A guide to DM disasters

[waterpenguin43]

I had the strangest urge to make a guide to types of DM's that are destined to go wrong. Don't ask why.

Conductors

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A conductor goes with the term "railroading". Essentially, it's a DM who wants things to work in one and only one way. Sort of like a video game developer. Unfortunately, tabletop games aren't the same. Players want freedom. All DM's know how frustrating it is when an encounter or plot twist goes down the toilet, but you need to see things from the PC's perspective.

Freddy Krueger DM's

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You might be wondering what I mean by this title. Have you seen the Nightmare on Elm Street series? Or heard of it? If not, look it up. Anyways, Freddy Krueger is a killer who murders children in their dreams. He changes the world around them to try and kill them. This refers to DM's who do this. If you're a Freddy Krueger DM, you remake encounters, dungeons and situations to try and kill the characters. This is not a good idea. You want your encounters to be challenging or even downright hard, but don't change them just to counter a player's or character's strengths.

Predictable DM's

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This DM, unlike the others, isn't doing wrong to the players, but is doing wrong to his campaign. If you make a dungeon filled with nothing but mind flayers, your players will prepare to fight mind flayers and kill them all. If their is a lot of a certain species in the area, you can have a LOT of them, but try and add some other types of monsters so PC's don't just have to go against one type of monster.

Cloud DM's

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"You are nothing but a Puppet" Sephiroth to clouds speech after killing aeris. Or maybey reffering to these. A common phrase is "Ok go on then" You give the players freedom. too much of it. Before you know it theyve destroyed your main city, killed plot points, and gone on murderous rampages.
it isn't necessarily a disaster -sometimes it works well- but it's dangerous.

Backseat Driver

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Like a Conductor, but without the planning. A Backseat Driver makes a railroad plot, in which one, not always obvious, solution is the key to victory, butt then does not make it clear that that is his intent, and so stumbles around when the PC's seek other option

The Scrooge

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This is the DM that, for one reason or another, drastically under-rewards the PCs for fights. Most commonly seen in 'low-wealth' or 'low-magic' games, with a fraction of expected WBL, but still using by-the-book encounters CR-wise. The most egregious Scrooges will have what wealth they do include in the form of consumables, and have the monsters make use of them liberally.

Mr. Crack's Under Pressure

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This DM plans ahead and seems calm and well prepared for when the characters decide to do something odd. That is until they do something so bizarre/unexpected that he simply has no idea how to respond. This wasn't in one of his contingency plans and he simply has no idea how to respond, devolving into a backseat driver as he desperately tries to get the game back on track.

The Unprepared DM

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This DM arrived at the table without a sound plan or, often, a solid grasp of the rules. Gameplay crawls by as monsters are looked up in books, the details of players' actions are checked and rechecked, and the DM struggles to string together encounters into an interesting storyline. The backseat driver is a lesser variant of this problem DM archetype, when rules and basic plot are understood, but no contingency plans are made for unpredictable players.

The Megalomaniac DM

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This DM knows Rule 0, if nothing else. He is running the game because that means he gets to run the lives of several hapless players for a few hours. Rather than designing or redesigning a dungeon to screw the players over, as a Freddy Krueger DM would, this DM simply decrees that the players have been screwed. This DM archetype overlaps with Conductors, who may railroad specifically to demonstrate their control over the players; and with DMPCs, who use the eponymous creation as a mechanism for self-gratification.

Anything to add?

[Nidogg]

One of my freinds is a freddy. However, I choose to add yet another category, one in wich i fall into,

Cloud Dm's

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"You are nothing but a Puppet" Sephiroth to clouds speech after killing aeris. Or maybey reffering to these. A common phrase is "Ok go on then" You give the players freedom. too much of it. Before you know it theyve destroyed your main city, killed plot points, and gone on murderous rampages. Its good to railroad a little, otherwise BAD stuff happens

[jindra34]

Cloud Dm's

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"You are nothing but a Puppet" Sephiroth to clouds speech after killing aeris. Or maybey reffering to these. A common phrase is "Ok go on then" You give the players freedom. too much of it. Before you know it theyve destroyed your main city, killed plot points, and gone on murderous rampages. Its good to railroad a little, otherwise BAD stuff happens

Note that this is a problem only if you actually have a planned plot. And if your PCs get to ignore the problems it causes.

[BRC]

The Backseat Driver

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Like a Conductor, but without the planning. A Backseat Driver makes a railroad plot, in which one, not always obvious, solution is the key to victory, butt then does not make it clear that that is his intent, and so stumbles around when the PC's seek other option

[waterpenguin43]

Those two are so true sometimes. I'm going to add them.

[Greenish]

Those two are so true sometimes. I'm going to add them.

"Cloud DM" isn't necessarily a "DM disaster". Sandboxing is a perfectly valid form of playing.

[waterpenguin43]

"Cloud DM" isn't necessarily a "DM disaster". Sandboxing is a perfectly valid form of playing.

Good point. I'll add that it isn't necessarily a disaster, but it's dangerous.

[The Glyphstone]

a 'Cloud DM' is definitely a polarizing one. If you plan for it and expect it, pure sandbox games can be amazing. If you're not prepared for any eventuality, the PCs will find the one thing to do that you hadn't expected, and everything falls apart.


I'd add:

"The Scrooge":

This is the DM that, for one reason or another, drastically under-rewards the PCs for fights. Most commonly seen in 'low-wealth' or 'low-magic' games, with a fraction of expected WBL, but still using by-the-book encounters CR-wise. The most egregious Scrooges will have what wealth they do include in the form of consumables, and have the monsters make use of them liberally.

[nedz]

Good point. I'll add that it isn't necessarily a disaster, but it's dangerous.

Not dangerous, just more difficult perhaps ?
The trick is improvisation, and (ironically) the best improvisation requires preparation, planning etc.

Another one perhaps

The Dictator
A variation on the Conductor. Instead of the plot being railroaded, the plot hinges on a Chosen PC. It generally falls apart when the player of the Chosen One rejects their destiny. A greek tragedy follows.

[Orannis]

My personal least favorite: The "Wants to be a Player" DM
Spends HOURS creating NPC badguys specifically built to beat every member of your party. Any change in your character and he changes his character to compensate. Also known for nerfing your character if it looks like you might have a chance of beating his bigbad in a fair fight. Sometimes in midfight uses DM fiat to keep his creation alive or to inflict damage.

[waterpenguin43]

My personal least favorite: The "Wants to be a Player" DM
Spends HOURS creating NPC badguys specifically built to beat every member of your party. Any change in your character and he changes his character to compensate. Also known for nerfing your character if it looks like you might have a chance of beating his bigbad in a fair fight. Sometimes in midfight uses DM fiat to keep his creation alive or to inflict damage.

That's a Freddy Krueger GM, just narrowed down, I'm afraid.

[Kobold-Bard]

Mr Crack's under pressure:

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This DM plans ahead and seems calm and well prepared for when the characters decide to do something odd. That is until they do something so bizarre/unexpected that he simply has no idea how to respond. This wasn't in one of his contingency plans and he simply has no idea how to react, devolving into a backseat driver as he desperately tries to get the game back on track.

This comes from experience when a player of mine neglected to mention that he had an adamantine greathammer which he used to collapse a weakened column and drop the entire 6 story building down on the party and their enemies, claiming it was for the greater good. This was followed by asking people to just make random rolls while I figured out how to fix the situation without having to start from scratch with new characters (except the a-hole who hit the column. He died. A lot).

Ignore if you like or reword as necessary.

[Amphetryon]

DMPCer:
This is the DM who, for whatever reason, introduces an NPC to the party who is a Mary Sue that proceeds to run roughshod over the monsters while reducing the rest of the party to either a cheering section or bored observers.

[Roupe]

Training wheels

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This is the DM that, for one reason or another, drastically over-rewards the PCs for fights. The superfluous training wheels the GM provides, robs the players of any challenge or sport. Most easily spotted in 'low-wealth' or 'low-magic' games.

The munchkin GM handbook, had some really nice & humorous descriptions of Gamemaster types.

[arguskos]

Mr Crack's under pressure:

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This DM plans ahead and seems calm and well prepared for when the characters decide to do something odd. That is until they do something so bizarre/unexpected that he simply has no idea how to respond. This wasn't in one of his contingency plans and he simply has no idea how to react, devolving into a backseat driver as he desperately tries to get the game back on track.

This comes from experience when a player of mine neglected to mention that he had an adamantine greathammer which he used to collapse a weakened column and drop the entire 6 story building down on the party and their enemies, claiming it was for the greater good. This was followed by asking people to just make random rolls while I figured out how to fix the situation without having to start from scratch with new characters (except the a-hole who hit the column. He died. A lot).

Ignore if you like or reword as necessary.

That's... not a bad DM. That was a case of a DM getting screwed by a crappy player. Anyone gets flustered by such obviously disruptive and detrimental behavior, I don't feel that deserves to stand next to the Negative Railroader or the Scrooge or anything.

[Boci]

That's... not a bad DM. That was a case of a DM getting screwed by a crappy player. Anyone gets flustered by such obviously disruptive and detrimental behavior, I don't feel that deserves to stand next to the Negative Railroader or the Scrooge or anything.

It depends exactly what causes the DM to crack. A player randomly comitting suicide is fine, but sometimes it is far less.

For example, I once had a plot that involved the PCs party had been infiltrated by a spy (they were traveling with 3 NPCs). Then one of the PCs cast detect thoughts and began asking questions. I realized this would flush out the spy pretty quickly. In my earlier days as a DM I would have made up some BS excuse for why it didn't work that would have ruined the feel of the party. That would be an example of a bad case of "DM who cracks under pressure". Luckily I had some expirience by then so I simply allowed them to dispose of the spy, then gave them a random encounter while I smoothed out the details of them jumping forwards a session in the plot.

[Roupe]

A DM that cracks due to anything or minor derail events, deserves a place among the worst disaster GM types.

But a DM that cracks due to bully players, is also a GM disastrous event.

[Reynard]

And if a DM is so honestly surprised by the dumbass move a player makes?

Like killing the entire party for no real reason?

[krossbow]

A player killing the entire party for the lulz isn't the DM's fault, its the jackass player.

[Flickerdart]

RAW DM

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"These Advanced Monstrous Crabs are only CR5, you should be able to take on at least 10 of them." This DM places too much faith in WotC, and should be reminded that the Monk isn't proficient with fists.

[arguskos]

A player killing the entire party for the lulz isn't the DM's fault, its the jackass player.

This was my point. The DM didn't kill them, a jackass did by collapsing a building on them all, including himself. The only thing that is the DM's fault is his NOT saving them, and honestly, I don't blame him. I wouldn't, if they were really that thick. I'd just explain, "hey guys, uh, I asked if you were sure, you said yes, you probably could have figured out that taking out that support column was a bad idea. Just sayin'."

Now, a DM who responds to such an event by just shutting down the game or freaking out, yes, that's a bad DM. However, the event in question? That's not a bad DM, that's a bad player and a DM who doesn't quite know how to respond.

[Math_Mage]

The Unprepared DM
This DM arrived at the table without a sound plan or, often, a solid grasp of the rules. Gameplay crawls by as monsters are looked up in books, the details of players' actions are checked and rechecked, and the DM struggles to string together encounters into an interesting storyline. The backseat driver is a lesser variant of this problem DM archetype, when rules and basic plot are understood, but no contingency plans are made for unpredictable players.

The Megalomaniac DM
This DM knows Rule 0, if nothing else. He is running the game because that means he gets to run the lives of several hapless players for a few hours. Rather than designing or redesigning a dungeon to screw the players over, as a Freddy Krueger DM would, this DM simply decrees that the players have been screwed. This DM archetype overlaps with Conductors, who may railroad specifically to demonstrate their control over the players; and with DMPCs, who use the eponymous creation as a mechanism for self-gratification.

[Milskidasith]

It seems as if this list contains every behavior besides making the game too easy and giving the players too much loot; having a strict plot, having no plot, giving the players too much freedom, railroading, only allowing one solution, getting flustered when the players try to use out of the box solutions, not giving enough loot, being too hard, being too predictable, being too freeform... all of those things are listed to a greater or lesser extent. It seems as if any DM who isn't one of the things listed is going to be another, unless they are a DM who makes an extremely easy game giving out a ton of loot filled with houserules and with just the right balance of allowing players the freedom to think outside the box while being able to deal with their outlandish suggestions and retaining a plot and never even gently hinting at the players to the right thing to do for the plot.

[Greenish]

It seems as if this list contains every behavior besides making the game too easy and giving the players too much loot; having a strict plot, having no plot, giving the players too much freedom, railroading, only allowing one solution, getting flustered when the players try to use out of the box solutions, not giving enough loot, being too hard, being too predictable, being too freeform... all of those things are listed to a greater or lesser extent. It seems as if any DM who isn't one of the things listed is going to be another, unless they are a DM who makes an extremely easy game giving out a ton of loot filled with houserules and with just the right balance of allowing players the freedom to think outside the box while being able to deal with their outlandish suggestions and retaining a plot and never even gently hinting at the players to the right thing to do for the plot.

It's cliché time!

• You can't please everyone.
• Everything in moderation.

[Vaynor]

It seems as if this list contains every behavior besides making the game too easy and giving the players too much loot; having a strict plot, having no plot, giving the players too much freedom, railroading, only allowing one solution, getting flustered when the players try to use out of the box solutions, not giving enough loot, being too hard, being too predictable, being too freeform... all of those things are listed to a greater or lesser extent. It seems as if any DM who isn't one of the things listed is going to be another, unless they are a DM who makes an extremely easy game giving out a ton of loot filled with houserules and with just the right balance of allowing players the freedom to think outside the box while being able to deal with their outlandish suggestions and retaining a plot and never even gently hinting at the players to the right thing to do for the plot.

This thread could easily be summed up by saying "don't take any basic DM trait to the extreme."

[Samm]

The Megalomaniac DM
This DM knows Rule 0, if nothing else. He is running the game because that means he gets to run the lives of several hapless players for a few hours. Rather than designing or redesigning a dungeon to screw the players over, as a Freddy Krueger DM would, this DM simply decrees that the players have been screwed. This DM archetype overlaps with Conductors, who may railroad specifically to demonstrate their control over the players; and with DMPCs, who use the eponymous creation as a mechanism for self-gratification.

Yeah, I actually had a DM that was like that for 1 very frustrating encounter.

Here's the rundown:

Okay, so I'm a cleric, and my party consists of me and a wizard. Rather weird, I know. I was the melee guy, the meatshield if you will. Anyway, we got to so weirdo's house who wanted us to prove our dedication to a certain quest. So, he summoned 2 henchmen, armed with tridents to fight us. We fought in some weird arena that the weirdo invoked, it was going okay, at the start, until the henchmen started picking each other up and throwing each other at the wizard, over my relatively tall character's head, without provoking AOOs. I actually had to remind him to factor this in, and he said I got the AOO after the henchman had picked up the other henchman and already thrown him. So far, this was bearable. Then, the wizard create some illegal combo, using mage hand to throw a rock at a henchmen and knock him out, which would be followed by being swooped upon by his familiar (a hawk), which he followed up with a stab to the face. All of which happened in 1-2 turns, I think. This was totally illegal, and the DM did nothing. As the henchman was now, out of combat, and the wizard had somehow proved his dedication he was taken out of the arena.

It was me and the remaining henchman now. I was clobbering him. For some reason, the DM decided the henchman would fall prone. So, I gave the henchman a warning, "If you don't yield I'll kill you", or something along the lines of that. While I was talking, the henchmen got up, bull-rushed and pinned me to a tree, with NO AOOs or opposed checks. I demanded a few opposed checks, and the DM gave in. After all, I knew the rules better than he did. He then said I failed said checks, but didn't show the opponents rolls, what a surprise! So, I'm now pinned against a tree, due to some weird god-modding and very frustrated at the current situation of things. (I probably would have punched him if I wasn't playing over skype.) The henchman demanded my surrender. I had a think about this, my character was Neutral Good, I decided that I was willing to lie to get out of this for the greater good, and then knock him out with my mace. So, I rolled my bluff check, I got a natural 20 (which is usually considered an instant success in my gaming circle, if it's within your ability). Then that weirdo issuing us the challenge, some how read my thoughts, and said something like, "Foul Play won't do you any good". Having realised that my bluff was called, I managed to escape the grapple and finish off the henchman.

So, with the encounter over, I was taken out of the arena and got told off by the weirdo issuing us the challenge that I hadn't really proven my dedication. I managed to convince him, by saying the right words, that I had. Strangely, though my wizard buddy had proven his dedication. And all this seemed to be just a test whether one kills without qualms in the name of this quest.

Now in hindsight, maybe I was being a little silly getting frustrated and so forth, but I believe that the DM was substantially worse, than I realised. The weirdo issuing the challenge, read my thoughts, to discern that I was lying. Why couldn't he then read my thoughts to discern that I was dedicated to this quest?

All I hope, I that when I DM, I'm not going to be like this...

[Math_Mage]

It seems as if this list contains every behavior besides making the game too easy and giving the players too much loot; having a strict plot, having no plot, giving the players too much freedom, railroading, only allowing one solution, getting flustered when the players try to use out of the box solutions, not giving enough loot, being too hard, being too predictable, being too freeform... all of those things are listed to a greater or lesser extent. It seems as if any DM who isn't one of the things listed is going to be another, unless they are a DM who makes an extremely easy game giving out a ton of loot filled with houserules and with just the right balance of allowing players the freedom to think outside the box while being able to deal with their outlandish suggestions and retaining a plot and never even gently hinting at the players to the right thing to do for the plot.

I should note that both 'making the game too easy' and 'giving the players too much loot' have been covered by responses, specifically Roupe's Training Wheels DM.

A 'problem DM' is not merely a DM that has engaged in such-and-such behavior. No DM is going to be prepared for everything. No DM is going to avoid railroading all the time. No DM is going to give exactly the right amount of loot every time. The two basic problem DMs are the ones who repeatedly make the same errors without learning from them, and the ones who treat the game as something other than an interaction between DM and players for fun and profit (and therefore deliberately make the same 'mistakes' over and over again, if they get the chance).

In fact, I'd like to propose those as superarchetypes for problem DMs:

Insane DM
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. The insane DM is not a person in need of a straitjacket (always); rather, he is the person who elicits groans when he volunteers to DM, because everyone knows his campaign is going to have the same problems it did last time around. Whether it's too much rigidity in the plot, too many under-CR'd monsters in an encounter, or not enough treasure at the end of it all, this DM is set on playing his campaign a particular way because that's what he thinks will produce the most fun for everyone, despite evidence to the contrary. RAW DMs, Unprepared DMs, Backseat Drivers, Clouds, Training Wheels, and especially Predictable DMs fall under this banner. Conductors and Scrooges are sometimes this kind of DM.

Antagonistic DM
This is the DM who has forgotten that the purpose of D&D is for several people to enjoy creating a story together. He may be a perfectly nice guy in ordinary life, but at the table he's out to maximize his personal pleasure through power, sex, or schadenfreude, at the expense of his group. This DM will often take personal umbrage at in-character events, particularly unexpected success or creativity by the PCs, and is fond of enacting disproportionate revenge for these occurrences. Double standards will often apply, with the players laboring under extraordinary restrictions, and NPCs/DMPCs acting according to the DM's fancy, generally without regard for rules or IC logic. This DM has effectively already left the playgroup, and is only sticking around to torment everyone else. Freddy Kruegers and Megalomaniacs fall into this category, as do some Conductors and Scrooges.

I submit that though there may be many kinds of DM mistakes, problem DMs nearly always fit into one of these two umbrella categories. Thoughts?

Oh, and one more basic problem archetype:
Threadbare DM
This is the DM who just doesn't care enough to make the campaign interesting. He has difficulty engaging the players, because he's not engaged enough himself to provide anything for the players to latch on to. RPing is thin, people are bored, and even the dice have an apathetic ring to them, as if they realize that whatever number shows up doesn't really matter. Unlike other Antagonistic DMs, he doesn't necessarily anger the other players, but he certainly has already left the group. Nobody walks out on this kind of DM, but nobody shows up for the next session, either.

[2xMachina]

I think you can mix Freddy Kruger and Railroad slightly, and make it come out good.

Have plot points, but not fixed. For example, you can accidentally kill the big bad before he even becomes the big bad. Fine, someone else is the big bad.

The plot is advanced regardless of your choice, and you wouldn't really know it's a railroad.

[Math_Mage]

I think you can mix Freddy Kruger and Railroad slightly, and make it come out good.

Have plot points, but not fixed. For example, you can accidentally kill the big bad before he even becomes the big bad. Fine, someone else is the big bad.

The plot is advanced regardless of your choice, and you wouldn't really know it's a railroad.

Textbook Schrodinger's Gun. Just don't overuse it.

[Tengu_temp]

Realism-Obsessed DM
This DM's games always come with several pages worth of houserules that supposedly make the game more realistic, none of which make it more interesting or fun for the players, and most of which work against them or make the game only more complicated. The fact that a world where giant lizards fly and breathe fire isn't exactly the most realistic place never seems to have crossed his mind. Bonus points if his houserules add elements he only thinks are realistic, but aren't really.