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When DMing Goes Wrong

Started by Jackalope, June 25, 2008, 03:38:47 AM

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Trevelyan

I don't see the problem, it's not as if you set out to gank the guy, and notably no other member of the party helped out either - they were all laughing and joking about the injured cleric too up until the last minute. If the party doesn't work together to protect each other then you hardly need to apologise when one of them dies as a result.
 

pathar

Quote from: Jackalope;219057But he didn't defend the cleric, because I, Ken, the DM, wanted to see the orc die from bleed damage.  I wanted to describe it keeling over still slurring threats through it's ruined mouth.  

And then, to compound one bad decision, I decided to roll a die in front of player to prove to him that he couldn't predict the future and was just whining.  And the dice gods, they were against me that night.

It seems like your only real mistake was in waiting for the dice to confirm what you'd already decided.  If you wanted to describe the orc bleeding out, and adjusted the actions of an NPC accordingly, why did the dice come in to play?  If there's one orc left, and he's on his last legs, and you want a dramatic moment, just go for it - it's your game.  Dice don't need to be involved.

If you insist on leaving that sort of thing up to the dice, that's also fine - but then you shouldn't make NPCs do things that are bad strategy so that you'll have an opportunity to give a good narration, because the dice, as we all know, are fickle.
Patrick Harris
http://anotherdamncookingblog.blogspot.com

"If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron."
- Spider Robinson