble with the one die with a 50/50 chance of death and raised the stakes as it hadn't come up yet for a need to address death yet of needing a new character if she dies. Mind you, she had BADLY wanted to save inspiration for a potential crucial moment in the investigation, so I put her in a pickle. Eventually, the group had her relent and use the inspiration to get a nat 20 and eventually stabilize😮💨. Edit: After the session, she told me that despite her initial reaction, she appreciated the adrenaline rush and was okay with not knowing that she could potentially die. Because of the encounter, not only did she become an Arcane Trickster at level 3 taking Silvery Barbs to cripple my monsters, but now all the players at my table are scrambling to have backup characters. Not every time as it'll lose its effect, but every now and then I want to tease the idea of death with deadly encounters and watch my players squirm a little. Just waiting to throw their first spellcasting enemy at them 😈
I have an alternative for rule 13: “The game will start at the scheduled time with or without you. If you arrive late, your characters starting level will not be adjusted
Meanwhile in the campaign I'm in the party just followed my barbarian rogue with an int and wis of 8 through a portal that, what is possibly the bbeg, opened with no thought to his own health. This was all because he said he "saw the sky running" and it led to an attack that was happening
For #2 I don't believe a DM should go in planning to kill the players unless there is clearly a way for the players to back out. I believe that there should be a discussion with the players but that discussion should happen in the form of the scenario. If they don't walk away when it's right there for them then so be it.
I love how surprised Duke was that his goal of 440 bucks combined was demolished by chat in the span of like 5-10 minutes. Like, he couldn't believe people would want it so much. Yes. Yes, we do
I do half agree this is a game so it makes sense that the players don't have to think at the speed of the in world combat but I do think people forget that DnD combat is actually pretty fast and that the PCs don't have much more then like 6 seconds to decide what to do.
@@Lobsterwithinternet That's why I said half agree but still, let's atleast try to remember that we don't actually have like 5 minutes to decide what to do (Rolls not included).
@@matijasostojic4288personally I allow people to coordinate a bit sure it’s only 6 seconds but we are talking about seasoned warriors/spellcasters here they for sure have more combat sense than average modern day workers which most of us are. My rule of thumb is as long as other players won’t deciding actions for their friends I allow them to think and coordinate a bit before saying “okay you need to be a bit faster it’s only 6 seconds turns”
Many of those rules makes total sense, you know the times that my players just roll , and i ask why you roll? Because im persuasive, dude this its not a videogame
@@JenIsHungry that's fine, that was never the point. Just don't say "21. Did i do it?" at least don't be a lazyass and put SOME sort of effort into it. "I try to convince him to ___-__", like you said. NO one wants to play with a boring lazyass
@@JenIsHungry See, that's the type of thing to discuss with the DM before the first session. What are your expectations and what does the DM expect of you. Your stance is totally reasonable, but everybody needs to be on the same page for what they want on that sort of thing.
1:44:27 I get this in that if a player is trying to tell you how to run a monster but its an unusual variant or homebrewed. However a dm can should be challenged at times
A one minute short for the 1 minute turn would be great! You could loop it so the end is going to the next player at the end, and the DM asking what they do at the beginning
We like to let the dice just do what they do which can make some interesting things happen. Most recent was a character with basically no will save passing 4 saves in a row against something we were meant to run from and instead got a minor artifact we were 100% not supposed to have. Only once have I seen a truly unfair thing happen, and it got retconned after I explained the math. (Basically, the enemy thrown at us had 15 feet of reach, multiple AOOs, hit our most tanky party member on a 3, and was half-healthing people on every swing with multiple attacks a round. Basically, it was a mathematic improbability for multiple characters to NOT be guaranteed deaths.)
I think 2 and 3 should be talked about together, cause theyre bitching about wanting harder fights, but whining about rulings and rolls being unfair? Naw, thats a losexlose for any DM
That is clearly a rule born out of having many game sessions get delayed because people were showing up late with no reason or apology. It’d be harsh for a new group but fair if there was a chronic problem.
The chat was HILLARIOUS this stream "Wizard dies of d6 late damage" "Late punishment is gym sesh with the Barbarian "My Grandma died... well not good enough reason your not in the group anymore" " 'My balls aren't on fire' - BBEG casting Vicious Mockery on wizard "Owls kills Rogues parents"
IF this is a real post, clearly the DM got some shitty players. the timed rule isn't that bad, i remember my first campaign in 3.5, our group had NINE players AND the DM, at some point the DM used the time rule because the wait time was becoming too much (he wasn't using it right tho...he wasn't a good DM T_T ) also...if a character dies, he dies. sometimes the rolls are a bitch, you don't really need "consent", resurrection magic is a thing, the best you can do is ask the player "hey you want to be resurrected or are you making a new character?"
I'll probably comment as I watch. #4. Yes my DM will regular have pick pockets when we are in crowds. And they could take anything. It adds to a sense of fun grrr moments. And often leads of tangents of catching pick pockets. But damn you can really feel the dms frustration.
Honest question, if you if character can't die in combat unless they are OK with it, then what is the point of running combat at all? There is no consequence for losing a fight. To me, that just sounds boring. Also for me and my players, it would be an insult to their emotional maturity.
As for #2: Why are they (the players) playing a game with lethal combat if you can't handle the character dying? And why are you (the DM) going to ask mid-combat if they're OK with it? I'm not saying that the DM has to set out to kill characters, but if the dice roll the wrong way, or a player does something stupid, then shit happens; deal with it. What you're suggesting _is_ "babying" the players.
Right? I was so surprised at Duke’s take here. At our session 0, I asked my players if they wanted the option of death or preferred to just go unconscious, and all but one said they wanted death, and after playing for a few sessions the last player came around too. It’s not like we have dead characters every session, but it’s always a possibility if a player is too reckless or overestimates their own abilities. Double-checking during combat, especially considering they already have healing, death saves, and so many other options at their disposal seems like excessive coddling.
Yeah, I fully agree with you! I'm not saying that the DM has to set out to kill characters. Actually, about that: as a DM, I do try to kill you (in combat). Because my NPCs want to live, and you want to kill them, they are going to try not to die and to kill you instead! I mean, I don't laugh and actually want to kill my players. But I tell a story, and if I don't try to let the NPCs act according to their agenda, my world will kind of collapse, and nothing will have consequences.
My stance on the acting things out is that you don't necessarily need to do that exactly, but at the bare minimum you should be describing how you intend to make the relevant check and that gives the DM the room to adapt to the roll and describe how the attempt succeeds or fails (a sound logical argument ruined by terrible or potentially even incendiary delivery as an example)
i think the second rule's "twiddle your thumbs" comment wasn't neccesarrily about them not getting to play only that it probably meant your character wouldn't be introduced for a bit since bringing in a new character is easier in towns and populated areas. so twiddling your thumbs may just mean it may take a while for your character to be introduced if you die in a dungeon or in the middle of a forrest. rule 35 i think is fair but i also dont want the player just sitting there being a nuissance so i would give them an NPC or have him help with combat/moving enemies around
I feel like the rules have a backstory. Rule 1: if it is 1 min to decide what to do and the execution is not part of it: OK Rule 2: it feels like it is not meant like "i will kill you but you cant play your 2nd charakter" but more like "if i make it harder you could die and it might take you to get to the next city until your new char can join"
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
0:00: Introduction and Questions
7:32: The List Begins
8:06: Rule 1
12:32: Rule 2
21:29: Rule 3
26:22: Donation Goal Setting
33:41: Rule 4
39:32: Rule 5
39:51: Donation Goal Reached (initial reaction at 40:06)
41:17: Donation Goal Reaction
43:37: Rule 6
50:15: Rule 7
54:04: Rule 8
55:11: Rule 9 (but actually FaintSpeaker's 100 gifted subs)
58:24: Rule 9 (actually)
1:00:35: Rule 10
1:03:32: Rule 11
1:07:02: Rule 12
1:10:37: Rule 13
1:15:45: Rule 14
1:21:41: Rule 15
1:24:26: Rule 16
1:34:00: Rule 17
1:36:00: Rule 18
1:39:21: Rule 19
1:43:25: Rule 20
1:44:30: Rule 21
1:50:06: Rule 22
1:51:39: Rule 23
1:53:54: Rule 24
1:55:38: Rule 25
1:56:35: Rule 26
2:00:42: Rule 27
2:04:47: Rule 28
2:06:54: Rule 29
2:08:09: Rule 30
2:11:43: Rule 31
2:13:27: Rule 32
2:14:07: Rule 33
2:15:30: Rule 34
2:18:19: Rule 35
2:19:10: Rule 36
2:19:26: Rule 37 (except it's Dice Goblins Anonymous)
2:21:05: Rule 37 (actually)
2:24:41: Rule 38
2:26:39: Rule 39
2:27:37: Rule 40
2:28:02: Rule 41
2:28:32: Rule 42
2:29:00: Rule 43
2:29:18: Rule 44
2:29:59: Wrap-Up, Answering the Questions
2:33:34: Outro
Thank you🎉😂
@@ambblackbee1541 My pleasure.
He begins with im timing everyone...then he rants about it for 5 minutes...thats rule 1 u clearly failed
Thanks
My favorite "pointless room" in my dms campaign was a room with nothing but a small chest, a broom, a mop, and a couple barrels, my dumb butt threw my dagger at the chest assuming mimic, then got whapped over the head by an animated broom, my party then entered to me beating the corpse of a broom with my sword cursing at it, and promptly assumed i was crazy, i then had to convince them over the next 4 sessions that i was in fact, not crazy
😭 I'm actually crying reading this lmao
What an amazing "pointless room"
Thats more of a Point room... BECAUSE THE POINT OF THE BROMM WHAPPED YOU!!! 😂😂😂😂.
Sorry i couldn't resist the bad pun
MY CHARACTERS HAD THE EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE
We were running the Death House in Curse of Strahd, one of them (Bard) ran into an Animated Broom and got knocked unconscious in two turns. Our Paladin had to save him while our two Druids were off (smartly) not getting involved.
Just a typical broom closet in a magical mansion
so...fun fact
the poster of this actually deleted the post after redditors dug into his history and found that he bragged about the group giving the DM a bad time
the same DM who wrote all these rules wrote them in response to their own horrible behavior, and it shows
I expected the player posting it was rewording a bunch of things to try and make the DM look bad, but htis was a plot twist I hadn't seen coming. Redditors actually doing some digging instead of knee-jerking is a new one for me, lol.
Yea, nobody creates a list of rules like this unless it is either a complete joke/troll post, or there's a long history bad and toxic behavior at the table.
Personally, I'd love to see the DM in question post the list and site examples of why each rule was created.
@@torgranael yes, they're usually very shallow thinkers. And if you click on the old post, you will still find a lot of those shallow thinkers being smugnorant about what went on here. But littered among them are actually intelligent and perceptive responses who figured out who the real villains here are .
Sounds about right. This entire post DEFINITELY reeks of "I've McFucking had it with y'all."
I figured this out about 4 rules in that the players mistreated this GM to help and this was retaliation.
2:22:00 (Rule 37) I think a better way to put it would be, "I'm your friend, but as a DM I'm not your character's friend."
Yep!
If I see the sheer vitriol in the posts, I believe that the DM meant exactly what he said lol
You formatted the time wrong. That's only 2 minutes into the video, not 2 hours.
Note
There's a reason for the DM going on a Hiatus, apparently in the Reddit post comments it was revealed that the players themselves were that reason, and not only that but they were apparently BEGGING the DM to come around and DM for them again despite not wanting to, and when they finally did, they created these 44 rules *specifically* for this ONE GROUP.
All of these rules seem to have been made because of things that *these* specific players were doing ranging from the destruction of the DM's gear, trying to cheat through the game with their dice rolls or using divination/owls to presumably ALSO cheat the game, and all these other rules, so safe to say that this list of 44 rules was not just a rule list, it was a VERY spiteful "break-up" letter by calling out every single thing the players have done
Also Turns out the reason the poster deleted the tweet was because the internet found a post of the OP bragging about being dicks to this DM. makes all the sense in the world
this dm is also an asshole. he isn't free from judgement cause his players sucked. both dm and players are absolutely awful
If my DM was like this I would brag about pissing him off too.
@@xRussianbishop
@@lahlybird895you didn't understand, the players made him have a bad time on purpose and he started writing these rules because his players were assholes
@@lahlybird895 cool story karen
So on rule 5, my table has an unofficial rule where if the speech is done, we are asked what do you say. If it is a really rousing or intimidating, our Dm holds the right to say no roll needed, that is a success. But if it’s someone not as comfortable, they give the idea they want to convey then roll.
Mine does too.
Isn’t that standard? In my table one of my players is a negotiator. As in he works in company and usually he’s in charge of deals and stuff. He always knows what to say, and cause of that I make DC for those checks low. And he’s not even charisma type class)
@@danzansandeev6033- I honestly think that's what the DM was intending, but the posting player intentionally "misunderstood"
@@danzansandeev6033 I wouldn't allow my players to do that. Because one of my players is a successful business lady who can talk anyone to do anything. I'm protected myself from her silver tongue by the dice.
And yes, she plays a Barbarian.
This is how I run things too. If the speech is good or if the trick or action is clever or creative, I just say you succeed. If an enemy is unable to defend itself in any way, attacks auto succeed as well. If someone were to roll anyway and failed (which happens sometimes and I allow it) I would have to change the situation, like enemy wakes up or breaks out of their constraints. If a player is in an auto succeed scenario, sometimes I have them do a roll just to determine how cool they can do their action.
I don't like when players don't give any context to what they're trying to roll. "I want to investigate." What are you investigating and how? You're not a detective so I can't assume your character will do so like one and just automatically find anything regardless of how good the roll is. Rolling a 20 while staring at a wall won't get you anything.
It sounds to me as if there have been multiple conversations about a lot of these rules and his players continued to exhibit the poor behavior. The rules regarding being late and meta gaming in particular stand out to me here. I think the reason the punishment is so severe is because they've had this discussion multiple times now and he's trying to get across just how serious he is about this.
They fudged around and found out.
Yeah cause if it was first time rules I get it’s a bad DM, but when it is later in the campaign it’s the players.
Plus someone went over the OPs post history and there were a lot of comments about their group trying to make this DMs life hell.
And breaking their stuff is insanely rude
I read the Reddit post in the 1st half hour, didn't comment but left shaking my head.
About an hour later, it was still on my mind as I though "What did you players do to hurt your GM so bad"
According to the other comments, they were serious dicks to him.
Turns out, every single rule is because one of the players pulled some dumb shit
i read the first three rules out to my parents (my dad who dm'd first edition dnd and my mum who has no real knowledge on dnd but is a psychologist) and my mum immediately said that it sounded like a burnt out dm and that they needed a longer break before they came back. tbh i think that this group needs to find new people to dm/play with bc its quite clear theyre not healthy/good for each other.
considering that it was found out that one of the players posted that to further dig at the dm....yeah.
@@xSaraxMxNeffx oh yeah - that is awful tbh
Yeah the OP had comment history about making a DMs life hell and everyone in the party was in on it.
If someone broke my stuff I’d have already left unless it was some accident obviously
Of note, if it was the *player* that submitted this... How big are the odds that they snuck some worse rules in, or changed the wording to make the DM's rules seem worse than they actually were?
It was a player posting this. He deleted his post because people dug up his comment history about making fun of the DM. This is just a classic case of shit players.
14:51 id interpret that as "im not just gonna magic your character into it, therye gonna be introduced organically, which means you may have to wait a couple minutes" but i could be wrong
"My dm just posted this after a hiatus" His players mocked his NPC, ignore his plot hooks, compare his campain to CR, drink, smoke and overall, disrespect him, of corse he need a hiatus my brother in chirst.
My thoughts exactly. It sounds to me like this DM has players who don't want to accept his rulings, don't want to experience consequences for their actions, and generally want to mess around and do whatever they want, both in and out of game. He needs to get some new players.
Pretty sure the DM's list of rules breaks rule 29.
He's setting up this list of rules, not for the players to have fun, but so that they all play D&D by his rules.
This is because, to the DM, D&D is serious business.
Which goes against Rule 29, as written.
Now, if he has to go _this_ far with his players, and his players really are _this_ bad, I figure that he'd be better off with starting over with a whole new group. His players sound like absolute garbage, who are there more to get stoned off their asses than play D&D. They also trashed some of his stuff, lied and gaslit him, and basically ruined the whole experience. As such, if I was in the DM's position, I'd simply call an end to the campaign then and there, and would refuse to give anyone in that party so much as a second glance, let alone a second chance.
That being said, the level of pure spite in these rules makes me feel like spiting the DM in kind. I personally wouldn't consider myself to be a "bad player," but with this list, I would want to do everything I could to maliciously comply with his rulings to _just_ such an extent that I wouldn't get kicked out of the group. However, I'd always be the one rolling skill checks (rule 18), I'd _auto-fail_ those checks for the _whole party_ (Rule 21), I'd constantly be making Wizards with _no_ spell lists (Rule 39), constantly accruing exhaustion/half-health damage (various rules [in particular, I would be showing up exactly _one_ minute late each time, _specifically_ for Rule 13]), swan-dive into every insta-kill trap/mechanic I could (Rule 22), and I would constantly bring a full playlist that's comprised of nothing but the most obnoxious Polka music I could find (Rule 42).
Oh, and every time I lose one of the _several_ Wizards I have written up for that day? I'd ask the DM to help me write a new one. I double and triple-checked his rules, and *_none_* of them say that you can't ask for the DM's help, when it comes to writing new characters (which I will make double and triple-sure is _always)._ The DM can't complain, since I'm following his punishments for breaking his rules, without complaint. In fact, I'm _smiling_ as my fifth character of the day goes down, as that's the fifth character that he'll have to help me replace before tomorrow. If he doesn't like it? All I'm doing is just enforcing the punishment for breaking his rules (far more than he'd desire).
TL;DR: I'm making my own Rule 46, where the DM's spite gets repaid in triplicate. I normally don't try to ruin campaigns, especially not to _this_ extent, but if there's one thing that ticks me off, it's someone being _this_ spiteful, and not expecting to be repaid in kind. I'm not defending his players, as they sound like hot garbage. However, his spite gets my ire far more than the players do, since he could have simply stopped DMing for the toxic group altogether, instead of doubling-down on the toxicity, and trying to nail them with 45 rules of pure spite.
What does CR stand for
@@holdensaia5962 It either means Challenge Rating, or Catatonic Rutabaga. I'll let you decide which.
@@holdensaia5962probably Critical Role
i took this list as someone setting a ridiculous price for a job they don't want to do, like "Sure i'll mow your lawn for $1500 an hour" kind of thing
I believe a lot of people are misreading rule #1. It's not 1 minute to do your entire turn, it's 1 minute to start telling the dm what you are going to do. Doesn't mention a time limit on actually resolving your turn.
Thanks for pointing this out!
When hearing people talk about timed turns, it always frustrates me, since i have mental/neurological issues that make it hard to have complicated turns done fast. But i also always do my best to plan ahead to minimize how it affects the turn
It makes absolute sense to say 'if you cant engage to your turn, you dont get to have it" but i never read it that way till you pointed it out
@@brackencloud well you also have the turns of the other players and monsters to figure out what you're going to do
so with an averag group of 4-6 players, you cna expect at least 5 minutes from their turns, and if enough creatures are involved probably 10 minutes per round to think. so unless you're super early in initiative you should be good
but as a caveat with timed turns, the ruling i prefer instead of skipping is "your character moves(if needed) to attack/cast a catrip at the closest enemy in range, if nothing is in range, dodge action"
@@xolotltolox7626 not sure if you missed my point, but what i was saying is i DO plan what to do before my turn, but all the little details get mixed up in my head, so executing turns with multiple actions or complicated maneuvers leads to pauses as i have to re-remember what/how to do my stuff.
So far I'm at rule 12. If I had this much hostility and this much need for these kinds of rules I'd
A) get new friends.
B) demand more money.
C) get new clients/whatever. People who are beautiful enough to pay a DM and deserve it are surely out there.
D) lash out with wild contempt into an unstoppable onslaught of prompt and immediate violence. It could happen.
e) find a therapist thats cheap. Or a dm that works too
@@pauloandrade925 I didn't say it but since they're written by a DM I'm imagine my need for them would have been as a DM so finding a DM would do nothing. It'd just be 2 DMs who're hugging and weeping due to clearly losing their minds.... And they would definitley need a therapist at that point. Groupon baby!
@@dhotnessmcawesome9747 Hahahahaha yeah
I feel so bad for this GM, because they were being tormented by their players to the point where this rules list was the nicest way of moving forward with the group. Wild shit.
I have a No Orphans rule. My reason is explicit: My players were killing more parents than Disney, and it needed to stop. Like, seriously, *every* character was an orphan, and what few had A parent still alive, that parent wouldn't know they existed, or they're some mysterious figure that could be an antagonist. It just gets SO boring as DM to keep presiding over.
I kind of agree with Rule 2. "If you want harder fights" is really the key here. So what I'm seeing is that the players were ASKING for the DM to crank it up, and then.... the DM did, and they expected to be able to just immediately hop back in the game.
My first character was a rogue. I didn't do the trope of his parents were dead. I went with they were trying to force him to have a lifestyle he hated and he just ran. The best part is that he's a changeling so it was easy for him to hide from them
The reason why we keep making orphans is because the DM keeps screwing with our parents every time we have them.
So if the DM’s going to make us orphans, might as well just make ourselves orphans at the start to save you the effort. 😂
@@Lobsterwithinternet See, I don't do that, because it makes for WAY better scenes. Like, yeah, you almost died fighting a lich, and now your mom's apoplectic about how you could've died.
@@dragonstryk7280 Then you're the exception.
Because many DMs' go-to for creating drama is kidnapping/killing whatever family you have. It gets boring after a while.
@@Lobsterwithinternet I sort of get this. (I'm a DM. I started my circle of players and never get to play myself, as reference) It's sort of DM 101. You let your players have things they care about so you can threaten those things to motivate them. Inherently, it's not really an issue. It's more *how* you do so and how obvious. I.E. Yeah, if every campaign has your daughter or your girlfriend or your mom get kidnapped: boring. But what if...your mom found a new boyfriend who...happens to be working for the bbeg? Maybe he's not even a bad guy, but it could create tension. Or a monster moved into the local caves, and the goblins moved out, but now they're disrupting your merchant parents' trade. You can motivate players easily using things they care about without always going the same route...or you can find other options.
i think the meaning behind "expect to twiddle your thumbs" was 'until we get to a good intro point after the fight'
That's what I was thinking.
Yeah, it’s like, “don’t expect to swap out your dead character with your new one as if the death never happened”. You’re sitting that fight out.
I have to admit, Duke not cursing is such an endearing trait, him going "golly!" makes me so happy
I agree. I prefer not to curse, or associate with those who curse frequently. That said, I think it odd he censors "shit" with "crap". I view both as equal curse words and choose not to use either. Someone using them, in moderation, doesn't bother me much, but it seems strange to substitute one for the other. Seems to imply a view of one being "cleaner" than the other.
@@mentaya11 I was taught that "crap" was like saying "garbage", but I'm not a native speaker so maybe it was wrong
@@mentaya11Two words which can mean the same thing, but “crap” can also mean something more like garbage. Also, vulgarity can vary between words referring to the same thing. You probably don’t view “having sex” and “the f-word but uncensored” as having the same level of vulgarity, but both can mean the same thing and refer to the same action. Just like using the proper term for a sexual organ may be less vulgar than a slang term in some contexts.
@@FentonHardyFan It can mean that primarily because the term and its usage in common parlance, which is, ultimately, how all language evolves. In that, while a literal definition is feces, people do *use* it to say "Don't leave all this **** around". Over time, such meanings change, even for vulgarities. I'm sure some dictionaries, if they use the word at all, would provide both definitions as acceptable usage. Whether the word *itself* is considered vulgar, and how much, is variable. Many people do use it in common language, but I think most would agree it's not the most polite term. I choose not to. It crosses my chosen threshold. I imagine I am in the minority on that, however.
Look I am new to DnD, but even i could understand most of these rules. Most of them are just "Don't be a d-bag" rules. Ok some of them are kinda over the top, but I suspect that it is because these people tried to use them in some unnatural ways and the DM had to put a stop to them, because they could be abusing them. So yeah I feel for the DM. My advice: just don't play with these guys.
Yeah it's a mix between reasonable rules made by a very, very tired GM.
But on the other hand some of these rules are insane, contradictory and openly hostile and yeah, this guy should just not play with these people anymore, and the GM needs to take a long, lomg break before playing with anyone again.
Eh I think everyone is the asshole here. The players were trash yes but the dm clearly isn't good either
Not timing but my DM does have a “please prepare your turn before it comes up” rule. There will always be exceptions though like if the player before you gets in the way of your spell range or suddenly needs healing or something. But having your turn prepared is just basic etiquette.
Yeah, there have been so many times where for the entire round I know exactly what I'm going to do, then the player before me does something that destroys all my plans
My DM loves to add enemies in the middle fights, which can require changing plans on the fly a lot. 😅
@@FentonHardyFan Of course that’s the exception. But most of the time, having a general idea of what you want to do is etiquette
I feel like something that should be acknowledged is that this is clearly a conflict that should NEVER have gone public. While this is definitely a combination of the Players being very antagonistic and the DM being very retaliatory, the fact of the matter is that the Players were the ones who made it public, so GIVEN the background context, I’m more likely to give a bigger side eye the players for airing their group’s dirty laundry when it absolutely didn’t need to be public.
The guy that posted the tuleset was one of the truoble player that got high and drunk and broke stuff in the DM's house and when the DM tried to move away from them through a huatus they begged and moaned for him to run the campaign again and he spitefully sent this rules to them, they posted online as another attempt to bully the DM
@@murilosampaio1264 That’s why I’m side eyeing them, and am more likely to believe the accounts of their shitty behavior. They knew they were in the wrong, and figured to try and get one last hurrah by airing this shit in public. Something that, near as I can tell, did not work after people uncovered the reason certain rules were put in.
@@CmacDaMan09 Yeah, they were dumb enough to be surprised people did not vibe with "breaking your friend's house down", yeah no shit
DM was setting harsh ground rules for a reason. Shit went down in his house andhe was done.
i think the twittle your thumbs was you are going to sit there until we get to town to introduce you not just jump in the middle of the fight
For number 2, I never try to murder my Player's characters, that being said I will also not protect them from what I like to call Deaths by Stupidity, if the players knowingly go into a situation that they know they will probably kill them, then I'm not going to pull my punches, they will face it at full strength.
Death by Stupidity is a good way to say it.
Yeah, for me, that depends on the game. I don't like killing players, so I'd probably find some lesser penalty and save their sorry hides, at least usually. That said, I am planning to run a campaign where character death is likely soon too.
I really appreciate that you kept it constructive, it's nice to have a way to implement rules that people want in a smart and better way
the more we get through this list the more i think this is one abused GM
Re: rule 3:I have had a 3+ hour game against a mini boss who was a freaking mind flayer. I did not roll over a 5 (on a d20) the entire game, where I was the only intelligence based character. It happens. I just relied on buffs and saving throws
2:11:30 While you make a good point, I think the angry GM here is going “I don’t care what your other table did, I’m not going to use the same ruling.”
Edit: XD I shouldve waited a minute!
Personally i think for rule 35, if the person's sheet is lost or ends up unusably damaged then they get a pass once. I would probably have each player update a spare sheet that i keep with the rest of my stuff at the end of each session, so that they have the single back up, however if they use the backup spare sheet, its up to them to provide another spare sheet, if they want another back up.
My players were given the option at the start of the game to leave their sheets with me; all but one of them happily took that option. I keep them in a binder on a bookshelf so they're always ready to use. If we do level ups between sessions, I update the sheets (while talking to the players). They also have the option to keep it digitally (as long as their phones don't become distracting). I think it's reasonable for the DM to say no sheet, no play, but there are ways to make that rule easier to follow.
I think this video has the fairest take about the DM rules. Everyone is so quick to bash the DM without considering what kind of players inspired those rules
"You already have enough dice." That goes against the 11 Yahzick Commandments
1. Find a group of friends who can agree to meet up on the same day.
2. You gotta decide what you want to do. The role that you play is entirely up to you.
3. Never be ambiguous when you can be precise.
4. Don't be mean spirited when you can be nice.
5. There's no such thing as too many dice.
6. Think twice before starting a fight.
7. Make sure you have a rope and a light.
8. Try to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.
9. Pay attention to your story line's dictation.
10. Everything you do has an affect on the narrative.
11. Understanding your character is imperative.
From what I have heard this DM, plays with stoners and drunks that have broken actual things in their house refused to pay for them show constant disinterest in the game and when they do it with complaints distrust and misusing of rules. This DM doesn’t need to make rules he needs to get into fights with these people these are fighting words, bro has been disrespected too much.
My question becomes at that point, why did he come back at all. I understand it can be hard to find a group, but with online options now it seems he should be able to find a new group better than the people wbo inspired these rules.
@@Larper64- probably because they have social anxiety and this is the only group they know
(I've been there)
@@Larper64 he didn't come back. He did a hiatus, they begged him to come back, and these 44 rules are his conditions for returning. Per the actual reddit post
@@robinmohamedally7587 Yeah at that point just ignore them and find better people. Block them or do somthing to keep them away (not to hard with tresspasing and restraining orders) going out like this makes you a DM automaticly no matter if you were treated like shit.
@@Enclave_Sergeant Of course he's a DM. I don't get your point?
Incorrect, I can never have enough dice. My friend made me wooden dice for my birthday and I love them
While I disagree with the rule about deadly fights, I also disagree with Duke's take on this. I don't think you need a player's consent for killing their character. In the same way that stupid decisions or suicidal ones can make it reasonable to kill a character, bad tactical decisions and rolls can pile up and make it reasonable too. If I'm fighting a giant and my character falls at 0 hit points, let me die if I fail my save rolls.
We've got a lot of ways to avoid these PC deaths. Someone may heal the downed character. They may be resurrected if they fail those death saves. You can even have an enemy heal them just to keep them alive and ask the group to surrender if they don't want the PC to die. I'm also a great defender that attacking a downed player should only be done in very rare occasions, because the enemies usually are still fighting the rest of the group, they would prioritize defeating them before making sure every enemy is really dead. There are a lot of ways to reduce the chance of death and to avoid it being a definitive goodbye to the character.
That being said, if I'm fighting a bossfight and my character dies, even if they haven't fulfilled their objectives, their death can be satisfactory. Not only is an appropiately dramatic time for a character's death, it's also a reminder that the PCs are mortals. Removing the death "by chance" and only allowing it with the player's consent makes it feel like there's no real danger. Yeah, I know that if I do something dumb you may say "okay, that was suicidal, so I won't let you survive", but what about less obviously deadly acts? If I fight head on against the troll to avoid him reaching my badly hurt players, are you just going to kill me because it's suicidal? What if the troll was practically dead and I at full health but bad rolls make me loose anyway? Can I tell you that I don't want my character to die yet, removing any sense of danger from the troll's fight?
I get that in most games you wouldn't want to kill a player's character in a normal fight against goblins or something like that. Player's deaths should usually be left for dramatically appropiate moments. But asking for permission? To me, it takes away any stakes. If I know that unless I do something dumb I can ask you not to kill my PC, I know I'm virtually immortal. I won't worry if I see my HP getting really low. I won't feel any urgency when I see another PC fall unconscious. I may not even feel excitement from winning a difficult fight because, in the end, I know it doesn't really matter, because if we lost we would all still be alive and fine.
Yes, DND or any other TTRPG is a narrative-driven game, so narrative is important. Killing a player for a bad roll in an insatisfactory way should usually not be done, because it's ignoring the narrative aspect of the game. But the opposite, asking for permission, is ignoring the game aspect of the game. The game is built upon those two pillars, and the ideal is balanced between them. You shouldn't treat the game like a wargame, but you have HP and death saves because death should still be possible through the game's mechanics, not just by player's choice.
Hey, long time GM here. (I run almost exclusively Star Wars tabletop). I actually agree with you 100%. I appreciate the well written comment. I would add that not every campaign has everything you described. In mine, true death is pretty darn final. No resurrections spells and the like. I also don't like having PCs that I've grown attached to die. As such, I don't think I've ever had a true death of any character that was still playing the game. That said, I never rule it out, either. Usually I'll find some other punishment suitable for the situation.
That said, I am planning to run a campaign where death is not only possible, but probably for at least some of the characters during a particularly brutal war. In approaching this I fist asked prospective players if they would be interested in playing such a campaign. Not everyone wants to play Dark Souls, after all, and everyone should be having fun with a game they want to play. Second, I told them we needed to prepare at least 2 characters for each player, so that if and when someone dies it won't derail the game. Third, I fully intend to play to the narrative as said above. If someone dies, it will be epic. Standing alone against an enemy army, letting the rest of the party and the refugees escape to safety, they channel the Force through them, doing things they never thought possible before feeling it burn them away from the inside. So, to an extent, they will likely know death is imminent.
That's just my two cents. Like I said, I actually agree with your assessment.
My old group was awful about ordering food so I relate to 30. I was one of the few people who would either eat dinner beforehand or grab food on the way over to eat immediately once there and then be ready to play, but most people not only would show up incredibly late(I'm talking two to three hours), but as soon as they walked in the door they were ordering food or running back out as a group to go get food and bring it back, which just held the game up even worse. And I lived nearly an hour away and couldn't stay until the usual 2-3 in the morning because I had to get a few hours of sleep in before I got up at 6 for work.
Did I mention I was the voice of reason? Imagine the Voice of Reason leaves at midnight and in the next two hours you F- it up so bad that when she comes back you have the gall to say "So we did something stupid, wish you were here to stop us."
Well if you ate in a timely manner and arrived in a timely manner maybe things would be different.
For real!! Sometimes, as a player who has ADHD and arrives late (like 15 min max) I'll order food for EVERYONE because I feel bad. And I'll let them know about being late/food!
Just wanted to say, that you made my day today. I had a terrible time until I saw that your livestream was up and now I am so much better. Thank you so much :-)
So happy to hear that!
I'm taking DM side on this.
Change those players mate. They don't deserve you.
Rule 2: I disagree with the player deciding when they die if it's due to their dice rolls or decisions. Zero hits, 3 failed death saves, at best you're getting some last words once someone can get to you or start digging through pockets/embark on a quest for a ressurection
Exactly! I really didn't like what Duke said. At that point I would play a lower risk game
"So the dragon your charged into as a lvl 2 character predictably oneshots you. May I please kill your character? No? Ok, you only get a slight sunburn from the scorching flames and wake up after the fight.". Pathetic. Just do improv if fights mean nothing.
At my table we have a "injury system" which is, I think, is a good compromise - you don't really die (if its not a teamwipe which is rare) but you roll a die to learn the consequences. Once my first-level gnome ranger distracted ogre all by himself while party was busy by orc gang around the corner and got absolutely obliterated (I mean, five turns without boss was a huge deal) but we won that encounter so I "just" got permanent brain damage (-1 INT). It wasn't that big of a deal, but I just got lucky - it could be a missing leg or arm which would be quite dire, suffice to say
@@SiPistolathat's not what he said though? Like he explicitly said it was in the event of like, bad rolls, not a player doing something stupid. Like maybe just how I interpreted it but it seemed he meant like "if you go down I'm not gonna have npcs attack your downed character and kill them." Like I assume you'd still have to make death saves and stuff like that.
@@DJ.The.Tiger25 Yeah, I also interpret it as “I’ll kill you without you making saving throws” which is petty and kinda toxic
My biggest thing that I don't agree with you on is character death. If the character can't die in a fight without their permission, that hurts tension and breaks immersion. That being said, if your players are about to do something really stupid, "So to clarify, you wish to go up to the Legendary creature at LEVEL 4! and attack? Are you sure?" if they say yes that is on them.
This, but i'd also add, "If the GM/Player thinks it will serve the story to kill a character, then it needs to be with GM/Player consent", A sacrificial player character can have more impact than a sacrificial NPC, both as a story element to create tension, and immersion, also a gentle reminder that their characters are not immortal (unless the setting has them as immortal), but to do it well you need a player who is ok with doing it and can do it, they need to play that character as if they want to keep it.
Yeah, his opinions on character death are the exact opposite of every person I've ever known's opinion of ruling. Why would you have to give consent to kill a PC in combat? It should be assumed that that is a possible consequence of any combat. If people want a deathless campaign, that needs to be a discussion at session 0, not in the middle of combat. Also, if your character dies, why would your second character be able to immediately jump into combat? That makes no mechanistic or narrative sense for the game. If I've prepped 5 characters, can I just keep rotating them out when they die until I kill the boss monster?
@@thomasdegroat6039 the rotation of characters on a death can work, but it has to be done at the right time in the right circumstances, i.e. it serves the narrative of the story or a hand of GM resurrection serving the narrative, but either the whole group needs to know beforehand or the player.
example of the first is session zero of "the all guardsmen party"
example of the second is a player wants to multiclass into cleric at some point but hasn't been the most religious, they go down in combat, deity saves them, boom set up for multiclassing into cleric, other players get the "Oh shit" moment and the "Oh damn" moment and a reminder that deities exist in your setting and can act on their own bidding.
@@MrTrilbe I agree but that's a pretty niche situation that would require agreement between the player and DM beforehand and would not normally occur in regular gameplay, unlike what One Questers Questers was suggesting.
@@thomasdegroat6039 yeah, I guess, but I think GMs and players are I wouldn't say lacking imagination, because they're not, maybe missing opportunities to use unusual situations and options to start the game off or ways to rp changes, I don't know it could just be my dislike of the "you all meet in a tavern" start and the optimised build with no in character reason, other than "cool abilities". But each to their own, my idea of a good game differs from others and that's fine.
And that rules are the reason why i stopped dm dnd.
I think i have experienced like 30 of the scenarios in there
With rule 2, one of my DMs has that rule as a condition of him DMing. It makes his games very intense. Our group is down for it, but I know not everyone is.
Part of the fun of hard encounters is that death is a real risk, so winning the encounter with no casualties is so much sweeter, and loosing someone is so much more dramatic. The DM shouldn't be deliberately trying to kill the party, but if a pc death happens that's fine.
If the player isn't ready for the pcs story to end, give the party a chance to revive them.
Without the possibility of death and failure I lose interest in running and playing the game.
Yaeh, honestly when he was commenting on the rule and said that PC death should have player consent in order to happen....i just wanted to puke and stopped watching the video entirely. I'd NEVER DM for a group Who just wants their hands to held for the whole adventure and also demand to have plot armor...yuck
@@gianlucaguidotto8920 I'm like...
That... That isn't a GAME ANYMORE 🤣
If it's just roleplaying at a table and writing fan fiction you can DO THAT 😅
Shit there are even narrative based systems for those kinds of games
Why butcher D&D into something it isn't?
Why say "I love this game" then ignore half the rules ? 😅
@@gianlucaguidotto8920 That was my response as well. Death happens as part of the game, that's what makes it tense at all, without it, what the heck are you even doing?
No offense but that play group sounds awful to deal with and that DM is a saint for even dealing with their nonsense. Rule 13/14 says a LOT if you have to make it that explicit. These rules didn’t come out of thin air, they came out because the group is toxic af. These consequence are extreme because the group is so bad that they’re late all the time
The fact there is a dickhead in this comment section siding with the straight up bullies of players is disgusting
THANK YOU for pointing out that this whole post smells of toxicity on both sides. I've played with groups where shit started to feel like this as a DM and it's usually problem players with a DM who's bad at communication that leads to these horror stories. It's rarely ever on one party unless someone is being stupidly unreasonable (like if someone starts sexually harassing people, that is clearly just a bad apple.)
Personally I do not agree the Duke's point of avoiding character deaths. I enjoy tough fights where the threat of death/defeat is there.
So, I do not enjoy a DM making it so that you can not die unless you specifically say so. If a player makes a tactical blunder or gets full of themselves feeling that they are invincible, I feel that the DM has the right to punish them.
I think with rule 2 it was already a situation where the players were wanting harder fights then complaining if their characters were killed/knocked unconscious and thus they had to wait for the fight to finish at minimum to join again
I took it that way too. I'm thinking of starting up a harder campaign where character death will likely happen. I chose a different approach.
1: Say what I am thinking and see if the players *want* that sort of campaign
2: Tell them to prepare at least 1 back up character from the start, so no crises mid-session
3: make sure that any deaths feel epic and heroic. If the player is going to die, they should still be afforded that feeling of being cool and epic as they do it.
I feel like this was real because, though still stern af, you can see the rage levels calm ever so slightly the further along the list got.
~_~
1:21:00 Yeah, this was definitely an endpoint, not something he threw out there early on just to be a dick. This is a key example of why there needs to be communication not only between the players but with the DM as well, and that is a two-way street. You're supposed to be there to have fun but there does need to be a little discipline insofar as basic etiquette and gameplay are concerned, and if people just aren't there to play and the game is suffering as a result, it can easily turn into a shitstorm. This strikes me as a group that has been together for at least a little while and the DM, trying not to cause problems, just let things happen until he needed a break; then, when he comes back, he starts stressing over all the problems with the players and just blows up over it. This was very much an angry post, not a logical one, even though there are some very good points in it.
One thing I do have to mention is the need to be aware of mental health issues or other things going on outside the game, as these can have a significant effect on gameplay as well as the general well-being and entertainment of the group as a whole. That includes the DM as well. He obviously took a break from this and came back to write these rules, so it seems that he was legit affected just as well. And while some people might not be as assertive and won't talk as much or interact as much for whatever reason, or maybe they can't effectively communicate issues they might be having, I think people need to at least have some level of awareness even just to the point of checking on their fellow players and DM from time to time. A simple "how are you doing today" could be enough, but also consider your dnd group could be your support network.
So while some of the rules are a bit out there, if not in the rules themselves then in how they're enforced or just how they're worded, I do agree that having some rules and boundaries as well as at least a modicum of communication and awareness can go a long way to making a game and group that much better. And you have to have a little sympathy or understanding because life should always come first. That's how it typically is in the forum RP communities, and that's how it should be in dnd as well. But also, if you're there to play a game, play the game in the best way that you can and try to be fair to everyone, not just yourself.
Also, dunno who needs to hear this, but you're amazing and you totally slay.
Yeah, I hear this. I had an abusive player, would attack me on a personal and emotional level. Thing was, it was subtle and I'm not even sure intentional, even now. He'd be very friendly about it. The big problem was, I had a boss doing the same thing. I couldn't see it there either. i was too close. It took other coworkers stepping in to see what I was receiving was, in fact, abusive, though I kept defending her. Then the explosion at work, her bosses (sort of) firing her over the reports that started elsewhere and then came to me. It was only after that that I started to really recognize what I was getting from my player had been, in fact, the same.
Business calls, texts, emails, etc. during your time off is so annoying. That happened to my son when we took a short trip in March.
Thank you for leaving this up! It's always interesting when toxic people claim someone else is toxic for standing up for themselves.
honestly from the vibes of this, after listening to all the rules, this is a dm who loves the game, who used to love dm-ing, but has been so worn down and burnt out by these players that they can’t take it any more, and it made them lose passion for the game. clearly there has been either very little communication happening or the players have been so dismissive of the dm setting boundaries that the dm’s communication has been ignored.
I had a bad interaction with some players that resulted in me leaving DMing entirely for a few years. Part of the problem was my lack of confidence in myself after it. I was never sure how much was my own fault and I blamed myself. Another was an abusive player who was hitting me in the same place as an abusive boss at the time. I was too close to it and could not see either for what it was until others started opening my eyes to the fact that what my boss was doing was unacceptable.
For rule 13, if your late with not good reason or no snacks then there should be consequences.
Wizard: "Hey guys, sorry im alte just forgot to check the time" //dies from 1d2 late damage
he start reading at 7:34 btw
Rule #19: Instead of Vicious Mockery, I would compare it more to getting SAN-damage for trying to tap into information from a higher dimensional plane🙂
From the rules alone….sounds like the worst group of humans attended this DM’s group💀🤷♀️
I don’t blame this dm for laying down the law, seems fair to me🤷♀️
Regarding rule 18, there are checks that every character can choose to make if they are present in the scene such as perception or insight. As to specific actions like persuasion, if multiple players want to do them at the same time I try and pick the second best role; 12, 14, 16, 12 means picking the 14. If they do it one after the other, because the first failed, I set a higher DC and/or ask the second player to come up with a different method.
To take the guard example out of the lifestream, first character tries to persuade them by getting all chummy and friendly with the guard but fails the roll. The second PC tries a persuasion roll but rather than going smooth talker, they offer the guard 3 silver pieces to let them pass.
Also, using the same example, there are other ways to get past the guard. If those two persuasions fail, the fighter or barbarian can try to intimidate the guard in letting them pass. Same end result, different method. But again, I'd set a higher DC and at a certain point, if they failed too many times for my liking, I simply explain to my players that they've tried everything to get past this guard and failed to do so and to find another way.
Also keep in mind that all of this was posted by one of the potentially rude players to make him look bad and not the DM himself. That seems a bit messed up if you ask me.
I am not certain how bad this group was, but apparently there was an incident involving an owl.
Hey if you're going to turn these rules into a skit. Why not make it easier on yourself by making it a small series of videos covering 11 rules each. Given how the rules slowly sound angrier and angrier. Perhaps each episode has you looking more disheveled and beaten up by an abusive player group that are taking advantage of you.
Honestly it sounds like this DM and their players just have absolutely no trust in each other, which is not a good thing for a group and hopefully they solved that or broke up. At that point you’re not playing together, you’re playing against or in spite of each other
Apparently the DM left. The players kept trying to drag him back and this was his response. These were his conditions to keep DMing for them.
At 26min. You should make the comedy sketch on what you think prompted the rule to be made. What outrageous things did this group do that caused such crazy rules to be made?
I'm not giving my players consent to die. If they fail their death saving throws and don't have any way to save their character, they're dying.
That's reasonable. It's how I play too. I'd encourage you to have that be a discussion point before the first session though. That's the type of thing not everyone is on the same page on and the goal is for everyone to have fun.
i've DM'd hundreds of games and played in hundreds more and I've never run into anyone who was so uptight about character deaths. I tend to play with heavy RPers and even they understand death is part of the world and the story and would be appalled if I broke immersion to ask if killing them was okay when they just ran into the Kobold Warren despite all the warnings. The only people I could ever conceive would need this time of coddling would be brand new players or children.
Bring a second character sheet doesn't necessarily mean the new character will just magically appear to jump in the same round as the previous character dies.
If the players play badly in combat and they can't handle their characters dying and say "I do not consent to dying" then there are no meaningful rules or stakes and the player is playing the wrong game.
Rule 5: I actually agree with. "I persuade the guard", "what do you persuade them to do exactly?". I don't mind players who are third person the entire time, but I'd at least like to know what they're intending, plus it also lets me understand how much the player understands what is going on so I can give extra info or check in if they think this NPC is someone else.
Do you have the same expectations for history checks of the palyer being able to remember any in game lore they have heard in the past, or have them do some quick cardio if they do an athletics check to do something? Characters, especially those with high stats are likely to have a better understanding than the players themselves would have in those same situations. Requiring a player to have to replicate social skills in order for them to work is comparable to doing the same for other skills. If you think it would be absurd to require a player to do a standing cartwheel everytime they do an acrobatics check or provide a mathematical proof for thermodynamics in order to use arcana to recognize a spell, then it would be equally absurd to require a person who may lack real social skills to act out persuading someone, or a meek person intimidating someone.
@@Larper64- YES, I would have the same expectations.
Tell me *specifically* what you want to know.
Otherwise, I could end up telling you something entirely irrelevant.
And you end up upset, and blame me as the DM.
YOU are playing; YOU are the only person who can tell me what YOU need to know
@@Larper64 sounds like a pretty lazy and worthless player, tbqh. "YOU baby me! I am a special person, because my mommy told me so! YOU do everything FOR me! I just have to show up! Now wipe my bottom! WWAHHHH!"
@@robinmohamedally7587
Gotcha you want to break down a door using your character's strength, I expect you to deadlift 400 pounds to prove your character is strong enough.
@@Larper64 You're being obtuse on purpose. Its a SOCIAL game about social encounters and social play. Also, he isnt asking for super crazy voice acting or anything super clever, just asking how hes persuading him. Blackmail, intimidate, promising a favor, bribe? Lots of options with lots of potential implications that honestly the dm should know, and it what makes the game half as fun as it is.
Honestly, I WOULD ask the same for a strength check. If my fighter tells me hes gonna use strength to break down the door, I WILL ask him how he does it. Using his greatsword to chop through the wood, or smashing the hinges his armored foot? At worst it only adds a bit of fun character, at best it ACTUALLY changes the outcome. (the wood could be magically enchanted, for example but not the hinges.)
Yes, you can't expect everyone to voice-act, I don't at all. But players should input some amount of active choice in their decisions, to not JUST roll for what stat is appropriate. Its just a little bit of engagement is all I'm asking, 99% of players can do that.
The thing about good role play. My group once failed a deception check, but the guard was so amused by the con we tried to pull that he let us through anyway. Much better way to insensitive role play than demanding it.
I love seeing how many DM's are psychotic types with a power trip, and I'm running with a DM who I was worried would become one because he's a very opinionated fella with some weird personality quirks, and he's turned out to be such a gem of a DM.
He's learning as much as the rest of us, he's open to homebrew rules, but keeps enough core mechanics that we can refer to the set rules, he sets up a deep and challenging narrative, but lets us make our own decisions and has even said outright he doesn't want to guide us too heavily since we're making this story together.
Greatest example is that he's set enough high DCs that basically all of us have almost killed ourselves and one another by rolling low, but last session he rolled low on a goblin attacking my wizard, the goblin whiffed his scimitar swing, tripped, and landed F.D.A.U in front of me, I think he also fell on his own sword, but as I had already burned my spell slots for the day fighting the Bearbug leading the goblins, I figured I'd see if I could use 1,000 Years of Death on the Goblin.
DM rolled(found out after the session it was a 2), tells me with a shit eating grin that I can roll 2d20 for my attack, DM says dex not an issue as the vulnerable goblin booty is like 2 feet in front of me and the goblin is staggered, I roll and with modifiers it's somewhere around 30( I'm a level 1 wizard at this point and this goblin has lower HP than me)
DM JUMPS UP AND DECLARES THE GOBLIN IS ROCKETED INTO THE CEILING OF THE CAVE, HITTING IT'S HEAD ON A HANGING ROCK, FALLS ABOUT 60 FEET BACK TO THE GROUND, DYING IMMEDIATELY FROM THE IMPACT!!!!!
When we were all chatting in the discord later, DM tells me that he was so stoked that I'd pose such a ridiculous idea that he was going to make sure I got the roll no matter what, so when he rolled a 2 on the goblin, he gave me 2d20 to give me a 99% chance of success, but still enough of a chance that it could go bad for me(which I think would've been hysterical too)
Sorry for the rant, but I wanted to give the cliffnotes so everyone could see that there are still fun DMs out there that just want to work with their players to make a good story.
We've even been discussing finding a way to make our bard immortal so he carries on all the pain and all of the lore of this campaign as an NPC or an item in future campaigns.
I want him to stay alive but become jaded by the deaths of his friends and carry on my spellbook when I'm inevitably smoked by a heavy attack, but our DM and a few of the group have been leaning heavily towards turning his head into an enchanted bag of holding that just keeps talking smack and telling the stories of the current lineup.
I'd PREFER my idea, but I'm open to anything at this point because we've had so much fun just hitting ideas from left field.
This is great. It's always fun to hear stories of players (especially new ones) still carrying on the tradition and having a good time. I'm glad you're working well with your DM.
41:00
if the RP is good and the roll is bad, they are intimidated, but it doesn't do much. Like a guard doesn't let you through but they are shaking and backing away, but they don't shout for help just because you had a 1
This guy genuinely said a player should decide when and how their character dies then what is the challenge that's so incredibly dumb its invincibility
58:10 yeah we're here to read, but more importantly to read with you. I appreciate the pauses where you speak with chat and get emotional. No need to rush.
I will say, if you tell your players at the start that they should expect they’re characters to die, then that’s also fine for them to just die in combat. At that point they’ve been warned and should be prepared to lose people
So, with his discussion of how he handles player death reminds me of when my party in Highschool did a Halloween one off campaign, I normally run pretty casual when I DM, lax rules, lower stakes, it's more about the roleplay and story for me, but one of them kept trying to cause trouble with the creepy butler in a manor they were summoned too, and eventually I let them fight him, only to reveal the spoiler that the butler was Death himself (Which I intended to reveal at the end but they pushed me), let's just say that player was glad this was a one off
*Me and my bag that holds bags of dice* I do not have enough dice how dare you.
I feel like number 2 was meant to be, if you die in middle of combat you can't just immediately introduce your new character and start blasting (or play their identical twin with the same sheet).
Edit - I once played with a guy who just changed the first letter of his character name after death. He was scarily attached to that character.
Number 19, a couple of sessions ago I literally said, 'player' is very worried about this, but 'character' wouldn't be, so he eats all the food that the completely innocent old lady offers him.
VLDL has a D&D logic series that has that exact player; a dwarf wizard with infinite brothers. It is my biggest pet peeve for players to pull something like that between campaigns.
@@rob.3143 we all thought he was just doing a bit at first. But nope exact same character except the one letter of his name
@@rob.3143oh no! My identical twin brother Zalgrim! Dead, as I live and breathe! I, Valgrim the great, swear to avenge thee!
@@rob.3143 Seems like, even if the stats were the same, the experiences wouldn't be. An experienced and proficient roleplayer could make that work, conditionally. For example, one campaign I've always wanted to run is a Star Wars Clone Commando campaign. All players start with the same stats (They are clones of each other) but are different *people*. Perhaps one has a bit more heavy weapons training or another with demolitions, but that's about it. The key is to find experienced roleplayers that aren't bogged down by that and can interact with each other despite that as their experiences start to vary their sheets.
15:43 I had a simple single yeti encounter, and I love using inspiration as a tool when I DM since we currently don't have a bard in our group for bardic inspiration so I was pretty lenient on when I gave it out. It was the middle of a blizzard and I attacked everyone pretty fairly as most of my players are new. The dice gods weren't in their favor that night. The cleric was the only one dealing consistent damage because sacred flame is a good cantrip. When the Rogue went down, I scared the living daylights out of her because she failed her death saves twice(nat 1). She had a damn near anxiety attack, but I was able to calm her down after a couple of minutes of meta-game talking and maybe a 15 minute break (everyone goes through that first character attachment I thought). In my eyes for this experience, I had successfully accomplished the fear of death that I felt every new player should experience, but never was the goal a TPK. To me, that's what boss fights are for depending on the monster or villain. So far, things had been going their way and I had given them a false sense of security and they felt invincible so I kinda felt proud as much as I felt a little bad. I told her when it was her turn that she could give herself advantage with her inspiration or gamble with the one die with a 50/50 chance of death and raised the stakes as it hadn't come up yet for a need to address death yet of needing a new character if she dies.
Mind you, she had BADLY wanted to save inspiration for a potential crucial moment in the investigation, so I put her in a pickle. Eventually, the group had her relent and use the inspiration to get a nat 20 and eventually stabilize😮💨.
Edit: After the session, she told me that despite her initial reaction, she appreciated the adrenaline rush and was okay with not knowing that she could potentially die. Because of the encounter, not only did she become an Arcane Trickster at level 3 taking Silvery Barbs to cripple my monsters, but now all the players at my table are scrambling to have backup characters. Not every time as it'll lose its effect, but every now and then I want to tease the idea of death with deadly encounters and watch my players squirm a little. Just waiting to throw their first spellcasting enemy at them 😈
I have an alternative for rule 13: “The game will start at the scheduled time with or without you. If you arrive late, your characters starting level will not be adjusted
Meanwhile in the campaign I'm in the party just followed my barbarian rogue with an int and wis of 8 through a portal that, what is possibly the bbeg, opened with no thought to his own health. This was all because he said he "saw the sky running" and it led to an attack that was happening
For #2 I don't believe a DM should go in planning to kill the players unless there is clearly a way for the players to back out. I believe that there should be a discussion with the players but that discussion should happen in the form of the scenario. If they don't walk away when it's right there for them then so be it.
I love how surprised Duke was that his goal of 440 bucks combined was demolished by chat in the span of like 5-10 minutes. Like, he couldn't believe people would want it so much.
Yes. Yes, we do
If you think a minute is too short to decide what you going to do on your turn, remember that your character probably has seconds.
I do half agree this is a game so it makes sense that the players don't have to think at the speed of the in world combat but I do think people forget that DnD combat is actually pretty fast and that the PCs don't have much more then like 6 seconds to decide what to do.
@@matijasostojic4288Neither do they have the ability to read each other’s minds and seamlessly coordinate themselves in combat on the fly.
@@Lobsterwithinternet That's why I said half agree but still, let's atleast try to remember that we don't actually have like 5 minutes to decide what to do (Rolls not included).
@@matijasostojic4288personally I allow people to coordinate a bit sure it’s only 6 seconds but we are talking about seasoned warriors/spellcasters here they for sure have more combat sense than average modern day workers which most of us are. My rule of thumb is as long as other players won’t deciding actions for their friends I allow them to think and coordinate a bit before saying “okay you need to be a bit faster it’s only 6 seconds turns”
Many of those rules makes total sense, you know the times that my players just roll , and i ask why you roll? Because im persuasive, dude this its not a videogame
I'm not gonna act ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'll try to explain what happens/what the goal is but I'm not fkin acting lol
@@JenIsHungry that's fine, that was never the point. Just don't say "21. Did i do it?" at least don't be a lazyass and put SOME sort of effort into it. "I try to convince him to ___-__", like you said. NO one wants to play with a boring lazyass
@@JenIsHungry See, that's the type of thing to discuss with the DM before the first session. What are your expectations and what does the DM expect of you. Your stance is totally reasonable, but everybody needs to be on the same page for what they want on that sort of thing.
wasnt there a video/stream where he said he was contacted by one of the players? what happened to that, i wasn't able to see it
1:44:27 I get this in that if a player is trying to tell you how to run a monster but its an unusual variant or homebrewed. However a dm can should be challenged at times
A one minute short for the 1 minute turn would be great! You could loop it so the end is going to the next player at the end, and the DM asking what they do at the beginning
My only rule. If you get so drunk IRL that you are being a problem we call it a night
We like to let the dice just do what they do which can make some interesting things happen. Most recent was a character with basically no will save passing 4 saves in a row against something we were meant to run from and instead got a minor artifact we were 100% not supposed to have. Only once have I seen a truly unfair thing happen, and it got retconned after I explained the math. (Basically, the enemy thrown at us had 15 feet of reach, multiple AOOs, hit our most tanky party member on a 3, and was half-healthing people on every swing with multiple attacks a round. Basically, it was a mathematic improbability for multiple characters to NOT be guaranteed deaths.)
I think 2 and 3 should be talked about together, cause theyre bitching about wanting harder fights, but whining about rulings and rolls being unfair? Naw, thats a losexlose for any DM
14 is wild " if you don't show up once, i will make sure you don't want to show up ever again by nerfing your character"
That is clearly a rule born out of having many game sessions get delayed because people were showing up late with no reason or apology. It’d be harsh for a new group but fair if there was a chronic problem.
Rule 37- "I'm your friend , but i'm not your character's friend." It is a better way to say this one.
Damn. Chat beat me to it😅
The dungeon master should ABSOLUTELY be able to kill a chatter without consent. Are you freaking kidding me? If there's no threat, what's the fun?
The chat was HILLARIOUS this stream
"Wizard dies of d6 late damage"
"Late punishment is gym sesh with the Barbarian
"My Grandma died... well not good enough reason your not in the group anymore"
" 'My balls aren't on fire' - BBEG casting Vicious Mockery on wizard
"Owls kills Rogues parents"
IF this is a real post, clearly the DM got some shitty players.
the timed rule isn't that bad, i remember my first campaign in 3.5, our group had NINE players AND the DM, at some point the DM used the time rule because the wait time was becoming too much (he wasn't using it right tho...he wasn't a good DM T_T )
also...if a character dies, he dies. sometimes the rolls are a bitch, you don't really need "consent", resurrection magic is a thing, the best you can do is ask the player "hey you want to be resurrected or are you making a new character?"
The questions at the beginning feels like im back in school lmao
Glad that my first 2 superchat were for you
I'll probably comment as I watch.
#4. Yes my DM will regular have pick pockets when we are in crowds. And they could take anything. It adds to a sense of fun grrr moments. And often leads of tangents of catching pick pockets. But damn you can really feel the dms frustration.
Honest question, if you if character can't die in combat unless they are OK with it, then what is the point of running combat at all? There is no consequence for losing a fight. To me, that just sounds boring. Also for me and my players, it would be an insult to their emotional maturity.
As for #2: Why are they (the players) playing a game with lethal combat if you can't handle the character dying? And why are you (the DM) going to ask mid-combat if they're OK with it? I'm not saying that the DM has to set out to kill characters, but if the dice roll the wrong way, or a player does something stupid, then shit happens; deal with it. What you're suggesting _is_ "babying" the players.
yep 100%, that is wild that so many people are okay with that. It's just a stupid concept for a GAME that is about trying to SURVIVE.
Right? I was so surprised at Duke’s take here. At our session 0, I asked my players if they wanted the option of death or preferred to just go unconscious, and all but one said they wanted death, and after playing for a few sessions the last player came around too. It’s not like we have dead characters every session, but it’s always a possibility if a player is too reckless or overestimates their own abilities. Double-checking during combat, especially considering they already have healing, death saves, and so many other options at their disposal seems like excessive coddling.
Yeah, I fully agree with you!
I'm not saying that the DM has to set out to kill characters. Actually, about that: as a DM, I do try to kill you (in combat). Because my NPCs want to live, and you want to kill them, they are going to try not to die and to kill you instead!
I mean, I don't laugh and actually want to kill my players. But I tell a story, and if I don't try to let the NPCs act according to their agenda, my world will kind of collapse, and nothing will have consequences.
I didn't expect to come out of this sympathizing with the DM, yet here we are.
My stance on the acting things out is that you don't necessarily need to do that exactly, but at the bare minimum you should be describing how you intend to make the relevant check and that gives the DM the room to adapt to the roll and describe how the attempt succeeds or fails (a sound logical argument ruined by terrible or potentially even incendiary delivery as an example)
I’m no dice goblin, I have a single set I use. There’s no superstition, dice are swingy.
i think the second rule's "twiddle your thumbs" comment wasn't neccesarrily about them not getting to play only that it probably meant your character wouldn't be introduced for a bit since bringing in a new character is easier in towns and populated areas. so twiddling your thumbs may just mean it may take a while for your character to be introduced if you die in a dungeon or in the middle of a forrest.
rule 35 i think is fair but i also dont want the player just sitting there being a nuissance so i would give them an NPC or have him help with combat/moving enemies around
I feel like the rules have a backstory.
Rule 1: if it is 1 min to decide what to do and the execution is not part of it: OK
Rule 2: it feels like it is not meant like "i will kill you but you cant play your 2nd charakter" but more like "if i make it harder you could die and it might take you to get to the next city until your new char can join"