- We have all likely
run into our fair share of bad D&D players over the years. So today we're gonna be discussing 21 ways players ruin D&D games. You know, it's just fun
to talk about that crap. Number one: Not paying attention. Wait, what? What's that? I attack? Yeah, phones, electronics, daydreaming, thinking about their
girlfriend or boyfriend. I don't care! But, yeah, players who
just sit at the table, and are oblivious to the
game going around them, even worse, players who are
playing a different game on their phone, because, you
know, I don't know about you, but I have had players who
have been playing Candy Crush at the game table. And, let's just say they
weren't invited back for another game session. Like, if you don't like
the game, that's fine. I don't have a problem with that. It might not be your cup o' tea. I won't take it personally, but you don't gotta be here either, you could go somewhere else, have some more fun doing
something you prefer instead of playing D&D, or maybe it's just my game
that doesn't interest you. That's fine. But if you're gonna be here,
if you're gonna play the game, please play attention. Play attention. When you are oblivious, and I have to re-explain stuff to you, it slows everything else
down for everyone else who was paying attention. So, please, just play attention. Number two: Ignoring plot
hooks like the plague. I have a player, John. No, he's not a player. I don't think he's ever
been a player of mine. Yeah, he was a player of mine. I have a buddy, John, is
what I was trying to say, and he was telling me how
he once had a D&D group, and the players would
ignore any sort of plot hook that he left them. Any sort of, "Hey, there's a mission. Hey, there's something
that needs to get done." They would, like the plague, like something horrible was going around that would kill them,
would not do that thing. This is part of the often unwritten and unspoken social contract in D&D. The social contract that says
that if the dungeon master has spent time and
energy preparing a thing that you might go and do, that you should strongly consider going and doing that thing. We're not talking about railroading, we're just talking about
the common courtesy of honoring the time that
I spent preparing a game that might be enjoyable for you to play. I am okay with groups
sometimes wandering off and doing their own thing, but then they get back in,
they go after the things, the plot hooks that have
been dropped to them, I'm okay with that. There's always a time
and place for going off and doing some random thing. That's part of what makes the game fun. But a group that always
ignores the plot hooks and knows and does something else, I would probably drop a group
like that in a heartbeat. I tell them, "Hey, I'm
probably not the dungeon master for this game that you all seem
to be interested in playing, so my recommendation is I'm just gonna not be your dungeon master. You're welcome to find
another dungeon master who wants to run the game
that you want to play, but I don't think I'm
a good fit for this." I go off and I find a different group. Wee! Number three: Making PCs that don't fit
the structure of the game. I was guilty of this once. I made a character in
a Marvel Universe game who was not super good at combat, was meant to be a sort of
espionage, saboteur, sneak in, and get their way past the
guards and then do stuff. Unbeknownst to me, my dungeon master is probably
a game master at that point. Whatever they call them in
the Marvel Universe RPGs. My game master had designed
a combat heavy game, and my character just did not fit in, and he got his butt kicked a lot, and I probably didn't
enjoy it a whole lot. Well, that's one thing
if you just don't know, but there are players who
intentionally go out of their way to create characters that
will probably sabotage the game master's efforts to run an enjoyable game for everyone. Examples abound, but
off the top of my head, the number one thing that I
have heard horror stories of, fortunately never experienced it, is players who create characters
who aren't adventurers. No, I don't wanna go on those adventures. Those are dirty nasty businesses, and they're very dangerous and people die. I just wanna stay in town and hone my skills as a politician. I don't know, I think they're reading a
different player handbook than one I have, that, you know, shows heroes
with combat abilities, and spells, and swords, and stuff. I don't know, maybe we're
playing a different game. Oh, oh! And then there's the classic
character who is a dark loner, going off by himself, who eschews all contact
with other adventurers, and doesn't want to accompany them, because, you know, dark loner reasons. Like, okay, well, you know, we have a game here that is a group game where you go off on adventures, and usually you fight bad guys, and you guys are creating characters who don't wanna do either of those things. Maybe this isn't the right game for you, or you need a game master
who's running a D&D game that doesn't involve fighting bad guys, and doesn't involve being adventurers. I'm sure there are some
of those that exist. Number four: Daring the dungeon master. You know, this is the player
who pushes the dungeon master, does little things like that. Maybe not to the dungeon master himself, but in the game world, just to see what the
game master, (stutters) what the game master is gonna do, and just to activate bad things. It's like a dare, right? Like, let's see if I, how
many NPCs can I murder? How many buildings can I burn down? How many laws can I break? How many horrid things, weird,
random, crazy things can I do just to see what's gonna
happen in the game world? Now, I personally trend toward being a little bit of a problematic player, and I do things that are
questionable at times, and make things more
interesting for everybody, but I probably don't
cross that line too much. Number five: Not showing
up, being unreliable. Like, if you just can't
show up to the game, like, you know, you're constantly absent, or you're always running, like, a half hour to an hour to two
hours to three hours late, and you just can't be there
and you don't communicate, you don't let people know what's going on, you're just completely unreliable, well, it sounds like your
life is a little bit too busy for you to be playing in
our D&D game, doesn't it? Sounds like you have more
important things going on, which is fair, because D&D's
just a game, I understand that. But it definitely sounds like you've got some other stuff going on that is way more important, or at least takes priority
than this gaming group. And that's fine. But I think that also means that you probably just don't need to be in this gaming group. So we will show you the door and welcome somebody else
into the gaming group, who has time and desire to
be here and play the game. And everybody will probably
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Legends" Kickstarter today. Number six: Not learning what
their character could do. (Luke laughs loudly) Who has had the player who has been in your game for two years and still doesn't know
how their character works? They don't know that they get two attacks. They have no idea what sneaking around is. They have no idea what sneak attack is, or what their spells do. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They don't know! Somebody is calling me. One moment. (phone rings) I have no idea who that was. Anyway, back to the video. Like, I am not asking
you to be a super expert on everything your character can do. Like, looking up stuff and
spells are complicated. I look up stuff as the game master, I look up stuff when I'm a player. But there's a basic level of preparedness that helps the game. It helps the game not get bogged down. It helps the other players
not get super frustrated. Helps your game master
not get super frustrated. So, you know, putting forth
a little bit of effort to learn how stuff works would
be appreciated, thank you. Number seven: Arguing
with the dungeon master. Holy crap! Dude, I had a player once who wanted to argue about
every rule in the game. Like, everything, everything. And here's the thing too. Let us say that his way to
interpret the English language was not exactly very accurate. It's like the lawyer
trying to twist around the meaning of words. Well, you know, adjacent
doesn't have to mean next to. I don't know, stupid stuff like that. So we're here in the game
session, going back and forth, you know, having this discussion
about rules and stuff, the other players are pulling
out their cell phones. They're building dice towers. They're just like, "Okay, this is dumb. Can we just play the game?" I don't mind it. I don't mind it at all. If I screw up a rule and you
remind me of how it works, I'm fine with that. I'm cool. I forget. I make mistakes. That's not a problem. But when we look at the
rule and I make a ruling, and I decide that this is
how we're gonna do it today, that's where it needs to end. Not just because to satiate my fragile ego or something like that, but it's so that the game can go on, so that we can play the game. And then, afterwards, shoot me an email. Let's figure it out more. Let's see if Mr. Crawford
has a ruling or something, and then we can figure
it out in more detail. But during the game, what
we're trying to play, that is not the time to
argue with me, please. (Luke guffaws) That reminds me. I once had a player who
tried to argue with me the definition of five feet. So, check this out. For about a year and a half, we had been playing in
the game with squares. And the definition of a five-foot reach was you have to be in the
square adjacent to you. Like, if the monster's adjacent to you, then you can actually attack it. And then out of the blue, this player's like, "Wait a second. It says I have a five foot reach. Well, that means that it
should be two squares away. Like, the intervening
square, that's five feet. And so, I should be
able to attack a monster that's more than just next to me. It's like a square away from me." It's like, out of the blue, this dude wants to, like, reinvent how we've been using
that rule the whole time. And why? Because he is a filthy power
gamer and that's what they do. All right, I'm gonna calm down now. I'm gonna just... (breathes deeply) All right, let's go to the next one. Number eight: Unrealistic expectations. Yes, you got the players who are, like, expecting you to run a game like what? Like some famous, like, Matt Mercer, or the Brendan Brandon Lee,
the dude that runs the amazing, you know, it's like, yeah. Why don't you put, like, the world's highest expectations on me, a dungeon master, who's not that dude, doesn't have all of his skills, abilities, and I'm not like a
professional voice actor, and whatever and whatnot. Yeah, yeah, how about you not put those expectations on me, please. Because, guess what? I'm probably going to fail utterly if those are the expectations
of me as a game master. I'm gonna do my best. Like, I'm not gonna come in and be like, oh, like, you know, sleazy, unprepared, and just winging it and all this stuff. I will do my best and I will try. That is what I pledge to you. But you can't expect me to be
like X, Y, and Z other people. You just can't. The other annoying thing
that sometimes happens is that players will have expectations, but they never tell you
what their expectations are. And they could be upset about something, and then they never tell you. They could want X, Y, and Z
things to be changed in the game to make it better for them,
but they never tell you. It's like they have these expectations, but you don't know what they are. They just expect you to read their minds. Number nine: Not letting other
players play the game too. I think this is what
people are referring to as main character syndrome, where there's one player
who thinks their character should monopolize all of the game time, constantly be talking,
constantly doing this, that, and the other, and never giving the other
players at the game table an opportunity to, you know, I don't know, play the game too. Like, do you think they gather
around the table just for fun to watch you play your amazing character, talk in your special voices, and do all of your awesome,
amazing, cool stuff? No, they probably wanna play the game too. So maybe you should stop and
let them also play the game. Number 10: "That's what my
character would do!" (chuckles) This phrase is the general catchall for jack-wad behavior amongst
almost all characters, all players. Like, when the player's like, "I'm gonna attack another character," or when they're screwing the group over, when the rogue sneaks
ahead, finds the chest, disarms it, picks it, opens it, and takes all the loot for himself, and then doesn't tell the other players. Yeah, okay, sabotaging
what other characters are attempting to do just for kicks, all sorts of jack-waddy
behavior that is frowned upon and is only gonna piss
off the other players, "That's what my character
would do," is their reasoning. And that's fair. I understand that you created a dear precious character for you that would do all of those
horrible, horrible things. And so my request, as your dungeon master, is simply that you get
rid of that character, and create a new character. A character that won't
do things like that, a character that will
get along with the group, a character that won't
screw them all over, and a character that won't
cause all of the other players to get pissed off at you. That's just my humble request. Thank you very much. By the way, if you're
finding this video helpful, or at the very least, helping
to stoke your burning hatred of bad players, give me a thumbs up, and leave a comment for
the algorithm down below. Let me know about the worst player you've ever had in a game. Number 11: Analysis paralysis. I was in a game once, I was a player, and, like, we sat there around the table for about 20 minutes, 30
minutes, I don't know, discussing the best way
to go into a mansion. Like, here's the quest, there are walls, there are different doors,
different entrances, there are windows,
there's sewers underneath, all these different ways you
could possibly go into there, and wow, did we have a discussion. A very thorough discussion
about the benefits and disadvantages of each
of those different options. And then we started going in circles and then we couldn't make a decision. And I said, "Holy crap,
let's just pick one, it probably doesn't matter." See, yeah, just, you know,
make a decision, play the game. I mean, it's okay to talk a little bit, but, at some point,
you gotta do something. Number 12: Taking forever on their turn. Well, I could do that. Hold on. Oh, oh, you know, that's a good spell too. Well, you know, maybe I
don't wanna cast a spell. Maybe, I'll just, maybe I should move around
a little bit or something. (paper rustles) What do you think, Jim Bob? What do you think I should do? I mean, you know, you've
played wizards before, and stuff like that.
(books slams shut) Yeah, thank you. Thank you for bogging the game down because you can't decide what to do. Thank you for bogging the game down because you don't know
how your character works. Thank you, thank you! Nobody wants to wait for you. We don't. Like, just make a decision so
we can play the game, please. Somebody's down on the comments right now. "Luke, you are so impatient!"
(grunts and growls) Look, dude, 30 seconds? Okay, okay. But five minutes to make up your mind? There's a line somewhere
that we need to not cross, just so that we can play the
game at a reasonable pace, and so that everybody else is not getting bored out of their minds because you can't decide what your character does on your turn. Not being that unreasonable, am I? Number 13: Screwing around
at the game table. (chuckles) I remember, this was a couple years ago. My youngling group, I was
running a game for them, and they started basically just kind of screwing
around at the game table, and they weren't taking
the game seriously. We laugh, and we have fun and stuff, but there's a difference
between playing the game, and having fun and
screwing around and stuff, and then just totally screwing around. And they were totally screwing around, so I gave them a little example
of how I could run the game if I were just not taking it seriously, and just run it in a super
dry, uninteresting manner. And then we had a discussion. I explained that, "Hey, guys, you know, if you would like me to
put my heart and soul into running an awesome game for you guys, then all I request from you is that you don't screw around
at the game table like this, and take a little bit of
seriousness into the game. Still jokes, still have fun, still play, and do foolish things, yes, but if you want my heart and soul, then I'm gonna need a little bit of yours. You gotta meet me halfway here." Number 14: Power gaming. Power gaming is not
the same as min-maxing. Min-maxing is just when you're trying to use the game mechanics to create the most
powerful builds you can. Usually referencing, you
know, wonderful YouTube videos about, you know, feats
and all these powers to make the most powerful
character you can, or Reddit posts and stuff like this. That's min-maxing. Min-maxing is a thing, it's
enjoyable for a lot of people. I tend to enjoy doing that
too when I create characters. Power gaming, on the other hand,
is way different than that. A power gamer is almost
always a min-maxer, but they go above and beyond. They look for every way they possibly can to exploit game mechanics, and make their PC even more powerful. For instance, the player I told you about who was arguing about the
definition of five feet, that's a classic power gamer move, because it allows them to then hit somebody that's even farther
away with their long sword. Or just failing to mention the drawbacks of certain abilities that you want to use. Let's say you want to
use your monk ability to teleport from shadows to shadows. You just happen to forget to mention that it's some place you have to see. It allows you to teleport
all over the place, just 'cause you want to. Those are the sorts of things
power gamers like to do. I have a cold cold place in
my heart for power gamers. I despise them. Number 15: Cheating. One might argue that it ruins your own
game experience to cheat. Although the person doing the cheating probably feels like it's
enhancing their game experience, but it for sure angers the other players and the dungeon master when they can see that you're clearly cheating. I had a player once who could
never seem to roll below a 15, like never. And it was the most amazing thing. There was a pile of books to one side, there was some other
stuff piled up over here, and then there were a bunch
of pop cans in front of him. And so he had this little area right here that had walls around it. And it must have been
the magic of these walls he had constructed that allowed him to
always roll 15 or above. It was amazing. Number 16: Denying the
collaborative nature of the game. D&D is a group game, usually. So a player being selfish and not recognizing that
the game will be more fun if they work with the other
players and the dungeon master, instead of just trying
to get their own way, and have the universe revolve around them, is probably not gonna have a
beneficial impact on the game. One of the very reasons
people love games like D&D is that they're collaborative games, where there is nobody that
is a winner or a loser, everybody around the table wins. When we work together and collaborate, we all have fun together. Technically, the dungeon
master pretty much always loses because they always kill our
monsters, they always do. Number 17: Not respecting
other players' characters. This is the player who
tries to bully other players into doing certain things. Or their character tries
to belittle other character or whatever. However you wanna say it. But, basically, the player is
not letting the other player allow them to have fun in their own way. This is a way that a player
could take away agency from another player. Now, I remember this one time, we had this monk in the group, and I was a player at the time, and the monk she did not want to have any ranged weapons ever. Like, we would constantly
get into combats where, "Wow, it'd be really nice
if you had a ranged weapon right now, wouldn't it? And she's like, "I don't have any, and there's nothing I can do this round." And I'm like, "You're not pulling your," I'm thinking, right? "You're not pulling
your weight around here, and you're making these
combats way more challenging because you won't just
get a bow or something." But see, I could only
give her a suggestion. I couldn't control her. I couldn't make her get a a ranged weapon. I might suggest, you know, this would make things easier for us if you had a a ranged weapon, but I am not controlling her character, and I'm not going to bully her, and try to coerce her into getting a bow, even though, "Wow, wouldn't it be great if she had a a ranged weapon?" Number 18: Not respecting
the game master's campaign. This is the player who just wants to burn everything down they come across. They want to ruin everything. They wanna kill every random NPC that happens across
them in the game world. The game master usually
spends a lot of time preparing to run the game, and all I'm asking is the players
should respect that effort and be appreciative. Now, I'm not gonna cry if you
kill my super precious NPC, but man, I might make some
nice consequences for you. Number 19: Hiding in-character
stuff from the game master. This could be something
like not telling the GM what spell they are casting, making rolls without
declaring their intentions, keeping secrets in general. Now, maybe you have had really bad experience with game masters who are just there to screw you over, and you feel like you have to
conceal those sorts of things, but a good game master is
there to facilitate game play and make things more fun for
you and the other players. A good game master is
not there to be a killjoy and make the game less fun. And my suggestion would be
that if you have a game master that you need to hide things from because you don't trust them, and they have a reputation
for screwing you over, maybe you need to find a new one. Number 20: Excessive side conversations. Yeah, this is self-explanatory. Like, they're just off talking
and talking and talking, and side conversations, and, "Hello, I can't run the game if you guys are just all talking." It's even worse when you're online too. You ever be on Zoom or Discord, trying to run an online D&D game, and players are trying to
have side conversations? Yeah, that does not work. Number 21: Bad hygiene. I once went to a convention
with my wife and daughter, and we went in line. We were standing in line
at the D&D convention, gaming convention, to get
our tickets and stuff, and actually go in, and there was a dude in front of us that had such bad hygiene. Like, my wife and
daughter got out of line, and had to go stand over
there, because, you know. I wouldn't even say it's because
of delicate sensibilities. Like, I wanted to throw up in my mouth. It was not good. So, you know, if you're gonna
play in person, take a bath, you know, throw on some
cheap cologne or something. I don't know, you do what you gotta do, but, you know, thank you. There's a game shop that I go
to play at from time to time, and there are literally signs
on the wall that say that, "Patrons with bad hygiene
will be asked to leave." So, apparently, this is the thing, and it really should not be a thing. Click on the screen now to
learn about the different ways dungeon masters ruin games, or to become a "Lairs &
Legends" Kickstarter backer, and take advantage of our
last early bird discount. And, until next time, demand a tithe of bacon
from all bad players. That will redeem their souls, of course.
