Dungeons & Dragons thrives on its intense stories and epic battles. However, a Dungeon Master made the campaign so intense for one player that he still hasn’t forgiven him to this day.
What did the Dungeon Master do? The group of user Asereth_Morthaux played a campaign for several weeks, as the Dungeon Master recounts on Reddit. At that time, they were 18 years old and had part-time jobs, so they had plenty of time to play. In their campaign, it was the barbarian of the party who wanted to engage in a romance with an NPC – and he wanted it to be as intense and acted out as possible.
The Dungeon Master seized the opportunity to tease him a bit and planned a deep story with the player’s loved one. He allowed him to act out the romance fully and even marry in a later session. But what followed was something that would make this player unable to forgive him even after 20 years.
“It was such a well-crafted story that it stayed in his mind for 20 years. Good job”
Why can’t the player forgive him? During the wedding, the DM has a lord of hell claim the soul of the player’s beloved, which she had sold to find her dream man. In the rest of the campaign, the barbarian tries with his group to get his beloved’s soul back so he can resurrect his now dead wife.
He embarks on a quest for her soul in the Nine Hells. There, the Dungeon Master warns the group several times that they are not up to this challenge and that they should turn back, but the group presses on and engages in a fight against several devils, which they could not win.
The player’s character does not survive this, and just before he dies, he learns that his beloved’s soul had been in a medallion he wore around his neck the whole time. It was a gift from a necromancer named Malhavoc, who had bought her soul back from the devil. However, the group had only asked him where they could find the devil, not the soul, which is why they continued on the wrong track.
He had therefore gone to hell for nothing and died there. The fact that his DM wanted to tease him so obviously is something the player has not forgiven him for even after 20 years.
What does the community say about his story? Fans on Reddit agree that this move was pretty mean, but it somehow is part of Dungeons & Dragons to let your players suffer a bit – especially for an exciting story:
- skallywag126 writes: “It was such a well-crafted story that it stayed in his mind for 20 years. Good job”
- YashamonSensei shares: “We don’t forget, we don’t forgive. I still remember how my first DM unjustly killed my first character […]. That was about 17 years ago.”
- New-Owl-7499 reflects: “But if he had survived the fight and could have used this information, it would have been the best story ever, and he would have loved you for it. […].”
Many users share similar stories and express that they cannot forgive their Dungeon Master for years, even if they would celebrate the stories themselves today.
But sometimes it’s not necessarily the decisions for the story that cause strife in groups. Sometimes it’s also game mechanics that cause discontent because players or Dungeon Masters use them cleverly or meanly. A seemingly innocuous spell has often led to disputes in groups: A seemingly innocuous spell in Dungeons & Dragons is so powerful that it even endangers friendships
