A couple of days ago, one of my best friends sent me a link to a freely available documentary in Hulu.com called The Dungeon Masters (2008). Granted, I have not finished watching the documentary, however I had to write this column after the first 7 minutes of the video. It is not that the video sucks, because it does not – at least not in those 7 minutes. It is Richard Meeks.
We meet Richard Meeks while he is
DM'ing a 2nd Ed. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons session in GenCon 2007.
Initially, he seems like very engaging and fun Dungeon Master. A
few seconds later, he is handing down double crits and attacks that
make the character hit lose one level. He is also being accused of
cheating by his players. However, it is what happens next that struck a
dissonant chord with me. In an interview, Richard Meeks explains how
he killed his players because they were being too greedy and he did
not like that. In so doing, he broke up a group of “6 or 7
friends” that had been playing together for 9 years... and he
smugly smiles about it as if it was his crowning achievement as a
Dungeon Master.
As he tells the story, the characters
had been “lovingly developed over 7 years worth of playing.” In
his own words:
I killed them all. They were stuck in a room knee deep in gold and I was just really mad that they were being so greedy. And out of the 8 or 9 around the table, they all jumped through the door. It's just that it was not a door, it was a sphere of annihilation and I said 'Ok, you've all jumped into the doorway, give me your character sheets.' And then they go 'Why?' And I say 'You're all dead. You've stepped into a sphere of annihilation.' And they all got up from the table, handed me their character sheets, packed up their dice and books, and went home.
I think the verbatim quote above
summarizes many of the things you can do wrong when playing the role of
the Dungeon Master. Let's go through them.
First, being a Dungeon Master doesn't
pit you against the players. Your role is not to beat the players.
You don't get to 'kill them'. A decent Dungeon Master will not trick
his players into walking through a doorway only to tell them it is a
sphere of annihilation. Be fair. Give your players a fighting
chance. If anything, bend the rules in their favor so that they at
least have a fighting chance. A sphere of annihilation is a
magically powerful spell or item (or whatever you want to call it).
Any magic using player should be able to passively perceive there's
some strong magical/arcane force or aura around that doorway. Worst
case scenario, at least give them some type of saving throw.
Second, don't put your players in
impossible positions and then get upset because they acted like every
mother's son. Seriously, you put your players in a 'room knee deep
in gold' and then get upset because 'they were being so greedy'?
What did you expect would happen? More importantly, what would you
have done if you were a player in a room knee deep in gold?
Third, don't get mad and punish players
because they did not act the way you expected them to. As a Dungeon
Master, your job is not to run players through a linear script. To
me, the biggest difference between a tabletop RPG and an MMORPG is
precisely that: total freedom in the tabletop game versus very
limited options in the computer game. If the players did not act as
you expected them, it is your job as the Dungeon Master to adapt.
You feel like they dropped the ball because they did something you
did not plan for? That's where the fun of being a Dungeon Master
lies. Pick up the ball where they dropped it and carry it forward to
a fun encounter. Don't shove the ball down their throats.
Fourth, death does not have to be the
end of the adventure. This is something many Dungeon Masters forget.
When the players die, they go somewhere. What happens when they get
to Hell, the Abyss, the Shadowfell, Valhalla or wherever you want
them to go? Can they get a chance to redeem themselves and come back
to life by helping an Archdevil in a power struggle against other
Archfiends? There is more intrigue among infernals, eternals,
elementals, devils and angels than you can find anywhere else. Let
the fun continue, just change the setting.
In the end, it is all about having fun together with your players. Don't break up a group of 6 or 7
friends whose characters have been lovingly developed over 7 years
worth of playing because you put them in an impossible position and
they acted like anybody else would. Even if you feel you must kill
them, you can still let the fun continue in a different plane.
Embrace your role - be a Dungeon Master, not a Dungeon Bastard.
I just watched the documentary andi have to say. How do 7 members fit through a door way tjats no bigger than 2 feet wide. Secondly a sphere of annihilation sucks things into it. So there shouldnt be any gold around that "door way" poor dm skills imo
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