Joe sums it up well.
Then there was some drama regarding my second use of antimagic in as many sessions.
That's three players telling me how magic items should work.
Paul had to weigh in after ward.
In the end, I apologized, Curtis apologized and Paul quit (for extenuating circumstances) and then we made amends. Such #drama <3
There's gonna be more antimagic shit folks. Waterdeep is lousy with it and I'm not pulling punches. I say, "You're level 17. Act like it."
What happened? Some players became upset when they dove through a portal chasing an enemy and were confronted with an anti magic effect of 60' radius.
The ensuing converation included the following talking points:
- Anti magic is ham fisted and Dooley can do better
- Over powerful magic item is over powerful
- Anti magic renders characters useless
- Players are angry
Waterdeep isn't supposed to be some easy romp and it's meant to challenge the players to use other means of dealing with their conflicts.
The heist was supposed to add a bit of spice, but the role play was the main focus. When everyone gave chase, and none of the everyone included a non magic user, the last thing I expected was to suddenly be faced with such the embattlement. I assumed we'd see some role play. Clearly that wasn't the case.
The DM needs to change because the players demand X gameplay.
First off, this is such an existential discussion over a spell effect with a 60' radius, that "I can't even."
Waterdeep is. This is what Waterdeep has, and does. Just the same way that the Cloud Spires used to be a terrifying place to fly through, requiring everyone to walk everywhere they went.
Every place has its themes and to decry the demands of the area you're venturing into makes little sense. Waterdeep has mechanisms that keep magic in check. Just the same way Curtis had his character Vane cover the entire city of Royals Peak in Forbiddance.
Dungeons & Dragons is a game of varied challenges. Declaring you're a 0 level character the moment you lose magic is insanity to me. It completely throws out the Skills, the Role Play, and the concept that you're even playing a character.
The game is about adapting, not arguing.
You're using X too much.
As I said in the stream, Waterdeep is lousy with anti magic controls.
Thematically I'm keeping it to high level circumstances and more specifically situations where contextually it makes sense.
That said though, this was the second time in as many sessions that the players were dealing with it, and it was supposed to be poetic, but it wasn't received that way.
I've used it twice and it made players rage quit.
You made X too powerful or There's nothing like this in the game!
I don't want to honour this as a valid talking point. This game is about making shit up.
There are pages upon pages of home brew stuff available and it can get pretty ridiculous. D&D Beyond's homebrew library is curated, so there's some credibility there. That's where the manacles mentioned above are from. The wholly and instantly accepted manacles of anti magic, are in fact home brew.
In this event we saw a spell effect with a 120' diameter of effect. This was seen as an affront, causing three players to chastize me, a player to rage quit the night, and another to rage quit the game altogether.
The Hypocrisy of Player Fun
The nuclear bomb was okay, eh? The players immediately accepted its existence and put it to use.
The Dwarven Wrench is cool too, eh? The Dwarven Wrench that dismantles everything and anything is okay. Don't need to look up any rules for that.
Antimagic at 120' though? Are you mad? Nobody asked for any sort of explanation or inspected upon the situation but immediately set to task deriding me as a story teller for pushing effects and events upon the players. I don't care to count the number of times that 'bullshit' was said to me, of my work, last session. It's enough to make a person want to quit.
My biggest shortcoming.
Let's face it, I don't always deal with confrontation in a positive and constructive manner. Confronted by several of my players at once, I became combative and suppressive.
I became a panicked dictator rather than a leader. That's the major failure on my part.
My other biggest shortcoming is frivolous description and giving too much of the wrong details.
Give players an inch, they'll try to investigate the yard. If they find it, they'll try to rob it or murder it.
Deus ex machina bullshit
Players want a fair shake, I get that. They don't want to be cheaped and cheesed, like that douche nozzle that used Gon in Tekken 3 for the crouch spin, or the bitch ass that would always take Chun Li or E-Honda because fuckin' one button wonder over there thinks they're pro stylez with their l33t ski11z.
That's not what this is though. This is a super rich city of incredible means and connections, that has to contend with controlling a massive amount of crazy tech and arcana.
Moreover, in game design a good designer alludes to things impending before presenting; hell that's good story telling 101. In this case, the players were well and aware that anti magic is E V E R Y W H E R E.
Imagine the levels of control that our society would implement in order to control magic. Consider what we do implement now to control the magic that is technology.
Whatever. It's D&D. Lighten up folks.