"Dear JB" Mailbag #8

Wednesday's child is full of woe.

Dear JB:

So I'm running cyberpunk themed 5e game for 5 friends. One of the players had given me a really light backstory so I did what I could with what I had, he was a widower with a 6 year old daughter. I had tried to do a story point where the 6 year old got into trouble at school. Being an upset child who wants to see their mother and also having access to both the internet and magic there was an obvious story point where the kid would try something. So being a 6 year old I had it be to where she attempted a necromancy spell but messed up and accidentally "pet cemetary-ed" her mother. The player was pissed and said that I shouldn't be messing with his backstory like that and that I was abusing my privilege as the DM.

So was I out of line here?

Quick edit to clear confusion: I didn't change his backstory at all. I just tried to do a story line involving his backstory.

Am I "Abusing DM Privileges"?

Hey, AIADMP:

The short answer here is "No."

I will forgo any sort of rant about 5Eisms and the inanity of "backstories" in modern play. I have played (and run) many games where backstories were a part of character creation (Vampire the Masquerade, Ars Magica, Over The Edge, etc.). Once upon a time, the 1E campaign of my youth was heavy with "backstories" of varying lengths and depths.

Here's the thing about "backstories" in a game where the DM has final authority over the game world: ANYthing in the backstory is fair game for the DM to use in the game. It is the DM's game. The "Mastery" of the DM title applies to the entire imaginary universe/cosmology in which the players participate...including the characters the players are using. And it has to be this way; the DM must have ultimate authority to run the game.

Does this mean the DM can have a PC struck down by a "blue bolt from the heavens" at any moment? Yes, it does! And this is even part of the explicit text of the original DMG (page 110). In fact, the DM can, at any moment, completely and utterly exile any player character and the player themself from the game universe for all eternity simply by kicking them from the table.  All authority for the game, including who gets to participate, rests in the hands of the Dungeon Master.

That's point #1.

Now, with regard to D&D backstories specifically: if someone has a background or backstory for their character, they are asking for it to be used in play...consciously or not.  Nothing (in the D&D game) compels a person to say "the character's father hates him and drove him from his home as a teen," or "my character's village was burned by goblins and she has harbored a grudge ever since," or "my character's spouse died and they feel like they can never love again."  None of this melodrama is required...so if a person doesn't want it used, guess what? Don't bring it up. 

"So what's your character's story, Anne?"

"She was trained as a fighter, and is now looking for adventure."

"Any family? History?"

"Nope, none to speak of."

Look how easy that is!

But humans tend towards narcissism (we all love ourselves to one degree or another) and while that manifests in different people in different ways, the "cult of character" has long been a part of D&D.  Yes, even before DragonLance...don't kid yourselves Old Edition Players! LOTS of people like to imagine a fictional history for their fictional character.

But the DM, as ultimate authority of the game, is free to completely ignore it. That's point #2...players are welcome to create whatever they like, but the DM is under no obligation to care about it, listen to it, or remember it. Hell, as the DM, I can erase it at any time: just as I can drop a "bolt from the blue" on your character, I can do the same to your PC widower's six-year old child. But probably I'd just say she had an accident or was struck down by an illness, and when the town patriarch tried to raise her she failed her resurrection roll. That's my purview as a Dungeon Master: NPCs are completely under my control.

Which brings us to point #3: general DMing "douchery." 

There is a difference between "abuse of power/authority" and more general "abuse." When Donald Trump gropes a woman against her will, that is just abuse. When Donald Trump in the office of President causes the NY DOJ to dismiss the charges against Mayor Eric Adams but reserves the right to re-prosecute, effectively setting up Adams as a pawn of the White House, that is abuse of power. There is a difference there.

In terms of D&D, general abuse would be yelling at a player, belittling them (insulting them, telling them they're "stupid," etc.), or physically smacking them around a bit. A DM abuse of power would be giving a player special treatment (bonus experience points, really awesome magic items) in exchange for "favors" (buying the DM drinks, performing sexual favors, etc.). Obviously, either of these forms of abuse are Really Bad Things, and players who find themselves with such a DM should extricate themselves from the situation as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Abusive DMs (like abusers in general) are pieces of shit, and deserve nothing good until they reform their act.

However, it's not "abuse" (of any sort) for a DM to exercise authority over the game in order to run the game. And if the DM decides to not ignore a character's backstory (a backstory that was unnecessary to begin with), but instead use it in the creation of a situation for the players to experience, that is well within the DM's prerogative. A player wants to bring a motherless six year old NPC into existence? There are all sorts of ways I can use that:

• The kid can be kidnapped by kobolds (they eat babies).
• The kid develops psionic powers (and is now wanted by the powers-that-be for their own nefarious reasons)
• The kid gets killed by an arrow trap (signaling the danger of the crypt the PCs are exploring)

I mean, endless possibilities. Having the kid use school resources to perform a bit of necromancy is fine (I suppose in a non-cyberpunk game she'd be studying at some sort of wizard school, and stole a scroll of animate dead to bring her mom back from the grave...that's kind of funny/horrific, actually).

There doesn't even have to be verisimilitude in the DM's use of such things...though, of course, verisimilitude always helps with player engagement. But just as the DM can say, "okay, you wake up in the desert having been drugged and kidnapped several nights ago while carousing at Tavern X..." the DM is free to say, yeah, sorry, your kid was eaten by wolves a week ago. 

Now, this might not sit well with some players...and that's fine. Players are allowed to walk (point #4: no one is forced to play D&D). Dungeon Masters must accept the fact that their game is not going to appeal to everyone, just as the game of D&D doesn't appeal to everyone. But to be an effective Dungeon Master requires the maintaining and exercising of one's authority.  If you give that up, because you're worried your players won't like you or are going to cry "abuse," then your game will wither and die on the vine. 

Sincerely,

JB