Did I Actually Write That?

You ever go back to something you've written, be it a blog post, forum post, story, or just anything, and think to yourself, "holy shit, I wrote that steaming pile of dung?"  I present to you my own entry into the category of "moronic things you wish you hadn't written," with this post on a munchkin playing in my current D&D campaign.

In that post, a reader, Jackmoyers, posted the following comment:

I've got to say, especially given that you're the one telling it, you don't come off very well in this story. Don't get me wrong; he's playing his character waaaay against stated alignment, and your *initial* response to it was good. But did you speak of alignment violations to your other players? The ones who started off the torture session? If not, then he'd be right to leave, because you ARE singling him out. I haven't met your players but it sounds more like they're worried about a punitive TPK than that they disapprove of his antics. You're irked with him for legitimately rolling high stats (it happens! I rolled three 18s on 3d6 once) but if high stats aren't kosher with you then why let them roll at all? Why not just use an array? You criticize your fellow DM for story-motivated railroading, but if there's only one path your players can take that doesn't result in a meteor falling on their heads how are you different? It sound like the 'power gamer' bothers you because you yourself are a 'power DM'.

So, I went back, with a fresh set of eyes, and read over the post.  Having a different perspective on it, having not read it in months, I totally got where Jack gathered this impression.  My oh my I sounded like an arrogant douche in that post.  So much so, that the point I was trying to convey, I feel was lost in translation.  I could see where Jack would get this impression that I'm some kind of "power DM" and that I'm singling out the munchkin.  And how the players fear the TPK from the "power DM looking to kill them at every turn" (something I'm not, but I could see how the impression could be gathered by reading that entry), especially with my "teach him a lesson" thing.

The fact of the matter is, his style of play is quite different from the rest of our players in my group.  I don't run games with the intent to kill the party, or his PC, intentionally.  Like most DMs, I try to present situations and encounters with a variety of choice and consequences. 

Oh, his character is still alive by the way.  We're now 5 or 6 sessions in, and he's still around and kicking.  He's had some really great moments, and he's had some less-than-great moments.  He's learning the game, though, and getting better each session.

But back to the point, yeah, that post was pretty horrible and I sounded like a jackass having a read-through again.