Do you want your players to ask you to describe every object in a room and then ask to loot every single one of them, one by one? Because this is where it begins.
Another such case is DMs using background NPCs as pain points.
DM: "You're making another childless single orphan sociopath? Can't you make something else?"
Player: "I'd love to! Just promise you won't Shou Tucker my character's family."
DM: "..."
Player: "I thought so."
God this so much. I had a campaign where I just didn't give a shit about family and left it vague, my DM demanded I have at least 3 named family members. So I just made some parents and a brother but made it clear that I hadn't seen them in years and wasn't interested in interacting with them in a plot sense.
Halfway through the campaign I get a letter telling me I NEED to come home and deal with family bullshit, and my brother dies tragically and my parents are trying to get me into some kind of blood feud and I JUST DON'T CARE. The DM gets really mad at me for checking out and trying to disengage from this plotline and I just kept telling him that I didn't want to have family NPCs in the first place and I don't want to do this plot and I didn't ask him to write this plot.
If your players aren't interested in family drama stop writing family drama for them.
My last DM had similar requirements. My character’s girlfriend showed up int the wilderness of a demon apocalypse with a newborn in tow saying his father figure is in prison and also his hometown is on the verge of starvation.
I laughed a big, genuine laugh. My character had died in the last combat, but that was what the DM had prepared for the session, and I didn’t have to deal with any of that nonsense. I have never been so happy with a character death, not even heroic sacrifices and such.
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u/Win32error Jul 29 '24
Do you want your players to ask you to describe every object in a room and then ask to loot every single one of them, one by one? Because this is where it begins.