"Versus
YOU.", or "Daddy, why is that Dungeon Master a Homicidal Maniac?"
As strident as I am when it comes to first edition AD&D, I am above all a guy who likes to have fun at the gaming table. Not in the sense that I like to bounce dice off of the DM's bald spot when he's reading a rule book (Rob, I'm looking at you), but in the sense that I feel - both as a player and as a Dungeon Master - that the players winning the day is a good thing.
Now, when I say "win", let me define that: I do not ever freely give anything to the PCs. Ever. What they take away from each adventure (in character) they fought for. Be it a group of two fighters, a Cleric and a Magic user at 1st level barely surviving their own number of Kobolds, or a group of 20th level anti-paladins slaying a herd of Ki-Rin, players in my campaigns must fight for what they get.
But
when they win...they win.
And
that's the point of contention with this week's editorial.
Too many times, I've met too many Dungeon Masters who'll proudly tell me
of adventures where players were doing everything "right", when the
capricious Dungeon Master (incapable of surrendering a scene or a game)
introduced a Type IV Demon to the party that was an aggregate 10% of Hit Points
and no spells left - just because it tickled said Dungeon Master to watch the
players lose.
Now,
I as much as the next wargamer understand that in wargames, things happen.
We play games where our favorite paragons have to overcome great obstacles for a
reason, else we'd all just play Candyland.
But
at the end of the day, it seems that some Dungeon Masters - or Game Masters, or
Referees, or Storytellers - have the mentality that it is not a game of
the Characters versus the Quest, but rather the players versus the Dungeon
Master.
One
could argue that yes, ultimately, that is the case. For what is a character but a representation of the player at
the table? And who is the consciousness
of the villains and sometimes cold and indifferent universe set against those
characters but the Dungeon Master? This
is a reasonable argument, but far too many Dungeon Masters I've met in the past
seem hell bent on ruining the characters at every turn, making sure they're
miserable, leaving them 90% dead as they collapse on the threshold of the local
tavern with a few coins in their bloody fists, only to awaken the next day to
find that they've been robbed. Furthermore,
this strange subculture of Dungeon Masters will gleefully describe how they
"got" the players.
"I
thought we set Protection from Evil?!"
"Aha,
but surely you must know that thieves can be Good, too!"
"What
about our watch we set?"
"I
guess you just didn't plan on your henchmen being bought off, did you!
But enough of that...as the innkeeper throws you all out in the street
for not paying your bill - that's 1d4 damage each as the bodyguards hurl you as
hard and as far as they can..." (As the Dungeon Master chuckles evilly to
himself..)
Then
there are the Temples of Inexplicable Evil, that is to say, dungeons that are
curiously unavoidable and filled with nonsensical insta-kill traps and
encounters placed there by an "insane wizard" merely for the purpose
of killing the party that ventures in. I'm
not implying that S1 Tomb of Horrors is of this stripe; far from it.
Indeed, most modules from the old days are written in such a fashion that
only the most careless of Dungeon Masters would take the module at face value
and use it without fleshing the story out and making a few "tweaks"
here and there to fit it seamlessly into a campaign.
However, too often I've played pick up games where it seemed that the
Dungeon Master was simply using Grimtooth's Traps as a module - one unexplained
deathtrap after another, for the sole purpose of punishing characters who'd dared to enter the twisted world the Dungeon Master in question had fashioned.
At
the end of the seminal Dungeon Master's Guide, Gygax writes:"...and your
players" for a reason. Certainly,
it's the last item on the list, and that list begins with "the game as a
whole", but it is important that the complete Dungeon Master consider the players in the equation. For what
fun is it to sit down and craft a good character back story for a party, set up
a meeting between them, and have them consumed by a Sphere of Annihilation as
soon as they step out the door to the tavern?
In
closing, let me say this. When I
have been the Dungeon Master of various campaigns in the past, I have made it abundantly clear to my players that yes, death can come on swift wings for the
unwary. Do something stupid and
it's adios, amigo. That's the
nature of the world someone who makes their life by the sword faces. That said, I take no joy in crushing my player's characters
at every turn for no readily apparent reason beyond personal amusement.
I
save that for West End Games' Paranoia.
-The
Dungeon Delver.