On Being a Cruel Bastard
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There are some mean, brutal DMs out there.
Not that that’s a bad thing, but I’ve seen some mean, mean DMs. Over at Save vs. Death, Sersa likes to run something he calls “Hardcore D&D 4e”. Basically, his games consist of every horror story you heard about “old-school” gaming: death-traps, swinging pendulum blades, poisonous gasses filling a room you can’t escape.
I’ve never had the opportunity to play in a game where we were basically expected to have a character in reserve. I think, in a bit of masochistic way, I kind of want to play or, the dark machinations of my mind turning, run a game like that.
Perhaps I could pull out my Hackmaster books and run something, but I already don’t have a group, and I think it would be even harder to convince some people to be willing to have a DM who actively wants to destroy them.
I really do love the stories of Knights of the Dinner Table, especially when the “coupon wars” broke out between player and DM.
I have found, with Encounters, that I don’t mind actually sticking it to the players a little. Last week, when beset upon by some fire elementals, the monsters were throwing fire around the room, and I actively made sure to place them where it would most disrupt the players, while I blasted back one hero directly into some fire. I think I feel a bit safer considering that the players can just come back next week without any problem.
Who else out there (besides Sersa of course) sees a challenge in actually fighting the players?
It’s tough out there. The players have to be in on it 100% or else it doesn’t work, and it’s hard to find willing folks outside of a convention setting. Delves and Cons are usually my go-to place for 4EhXc, though I’m blessed with a weekly game that’s pretty fourthcore.
Thanks for the linklove, btw.
Sersa V´s last [type] ..Trap Themes Part 3 of 5- Psionic Wards
You raise an interesting point regarding a challenge fighting the players.
Of course as DM it’s our job to challange the players. But towards the end of my last 3e campaign and in my current 4e campaign, I found it very difficult to actually threaten the player characters with death. This has imporved slightly with the errata’d 4e damage by level.
If you follow the encounter building guidelines in 3e or 4e the chances of actually killing a PC are almost nonexistant. They have to really mess up strategically or else be out of spells or resources – in which case you’ve probably run them through more encoutners than is recommended in the encounter building guidelines.
Of course, this is my experience. I’m dealing with players who have been playing for 15 years on the average, so they don’t tend to do anything really stupid. But in 10 years of running 3e and 4e games every week I have only killed PCs by luring them away from the rest of the party or when they boned a save on an instant death spell.
Therefore, I submit that when you use the guidelines in the DMG you aren’t actually challenging the players. By which I mean that the PCs aren’t REALLY in danger of dying.
In my current 4e campaign I’ve loosened up my encounter planning. I’m now building my encounters like I did in basic D&D. They might fighting a single chimera just because I want to have them fight one – it’s not a “real” encounter for a full party, but it’s fun and the fight doesn’t take all night. If they go to the evil duke’s castle and start a fight, they’re going to eventually get killed by the army of giants he’s amassed.
And my inspiration for changing my game was definately the Tower of Gygax at GenCon. I had so much fun knowing my character could actually die at any moment – and surviving to see what’s in the next room.
Therefore, I say bring on the cruel bastard! Characters die, but the game continues.
Anyway, thanks for the nice post!
I’m not a particularly vicious DM — at least insofar as I’m the DM that my core group who doesnt really have horror stories about — but I’m brutal about not fudging rolls.
Still, while I’ve often entertained playing brutal, I haven’t the heart to do it because of one of our players. She once had a dream that I killed her character and for about a week or so, she wouldn’t look at me.
She said she understood that it was just a dream, but the vividness of it made it difficult for her not to resent me. At least the nightmare DM version of me.
Matthew Arcilla´s last [type] ..A Guide to Polyhedral- Double Damage
I think I’d like to run (and frankly, like to play) a game where DM and players agree at the outset, “This is gonna be bloody. Characters will die, tears will be shed, prepare for the pain.” Of course, if it’s going to be that kind of game, you’d have to establish the contract out in front. In a game I ran where I decided to blow the challenge up through the ceiling, I sprang it on the players… and they revolted (“My lord, the players are revolting.”). Rather a fair reaction, as the course of the game changed mid-stream.
[...] On Being a Cruel Bastard: Mark from Dice Monkey contemplates taking the plunge into hardcore DMing! [...]
I recently started a new campaign in which I promised the players we were going “old school” and “cranking up the danger”. I have never had a reputation as a killer DM….if someone died in my very story-driven campaigns it was either deserved or a very noble and selfless death to aid the party in their final conquest (my buddy Jay’s paladin comes to mind). We are currently blogging the action at my website http://www.escapevelocitygaming.com and anyone is welcome to comment on the goings on!