/sGMs/ Shit GMs Say

>roll succeeds
>GM: You don't make it. But you make it easier for the NPC to succeed on it later.
>roll fails
>GM: You don't make it. But it doesn't matter because you succeed a bit later without any effort needed.

Pff, that's nothing

>play Pathfinder
>be level 16, the levels where shit just gets broken
>dm is proud that he regularly kills players
>Jerks off on paladins, and Christianity
>literally every big shot npc is a lvl20 Paladin or Inquisitor
>runs a "horror themed campaign"
>it's literally just undead in "spooky" locations over and over
>ofc no one feels the horror
>we go to one "spooky" mansion, get into a fight, wipe it easily
>get to the boss, he's "the first vampire"
>we start fighting
>me (wizard) and a friend (druid) start doing our spell shit
>"give me a caster check to overcome spell resistance"
>actually roll a natural 18, so I'm feeling good
>DM gets this shit-eating smirk
>"you don't make it through the resistance"
>HIS FUCKING SPELL RESISTANCE WAS 50


>good thing we had a motherfucking paladin, cause one of the players realized they are the best class in his setting

>No, your character doesn't think that way.

>>No, your character doesn't think that way.
I'm sorry what

A GM has the audacity to tell a player he is out of character.

I would get up and leave. But since I usually host, I would tell them to get the fuck out of my house. How is this fun for anyone? I get that the party shouldn't have everything handed to them, but jesus christ.

So sick of hearing about DMs who are either mad they have to run the scenario so they take it out on the players, or, they genuinely enjoy killing the party and ruin it for the players.

The only time I've seen a DM deny a player a success is when the roll was dumb and he had already warned him it was not worth rolling for. I have one friend who gets so combative with DMs and it really drags sessions out.

>PC has Hot-headed, Impulsive, Impetuous, Stubborn, and Never Runs From A Fight disadvantages
>Same PC has Gutsy, Brave, Iron Will advantages
>Same PC has Defend the Innocent quirk
>Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai-based scenario
>Player says "Naw, those guys outnumber us. Let's get out of here. Let the town die, we aren't making enough money on this anyway."

Goddamn right I'll tell a player when he's out of character. And it's when he is out of fucking character.

>but your character is a slut so she is going to follow him him everywhere because she wants the dick

"your character says this:"

>If I built this npc like a character they would need like 430xp
for reference we had like 20xp at the time,
and 60+ is considered high level in the system we were playing

It's different in systems where traits like that are explicitly listed. I personally have had bad experiences with GMs all but taking over PCs that were "not acting in accordance with [their] alignment." It's one thing if it was an extreme case ("you're LG, you can't mutilate a puppy then rape its corpse"), but 99% of cases are along the lines of forcing players to give 10 gp to a beggar despite us desperately needing supplies because the PC was Good or not being suspicious of an NPC because the PC was LG and therefore the trusting sort.

Just to add to this, since I was the paladin. I took Unsanctioned knowledge thinking I'd be able to use Dimension Door to Space Marine it up.

The entire planet had Dimensional Anchor on it all of a sudden, and I got called a filthy optimizer.

>guy who leads a conspiracy is beaten by the players
>we want to keep him alive and tie him up so we can interrogate him and present him as evidence that theres a conspiracy going on
>gm makes us roll for initiative
>roll a 6 on a d6, which means i got an above average value of 16 innitiative
>doesn't matter, npc pulls out a knife thats ALREADY coated with super rare poison that he didn't use in the fight before (???)
>kills himself
>this is the second time this happened

maybe he doesn't want to allow us to interrogate people idk

The second one is fine if there's a time limit involved

I see a lot of bitching about GMs encroaching on player agency. I do this for emotion in my AFMBE game.

>Terror flows through your character as the zombie bites deeply into the flesh of your left arm.

Am I literally Hitler for this?

Describing someone being terrified because an undead horror bit his arm is a-ok. Telling someone that he is playing his character wrong (especially in games where alignments aren't a thing) is not.

What also isn't okay is completely hijacking a player's character and removing the player from the equation. An old GM of mine did this way too often, just telling us where we go and what we do until something "important" happened, at which point we were free to interact with the one thing he allowed interaction with in the scene.

>See you next week user
He never comes back

Does the game have systems for fear?

Happened recently to me.
>my character lives in city other party members have just arrived in
>DM just gives everyone a handout with information on an NPC
>starts talking as my character and repeating the same information
>have to interrupt him so I can play as my character
Granted, I did more or less restate what was on the handout, but c'mon, buddy.

You need to do that in those kinda games

Yes. Essence pool and saves for fear. Losing essence gives you penalties. Dropping to zero makes you catatonic/hysterical.

IME most players are psychopaths itching for an opportunity to torture someone, so it's understandable that he'd want to stop that from happening.

I tell my players when they're out of character in a, "Is that you or (char name) talking?" Manner. Send to go over well.

:c

>Yeah, I'll totally have the next session ready by next week

Generally speaking, I think it's OK to describe anything out of a character's control. You can tell them they smell, hear or see anything. Telling them about fear, or recognition, or even nostalgia is fine too. They - however - get to decide how to react. If their character gives no fucks and keeps on fighting, that's fine. If they scream, that's fine too. You don't get to choose those, however.
Of course, if they fail their Fear Test you can go apeshit on them.

>Your halfling character is scared of your Goliath party member because he is big.

That's fine, I mean in that situation even if someone tried to hide it they would freak out in that situation, helps stimulate involuntary emotional responses.
The problem arises when you try to play a character for the player and start doing shit like saying what he does next in response to the bite.