GM Cruelty Scale

This was mostly taken from the Interactive Fiction Cruelty Scale, but I thought something to apply to GMs would make sense. When creating a campaign, you should declare where you sit on the scale. There is no "right" answer, but each player will likely have a preference as far as what kind of campaign they want to play in. Thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

·         Tutorial- The party cannot fail. This is either because an NPC travelling with the party will solve all the challenges, or because dues es machina will save the party to prevent failure. NPCs and the world at large will largely ignore ridiculous things the PCs do. (A necromancer PC with undead followers who were once townsfolk will get no more than odd looks or comments from NPCs).  Characters will not die in combat because they will be resurrected/healed by an NPC or NPCs will suddenly start missing characters, or spread their attacks up so that characters cannot/will not be killed. (NPCs may all target the regenerator for instance, or use ineffectual attacks).

·         Merciful- The party cannot fail the mission, except by dying in combat. Combats are not designed to kill party members, but critical failures may cause characters to die. NPCs will stop attacking characters who are unconscious, even if they are evil killer NPCs. TPKs will generally be avoided by dues es machina or NPCs.  If the party does fall, they will be captured and allowed to escape, either by NPCs or other players. A mission the party is about to fail will become easier or solved by NPCs. NPCs will ignore any weirdness for party members, though there may be an upper limit to this. (People will still not believe in magic despite seeing a flying rapist fly off with a possessed succubus whilst throwing fireballs, but there will be a reason given as to why). Characters who are purposefully disruptive may have trouble with NPCs. (A demon walking around in the church is okay, but not with a bunch of mind controlled thralls.)

·         Polite- It is possible to fail missions if the characters are complete idiots, but each mission will have 3-4 ways of success, custom built to the skills of each team member, so the players will never not have one of the ways at their disposal. If PCs don’t show up, and NPC with that skill will be made available. Combat will be difficult, but usually not deadly. NPCs will react to ridiculous characters, though they will generally be understanding and willing to work with people they don’t like. TPKs are possible but very unlikely. NPCs are available to solve the missions if the PCs ask them to and are willing to give up a portion (or all) of the mission rewards.

·         Tough- Missions are possible if the PCs behave intelligently, though can potentially be failed if the PCs miss a vital clue or act suboptimally. A mission will generally have 2-3 ways to succeed, but those ways may not be immediately apparent and may require skill rolls to identify those ways. Combat may be deadly, though if handled appropriately may be easy (there may be ways to bypass or make combats easy- though those means will need to be discovered and may not be apparent). Character death is possible but most combats do not include character death unless the party is acting sub-optimally. TPKs are possible but rare. NPCs will often have pre-written goals/motive/prejudices which may make it difficult to play characters that are not the norm (such as metahumans, females, elves, etc). Character choices will have far reaching consequences, both positive and negative, based on how they interact with NPCs.

·         Nasty- Missions will generally end with the mission parameters met, though complete success will be difficult to obtain, and will require the PCs to work intelligently and/or together, or use resources to accomplish. There will usually be 1-2 ways to complete a mission, and those ways will be difficult to accomplish, as well as sometimes be non-obvious. Characters are not expected to always get 100% completion. Combats are deadly and difficult, and the players must actively avoid TPKs, though they will be easily avoided if the party makes effort. NPCs will not be assumed to be helpful to the players, and there are generally some level of obstacle to most interactions- any NPC you want help from may have a side mission or need a diplomacy check rather than starting helpful. Villians will act intelligently/efficiently. Unconscious characters will still be targeted by villains who wish to kill the party, especially if a healer is present. Characters will find consequences for virtually all their actions, positive or negative, even if it’s not clear. Characters will have to make choices frequently without having all the information.

·         Cruel- Missions are very difficult to complete, either because they require so many steps that the whole campaign is trying to overcome this one mission, or because the challenge rating is so high that only via super rolls, or especially clever play can it be defeated. The missions are generally challenges, so completing the mission may not be necessary to continuing the campaign. NPCs are generally non-helpful, either because they’re weaker than the PCs and have nothing to offer, or because the PCs are generally distrusted by the world, or because every NPC requires special handling to get help out of. TPKs are common. Players need to make their characters together and all show up because the mission won’t be adjusted for lack of players. NPCs helpers may be available, but they will come with obstacles as well as assistance. Characters will find that all their actions have consequences and that they are generally negative. Do not expect that familiars, animal companions, houses, businesses etc to survive unless they are in your sight at all time, and sometimes not even then. Usually your immediate equipment is safe from GM theft, but not always. Players may have to go to ridiculous lengths to defeat enemies, as the enemies are made to be as smart and powerfull as the player with the same genre savvy player creation thoughts. (Half red dragon trolls with acid immunity, for example).

·         Evil- These are generally considered one-offs or similar because everything the characters touch either explode or attack you. The tomb of horrors is a great example, the Gygax setup. Every NPC is secretly out to betray you, or use you, and the PCs are often pitted against each other directly and on purpose. The missions are so difficult you are not intended to win: winning means you literally beat the GM at his own game by making characters that he could not destroy with his pre-written module. TPKs happen more than surviving the mission does (though TPK may not mean death- players may be transformed, teleported away, have all their stuff stolen, dropped down to 1^st level, or any means of ridiculousness). PCs will generally be at massively different power levels due to character replacement or XP rules, and critical hit/fumble charts themselves cause massive turnover. Characters who do not die will have extremely powerful magical items, but also likely be maimed in some way (such as missing arms/legs/or being cursed by dark gods). The party constantly meets characters more powerful than them and must often tread lightly in an attempt to sell the NPC on not killing them.