Interesting DM style

[Immabozo]

I had a DM that played very high power campaigns the had pretty deep story, but in combat, he LOVED killing players and every encounter would do it if he could. This made for an intense campaign and forced everyone to optimize their choices and characters as much as possible. A week rarely went by where no one died. I held the record for number of deaths at 9. Needless to say, exp was slow moving due to the backwards movement, but it was damn fun! Albeit aggravating, haha.

What kind of extreme DM styles have you played with and liked?

[Story]

I once played with a DM who didn't bother to read the player handbook. It didn't last long.

[BowStreetRunner]

I played with a DM who, despite approving my charisma-based rogue character from the beginning, never included any non-combat encounters in the entire game. There was practically no role playing whatsoever. My character was essentially useless.

[Immabozo]

well, both my group and I actually enjoyed this DM's style and I would happily play with him again. Is there any that you enjoyed playing with?

[Togo]

I ran a weekend long D&D game (about 16 hours of play) with no combat.
I've also often run diceless D&D games.

Both seemed to be enjoyed, in some cases with great enthusiasm.

The weirdest style I came across was not a DM style, but a player style. The players formed a corporation (not the characters, the players), held AGMs, board meetings and appointed officers of the company to track loot, track and manage the character's interaction with NPCs and NPC groups, and research historical justifications for using tactics inspired by a modern mindset. It worked... scarily well.

[Cicciograna]

Obligatory link to That Lanky Bugger's story. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23784)

[Immabozo]

I ran a weekend long D&D game (about 16 hours of play) with no combat.
I've also often run diceless D&D games.

Both seemed to be enjoyed, in some cases with great enthusiasm.

The weirdest style I came across was not a DM style, but a player style. The players formed a corporation (not the characters, the players), held AGMs, board meetings and appointed officers of the company to track loot, track and manage the character's interaction with NPCs and NPC groups, and research historical justifications for using tactics inspired by a modern mindset. It worked... scarily well.

How did the diceless game go? I cannot imagine it, unless you were telling a story. But that player's method sounds... very complex!

[JaronK]

The most popular game I ever ran was level 6, Commoners only, where everybody had to play an unimportant member of a small town (so, you couldn't be the brewer, but you could be the brewer's assistant) who was drafted into the town guard (and given a free red Chain Shirt). They then had to deal with the shenanigans of PC classed people who would do things like tear up the main road with an Ashworm, smash up the pub due to being too heavy after a Permanent Enlarge Person, and leave angry stray monsters running around after a raid on a dungeon. Other missions included making peace with a local Kobold tribe that kept getting attacked by adventurers and screwing with a nearby rival town.

Everybody absolutely loved it.

JaronK

[Immabozo]

wow, I would have loved that campaign, good thinking!

[JaronK]

They loved stuff like the PC Rogue (a Halfling wearing shadowy black armor but with really shiny glowing rings and a glowing circlet) running around asking everybody in town "Hey, got any quests?" and then running off, basically without listening to anything else the person might ask (Gather Information)... and then their silver piece would suddenly be missing (but they couldn't do anything about it, because the PCs would wipe the floor with them). Or the entire PC party wearing completely mismatched random gear (like Full Plate armor, but with a hat instead of a helmet). Just seeing the consequences of their own gaming style in a realistic world was hilarious.

JaronK

[Threadnaught]

Obligatory link to That Lanky Bugger's story. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23784)

It may be before my time, but PsychoDM obviously hasn't met anyone with Diabetes.


Yeah sure, I'll be perfectly okay without any insulin for a couple of weeks. I won't complain, cause I'LL BE DEAD!

No wonder they called him Psycho, guy was as unbalanced as PunPun. :smallamused:


JaronK, that is... That is so beautiful, I've often wondered exactly what kind of adventures you'd set up for Tier 6s and that has all the memory making potential as a Tier 1 Campaign.

[Phelix-Mu]

I played in a campaign where part of the plot laid out by the DM was that the members of the party were all childhood friends living in a small village. For the first handful of sessions, we were all children, getting to know each other, the area, establishing roles and figuring out how our background was influencing our character's personality. We wandered around local ruins, got into mischief, and had to help put out a fire that burned down someone's house. Excellent for getting the players to think about what a certain character type might have been like as a child, how upbringing influences personality, etc.

Sadly the campaign never lasted past level 5 for irl reasons.

[Immabozo]

I played in a campaign where part of the plot laid out by the DM was that the members of the party were all childhood friends living in a small village. For the first handful of sessions, we were all children, getting to know each other, the area, establishing roles and figuring out how our background was influencing our character's personality. We wandered around local ruins, got into mischief, and had to help put out a fire that burned down someone's house. Excellent for getting the players to think about what a certain character type might have been like as a child, how upbringing influences personality, etc.

Sadly the campaign never lasted past level 5 for irl reasons.

I really like the sound of that campaign!!

[Andezzar]

I had a DM that played very high power campaigns the had pretty deep story, but in combat, he LOVED killing players and every encounter would do it if he could. This made for an intense campaign and forced everyone to optimize their choices and characters as much as possible. A week rarely went by where no one died. I held the record for number of deaths at 9. Needless to say, exp was slow moving due to the backwards movement, but it was damn fun! Albeit aggravating, haha.Please don't use the word player, when you mean character. It is disturbing.

[Frathe]

Back in middle school, before I ever played real D&D, my friends and I used to play something D&D-like but diceless every recess during lunch. We'd choose worlds (fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk) that we'd stick to until we got tired of them after a few months or a year, and we'd switch DMs after every "dungeon".

[Immabozo]

Please don't use the word player, when you mean character. It is disturbing.

haha, good point, I apologize