In a game like Dungeons & Dragons, where the fates of the players and the success of some adventures depend on a good roll of a 20-sided die, luck and misfortune can nearly become independent players. It becomes critical when these treat one specific group of players differently than the others. According to a report from a Game Master, he himself has witnessed this.
What does the Game Master report? The Game Master and Reddit user No-Walk-7909 reports in the DnD subreddit about such strikingly frequent occurrences of certain events that make him suspect that something else must be at play.
The Game Master explains that he has led two different DnD groups in the past year. In the first group, there were 6 players, who (except for one player) were all female. This should not make any difference in the game, but still, the Game Master noted that the man inexplicably was the only player who was unlucky.
He was the only one who regularly rolled Natural 1s
, to such an extent that it became a joke.
“I found it funny and jokingly said that it was due to his nature as an undead,” writes No-Walk-7909. “He laughed and added it to his character’s backstory.”
This could of course just be bad luck, but then the pattern repeated.
Here you see the presentation of a new role-playing game from Critical Role, one of the most famous DnD groups:
“The trend is alarming” – Game Master asks for help
When did the Game Master become suspicious? The Game Master further explains that his second group was plagued by exactly the same, nearly cursed phenomenon. Again, it was a group of women with only one male player, who was the only one followed by the same misfortune as his predecessor.
Failed checks, two Natural 1s
in a battle. He escaped his misfortune only thanks to the “power of friendship,” by being thrown out of the window (in the game, of course).
Now the Game Master voiced his suspicion: “I fear my table is sexist. So, my literal table.”
He asks the community for advice on how to make his table “less sexist” – and the responses become very creative.
How does the DnD community react? The community’s advice ranges from rituals, aromatherapies and tricking the table to further investigations.
- Hollow-Official: “Let your male players burn incense before the session and rub the tabletop with essential oils. It’s the little things that keep sexist tables happy.”
- ClassicB2Carcinogen: “Clearly, the guy must deceive the spirit of the table by dressing in drag.”
- nickster416: “Have you ever tried talking to the table about these issues? If it doesn’t respond to your feedback, maybe you should consider getting a new table.”
- gmrzw4: “Use a tablecloth so the table can’t see it…? That might make everyone mad though.”
- darkslide3000: “Your table is clearly too infused with female energy, probably due to the absence of a healthy male father figure at the time of its creation. You should take it to a monster truck rally, regularly place cold beer on it, and take it to the garage for a while to use while working on your car, to restore balance.”
Although the Game Master is not responsible for the bad luck of the men at his table, it is nice to see how he wants to make the situation as fair and fun as possible for everyone at the table. Not every DM feels so much sympathy for their players. There are also other examples where they are not too shy to rip off their group: Player wins 200,000 gold in Dungeons & Dragons, subsequently exploited mercilessly by the Game Master.
