why do we have evil dms

[RedDragons]

Something I don't understand from an experience of everyone having fun. Why would a dm want to tpk a group they play with and end a game?

[Gavinfoxx]

Because D&D has a legacy of adversarial GMing, where it was an overtly players vs dm game, which happened from the earliest concepts of gaming.

It became cooperative much later.

[Surfnerd]

Things escalate.... Sometimes players do it to themselves. I mean as a DM you can only fudge the dice so many times before you let fate take its course. Of course fudging dice over and over probably helped said party get into TPK situations in the first place.

People lose interest..... Its easy to just give up and kill the characters. I've seen DMs held hostage by their group. Only person willing to DM and everyone else wants to be a player. Basically sabotage the game to get out of being the DM.

The Annoying Group.... I've been a very annoying player in the past, being tired and bad chemistry with other players leading to silly behavior at the table. I've also dealt with silly behavior at the table, just derails the mood. Sometimes you have to just make a point. Usually with chunky salsa and falling objects.

If my game is going well I feel bad when a character dies, but I can't let foolish behavior be rewarded otherwise mortality leaves the game and character actions get out of hand. There is no risk.

I'm on DM hiatus for the next couple months while another player in our group runs a campaign. We are alternating. One of the players ever has character fatalities and you can tell by the way he plays. He always charges ahead, abandons the group and separates himself from the group during combats. Its reckless and I know its because he rarely dies during campaigns. In another group we both are I can't remember any of his characters ever dying..... Just my thoughts on character death.

In all the situations I've been in with TPK its always players being stupid in published modules where the DM just runs it by the book or us being really annoying during the campaign.

[Amphetryon]

1. DM puts a sign on the map that says "Here there be dragons."

2. Low-level PCs eagerly investigate.

3. DM must either produce dragons scary enough to warrant the warning, or sacrifice verisimilitude, or have a rationale in place to explain the map's error which the Players will buy without resentment. Choose wisely.

[MukkTB]

Sometimes the dice roll badly. Players want a challenge that pushes them to the limits but they can ultimately handle. If they get unlucky things can go bad. Otherwise you're playing in a marshmallow pillow campaign.

[Namfuak]

There are also people who are DMs because they like the power, which can be a problem. Most people have heard the stories of DMs who give bonuses to people they like (especially significant others or players they want to become their significant other), penalties to people they dislike or characters they dislike, who want the players to follow their carefully planned series of setpieces, etc. I think one thing to consider is that stories of these people likely make them seem more pervasive than they are - people rarely talk specifically about how much they liked their DM during a game, they would rather talk about the neat character they played or the awesome things that happened. That is good from the perspective that what a DM does should feel natural and fun, rather than metagamey and artificial as happens with most bad DMs, but it means that good DMs are often given less credit than they deserve.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Why a DM might end up TPKing a group... I believe that's been answered. Sometimes the dice fall poorly. Sometimes DMs miscalibrate encounters and don't fudge. Sometimes the players act a fool.

Why a DM would want to TPK a party, though? That has a lot more to do with the game being un-fun already - a TPK can be a mercy kill of a suffering game. That, or the whole adversarial business.

[CaladanMoonblad]

My explanation... not everyone plays for the same reason, or GMs for the same reason.

I've been a GM and Player for nearly 20 years; usually I ended up GMing, but when I was able to be a player, I was a player with a completely different group of people than those who I GMed for. I've had good experiences and poor experiences with other GMs. What I've noticed is that... people who are given a GM's reins of power and act out generally have a certain personality type... the Alpha Nerd.

You know this person; they always have to be right. They always have to munchkin everything. They always see things as a win-lose situation, instead of as a cooperative endeavor. When they play, they try to overshadow everyone else, or act up, or sabotage the group trying to be the center of attention. When they GM, it's just a munchkin on steroids.

They're not evil, they're just self centered jerks. It takes a lifetime to learn empathy, and it takes a giving heart to spend 10 hours of prep to run a 5 hour game despite working a full time job and having a family. It takes a giving heart to slave over character descriptions, working out stats, and creating an enjoyable world for players to co-create stories with a narrative GM.

[MukkTB]

If you TPK intentionally its because you wanted to stop playing. If you enjoy torturing the players you don't end the fun prematurely. You're like a cat with a mouse, only the mouse can walk away at any time. So you don't let the mouse on to the fact that its being tortured. Hmm.

Back on topic. An Evil DM won't TPK. After all he can't play either. The Evil DM will encourage intra group conflict, repeatedly raise player's hopes only to crush them, and try to twist the players to the dark side. A good DM won't intentionally set out to TPK. Only a bored DM will do this thing, or possibly one raging at the party with a temporary temper tantrum.

[Rhynn]

Because D&D has a legacy of adversarial GMing, where it was an overtly players vs dm game, which happened from the earliest concepts of gaming.

That's got nothing to do with "Why would a dm want to tpk a group they play with and end a game?"

Taking that question at face value, the only answer is "because the DM is an immature jerk."

[catsora]

Sometimes dms feel the campaign is going nowhere, though having the players create characters to try and complete an extremely lethal dungeon can be a fun challenge.