Summary
Every greatDungeons & Dragonscampaign needs a great Dungeon Master at the helm. Most of the time, having a great DM is even more important than having the perfect character concept, campaign setting, or character build. But if you’re a longtime Dungeons & Dragons player, you know that there are many terrible DMs out there, just waiting to tank your campaign.
We all know that feeling of wasting a great character on a terrible campaign and DM. But if you’ve somehow avoided the terrible DM curse, be wary. Here are some of the worst types of Dungeon Masters you may have in DND.
10The God Complex
Created In My Image
This first one is one of the worst DM archetypes around. Some DMs use the game to simply act like a god, stomping around like they own the place. This can be really frustrating to play with, as the game ends up feeling like the DM’s personal plaything.
At the end of the day, Dungeons & Dragons is a cooperative storytelling game, and having the DM co-opt the entire story for their own deifying purposes is really annoying. Plus, god-complex DMs tend to be tyrants when it comes to other parts of the game, too, like rules and homebrew.
9The Me Versus You
Keep Your Friends Close
This next archetype rears its head with terrible Dungeons & Dragons players too, as well as DMs. Some people like to view Dungeons & Dragons as a game of DM vs. the players, and this is rarely fun to deal with. DMs whose life mission it is to try to TPK the party miss out on some of the best things DND has to offer.
Plus, if a DM is trying to kill your character all the time, as a player, you might be afraid to take risks. Risk-taking makes for some of the best storytelling in DND. But if players feel stifled creatively, risks have to be put on hold.
8The Punisher
Go To The Corner
Speaking of risks, there’s nothing more fun as a DND player than trying to take a big swing, whether in combat or roleplay, and having it pay off with aplomb. However, sometimes,Dungeon Masters don’t like itwhen players veer too far off course or take big risks. These DMs tend to punish creative thinking.
For example, say a player wants to make a really out-there play, and try to seduce the villain of the current arc while in disguise. The Punisher variety of DM will simply squash the idea entirely, and perhaps have the villain try to kill the player’s character, punishing them for even trying. This creates terrible tension at the table and makes the playing environment not very fun at all.
7The Rules Judge
Jury And Executioner
Just like rules lawyers, rules judges are the DM variety of terrible DND archetypes.DMs hold a lot of powerat the table, and it must be wielded responsibly. When you sit down at a table, all the players agree that whatever the DM says goes.
However, if a DM wields this power ruthlessly and starts coming down hard on rules being broken, this can make the overall atmosphere of the game feel very unfun. Rules are there to help keep the game on track, but ultimately, if a rule is broken in service of something cool, who cares? Rules are meant to be broken, but there’s nothing more frustrating than a DM who simply won’t allow it.
6The Can’t Bend, Will Break
Don’t Push Me
The number one sign of a novice DM is a DM who creates a puzzle or problem for the players with only one solution. The point of great DM-ing is to let the players come up with the solutions themselves, encouraging creativity and ingenuity.
However, some DMs are either unwilling or unable to bend the rules of their own game, and they just break down. For example, some DMs will create a puzzle that players attempt to solve in a more brute-force way. Then, instead of accepting the players' solutions, they will simply refuse to let the party progress until they solve the problem the way they originally intended. This creates a frustrating immovable object effect that grinds the action of a great DND game to a halt.
5The Self-Insert
Takes DMPC To A Whole New Level
Every DM has done it at one point or another; you want to get in on the fun the table is having as an adventuring party, so you create a DMPC to either guide players or find ways to augment the party. However, there’s a brand of DM that takes it to a whole other level.
Ultimately, the players still have to be the protagonists of the story. If the DM is coming in hot with a DMPC that’s sucking up all the air in the room, or defeating bad guys left and right, this can take away from the players' agency. This can be a real buzzkill and feels akin to the DM god complex archetype.
4The No-Take-Backsies
You Said You’d Do It
Longtime Dungeons & Dragons players, we’ve all been there before. We try to cast a spell or do something, only to realize that the situation is not quite what we thought it was, or we miscommunicated with our DM in some way. Most benevolent DMs might allow for a mulligan, but not this type.
Some DMs adhere to the ‘you said it, so you have to do it’ mentality. Typically, I would agree with this mentality. But, on occasion, if a player misunderstood something, it’s easy to forgive and let them try something else, especially if the action hasn’t really taken place yet in the fiction.
3The Naysayer
Whatever Happened To Yes, And?
Improv has always been a part of Dungeons & Dragons; it’s improvisational storytelling after all. However, some DMs forget the most important rule of improv: ‘Yes, and.’ Instead, DMs of this variety adhere to just a simple ‘No.’
Most of the time, as a DM, if a player wants to try something, you should at least let them roll for it, even if the DC is impossibly high. There’s nothing worse than a player who wants to try something and the DM just says, ‘No, you can’t.’ It grinds the fiction to a halt and takes the wind out of everyone’s sails.
2The Dice Denier
I’ve Got This DM Screen For A Reason
Everybody does it on occasion as a DM. It’s natural to want to fudge a dice roll or a DC behind the DM screen, particularly if you’re feeling like it’s not worth the effort or doesn’t serve the story you’re telling. However, some DMs like to fudge dice rolls in their favor.
I’ve personally played games where I can tell that the DM is augmenting their rolls behind the DM screen, particularly if the combat is proving too easy or players figured out a clever solution to a problem they posed. This is not only incredibly annoying as a player, but takes all the agency and realism out of the game.
1The Homebrew Hoarder
I Can Homebrew, You Can’t
Lastly, some DMs can be real sticklers about homebrewing. Some DMs allow it in some capacity, while others will just outlaw it altogether. This is up to the prerogative of the DM, but it can prove infuriating if they’re homebrewing overpowered monsters or NPCs while you’re not allowed to.
At the end of the day, there needs to be a balance between DMs and players. Most of these DM archetypes suffer from a power imbalance, in which the DM is giving themselves buffs andnerfing the playersin unfair ways. The point of being a DM is to litigate fairly, not punish players and reward yourself.
