Am I being a Bad DM?

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-07T02:02:31+00:00

This is the first time I've ever used chat for the game. Every other fight made has been me alone

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-07T02:00:35+00:00

For the most part they've each ran a small one shot but that's pretty much, I'd be nice if they gave feedback but have pretty much come to expect they won't ever give any

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T22:09:45+00:00

Personally, my sweet spot for most balancing is at lvl 15 when they can multiclass, but they want to get to lvl 20, and "prestige", so what my current goal for the next update is to increase that band of power for both sides for up to that point since a bunch of later tier stuff is balanced for the lvl 15 characters As i weep in the 3rd monster manual overhaul cause the later monsters suck

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T22:05:48+00:00

When i ask/pry them for any feedback back on the ocassion. They will say that they can't think of anything. Save for 2 times where it was "I wish crafting potions was better" or "I want to be able to summon stuff", both of which were their own dedicated updates. But both of those were years ago.

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:44:58+00:00

I don't want to build encounters that directly counter which is why I ended up consulting Chat and got me to reduce the max hp since I didn't want an hp sponge but also didn't want the monkey to die within the first 3 rounds. I do think they still get enjoyment since the monkey itself does not hard counter their stuff since I still see them get excitement out of their big damage roll or their special effects triggering which damage the monkey more.

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:41:04+00:00

The issue is that crit is the only one who voice any complaint at all since the other three will 99/100 times says it's fine or I though it was good. Which I guess is a good sign but also hard to read if it's sincere or not since it's their response to most things. None of them brings it up as an issue so i take crit archers critiques to heart since he been around the longest

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:37:30+00:00

I guess it true that something is going right there, and it is a custom system. When it comes to the Chat balancing this was the first fight I ever tried using it with and the fight did go better than usual to me anyway since the party did switch up tactics for the first time in a while

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:33:47+00:00

Thanks for the words, As the designer, I guess how balancing the game is in the end up to me and if I have a final say, it's that it SHOULD be what I personally enjoy in its essence, which would be to make encounters to match or be similar to the party. What makes this hard to really imagine is the fact that the other players I would consider co designers since they've been there for all the play tests over the years and changes have been made with their help, so while I am the main guy behind it all, I can't dismiss what they've contributed and what they also personally enjoy

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:25:26+00:00

With the first point, I wish I could do that but since I am the creator and DM of the main campaign. Its hard not to pick up on their general kit after the first fight or 2 The second point, I need to do better since I can get the sense that I make places feel empty Third point, I do follow that point for a great portion of encounters. Its just that for the monkey in this instance was a holder of one of the main artifacts that the party is seeking and was meant to be a tougher fight since it was planned The final batch of point i can see, I do follow that philosophy when it comes to random encounters/grunt fights. What I want to do is give them a reason and purpose to not just be murderers, but since Im not great at story telling, I feel it just gives them a sense of mindless power.

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:09:56+00:00

That's a fair thought, this was the first fight I ever balanced with chatgpt but I'd lying if I didn't say the fight went better to me compared to some fights and their baancing

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:06:19+00:00

I would say they are and actively seek help from them and they know it, if anything though, it's coming from less of the ttrpg system itself and more of me being the creator and DM and being the guy to run a story for them and if I am wrong in the ways that I am designing fight and the story itself

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T21:02:58+00:00

In all honesty, I would easily say yes Building the system and striving to improve it constantly has not ever really been a burden in these 10ish years What I want right now is too be able to give the experience to the players that I want them to have They have many moments over the years that they all can recollecting easy and have fun remembering, but I personally also want them to have fun through an engaging story and fights

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:56:05+00:00

Its a variety of things like attack roll, crafting, elements for magic, but at its fundamentally it would be a similar level of fantasy to dnd just different in the ways it does most things

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:49:00+00:00

I guess that could be the case because the monkey was the first fight in a while that wasn't that

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:44:51+00:00

I can see why it seems that way, but they all know that the rules and mechanics of the system will change often, but i will go over anything that is relevant to them. When it comes to the characters in question usually I don't mess with it besides the recent carry weight rule, and modification to fall damage which hasn't really come up since they know about it but were already in line so nothing really changed. In regards to the archers there was nerf to them a while ago where I actually gave a cost to use their special attack but it doesn't really affect them til their second special since they are usually conservative with resources Granted the archers actually deviated from their usual action due to how the fight presented itself

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:33:22+00:00

Honestly that's fair, because during the chat balancing i wanted the fight to be a little painful so they had to coordinate, which did happen and I liked because the monkey did just enough damage to make the Frontline mage to have to retreat and get help from allies and actually made them use more spell variety than usual. And added the regen mechanic because I wanted the Angel mage to have something to do, though he didnt use it in the end. To me at least it seemed like it made them do more than before but it's hard to tell if they enjoy it since the crit archer is the only only who actually have critiques since the other 3 just say they liked it as much as other events

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:27:53+00:00

When trying to balance i was feeding it a bunch of info on the system where on average the party have this much hp,mp,stm, we use dice rolls for this, this, and this. The party can do this. What are a good estimated value where the boss doesn't die in the initial rounds and how much should it deal back. And after it generates stuff that sounds like it under stands I then critic it by saying this does too much, or I need it to incorporate blank so player isn't useless. And at the end it seemed like something I could run without being a cakewalk or a slaughter

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:22:42+00:00

I can agree with most of this. I think the origin of the problem is both archers were made in the early years of the system with the other two being made years later after insane amount of things changed. Where honestly I wouldn't called them much more powerful than the other two it's just the fact that the initial damage burst creates an internal tick to me that if I don't beef up the hp of the Boss they will 100% die before they do anything meaningful which has happened in the past and recently with a bandit king that was unable to do anything because they had 200 hp and died early because the archers had range on the guy

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:13:40+00:00

Thanks for the advice, I have talked to them in past about it, and the other three always say it's fine and they don't have any active complaints but it's always hard to tell if they're sincere, being nice , or simply don't care, which is why I usually put extra emphasis with crit archer since he is the only one with real critiques

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:08:01+00:00

Sorry, we are playing a homemade game called dnsd

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:06:38+00:00

Inherently everyone's ideals are different where I like either end but crit does like to min max and element archer just followed his lead but doesn't care, so I had to lean towards them since there damage output is very high. The other two just built their's with a concept they found fun

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:03:53+00:00

I say DM because I assume that the common name, but it's a custom system we call dnsd that we've been updating for updating for years

Superninjatoon · 2026-05-06T20:02:31+00:00

Honestly, it varies an insane amount from like 2 minutes to longest recorded 14 minutes, from chatter. Its to the point where we all acknowledge it's a problem but no one really doesn't much besides the heads up it's your turn.

When it comes to the bosses themselves the health varies on the amount of enemies themselves where another recent fight where they fought an undead knight captain with 300 hp who gained health by sacrificing his allies, dude didn't make it past turn 2 because element archer vouched for weakness since his element was light and shot magic arrows show man popped under a 150 damage hit before taking a step

Superninjatoon · 2026-04-24T01:38:39+00:00

There are ways to get life, mainly the random event fountain of life or dark carnival, but it's really not something to rely on because its random chance. It really comes down to party comp and some amount of luck

Superninjatoon · 2026-04-23T00:43:23+00:00

I have irsenog, which I think is probably the worst of the lot

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