Depends on the system, I currently run a lot of Numenera, where 1XP is worth a lot
@Krshwunk
2 жыл бұрын
Whoa, hey now ....
@Aaron-r4y6i
5 ай бұрын
Too much...
@hartthorn
2 жыл бұрын
My big sin: dropping secrets or twists before they are due. Hate pulling this one, but done it a couple times on accident.
@mnemophage
2 жыл бұрын
Yep, I feel this one keenly. I tend to get so excited about this complex, awesome game mechanism I've put together that I can't keep it in. Once I realize I've done this, I then tend to swing around to my other big sin: Just not giving out the clues. I'll want to stretch out the mystery as long as I can, and as such miss opportunities to organically introduce information where it would make the most sense. Either that or I set in mind a trigger or check that needs to be done in order to convey what may very well be actually vital information, and then when my players blow it or don't know to do it, I can't as easily just slide it in elsewhere.
@paulduquette1102
2 жыл бұрын
My wife is a player in my game and we talk about RPGs all the time. I've been guilty of this too. It's almost like over sharing. You don't realize you've said too much until you say too much!
@oasntet
2 жыл бұрын
I have the opposite problem. There's always secret machinations and deeper mysteries, and my players almost never dig enough to get to the bottom of anything. It's better to present many paths to those secrets and twists and let the mystery be what to do about it.
@richardreumerman5449
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah or bragging about them in between sessions..
@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself
2 жыл бұрын
So tempting. That's why I like a lot of randomization as a GM: I want to be surprised too.
@jellojackalopes
2 жыл бұрын
My players tell me that my biggest issue is being overly apologetic. They messed up real bad in a boss fight and the enemy brutally mopped the floor with them. I felt really bad about it and apologized but they said not to and that it was their fault. Looking back it absolutely was since they made a ton of bad decisions but I felt awful at the time. I felt like I was destroying their fun when they were actually having a blast. They regrouped and came back to that fight with an actual plan and won, and they had fun with it too. I also straight up cannot do puzzles. If I do I have to walk away because I start worrying about whether they'll hate the puzzle or get stumped on it and have it ruin the game. Then I wind up giving hints. It's a terrible habit I still have to kick. My group is wonderful though and I always ask their thoughts at the end of a session to see what I can improve on. It helps me make the game even better for everybody.
@larsdahl5528
2 жыл бұрын
There is always the nagging feeling: Did I describe what the PCs observe well enough? Or did I overdo it? Sometimes we have to accept that, despite we did describe the wall with windows and a door in it, the players will climb a window to get through it! Players do have their toddler moments, where they try out the borders at what they can get away with. In those cases, remember gravity is a relentless teacher when a toddler learns to walk. A caring parent may feel bad about it and pad the toddler, but that only makes the toddler more wreckless. To other parents' frustration. Erhm... I mean: A caring GM may feel bad about it and give the PCs plot armor, but that only makes the PCs more wreckless. To other GMs' frustration. When lethal weapons are used in combat, those weapons should be that: Lethal! Otherwise, you end up with those boring slow combats where the weapons are as lethal as dull toothbrushes. --- For what puzzles go: Start out easy. See it a bit like the classic murder mystery: It can not be solved in chapter one, but reward the PCs with more clues as they investigate. If they do not understand a clue, then it may be tempting to give a hint, but as you have figured, it is a bad approach. Instead, see it as being still in the early chapters, so move on to give more clues. Careful that it does not become a breadcrumb trail, instead see "a not understood clue" as being a dead end (from the players' perspective) and instead give clues to another path. That can lead the players around to "open the door" from the other side to what they thought was the dead end.
@rogerb181
2 жыл бұрын
The goal of a GM is to provide a fun and challenging experience for the players. If the players plan poorly or do not work as a team, they will see their performance suffer overall. It is really cool to see players devise a plan and execute it in a manner that decimates the opposition. As a GM, I love seeing them triumph over a tough challenge. I just don't want to make it too easy.
@AuntLoopy123
2 жыл бұрын
My brother said he wanted more puzzles. The firsts puzzle I gave them, he solved in about 30 seconds. So, I gave them a prop. The goblins dropped a little booklet, that happened to be a section torn out of a wizard's spell book. And you know how the book says it takes them HOURS to transcribe spells from another wizard's spell book, because every wizard finds their own unique and secure way of writing it? Well, I found the Pigpen cypher and wrote down those pages on some parchment paper, that had been sewn into booklet form. I had my niece have some fun, pretending to be a goblin and vandalizing it, and then, I torn half of the last page off, just to annoy him (He got two full spells, and the first part of a third, just to whet his appetite). It would be SO HARD for me to sit there and watch him solve it, but this was something he could take home and work on, in his own time. I just told him, "Keep track of how much time you spend, because that is how much time your PC will have to spend to figure it out. Once. you have it figured out, and transcribed, and you have a time for YOU, then we can have your PC do it, in game. You'll just have to tell me when he's working on it, and when he's finished with it." I also bought a few props. I got some cheap wooden puzzles to give them at the table, for the players (probably my brother) to solve. I even have my line all worked out. "This is a Plotco lock! It's unpick able! You'll have to find the proper key." Thank you, West of Loathing. So, anyway, they can collect the puzzle pieces and then put it together to get the "key" for the lock on the door. Hopefully, that will keep them happy. However, I made sure to practice with all the puzzles before I hand them over, so that if they don't solve them in a timely manner, I can. If you have to walk way, that's a great time for snacks, right? We take a break to eat, and we all fill our plates, but I CANNOT eat while DMing, so I usually wind up pretty hungry. But if I have to walk away, to keep from giving hints, that is a great time for ME to grab a bite to eat.
@larsdahl5528
2 жыл бұрын
@@AuntLoopy123 Though it sounds nice, I may say: Be careful! There are the "Physical stats vs. Mental stats" -problem: If physical tasks are carried out by the character, and mental tasks are carried out by the player behind the character, then the players will nerf their character's mental stats to boost physical stats. That can lead to; two doors leading out of the room, one is blocked so it has to be forced open, and the other door has a puzzle lock that has to be solved. The players will then force the blocked door, as it will be their characters doing it, thus being the fastest and/or easiest way to go forward. *It is* of course *excellent you have found something a player of yours enjoys!* - Just be careful, the other players may not be as enthusiastic about it. Some ideas, I have collected over the years, you may find inspiring: I have played a board game where the players each play a "character", it had an interesting rule for puzzles: All puzzles consisted of pieces that had to be moved around in order to reach the "solved" position, it was then about counting how many moves used, as the character's mental-stat was the upper limit to how many moves that character could use to solve the puzzle. - In other words the better the mental-stat was, the more moves could be used, and thus the more likely it was that the puzzle was solvable by that character. (I find that one interesting in connection to the "Physical stats vs. Mental stats" -problem, as it takes the character's mental-stat into account, while still leaving something for the player to do.) At work, we have had some "team-building" puzzles, where each member got 3 pieces of which it was possible for each person to form a square if they had the correct pieces, which no one have at the beginning. Now the rules were that they were not allowed to talk or communicate in any way other than giving away pieces, one by one, to the others. The interesting part of this puzzle is that it is easy for one person to assemble all squares correctly, but when people have to do it, as a group effort, under such limitations to how they are allowed to communicate, it becomes really difficult! - It requires that people agree on a strategy (Thus people have to realize they need a system, for how to do it, and everyone has to reach that same conclusion!). When the group has forced their way through something locked, I am the type that let them find a fitting key, when they search something, shortly after. --- For what the eat something while GM-ing problem goes: Did you see the video on Seth's other channel? kzitem.info/news/bejne/055_uZeOr2p1gag If you search the comments on it, you may find the one I made. Think about it: 20 minutes should be sufficient time for a little meal while you are playing.
@jellojackalopes
2 жыл бұрын
@@larsdahl5528 I found that the simplest puzzles were the hardest to solve for them. They'd solve the hard puzzles pretty much immediately. I had one puzzle with 3×3 tiles that lit up when stepped on. Stepping on one lit it up blue and in response another would glow red. If three tiles in a row glowed red, the tiles would reset. It took them a very long time to figure out that I was just playing tic tac toe with them. My favorite puzzle was this room where two ghosts were sat on opposite sides of a banquet table. They were siblings bickering back and forth and the task was to "get the quarreling siblings on the same side". They'd argue one topic at a time, like what the best fruit is or the ideal temperature for cooking steak. Even dumb stuff like what two plus two equals. The topics don't matter, they just will not agree with each other, and if the party convinces one to change their mind and the other hears it, they will immediately switch their stance. There were two ways I had in mind to solve it. One is to change a sibling's mind while preventing the other from overhearing. If the other sibling is unaware that the stance has changed, they will not change their own opinion. The other answer is to take the riddle extremely literally and physically move one sibling to the other side of the table.
@robertnett9793
2 жыл бұрын
10:15 - 'You should just play in Jeff's group' I see what you did there. And I tip my hat for this surprising continuity :D
@UwedeGrape
2 жыл бұрын
Started reading your book Daemoren. Wow, great book. You got me hooked in the first 5 pages! Looking forward to the entire series.
@SSkorkowsky
2 жыл бұрын
Glad you're enjoying it. Look forward to talking with you again at GenCon.
@submarinehandgrenade
2 жыл бұрын
I feel called out. I've done 6 of these in the order you mentioned. I believe this should be called the Skorkowsky Game Master Grief Model.
@shaicass
2 жыл бұрын
Glad to see that George is running Cyberpunk again (and the mention fits nicely into the GM forgetting what it's like to be a player). No Bombshells in that game, I hope. ;)
@MarcinEstkowski
2 жыл бұрын
I love your "RPG Philosophy" videos. I have 25 years of experience in RPG playing and game mastering, but I always find something interesting and useful in this content. Thanks.
@Spaceisprettybig
5 ай бұрын
I love watching you have to navigate around the horrors of Poe's Law as you refine your videos.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I've had the "perfection is impossible" manager. Drove me nuts.
@gameprose4293
2 жыл бұрын
I've had to deal with a Punisher/Sadist hybrid in my first D&D/rpg campaign and it almost caused me to leave TTRPGs forever. For the longest time, I just refused to join any group where I wasn't the DM/GM. I've shared the events in several other places (comments on other youtube videos and even a reddit thread or two), and I still get people insisting I've made the story up for 'internet points'. So instead of posting it all again I'll be as brief as I can. It was in 2008, the campaign was a 3.5 one, I was playing a Half-Orc Paladin. The DM forced us into a gladiator arena/pit that negated all Arcan Magic, leaving my character as the only one capable of any type of magic. After going from 3rd to 6th level in the arena, he tossed a group of humanoids at us described as killers and the worst criminals the land had to offer. We won, the DM told me that my Paladin lost all of his Paladin powers, was now Chaotic Evil, and there was no way for me to redeem myself or become another cleric or paladin-like class as no deity (Good or Evil) was willing to hear me or take me on as a follower. I said he couldn't do that, he said it's my punishment for killing good humanoids. I said that it was a life and death situation and my character thought they were evil due to the way the announcer talked about them, the DM told me to deal with it. We got in a heated argument and took a break that went on for 1hr because of how upset I was and how long I needed to cool my head. We get back, DM begins to go into as graphic detail as possible about how friends of the gladiators we killed broke into my Paladin's cell and took turns raping him. Once more, I objected and said I was uncomofortable with rape in games, he said that now I'll know my place and wont question him again, so I left the game. Because of this, I am super paranoid about what is done with my characters, and I don't react well to anyone telling me how I should or shouldn't play my characters. As mentioned, it took a long time before I joined a group where I wasn't a GM/DM. The group I play with now is pretty awesome and we do a variety of game systems and campaign settings, the forever GM/DM of the group is pretty chill and has taught me things about GMing over the last 5 or 6 years since I met him.
@larsdahl5528
2 жыл бұрын
What you experienced is what I consider the #1 worst problem the world of role-playing suffers from: The murder hobo wargame. People know it, but they persistently deny it. I have seen far too many examples of it, and when I talk with those people about it, they deny that they play that way. I am welcome to take a look and see for myself, I sometimes take them up on it, and see they play the murder hobo wargame like everyone else. I see you have figured out the effect: Those who want to role-play leave the hobby. (Or worse: Get converted, becoming murder hobo wargamers themselves.) That way it is a self-magnifying problem.
@oz_jones
2 жыл бұрын
I get losing powers for going against alingment but that was totally bs railroading
@--enyo--
2 жыл бұрын
Oh man, even after only a (relatively) very short time being Keeper seven is real. In a surprisingly short time I forget how puzzles and things obvious to the Keeper isn’t so to players. Being a player improves my being a keeper so much, and vice versa.
@shadowandson3550
2 жыл бұрын
After more than 25 years as a GM I finally found a game to play in.I look forward to putting these thoughts in the front of my mind as I play.Thanks.
@calebskillin2694
2 жыл бұрын
lol, being a loot fairy feels good sometimes tho. the look on my little players faces when they find that flametongue or strong wand. it’s like my kids on Xmas.
@Jesse_Dawg
2 жыл бұрын
Honestly the lore behind the "fake" players like dweeblos and their interaction with Seth is amazing. I really would like more lore to be added and for some sort of timeline video to be made about them. I NEED THIS
@TalonBrush
2 жыл бұрын
When I wake up in the morning and there's a new Seth video, it's already a better day than it could have been before. This one was really great, both for the advice as well as THE GANG!
@jasonnewell7036
2 жыл бұрын
Loving the callbacks
@SquirrelGamez
2 жыл бұрын
Hey I liked Dolph Lundgren as Punisher :P Back then he was all we had, and he was certainly 100x cooler than motorcycle-helmet Captain America! :P
@ctvtmo
2 жыл бұрын
I had two major sins that were on the opposite side of the spectrum but strangely fed into each other. They were: 1) Having too grim of a world because I wanted it to be challenging. 2) Afraid to kill off a player character. The first became a joke (in good nature) among my players about how it was always raining and the sun never shined in my worlds. The second got so bad that at times the players demanded that I show my dice rolls to make sure I wasn't cheating in their favor.
@riggermortisfpv526
2 жыл бұрын
I have been running games for so so so long now that Im most likely guilty of the last one. I try to make fun the priority but I think you have opened my eyes to the fact that I need to join a group as a player again, if for just the reminder. I think its been close to 20 years since I have been on the player end.
@dawafflesupreme
2 жыл бұрын
2 good vids in a row, you are good at this
@VengirSvogthos
2 жыл бұрын
As a player who DMs when the forever DM starts to feel burnout, I will say I'm extremely lucky. I can say I'm a fragile DM, and I'm just waiting to hear my players tell me I suck and that last adventure was poorly planned(I have to improv a lot, because I have a very difficult time planning the games details correctly.) I'm lucky because either my group knows I'm fragile, or they genuinely think I'm doing a good job. Each adventure I've run for them I try to stay short and sweet and they seem to enjoy fooling around in my worlds.
@Blackmuseops
Жыл бұрын
Literal years since I stumbled upon your channel. Almost a decade since I actually played. Setting up to DM a group of friends who want to try rpg's? Bet I'm gonna come over to file off my rusty writing hand 🤣
@bigsarge2085
2 жыл бұрын
Yep, many of the lessons I had to learn as a some-time GM!
@ericwhite1942
Жыл бұрын
One day, I hope you'll reveal the gang's alignments. Dweebiles is obviously Chaotic Evil, but besides that....
@dutch6857
2 жыл бұрын
Love those Jeff shoutouts! And love the return of "Excelsior!"
@EmrysTernal
2 жыл бұрын
I specifically look for "forever DMs" for my futuristic D&D 3.5e campaign, regardless of what editions they DM'd.
@craigsisco1894
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this video and share. I counted several sins in my past as well. Now, to atonement (breaking out Cat-of-Nine-Tails…)
@krootmen
2 жыл бұрын
The bear things was really funny actually.
@dangarthemighty0980
2 жыл бұрын
I definitely have been guilty of a lot of these in my 30+ years of being a GM.
@olivermeloche2042
2 жыл бұрын
My greatest sin is under-prepping and post game tracking, especially with physical aspects/props because I get anxiety over the game that I don't feel while running it, so reading through and memorizing rules is fine and I love improvising and going back and forth while running the game, but making maps, keeping track of money ect are all things that are pretty rough for me even when they would make the game epxerience much better.
@vertigq5126
2 жыл бұрын
Happy Easter Seth! Thanks for all your great content so far, I’m so looking forward to more. God bless you!
@lilcwa
2 жыл бұрын
Great video. Your advice is always sound, ways to understand, and entertaining to listen to.
@vrslayercat
2 жыл бұрын
This is quality stuff Seth. I think everyone could use some self reflection.
@jamesaskins9547
2 жыл бұрын
Gold as always. A side add on to the perfectionist, and absolutly something I'm guilty of, "All the Bells and Whistles". I have gone so hard down a rabbit hole of a Digital battlemap, music, effects, animations, 3D maps, props, the "Toys" became the game, and I absolutely lost sight of just playing a game. Back in the day I'd run a game with a pad and some dice (first game I ran I didn't even have defined rules, based it of the Old Fighting Fantasy books) but now, sheesh did I go full ham! So I've decided to restrict myself, I ask myself 2 questions, does it add to the enjoyment and/or DM workload? If it adds enjoyment without workload AT THE TABLE (upfront, I'll live with some more prep) it stays, if not it goes. If its a game changer for some minor effort, its a maybe. Digital battlemap, well, was already running VTTs, and gets rid of paper maps so that stays, painted models, thats upfront prep, it stays, Music, a VERY simple system with limited choices, adds alot for a little workload, stays. Animations.... if I can set them in advance, stays, if not, goes, mood lighting... undecided yet.... Its makes the game better, less stress, less DM Workload which lets me RP better, read the game better, everything. So easy to get lost!
@larsdahl5528
2 жыл бұрын
If you go for perfection, then I will say: Do a session in complete darkness (or another way of: No one is using their eyes for anything while playing.). It may sound a bit weird at first, but! The idea is to be able to eliminate all distractions that usually derail role play. You eliminate rule-play, as no one can read rulebooks while blind. You eliminate roll-play, as no one can read dice while blind. Etc. (Ok, you can still have background noise. - Perhaps the removal of all other sounds than the players' voices should be added to the *complete* distraction-free session criteria.)
@Billchu13
2 жыл бұрын
Hello Seth forgive us for we have sinned!!
@frankmikes9002
3 ай бұрын
I felt very attacked at the start of this video. I have been well known by some of my players as 'The Stingy DM'. I think that I, like Seth, started out being a little too generous and am still a little traumatized by the results of players just running roughshod over my encounters. So, I reflexively started giving them less. I admit it, I confess. Please give the teddy bear back now.
@jackwalters3928
2 жыл бұрын
Let me add a bad trait. GMs who are so proud of something they came up with, like a twist or something, that they spoil it out of game because they can't wait for the great revelation. - That was really nice, man. I loved it when the villain turned out to be the mayor after all. - I know, right? And he's secretly a vampire too! That's why you always see him at night. - Dude... Why would you... Uhh, come on man. - Yeah! The abductions are made by his vampire minions. They use the children to drink their blood. - DUDE! Stop! - I can't wait for your characters to find out. - ...
@Eron_the_Relentless
2 жыл бұрын
Glad to see Dweebles getting to do the outro. I think he gets neglected too often.
@pietruszkapietruszkowa9713
2 жыл бұрын
Maaaaaan, I love this series :)
@tafua_a
2 жыл бұрын
I felt the last one. The thing is, I am not a forever game master. I cannot run more than two games at once, so I often play in other campaigns. However, I'm currently running a dungeon, and my sessions in the dungeon are easily the worst. The reason? Because it's been so long since I've been dungeon crawling that I completely forgot how much I hate dungeon crawling as a player, so now I have little to no sense of what makes it enjoyable for those who do like it.
@boredomaster
2 жыл бұрын
Am a well rounded career GM now, proud of my game and ability to run a good game now. My players suffered as I worked through these; nothing helps like having good friends.
@magma1lord
2 жыл бұрын
A good game to learn gmming is blades in the dark. It has a whole chapter on what not to do as a gm.
@TheShadowwalker007
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Seth
@SacredRatchet
2 жыл бұрын
Jesus, my first game master was a sadist and did all of the things you described. Luckily my second Game Master helped bring me back up enough to love TTRPGs again.
@bistronomics
2 жыл бұрын
I am definitely guilty of #4, for this reason: I just recently got back into RPing after a 20 year hiatus, and am planning to GM (weekly friend get together, another person has been GMing Vampire, and I am going to cycle with him so he can be a Player also). To add to this, back when I used to play, I was the forever GM, and one of the last campaigns I ran a few players have called "Greatest Campaign they have been in" so I feel that I have to be back at that level of GMing, which I know I cannot right away.
@pavelowjohn9167
2 жыл бұрын
If I had step outside myself and look for any sins, I'd say my biggest one recently has been impatience with the players. I found myself thinking "Wtf are they doing? Why aren't they grabbing these plot hooks I'm dangling? Dude, I could totally RP better with that, what a wasted opportunity, etc.". As Seth pointed out, if you GM/DM too much and don't play enough, it's easy to forget what's it like to be a player and I think that has happened to me to an extent. Luckily, I'm taking a break and letting one of the players DM some 5E in the old Forgotten Realms (back in 1370 DR, before all the Faerun lore was set on fire and dropped off a cliff). That should give me a little more empathy for players and recalibrate my expectations and reactions.
@thomasbecker9676
2 жыл бұрын
When I worked at Bombardier Transportation, performance reviews were a scale from 1-5, but management explicitly told us no one would ever get a 5. They were sure as shit willing to give out 1's, though.
@sophiescott143
Жыл бұрын
"Some GMs hold things back as if it costs them money to give the players imaginary stuff". The way things are going with WotC and D&D, it will.
@irenebloodrose3886
2 жыл бұрын
DWEEBLES IS STILL MAD ABOUT NOT KNOWING HIS NAME
@justinsaunders4068
2 жыл бұрын
My sin would be giving players what I want in hopes that when they DM for me they give me the exact same thing. I don't tend to focus and listen to what they enjoy themselves.
@fartymcbutterpants7063
2 жыл бұрын
I can sometimes transition between fragile, perfectionist & hubris over the course of a few sessions. One session will be the best ever! "I should get paid for this!" The next session will be the worst ever and I swear of GMing ever again. Then I spend the next week pouring every spare minute into prepping for the next session. Most times I just focus on having fun.
@KarmaSpaz12
2 жыл бұрын
Ahhh Dweebles with the good old friendly NPC plot twist into a face heel turn. As for my sin, that's looking down on people using modules who go off the rails. Not my fault if the session crashes and burns after that but I will admit my vitriol. Just stick with the module or use bits of a pre existing one and make something new before you start. You have your script now don't go off script.
@liammontgomery1825
2 жыл бұрын
I'm guilty of being a punisher. We play D&D so sometimes when a player makes a particularly bad joke, I make their level 6 character take 1d4 psychic damage. It magically comes back if they have to enter combat, though. Everyone laughs and the players are like "hell yeah" when they roll their psychic damage.
@larsdahl5528
2 жыл бұрын
I thought I dreamt of swimming in orange soda, but it turned out to be a Fanta sea.
@Danmarinja
2 жыл бұрын
Just finished running a year-and-a-half-long D&D game, and I’m already prepping my first Cyberpunk Red game. My buddy told me he wants to run a D&D game… that will be no longer than 5 sessions. I’ll let you know if I ever get to be a player for real.
@larsdahl5528
2 жыл бұрын
Congratulations! Good to see things move forward, and people step up.
@eanhall7666
2 жыл бұрын
Oh man I'm pumped!
@tabletopgamingwithwolfphototec
2 жыл бұрын
Awesome 😊
@capnahayes
2 жыл бұрын
Star Wars Edge Of The Empire is a great game!
@AndyCandyZeroSugar
Жыл бұрын
Can't believe I just now hear this, but did George finally run a game as your GM?? Every time I watch "What bug?!" I kept hoping he would one day! Unless I'm very much mistaken and it's a different George.
@SSkorkowsky
Жыл бұрын
Yup. He's been running again.
@robertnett9793
2 жыл бұрын
What we learned today: Dweebles is a Monster.
@samchafin4623
2 жыл бұрын
That punisher joke 🤣
@eldritchsheep6801
2 жыл бұрын
so, my biggest issue (as I've been told by others) is that I always accidentally prep my game for murder hoboing. Basically, my first party (which I dmed for, for like 3 years) was a complete murder hobo party and decided what they were going to do based on the number of people they could rob and kill. I didn't like this but it was the only irl party available so I had to stick with it (I didn't want to ask them to change because I went to their house to DM and therefore if they stopped wanting to play with me I was out of a game). over several years I had grown accustomed to making my campaigns simple and based on murder, where the main storyline would be drenched in blood, gold, and as little "boring roleplay" as one could fit in a session. This then messed me up down the line as due to habit I would continue to make the main quest line the one soaked in blood and even when told about this I would try and it would work for a few sessions but then I would fall back into it. I think I've gotten over it mostly now but it really affected me my first few years out of the party.
@clericofchaos1
2 жыл бұрын
Being unwilling is a sin a lot of gm's are guilty of. I would love to play a full blown, plane hopping, demon lord slaying, artifact wielding, epic level campaign. No one runs those though. Mainly because that would take a lot of work to set up and it would be difficult to keep the game challenging without making it unfair. However, you're never going to know if you can do it or whether you'll have as much fun as the players until you try, and a max level campaign doesn't really have to be challenging. Once you've hit that benchmark there are plenty of players out there that would love to just flaunt their power over npcs and do whatever they want with the game world. There's nothing wrong with that.
@mathsalot8099
2 жыл бұрын
Sounds like you would run a great campaign! Go for it! 👍
@clericofchaos1
2 жыл бұрын
@@mathsalot8099 lol, i'm part of the problem. I want to play, not run.
@mathsalot8099
2 жыл бұрын
@@clericofchaos1 Now, if they were unwilling to try any other systems or any genres, levels, types, etc of games AT ALL, I could see that as a sin. But the campaign you described, despite your assessment, is in truth EXTREMELY challenging. My limited GM experience of 5 years and crossing 2 planes with getting to lvl 14 and no political intrigue was extremely difficult. GMing is much harder than it looks! I guess if you want Matt Mercer as your DM and you're as good a player as Laura Bailey, then sure, that type of campaign is possible. Just like winning an Olympic metal or getting an academy award is possible, too. I hope you will one day have the campaign you have always dreamed of, but trying to guilt someone into doing it for you? Just, no.
@clericofchaos1
2 жыл бұрын
@@mathsalot8099 Oh please, i'm a gm too, i just don't want to be a forever gm. Of course i could run a game like that, it's not that hard in and of itself, it just takes a lot of time and planning...it just wouldn't be as fun as playing in it though. Hell, i haven't gotten to play a level 20 character since 3.5. That's just wrong.
@mathsalot8099
2 жыл бұрын
@@clericofchaos1 that's great! You have done what I never could. I've been playing off and on since 3.5e, but only just started GMing in 5e. I have never once broken the lvl 15 mark, and there is nothing wrong with that. High level play IS hard for many people, and it's ok if people can't/don't want to do it. I wish you and yours the very best.
@robertnett9793
2 жыл бұрын
What are you talking? Game Masters don't make mistakes. They are perfect, heavenly beings without flaws, biases and errors. Their views are always perfectly objective and... How I know it? Because I am a Game master. And if you want to find any flaw about me, you'd be hard pressed. Well... maybe it's my humble attitude towards the world :D
@notoriouswhitemoth
2 жыл бұрын
I'd reframe Todd's criticism - in my experience, if the 'but' is necessary, lead with the negative, it tends to be better received that way. 'The combat dragged on a bit, but other than that it was great!'
@danielcrafter9349
2 жыл бұрын
Or use the sandwich technique Compliment Criticism Compliment
@LeonardHarris
2 жыл бұрын
If only someone would link to those other GM sins videos, then I wouldn't have to rely on the terrible search feature and I could become the greatest dungeon master alive.
@SSkorkowsky
2 жыл бұрын
One like the whole dedicated playlist of them that pops up at the end of this video? Or when you searched, did you put "Skorkowsky Sins" or "Skorkowsky Mistakes" in the search? They popped right up for me.
@LeonardHarris
2 жыл бұрын
@@SSkorkowsky Yes I had to search and YT definitely buried them at the bottom of the search results for me. It wasn't in some easy to find place like in the description of the video or one of your playlists.
@TacDyne
2 жыл бұрын
"Stingy game masters" Oh! Every MMO ever made.
@t.n.carhart1097
2 жыл бұрын
First of all, congrats to George! He finally took the plunge ands ran Seth again! Second, how about reviewing Cyberpunk Red? You did promise, after all. 😉 And third, anybody here have ideas for encouraging my players to give me feedback? I’ve asked them each privately, as well as all together, but they mostly blush, mumble, and change the subject. I feel like I must have done something that is making them too uncomfortable to offer constructive criticism, but I don’t know what it was.
@SSkorkowsky
2 жыл бұрын
I will once I've had enough playtime to formulate a fair opinion. I'd also like running it. But every time someone bugs me about it I add another month out of spite. So expect it around 2087.
@t.n.carhart1097
2 жыл бұрын
@@SSkorkowsky lol, alrighty then.
@Aerinndis
2 жыл бұрын
I've had to deal with some of these, with The Sadist being one of the worst. This and other bad GM experiences have just left me paranoid and distrustful of allowing others to GM anything. At the best of times they've done things that involve my PC and/or supporting NPCs that I didn't like one bit. At the worst of times they've shoved my PTSD triggers right into my face after I told them to not do such things. It has left me in a bit of a forever GM position as a result. Since its become the only way to avoid the issues I've run into. A streak of bad GM run ins can ruin much I fear.
@paulaseabee8442
2 жыл бұрын
Heh. It'll take a lot of work, I know, but ever considered doing a 'mistakes' video involving the gang AND Jack the NPC? "10 Things You Shouldn't Allow your NPC to do?", "How not to NPC?"
@larsdahl5528
2 жыл бұрын
Interesting idea. Let me see if I can think up such a list: *GM-PC* No, you should never have such "stealing the lamplight" from the real PCs, all you should care about is NPCs. *NPC hive-mind* Though it is good to have NPCs exchange knowledge, as it makes your world feel alive, but not to such an extent that every NPC thinks the same way and instantaneously gets to know everything all other NPCs get to know. *Hero NPC* The NPC that solves everything when the PCs are too slow to do it. It is disappointing for the players. It is better to leave something unsolved instead. *BBEG* Big Bad Egoistic Game-master. This NPC is annoying for the players in several ways, as the players can not get rid of it, it ruins everything the players try to do, and "steals the lamplight". *All NPCs are hostile to the PCs* A surprisingly commonly committed mistake with NPCs, sometimes forcing the PCs to murder hobo, as the NPCs are always aggressive towards the PCs anyway. (Vague argument for them: If they help the NPCs then the story becomes too easy.) *Computer game NPC* That NPC that always stands in the same spot and buys all the junk the party collects for highly overrated prices. *Combat drone NPC / Zombie NPC* I have a vague feeling that 80 % or more NPCs that are ever used in RPG sessions fall into this category, they stand around passively waiting for an eternity, never eating or doing anything else necessary for being alive. Until the PCs arrive; then they attack relentlessly feeling no pain, never getting crippled, and never flee. *Cavalry NPC* The NPCs that show up at the last moment to save the group from a TPK. Technically it is not the Cavalry NPC being the problem, the real problem is the reason why it was needed. *Turncoat NPCs* This NPC is friendly to the PCs at first, but stabs them in the back at an opportune moment. One of those can, on rare occasions, be fine, but! If all or most NPCs behave that way... *PC-NPC abuse* A tricky category, as players often generate NPCs in their character's background story. A common way to abuse a PC-NPC is for the GM to take it hostage to railroad the PC into a boring kill Combat drone NPCs -story. Hmmm... Ok, that was 10, but some of the last categories overlap, *PC-NPC abuse* often converts PC-NPCs into *Turncoat NPCs* for to have them fit in with the *All NPCs are hostile to the PCs* theme that is necessary for: Kill endless streams of *Combat drone NPC / Zombie NPC* having the *BBEG* or *GM-PC* think for everyone, thus being the *NPC hive-mind* for, in the end, having the *Hero NPC* or the *Cavalry NPC* make the story move forward.
@jajsem1109
2 жыл бұрын
Me: Stingy and pefectionist. Not THAT extreme, but those are my sins and I know it (And I am trying to do somethign about that) And I kind of forgot what playing is like.. But I met The Sadist. It was awfull. My favourite story about him as GM: Shadowrun. One player took paranoid former soldier, who made his low cost apartment into a fortress, paid tons of money for great steel doors and everything. We kind of pissed off some gang on the other side of town. Nothing great, but they had a bit of a grudge. That night, the gang (nothing big, just some street rats) managed to find this players apartment, punched a hole through a wall (because aparently the character forgot it was low cost, so he had like paper thin walls, the GM said) threw a granade through the hole, started shooting and leveled this place. And no, there was no way we could prevent this. No interaction, no roll. Nothing. And this was just one of many, many similar things...
@angelicasimmons6858
Жыл бұрын
My biggest sin.... allowing my distaste for a particular character type to bias my reactions and responses to that character. In particular, I have a friend who prefers to play female characters. However, (and I'm not the only one who notes this) every female character he's played thus far has been... basically the same character. His female characters tend to be like "I'm so hot" and "all guys want me" and teases while also lacking any depth. Which, wouldn't bother, as I've had other players play such characters, except he also assigns to his characters (and not just the female ones) these anime rom-com female character traits. Every single one of his female pcs tap a finger on their cheek while thinking, sexually tease males and pretend they have no idea they were doing that (while totally knowing they were doing that), and tend to be tsunderes. He also likes to suddenly decide that they know certain people or claims others are attracted to them. It's like he wants to play a slutty yet virginal femme fatale with all of the worst anime female tropes tossed in solely for his lols. I've talked to him about his female characters and how much they deeply annoy me. Particularly, how they lack depth and are just a collection of anime waifu tropes that really don't make sense in some of the ttrpgs that we play. And he's... tried to create female characters that I would like. I'm finding it difficult to give his new female pc a chance, as all I can remember are the slew of past characters whom I truly despised. And... I probably punished his pc in game by having npcs treat his character poorly.
@doceideer7993
2 жыл бұрын
My DM sin is disintrest in my own adventure that I wrote.
@Cornu341
2 жыл бұрын
How can that be? Are you creating those adventures with themes and scenarios which you do not like to cater to the group or are you losing interest as soon as you have sketched/fleshed out the story line? This is a genuine question, because I cannot understand how that happens. I am very hyped up, when my scenarios are set and I want to see, if my players are taking the planned route or deviate.
@doceideer7993
2 жыл бұрын
@@Cornu341 Its a few things. First: My players are not interested in the things I enjoy (Body horror/Lovecraftian Horror/post-apocalyptic) and so I am forced to write more "Traditional" Fantasy. I can't do variant settings either like Steampunk, Mythic Age, Oriental, Magatech, or the like because one or more of my players complain that they just dont "get" the setting and does not want to play it no matter how I hype the game. There is only one point of intersection that they all can agree on "Generic Fantasy". Frankly, I get board of it. I become disinterested because I am making things for them and not me. I like creating stories and DM-ing. I like it better than being a PC but I cant ever get to run the games that I am truly passionate about. I have thought about looking for another group but I am a little worried how my dark and grim tones will affect the players. I dont cross lines as best I can but I do go into dark places becasue I truly like seeing such darkness be destroyed or watching heroic characters making hard choices becasue there is no "good" answer. I get most people dont like that and I have to deal with it. Second: Also I have a problem where I just lose interest in things I work on for no reason. Litterally, No reason. I just one day go "Well that was fun. Into the treash you go!" I have lost countless hours of work because I have no passion for the project anymore, and I cant imagine ever going back to it. I have hit my level of investment and the project is dead to me. I have more than likely wrote more than 100-200 books worth of content in my 30+ years of creative writing and yet not a page has survived. It is a nightmare when I think about how much time I have wasted on things I dedicated time and money to. TLDR: To answer your question...Yes.
@Cornu341
2 жыл бұрын
@@doceideer7993 thanks for sharing. I hope you find some people with the same taste to play your desired themes, be it online or in person.
@themaninblack7503
2 жыл бұрын
Definitely dealt with hubris gms.
@pedronovaes5993
2 жыл бұрын
My biggest (current) sin would be not prepping enough.
@ExKiwi-yw8er
2 жыл бұрын
3 and 4 were a little too real I think I gotta lie down for a while.
@richmcgee434
2 жыл бұрын
The worst punishers are the ones who are doing it because they've got relationship/sex life issues with one or more of the players. I'm reluctant to even play in a group where someone is dating/married/sleeping with the GM any more. Seen things go bad too many times over the years. And then there's the "sex pest at the table" problem, which is grounds to walk away and never look back even when the GM isn't involved at all.
@JoanieDoeShadow
2 жыл бұрын
Give him a name and free the bear.
@johngleeman8347
2 жыл бұрын
Dweebles means business!
@johngleeman8347
2 жыл бұрын
I think my greatest sin as a referee is trying to do voices and failing horribly.
@gensispeach1109
2 жыл бұрын
I'm not a GM so no sins to confess. But all I care is, is Captain Binkie safe? 😭 Is the Teddie safe?!?!?!?
@KageRyuu6
2 жыл бұрын
"Mostly..."
@lunatic0verlord10
2 жыл бұрын
Kind of sad there was no example to the sadist :(
@RodBatten
2 жыл бұрын
Yes, absolutely! Dolph Lundgren was the best Punisher.
@emielpeper9248
2 жыл бұрын
I see Jeff, tHe GrEaTeSt DuNgEoN mAsTeR aLiVe got a reference. Always love the continuity
@robwalker4452
2 жыл бұрын
Right! I did get that reference.
@stefansneden1957
2 жыл бұрын
facts
@eleemikolaj
2 жыл бұрын
Haha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who was laughing her ass off at that one!
@CaptMac42
2 жыл бұрын
Came to the comments section to say the same thing. Lol loved it.
@zhornlegacy7936
2 жыл бұрын
We all aspire to be as good as Jeff
@JKevinCarrier
2 жыл бұрын
I am definitely in the Fragile/Perfectionist camp. After the session, all I can focus on is the things I messed up, and I feel like a failure. But the players keep coming back, so I guess I'm doing something right?
@gunmunz
2 жыл бұрын
I've had dms in the fragile/perfectionist camp and yeah if your players are having fun and keep comming back your doing a good job.
@Casey093
2 жыл бұрын
I'm fighting the same thing. We run an investigative campaign, the players are heavily interesting in researching their background stories, there are many cool RP situations... and in the end, there is complaint that our missions take so many sessions to finish. How should I speed this up, just for the sake of "completing more quests in a certain time", without dropping out everything we enjoy?
@thecaveofthedead
2 жыл бұрын
It is important as a player to tell your GM what you enjoyed, I believe. Not dissing your players. But it is a great thing to learn.
@MakCurrel
2 жыл бұрын
A tool I used to partly overcoming it, was after I goofed something, then I tried to remember when the next game session ends. I think about if I made same mistake again. If not, then I learned and corrected, and I celebrate that. If I did do it again then I know what to work on, and then becomes very aware that I don't beat myself up about it. Tldr: Focus on what we learn more the failure it self. 😅 For instance when I run combat it often becomes a mess, so I try to focus on the narrative in the fight more than the technical. And then I ask for help with the rule stuff of my players. Yes it hurts my ego, but I had to do it to move on. 🙂
@MakCurrel
2 жыл бұрын
@@Casey093 ask them directly if they enjoy it. If they do, then you're not doing anything wrong. If they don't, then talk about how you together can streamline the game. We have a ST that in a Call of Cthulhu campaign have the same frustration with us players. She have presented a mystery in a 1920's setting, but we like to RP heavy. So much that we had an in game dinner, that off game took 4 hours. She was frustrated and asked what she did wrong. All of us said she did nothing wrong. For us the plot was a backdrop for us to explore the relationship between characters. We still follow the plot and investigate, but every thing takes a long time, when there is in game tea breaks. 😅
@d.unterreiner161
2 жыл бұрын
Right now my biggest sin as a GM is not setting aside enough time to do prep work.
@GooberDragon
2 жыл бұрын
Same here.
@aWOLtrooper
2 жыл бұрын
Sometimes it's better to adapt your prep work to the time you have, rather than the other way around. It's easier to get *something* accomplished in a short amount of time than it is to get nothing done because you don't have enough time. Its challenging, of course, but there ways to adjust your approach that can make the time you *do* spend on prep more meaningful and successful.
@alderaancrumbs6260
2 жыл бұрын
That’s why I run Savage Worlds. I really never do prep. 😁
@davidrosenberg8100
2 жыл бұрын
I feel your pain there.
@elgatochurro
2 жыл бұрын
Do you realize that prep is never completed? EVER?
@christiankrueger8048
2 жыл бұрын
I recently found out that saying thank you on YT does not cost me an arm and a leg - surprise! - Yeah I know .. so: Thank you! I love all your videos and always look forward to the next episode regardless of topic! Please keep up the good work! I so wish I had a chance to be a player at your table - next reincarnation I will take that as a special merit / background for my character! :D
@mikethetooth
2 жыл бұрын
I must've summoned this video rolling my new Q Workshop - RPG Icons, Seth Skorkowsky dice. They're beautiful! love the channel.
@mildsoup8978
2 жыл бұрын
Can't wait till mine come in!!!
@vellor9145
2 жыл бұрын
Nr.7 really hits Home for me.. when I was a forever DM i ofc like any other person, dreamed of being the player. I would internally scream at my players for being “bad players” for not role playing , paying attention or being invested. I would be the perfect player I thought. Then the day arrive and I get to play, finally. I play through an adventure for about 6 sessions. And my experience after that really changed my perspective.. I got humbled for sure, I learned what players actually have to do and how hard it can be to focus when your not in the spotlight and how long you have to wait for it to dawn on you. But more importantly, I learned that I was a way better dungeon master than player and that I have more fun playing many characters than just one. Tho I will say it’s always nice to have a break once in a while to “just” be a player.
@pavelowjohn9167
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Me as a GM: "Man, these guys are playing like crap, those tactics are terrible and did they forget how to RP in the last month or so?" Me as a Player, when I finally get the chance: "Damn, this is not how I imagined my character working at all and why is the GM picking on me? It's not my fault I ran out of healing spells, he just threw way too many enemies at us. And I have no idea what he wants us to do with these NPCs, they're just annoying and eat up valuable playing time." Yep, there is some justice in having the shoe on the other foot, so to speak. 🙂
@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself
2 жыл бұрын
Every player should gamemaster and every GM should be a player. The perspective from both sides of the screen is very valuable.
@AuntieHauntieGames
2 жыл бұрын
Much like a Shadow from Wraith: the Oblivion, the Perfectionist DM definitely lurks deep in the back of my mind, whispering things I do my best to ignore.
@roundishwhale
2 жыл бұрын
Definetly went on the "fragile to perfectionist" journey when I was starting out as a DM. Managed to largely move past both of them by now, but your depiction was spot on^^
@Aargo999
2 жыл бұрын
The first sin reminds me of an Edge of The Empire Star Wars game I was in. Our mercenary band never got paid, eventually the story came to a standstill when we had to go off world and none of us could afford the spaceport fare. (The jokes were great though!)
@johanneskaiser8188
2 жыл бұрын
The mercenaries who work for free. Interesting concept so be sure.
@Ephsy
2 жыл бұрын
Broke like Cowboy Bebop
@MonkeyJedi99
2 жыл бұрын
@@Ephsy No matter how hungry you get, do NOT open that refrigerator buried in the cargo hold!
@andrewlance3898
2 жыл бұрын
@@Ephsy When your bell peppers and bantha steak has no bantha steak
@robertchmielecki2580
2 жыл бұрын
I think it's better to err on the side of stingyness, tbh. We all know from CRPGs how money quickly loses its worth when accumulated from tons of sold loot. I am yet to see a game where economy is not broken that way and the same can easily happen for tabletop RPGs. It may be uneasonable to not allow players to loot everything, but make it hard to move around and difficult to sell. Why would peasants in a random village want to buy used armour? Why would anyone?
@ethanbest9110
2 жыл бұрын
I definitely struggle with fragility and perfectionism. My perfectionism tends to manifest as an irrational fear of failure, especially with world-building endeavors largely due to a fear that I won't be able to communicate my ideas in an interesting and coherent way. I have had the projection onto my players before, but that was primarily an issue of me comparing the group to a previous one and not understanding that I was on a different frequency. As far as fragility I think the best way that I have come up with to deal with it is confronting it. If you aren't sure how it went, ask your players. Tell your players you accept criticism, but ask them to bring it up to you privately so you don't feel like you're under a spotlight. If you feel like you are responding to criticism poorly put some distance between yourself and it so you can examine it. All of this helps build a boundary between you and your anxiety while also letting you know when there's a real problem because it broke these rules.
@blankmind12
2 жыл бұрын
Saw this pop up and listened on my way home from work! These have been super helpful for me when GMing my group! Thanks so much and keep up the fantastic work!
@Treblaine
2 жыл бұрын
Seth is a really good actor despite having no actor to bounce off, I keep forgetting that all these different characters are played by the same person. Good editing as well.
@JackLaPoire
2 жыл бұрын
That teddy bear threat was clearly a revenge for the time you crushed Dweebles’ confidence. You had it coming Seth.
@c.cooper2877
Жыл бұрын
Honestly, it could also be revenge for naming him "Dweebles."
@RatsofaFeather
2 жыл бұрын
This video made me realize I used to fall into the hubris field. I used to never prepare before running sessions of my Vampire: The Masquerade game. I would just show up to the session with the same Google Doc pages of short character descriptions and just wing it. Never improving on my formula. I broke the habit watching my partner run her own game and how intricate she made it.
@vepristhorn8278
2 жыл бұрын
On the GM sacrifice one, this really falls into a recent trend in the hobby, I've seen it a lot on social and game stores, that due to the recent boom in the hobby GM have to let their players play what ever they want sacrificing their world because if they don't allow it they are "enter discriminatory term." Bullying GMs seems to have become common and it's just wrong GMs need to say no
@konberner170
2 жыл бұрын
Players need to say no.
@puffstanley4442
2 жыл бұрын
Honestly as a GM some GMs just need to grow a spine and standup for themselves.
@konberner170
2 жыл бұрын
@@puffstanley4442 That goes without saying, but the players are the real problem here.
@OgamiItto70
2 жыл бұрын
There's a reason you're/they're called Dungeon/Game *_Master._* Or, as Admiral "Bull" Halsey said: "When you're in command, *_command._*
@ForeverYoungKickboxer
2 жыл бұрын
I saw a guy with that shirt on couple years ago and texted my brother. He replied "It breaks immersion but I'm glad your GM is taking steps to make sure things don't go too awry"
@KaChowAndTheGang
2 жыл бұрын
Always happy to see an upload by you Seth, keep on doing your thing
Пікірлер: 576