So I keep pulling my punches when players enter dangerous scenarios. I’m thinking of implementing His Majesty style Meatgrinder to keep me accountable.
What do you do?
2 Likes
What do you mean by “pulling punches”? Are you referring to fudging rolls in favor of PCs? Decreasing numbers of monsters in a group? In general, nerfing the challenges?
If that’s what you’re speaking of, then I have a simple response: I don’t.
I work to make it clear a site is dangerous. If the players aren’t careful with what they have the PCs do, they suffer the consequences that the system and RNG provide. That’s what the game is that the players signed on to play. It’s also what I promised to run. Were I to do differently, I’d be misrepresenting the game to them and running something I don’t want to and don’t enjoy. That ain’t happening.
1 Like
Guilty of all the above.
There’s an underlying insecurity. I do it less with my regular players.
It’s odd to air something like this. I’m hoping your thoughts and others will get me in the right frame.
Thanks!
3 Likes
Roll randomly in the open. That way it’s not your fault and you’re “held accountable” automatically.
I’m generally neither a “meatgrinder” type nor a cosy combat person, I’m hewing closer to the “simulationist” side of things when playing. But when I’m not clear whether I’m subconsciously dragging things to one side or the other, I just let the dice fall.
4 Likes
One option is to lean into your impulses to take Certain Death of the table, but instead escalate in other ways. I quite like Getting Worse for stuff like this.
If your trepidation is associated with killing Characters, and the Table’s expectations are for something more sustained/consistent, then this can be a good method.
5 Likes
Make your players do the rolls, not only is it easier on you as the DM “they” are the ones that kill themselves 
2 Likes
I too have been guilty of pulling my punches, I feel, you’re certainly not alone. What has helped me, personally, is setting explicit stakes ahead of time. I often feel insecure that I might not have set the stakes of a scenario reasonably, and therefore don’t feel comfortable dishing out those ‘punches’. But, recently, with me making an explicit conversation about what could happen on a failed result, I think my game has improved in its tone.
An example recently was when my Gnome Wizard lost his arm. The party was effectively jumped by a paranoid shapeshifting dragon, and was split between a wall of crystal the dragon summoned. This left the Wizard soloing the dragon. The Wizard cast a spell they normally reserve to enhance others’ strength on themselves, creating a flaming fist. He then proceeded to use his magic item, a ring of peeling, to peel inside of the dragon’s maw with his punch, attempting to go inside of his head where armor wouldn’t apply.
This took a bit of conversating to exactly figure out not just what was happening but also what could happen from this. But, basically, I talked and said it roughly came down to this—He was a flimsy gnome, even if there was magic boosting his attack. He was risking grave bodily harm with this gambit. The player agreed, feeling they had no better course of action given the circumstances, but also out-of-character thought the moment was cool. We rolled the dice… and a partial success occured.
We ended up resolving the fight with neither side truly winning due to Tiphus’ heroics. And hey, was able to later invest in a magic wand storing arm.
Just know that not pulling your punches will lead to more fun stories—When do people share TTRPG stories of things that go well? Everyone loves the underdog, too; seeing misfortune and spiting the odds are what makes those fun moments.
5 Likes
When I ran 5e for my friends during the pandemic, I just used Roll20 and rolled everything in public chat, as I expected them to. No fugding there, the roll is in the open, they can be as lucky or unlucky as the NPCs and monsters.
1 Like
In addition to rolling in the open, as several have suggested:
- Get your players to encourage you. Get them to play characters who are reckless and egg each other on. If they’re not willing to do that, ask if they’re really into this aspect of OSR play. That’s not a criticism of you or them; it’s worth being sure you’re not pulling your punches because you are (justifiably) worried about genuinely upsetting people you care about.
- Decide in advance: if it’s likely a tough situation will come up (“what happens if the players eat the mummified beetle”) make your ruling during your prep. Then in the moment you can refer to your prep.
- Don’t just roll in the open, declare stakes up front: “If you fail this roll, your character dies”. Then you’re committed (and the tension is electric).
3 Likes
Thank you everyone. I’m finding it encouraging to read your response. It’s also reassuring that others think of these things.
This past weekend my players came face to face with a rather nasty cult cleric. I wasn’t ready for there to be a showdown, yet. So the players got a taste of what they are up against and nearly got captured by the cleric’s minions. Instead, the party made it out by the skin of their teeth and, with some luck on their side, captured the cleric, who is all too eager to share their god’s blessings.
So not nerfed, but complicated the scenario. The wiley cleric is up to no good. There’s a bit of @ktrey ‘s option happening here.
@martin that’s a good point about player expectations. I know some in my group of teens want/need to feel invincible and the game is where they get to be that. There’s others who don’t really have fun unless there’s real risk. None, though, want cozy.
I figure with time the hero will feel comfortable with being vulnerable — it’s just where they are right now — and get swept up in the enthusiasm of the risk-takers.
2 Likes
I’ll also add my vote to rolling in the open to avoid pulling punches. And before rolling, make sure you articulate the stakes correctly. A nice secret is most players don’t mind (and some even relish) horrible things happening to their characters as long as it is tied to their decision making process. What is not fun is having bad things happen arbitrarily/without player agency.
3 Likes
I’ve seen a couple of folks touch on making the stakes clear. I think this is the key to be able to let the dice decide. As I siad, I work to make the danger clear. If that’s reinforced with making the immediate stakes clear based on what the player describes what they want the PC to do – and allowing them to adjust to lower the stakes a bit, if they wish – then players won’t have major issues with character death or other catastrophe.
1 Like