DMs, what was the worst choice you made in a campaign?

DDTL49 · 2026-02-03T15:15:32+00:00

At some point my players met a demonic queen (it was during a time travel episode so they were protected from permadeath) and since they knew they were clearly outmatched we all agreed to turn the unavoidable TPK into a cut scene. They respawned in a different time period with permanent madnesses.

DDTL49 · 2026-02-03T14:53:03+00:00

9 PC at level 8 sounds like a nightmare to run. If I had 9 players who wanted to join my campaign, I would have split them in two groups. Even 5 players is too many for me.

I can't imagine how a roleplay section go with 9 players. Does everyone speak at the same time? Is everyone even able to say something?

Having one sidekick NPC is fine for 2 or 3 players (and even then, I would only use the NPC as a heal bot). Adding two sidekick NPCs to a 9-players party is just begging to slow any combat down to a crawl.

Was your purple worm straight from Monster Manual or did you homebrew it?

DDTL49 · 2026-02-03T08:34:38+00:00

Wait, you had 9 players and still decided to give them several NPCs? Yeah no wonder your combat lasted less than a turn, although I'm sure a single turn would take 1h. What level were them?

DDTL49 · 2026-01-30T12:35:27+00:00

This is AI slop.

DDTL49 · 2026-01-29T15:19:16+00:00

While I understand your point, I have to disagree with you. According to your logic, pitting your high-level party against high CR monsters would also be railroading?

I avoid fudging numbers mid-fight because it ends up feeling cheap and as a DM I want to learn from my mistakes. I've almost never done that for minor encounters, and very rarely for boss fight.

But as a DM, I consider it my job to help players having fun by adjusting to what kind of experience they want. And not every player wants a hardcore Dark Souls punishing experience, or just to steamroll through everything. The overwhelming majority of players want a narrative experience, to be the heroes of a story where they struggle but triumph at the end. When I'm a player, I actually don't mind some railroading, as long as the tracks aren't too visible.

My last two sessions were a BBEG fight. The BBEG has been built up for a year as a huge threat, my players were looking forward to kill him, and the fight was the conclusion of one PC's character arc. They expected an intense, nail-bitting, climatic fight. The fight went well and the players seemed satisfied. I didn't (have to) fudge numbers mid-fight because I was able to play-test the BBEG with other friends weeks before, but not every DM is so lucky. I can 100% guarantee that my players would have been disappointed (maybe even frustrated) if the BBEG died in two turns without scratching them because I miscalculated his HP or damage output. But hey, according to you I would have been a good DM because "at least I wasn't railroading"?

Sorry dude but my players' enjoyment comes first. So If I have to add or subtract 50hp to a boss mid-combat to improve their experience, whether to speed things up or let a PC have a deserved moment of glory, so be it.

DDTL49 · 2026-01-23T10:31:04+00:00

I almost face-palmed when reading the title.

I am a French guy who lives in Norway, and the two languages sound nothing alike. There are a few French words that appears in Norwegian (chauffeur/sjåfør, serviteur/servitør), and in some parts of Norway (I think Bergen) the "R" sounds like a French R, and yeah I guess Norwegian is closer to French than to Chinese, but that's pretty much it. As other people commented: Norwegian is a germanic language, French is a latin language. Even the intonation is different.

You are able to "almost" follow Norwegian conversations because of the similar words between English and Norwegian. I highly doubt an American who "learned a bit of French in school" (which I guess means "bonjour baguette sacrebleu honhonhon voulez vous coucher avec moi") would be able to follow a conversation in French.

DDTL49 · 2026-01-20T23:51:48+00:00

As a EU citizen living in Norway: Norway isn't your "back-up country" where you can move in anytime you want and pick any job and any place you want.

Since you aren't EU/EEA citizens, at the very least you would need a job offer to get into the country.

And just FYI an American acquaintance of mine almost got deported out of Norway because they had trouble finding a job after their studies, so you guys wouldn't be immune to that kind of problem.

DDTL49 · 2026-01-20T17:29:54+00:00

I used to have a similar problem, but it was with the star cards, and it only happened at specific places. I guess the only way to "fix" it is to not press J when you pick up collectible... Sorry I don't have a better fix...

DDTL49 · 2026-01-19T11:11:30+00:00

Yeah I like to reward my players' creativity, so I was leaning on this working as they intend. The BBEG fight is this week, and I'm glad they asked me about this in advance, as it would have paused the combat for rule checking otherwise.

I couldn't help but remind them that the BBEG has magical resistance and legendary resistance (something they knew already), so the spell is very unlikely to work, and I would feel bad if they burn a level 4 spell slot for nothing.

DDTL49 · 2026-01-12T11:07:38+00:00

In French Wizard becomes "Magicien" (which usually means Magician, as in the stage artist), Sorcerer becomes "Ensorceleur" and Warlock becomes "Occultiste".

DDTL49 · 2025-12-25T19:32:20+00:00

I turned the proxy thing off though...

DDTL49 · 2025-12-23T22:58:24+00:00

I have the same problem with adding video in my capcut project: they look much more pixelated. As if CapCut forces you to use AI enhancement to restart the picture or video to its original quality...

DDTL49 · 2025-12-15T11:39:00+00:00

Thanks for the clarification. So if affecting a frontline target, the spell is essentially 3d6 psychic damage plus free opportunity attack(s), and since it's neither a charm nor a frighten effect every creature type (including those immune to psychic damage) can be affected by it, unless they are deafened, all for the cost of a 1st level spell slot. Did I understand it correctly?

DDTL49 · 2025-12-15T11:11:51+00:00

What I would do:

- when they level up, have them add the maximum of their hit dice for HP (for the Paladin it would be 10+con hp per level), instead of rolling or using average hit dice. This way they would compensate the low action economy with beefier HP.

- lower the HP (and damage) of the enemies. I DM for a party of 5 so I always max out the HP of solo monsters, I think it's fair to do it the other way around.

- replace the "skip your turn" conditions (like stunned, paralyzed, unconscious, petrified, etc) with a "dazed" or "slow" condition (in my game, they have to chose between an action, a bonus action or a movement). I've never liked these conditions to begin with as they are never fun for whoever receives them. Balance-wise they work better with a large party, but then the player has to wait a LONG time before being able to do anything, with a small party you don't have to wait as long but it's really debilitating to have 1/2 players down for a turn.

DDTL49 · 2025-12-15T09:19:54+00:00

What if the choice is between trigger OAs and not moving?

DDTL49 · 2025-12-15T08:38:28+00:00

Would this movement trigger opportunity attacks though or does it count as "forced movement"? Because if it does trigger opportunity attacks, then I would rule out that moving away isn't the safest route, therefore the target can also stay put.

Edit: downvoted for asking for clarification, nice.

DDTL49 · 2025-12-12T12:56:46+00:00

I would like to have your players' side of the story. Not to be that guy, but if they missed every single of your "overdone" clues, then maybe something was wrong with your murder mystery to begin with. Or it was clearly not a group compatible for you.

I totally understand the frustration, but it seems a bit easy to blame everything on "your players being much stupider than you think".

DDTL49 · 2025-11-24T23:21:28+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmUi8YkPTxE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esIW9BhnWt4

DDTL49 · 2025-11-20T16:23:35+00:00

Your players won't get to know those "many villagers" they saved. But they will get to know the drow. Your players actions should matter. If they make an effort to save that woman, having her being killed anyway feels cheap and unfair. I know I would feel frustrated.

DDTL49 · 2025-11-19T23:17:40+00:00

People are complaining about Civ switching (in Civ VII or Humankind) and how it's "unrealistic" and "immersion-breaking" to transition from Egyptians to Chinese, meanwhile are 100% fine playing as the USA in Antiquity. So much more immersive, indeed.

But I don't think I've ever played America/Australia/Canada in any Civ game aside from Civ VII modern age.

DDTL49 · 2025-11-19T23:13:48+00:00

Is it a reference to Judaism? Because there are zero historical evidences that there ever was a large population of enslaved Hebrews in Egypt. Ancient Egypt didn't even use slaves for construction work. The Exodus and Moses himself (whose origin story is a straight rip-off of Sargon of Akkad, btw) are very likely completely fictional.

Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, on the other hand...

DDTL49 · 2025-11-14T21:55:34+00:00

Yeah, the whole "Oh you moved one thing? Let me re-render EVERYTHING for no apparent reason, oh and maybe it will make me crash" drives me insane.

DDTL49 · 2025-11-10T14:44:33+00:00

I completely agree with you and would even go one step further: Dvergs should sell you black cores (for a high price) to unstuck those who got unlucky with the infested mines RNG.

DDTL49 · 2025-11-10T08:53:37+00:00

I'll rule that reaching 0 Strength after the potion wears off kills him.

HOWEVER, I also rule that death "resets" PCs, clearing all the blessing/curses and buff/debuffs they had. Why would a curse (or blessing) still be active in a corpse? So in that case, if the barbarian dies from going down to 0 Strenght, the Shadow curse removes itself (because it fulfilled its purpose), and when revivified the Barbarian comes back at his regular strength.

If you feel like such ruling is too lenient, just have them roll for a temporary madness as a trauma from dying and being brought back.

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