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I feel this video! I think your emotions are very shared by DMs. I once ran a game with a TPK during a Town Seige. It was a combination of these things that caused it: Rolls, player tactics, communication. Here was the Scenario: ----- We had a mixed bag of players in a campaign: 2 new ish players (first campaign), and 3 fairly experienced players (2-3+ years). We were playing Pathfinder 1e. A horde of undead soldiers led by the BBEG were conquesting the land. The party was able to arrive at the town to before the army to help defend it. I had to come up with Seige mechanics before the army arrived. I playtested the Seige encounters twice beforehand, and they seemed fairly balanced. Basically the idea was there were 5 important locations to Take or Defend (The Apartment District, the Lighthouse,/Docks, The Lords Estate, Warehouse District, the Market). I told the players: "The Seige will last 3 rounds/combats. If you hold 3 positions at the end of it, you and the town will be victorious. If the enemy takes and holds 3, they will overwhelm the town and you'll need to retreat." The party could only be at one place. The Town Militia may be able to defend, but I rolled to randomly determine if they would hold off or fall back. The PCs succeeded for the first round. However, they encountered the BBEG and her Chimera at the Lighthouse on round 2 (I rolled high on the encounter table). This was winnable, but considered a Hard-Deadly encounter. Soon, the Players were getting overwhelmed. The Cleric rolled terribly on healing spells. PCs were missing attacks and spells constantly. They had trouble dealing with a flying enemy. I eventually had an NPC yell "fall back" and they decided to run away - but the PCs didn't take the hint they could retreat! (might have been bad communication on my part). One Fireball later by the BBEG and the PCs were toast (literally). --- There was a pause... --- Then we talked about the session. "I wasn't aware we could retreat!"... "Man that was tough, but fun... a TPK?!" another said. As a DM, I assumed it was rather obvious - if you encountered any foe too powerful, you could run. But perhaps I didn't spell this out well beforehand. We all talked and laughed off the TPK after. It was really a combination of bad luck, miscommunication, and poor tactics. We conintned the game: I had another Villain (rival to the BBEG) revive the players to plot to take the BBEG down - which added some interest. The new villain could coup de gras the PC if they didn't cooperate (giving them the option to roll a new character) or cooperate to continue playing their old character.

Agreed with the wild lawn mower. Wonder what Amanda stilled to get that random encounter.

Thank you

Tipsy Biggs is the best Biggs!! Atta boy to Hoots for Flanking the Ship! Achievement earned!

Before I do ANYTHIING, I ask myself this: "Will this positively impact the story and/or player experience?" If so, then I'll retcon something. Rewrites: 100% agree. I've done this a LOT. You can't expect yourself to come up with the best ideas before a campaign starts. I've added new quests, items, plot threads/player connections. Players can also change their backstory/add a new goal as the game goes on so, I help accommodate that. Haggling/Raised Prices: I think you're fine here. A lot of people do this in the real world! However, I don't even bother with it... Unless it's an NPC that has a "barterer" personality, or it's important to the story, I try to keep shopping pretty short. Health: I do this to shorten combats (especially for one shots). I use two methods: 1) to "round down" HP to an easy number (ie 29HP to 25HP). 2) I'll handwave a few remaining minions and say the PCs won "Okay, with the few enemies left, you are able to dispatch them." Fudging Enemy Crits: Extremely rarely. This CAN rob players of expereince/tension of being downed. I've made rules on the fly "Minions can't crit" or something, but bosses can always crit. Again, usually only for one shots or if we're running tight on time.

Cheating rolls or changing HP to end a combat are never a problem if you tell your players you are doing it. If you can’t let the players in on that then you are cheating your players. For example. Your level 2 wizard has 5HP left. The hobgoblin crits and is about to deal 28 points of damage. You whistle. A worried look on your face. Take a moment to think hard about the situation. Then ask if there is anything one of the other characters can do to deflect half the damage. Give the party a special reaction for this single moment to protect the Wizard and prevent death. You have cheated but your players are cheating with you.

An earth shattering kaboom!

It seems to me that, with the recent focus on inclusivity and representation, the Giant Weasel may have been included in an effort to make WOTC executives feel like they’re represented in the game.

On the note of struggling to tie in PC backstories--a fun way to make a campaign is to sit down together at the table and make the campaign around the PC backstories and their current goals. I ask my players what kind of theme they want to play (pirates, classic fantasy, grimdark, etc...) and then we make characters and different goals (short, mid and longterm). The players then link their goals to other PCs at the table. I'll also get them to build out some lore about their character and where they come from. And BOOM! We're off to the races.

Gary Gygax has been quoted as saying that the only reason a DM uses dice is for the sounds they make when you roll them. I fudge rolls and HP, I make enemies miss or players auto-hit, all in service of either pushing the story or the game along or for drama. It's about the fantasy and the story. I don't like dragging players down with minutiae and boredom.

I have trouble coming up with names for NPCs. For one campaign I started naming NPCs after bands and their albums. Most embarrassingly there was the Ogre chieftain Utoo (U2) and his children: Johsa, Aktung, Zoorpa, and the twins: Raddle and Huum (Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, Zooropa, Rattle and Humm) The players either didn't figure it out or didn't say anything.

Supple, hard….am I watching the right channel?!? 😂😂😂 Great Job Em on running. Should have used Aila’s voice to do it. Good times!! Glad to see you guys doing other games.

But, I got a whip?! Don’t make it weird……😐 😂😂 😂

My group is very tactically saavy. I always add 100hp to big monsters after level 3 or 4. I also can’t let them fight a single mob, unless it’s something with legendary resistances. They will banish it or otherwise destroy it in the first turn, even why I use solid tactics. Yesterday, 5 level 10’s fought an adult green dragon and I had to add 100 hp or the fight would have been really short, even with it flying etc.

I’m guilty of not reading up on monsters myself. I remember playing Manshoon in Waterdeep Dragon Heist and getting destroyed by the level 5 players. I blame the rules, since I should have not only read his stats in the adventure, but the spells in the PHB and the magic items in the DMG. I think it’s a failing of 5th edition to have the rules so scattered and putting too much pressure on DMs to recall too much.

I view all of these as adapting to your previous choices. There are no set prices, rewards to players are relative to the prices you choose. Fudging rolls is down to the difficulty you chose, maybe you didn't pick a beefy enough enemy or something. Same goes for HP. None of these are bad in my book if they increase the fun at the table.

I've been trying to move away from fudging in my game, and move towards types of conflicts that the players are allowed to lose (or steamroll). My ideal conflict is one where losing is nearly as much fun as winning. Of course this requires a fundamental shift in how you design encounters, and may actually require a ground up campaign designed around it. I played around with the idea of running a world where every time you kill something, it comes back as a ghost to haunt you. It would fundamentally reshape the world so that pretty much no one killed for any reason, or if they did they'd do it really indirectly. Instead, violence would lead to getting hurt, but not dead. That's a bit extreme, and I never actually ran with the idea, but these days I do tend to run encounters where both the villains and the players are protected by society's rules, and they have to find ways to fight indirectly or nonlethally.

you mention balance a lot in this video but 5e is inherently unbalanced to begin with in my experience, the initiative system and almost everything is skewed towards the players so I would not feel bad at all for critting against the party. Fun for the players but really getting to be a drag for the DM on my end. IMO, that is why AD&D is superior to other versions of the game, but that's me. Of course some people don't mind. The last one made me laugh because I have totally done that (underpreparing)

I agree with you wholeheartedly. My own view on Fudging dice rolls, is the same, including letting the BBEG live just a few rounds longer. FYI I believe 5e included "Legendary Saves" for just that reason, so I give all BBEG's a few points of inspiration for the same reason. As far as fudging for keeping players alive, I will do that if it is MY mistake in creating the encounter, but will not do it if it is just a string of bad luck and will NEVER do it if the PC's were warned about the hazard and jumped in anyway.

Greta vid! Thanks for you tips! But the only confessions I know, are the confessions of a mask!!!1

I don’t even have everything figured out when I finish the campaign

Yes I’ve done most of these. I now roll in the open so no fudging.

Guilty as charged for all of these! Always in favor of the players, always with the "rule of cool" in mind. Amazing video as always!!

None of these things are problematic. The DM is making stuff up. What does it matter if she makes it up before the game or during it? The DM is a player, too, and should not feel bad for playing like everyone else is -- as the game is played! As long as it's all being done to make the game more fun!

Didn’t know anyone had created an encounter builder - cool!

Stories in games are meant to be emergent narratives. Adding to a background is part of the process.

I DO NOT TRACK NPC HIT POINTS AND I REGRET NOTHING!

I’ve done all of these myself. I’ll admit I’ll continue to do them too. Adjusting on the day is where my fun comes from otherwise I’d be less engaged. Monsters should get their time to shine and then I know when it’s dragging out too long also.

I Pardon you. I'd never flub a roll or HP to hurt my players or change an outcome, but to extend a combat or make player feel a little fear you are helping the story.

My 9th Session is coming up as a dm (but never been a player outside of bg3) and so far I completely feel what you are talking about. The thing I am struggling with right now is how I should act with unconscious PCs. Because they just keep calm, because they now I won't attack a downed PC more than once so they have a chance (after I balanced it with these methods). I am thinking about having "i want to kill"-DCs for monsters and leaving it up to a small chance that I communicate with them.

I have nothing to confess, probably because I do not run nor play Dungeons & Derivats. I games I do run, most of the issues are completely irrelevant. I mean in horror games for example all that nonsense about fudging or hit points becomes pointless, if the characters engage in combat, then they probably going to die and it was their fault to even try to fight the xenomorph or what have you. I also need much less prep time when the game is not about all those mechanics or thinking I have to present a whole sandbox, but more about exploring themes. And no, I don't think I would ever apologise for running thematic games, since those can be much more memorable because of the catharsis they can create and not just mere euphoria based one empty victories that D&D offers. At least that is my opinion. I combat and the like is what floats your goat, then have at it.

You're not the worst. You're the best. The "missing abilities" thing is a BIG problem of mine. Also, confession... I've TOTALLY messed with HP 😂🤣

Very well done! I can confess to having done all of these things. I really enjoy messing with prices of things, and I view HP totals as artificial constructs. The monster dies when I say it dies.

On the forgetting the monster part. I have enough times where players don't even know their own character abilities or spells. I have to explain them and then forget my own monster ability. Happens less if I write down a very basic sheet with monster details with their special abilities.

Your thumbnail 😅 Also fudging dice rolls is a narrative tool for good DMs. We don't speak of it, so as to keep the illusion alive.

This is great! HP and Backlore changes are totally, totally excusable.

Ok number is 1 is just something that real shopkeepers do you dont need to feel guilty at all. Think of prices in the book as the suggestive price. Shopkeepers are going to try to pry every copper out of them but, because your players are so awesome and charismatic almost like they all have Main Character energy, they get the discount when they remember and the item is important to them.

i also mess with health but i put it in the form of paragon levels. for example my group has 6 players and all are very good at what they do. So i had them go up against a Mistbane Bugbear. Now this Bugbear has 4 health pools of 90 health and access to specialized gimmicks. When the players chew through the first health pool, he gains the ability to teleport to any open spot within 60 feet, LOS. When the group chews through the second Health pool it gains booming voice which allows him to do a shout that can knock everyone Prone withing a 15 foot cone DC 15. When they chew through the third health pool he spiritual enrages and can now crit on an 18-20. Now these gimmicks continue as they next one is implemented. As they chew through health it gets slightly more difficult. By the time they chew through HP its the equivalent of 4 Mistbane Bugbears so the exp is adjusted accordingly. BAM! BOSS FIGHT!

how dare you steal their hard earned imaginary gold. Blasphemy! I'm kidding i do it too.

I am guilty of some of those. But the GM cannot cheat, as long as they are facilitating a fun experience for the players.

I hope the take out food makes it in this episode

The game totally writes itself 😊

The player discussion over the game is a great idea! Will be interesting to watch it. A solid move. The reworking the story and narrative is why it is important to leave space in your games. Playing to find out what happens at the table helps to grow a more engaging and interesting story.

Retconning information to make it more important is nothing to be ashamed of as a DM. If your notes say one thing, it's not written in stone until you present it to the players. Situations like this are not "confessions," they're just one more way for Dungeon Masters to flex their improv muscle.

The first time I ever DM I accidentally killed one of my players. I had meant for him to be knocked out unconscious but since I didn’t specifically state that they said no, I’m dead. Still feel bad about that one because he was a great character. He was a good sport about it though, and I learned a lot from that experience.

Been there with the HP, a few enemies kinda bosses turn out pretty weak, sometimes even double it so it doesn't come out as anti - climatic

I for one am shocked at your DMing confessions and will not be watching any more of your videos until the next one comes out 😉 Guilty of most of those I think and I've only started DMing again this year. I will say that I would feel guilty about not prepping for a session. Granted what you spent hours on often goes out the window once the players get hold of it though 🤪

I've done all the things you confess to. I will also confess that I favor characters/players that do more role playing and give me a backstory to work with.

#1 no need to confess.. you made it a living world!

So as a reminder & I am sure you know this already, but we all get in our heads sometimes & forget that reality is different than how we imagine the world. Cost is in general dependent on supply, so just because you charged more & doesn't mean for the area they are in that isn't a "good" price. The other way works too, even if the item is expensive to create does not mean the environment it is within can support the real cost. An Apple Watch in the middle of the desert has almost no value in contrast to the full wineskin. (Hope you don't beat yourself up on costs too much.)