Five Signs You Have a Bad Dungeon Master
Whether it be D&D or Pathfinder, a Game Master Can Turn a Great Game Into a Horror Show
The Dungeon Master has one of the hardest jobs in gaming. Not only must they be the interpreter of the rules, the roleplayer behind a cast of non-player characters, and at times the story creator behind a homebrew adventure, but they must also be the Law when it comes to final decisions, the Helping Hand when it comes to really bad dice rolling and the Kindly Sage when it comes to introducing new players to the game.
At times, it can be thankless. Or, at least, not thanks enough.
Too often, players don’t understand exactly how much hard work goes into being a good Dungeon Master. They come to the game table prepared by bringing their character sheet and perhaps a copy of the Player’s Handbook. The DM comes to the table prepared by doing hours upon hours of work either studying the pre-made adventure or spending even more hours creating their own.
But let’s face it, not everyone is cut out to be a great Dungeon Master. While most can end up being pretty good with practice, some might need a drastic personality change before they would ever be good at running a table.
So let’s look at some of these bad traits.
1. The Adversarial Dungeon Master
This is where the difference between challenge and competition is key. The idea that any wrong move, fight or trap might ultimately end in the death of your character creates exciting tension in the game, but the idea that the Dungeon Master is “out to get” the players is a recipe for disaster.
Dungeon Mastering is hard, especially for the DM that creates their own stories. The DM really is designing areas with the intent of hurting and possibly killing the players, but they are also ensuring they can succeed. And the best DMs are always rooting for the players.
An adversarial relationship between Dungeon Master and players can take on many different forms. The “I am the God of the story” complex can be counterproductive in a game centered around the idea of a shared interactive story. The “NPCs have all the fun” creates players who rightfully feel as if their characters are minor accompaniments to the Dungeon Master’s story when they should be the main attraction. And the “I am trying my best to kill you” DM might find it too easy to cross the line.
2. The Balance of Saying No
Would-be Dungeon Masters only need look to the philosophy of improvisation as a guiding light. Improv teaches to say “Yes, and…” rather than “No.” And a good Dungeon Master always tries to start with “Yes, and…”
This includes allowing players to go off-path. Few players love a completely railroaded story that can only go in one direction. The beauty of a good pen-and-paper roleplaying game lies in its freedom of choice.
No matter how crazy or absurd, the good Dungeon Master should always be looking for a way to say “Yes, and…”
The key to this philosophy is that the “And…” can essentially be used to turn the player’s request into a No if need be. Do the first-level characters want to explore the forest instead of staying on the path? Perhaps they run into an ogre who chases them back to the road. (And remember: Players will surprise you, and sometimes this means they stay to fight that overly powerful monster that is supposed to be a stop sign.)
But the essence of this philosophy is to allow the players to go off script and try your best to accommodate them. Instead of setting up stop signs and u-turns, bring along maps that allow you to play out an on-the-spot adventure if need be.
And while “Yes, and…” is a great tool, the Dungeon Master does need to balance it by sometimes simply saying no. That player that thinks their 16 strength character can lift a 2,000-pound boulder over their head? That’s not a time for “Okay, we’ll see if you can roll a natural 20…”
Remember, a natural 20 is a 5% chance. So a ‘roll for a 20’ should only be applied in instances where the character has about a 5% chance of doing it. Shoot an arrow in a goblin's eye from 60 yards? Sure, 5% chance. Throw a hatchet and fell a tree with a 5 feet radius? Not a chance.
It’s the balance between always trying to work with the players while keeping actions reasonable that can sometimes be a hard line to walk. If you have a dungeon master who is always slamming the door of No against all ideas, you are probably working with a bad DM. But if your players can try almost anything, the game suffers.
3. The Dungeon Master Who Plays Favorites/Unfavorites
Perhaps you’ve been there. The one unruly player that brings the fun level way down for the entire party, but they happen to be the DM’s best friend so they get cut all the slack. Or every time the DM doesn’t like an idea, a certain player’s character seems to suffer. Or one special person in the group always gets the great loot.
Above all else, the dungeon master must be impartial and fair. Or, at least, random. And it is with randomness that I always liked to solve most of the problems. Who stepped on the arrow trap? Roll a dice. Who does the black dragon choose to spit acid at? Roll the dice. Who does the avatar give that special item to? Roll the dice.
When the DM is clearly playing favorites or picking on a specific player in the group, it easily ruins the fun for everyone.
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4. The Dungeon Master Who Doesn’t Control the Room
This one counts for both actions both inside and outside of the game. The easy example is out-of-character metagaming, but also covers things such as allowing a single character to sidetrack an entire adventure with absurd theatrics such as randomly stabbing innocent villagers in town.
As a DM, there are times when you want to sit back and let the chaos you’ve created reign. But there is a difference between allowing the character to play their part in a heated discussion and allowing squabbling to eclipse the role-playing side of the dynamic.
And while some players may get off on in-character disruptions — which is perfectly fine to a point — the good dungeon master should also ensure there is some law and order.
I recently fielded a question from a player whose group was constantly being disrupted because one of the other players loved to kill villagers in town. The entire group was annoyed but felt trapped because the village guards were low level and just got slaughtered themselves.
This is usually the product of an inexperienced Dungeon Master who may be afraid of bringing in consequences to the character’s action. But remember, a character doesn’t live in a bubble. If someone goes on a killing spree in a small village, word will get out. And in a world of magic, that could bring quite the consequence. Even the gods might get annoyed at a character randomly killing their followers.
Want to randomly kill innocents? Unfortunately, the hedge wizard in town magically contacts an enchanted police force…
5. The DM Unwilling to Learn/Change
This may very well be the biggest sign of a bad Dungeon Master. Hey, all of us are learning. There are many people who love being the Dungeon Master for multiple reasons. And then there are Dungeon Masters who feel ‘forced’ into it because no one else wants to do the job. No matter, the primary guiding light of pen-and-paper roleplaying is for it to be fun. Period.
So if the group of players bring up issues with the Dungeon Master, whether it be “We think it’s too combat-focused” or “We spend too much time going over backstory” or “You never let us wander off into the forest” or “Chuck is always bringing the whole group down with his rules lawyering” or whatever it might be, the good Dungeon Master listens and adjusts.
This doesn’t mean the Dungeon Master automatically responds to the player’s request. There may be reasons for some of their decisions. But if the DM is “it’s my way or the highway” and the players aren’t having fun, then perhaps the highway is the best move.
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Is It Possible to Play a Tabletop RPG Without a Game Master?
In a word, yes.
I’ve written about playing D&D or Pathfinder alone or without a dungeon master. And I’ve heard a lot of the “oh no, it’s definitely a game that requires…” arguments. And they generally stink.
A common occurrence is a group of people who want to play but no one wants to be the Dungeon Master. And there is an easy solution to this one: share the duties. Take turns with who is the Dungeon Master. It might be harder to go through an official campaign this way, but the best part of any RPG is making up your own stories.
You can also play D&D completely solo, and there is a sizable community of solo players. I designed my Endless RPG app as a random map generator specifically for this purpose. It generates maps with encounters, treasures, traps, etc., and allows the player to explore through a fog-of-war that displays what they find only as the find it. There are also plenty of different game aids to help those playing solo.
- Endless RPG is on Steam for Windows PCs
- You can download Endless RPG for iPhone/iPad from the App Store.
- Endless RPG is also available on Android devices from the Google Play store.
Is it difficult to play D&D solo? I’ll be honest, it can be. Especially if you do not already know how to play the game. Luckily, there are a lot of YouTube videos that can help out in that department.
But it is not of insurmountable difficulty. I’d suggest searching Facebook for communities dedicated to solo play to help out with any questions.
How about playing with just two players? In fact, playing D&D or other RPGs with only two people can be quite rewarding as well. A friend and I didn’t have a regular group in high school, so we often rolled up players and went on our own adventures.
It took heavy use of the random dungeon tables in the back of DM’s Guide as well as our own imagination. We would both take turns taking the lead on the story or with being the “combat DM” as we called it. We also drew up lots of random tables to help guide the course of an adventure. And those times are some of my fondest of playing, and they also helped shape my skills as a Dungeon Master.
The number one rule for roleplaying games: have fun. You can have a blast playing D&D, Pathfinder or almost any other RPG alone. And if you have a small group with no DM, you shouldn’t let that stop you!