I've had 2 minds on this because of course we know, after playing for a while, that players will always end up going a different way than you anticipated BUT I can't lie, it is Hella frustrating when ya get players that make it their mission to be as WaCkY or Lulz Random as possible when playing - ThreadSky

raynegrimm.bsky.social • 435 days ago

I've had 2 minds on this because of course we know, after playing for a while, that players will always end up going a different way than you anticipated

BUT I can't lie, it is Hella frustrating when ya get players that make it their mission to be as WaCkY or Lulz Random as possible when playing

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jlaakso.bsky.social•435 days ago

Hard agree. Can’t say I miss the games of childhood! These days that just doesn’t happen anymore, and if it does, well, I have players to choose from for the next game.

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

That has been a nice saving grace. While I'll feel bad missing out on a game there are far more dms/gms than there are players (and given some behaviors it's no wonder why)

I've made a point before that a good part of the overall reason for the dm drought is how players treat people who run games

sheerspec.bsky.social•435 days ago

The latter is something I absolutely curtail in Session 0 because I find it disruptive and antithetical to the nature of collaborative storytelling. A little silliness from time-to-time is fine, but a whole character is just too much.

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

Same. I think I've posted my session zero walk through notes before but I have "the world is alive it reacts and Carries on" in there as a reminder.

I've had quite a few folks feel that they cna do wacky shenanigans to an extreme that I find detrimental and they learn. Being goofy is OK on occasion

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

But if ya try to ram the door down with your head as a human sorcerer then yeah your gonna get some damage and maybe a concussion.

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

(also since ya mentioned whole ass characters I have the same feelings about joke pcs or one's that are obviously gonna cause friction. One day I'll have to tell the story bht played with a guy that loved making functionally useless pcs that everyone else had to protect him while he was obnoxious🤢)

6sidedgames.bsky.social•435 days ago

We had a player that did that. While also being obnoxious as a character so that no one ever actually protected him. We could count sessions by number of characters he played. It was literally that bad.

For example, a Wizard with an 11 in Intelligence, and specialized in throwing alchemist fire.

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

Literally that was his goal Whatever stat system we used (standard array, rolled, point buy) he'd beg to have even lower stats and he'd dump whatever was relevant to the class. I'm not saying your class needs to be optimized to be fun, but you need to at least be contributing to the party as a whole

wavybastard.bsky.social•435 days ago

Or GMs that cannot adapt to a new situation and try to carry on despite everyone knowing where this is going and how dissonant it is.

sheerspec.bsky.social•435 days ago

I’ve said this elsewhere (even today), and that’s largely due to GMs guides and other resources not teaching improvisation well enough for GMs. They don’t have the proper tools to think on their feet when players inevitably go off the rails.

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

I've noted in several places that I think 2 of the most important skills for any dm/gm for any system to learn is

1) how to reference rules/how to arbitrate rules discussions or concerns

&

2) How to improv

Players will throw you for a loop and learning how to go in stride is Important of course

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

There are going to be moments where things are going off the rails and you have to know when is best to let it ride, when is best to slightly correct or in some cases when it's best to pump or hit the breaks.

Sometimes players are brilliant and sidestep an issue and you need to know when to reward

raynegrimm.bsky.social•435 days ago

That behavior or when that behavior may cause longer lasting headaches. None of this is black and white and it is all gonna depends on a multitude of factors not the least of which is your playstyle, their playstyle and the type of game everyone came to play

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