Consensual Character Torture

So - I ran the game in September. It went... well. Mostly.

I've yet to learn how to design my own stuff to actually be as awesome as it is in my head, so there were a couple of extra encounters, but fun was had by all. My boyo stabbed lots of things, my players got drunk and their characters set everything on fire, there was intrigue, doom, destruction, terror, and fun was had by all.The session went a couple hours too long, but it was highly entertaining.

Nothing really of note, except that I do GM another game during the week and have been getting increasingly more sadistic with them. I've started actively trying to kill them, which is quite delightful. I was trying to describe to a friend how much FUN it is to send my poor players into despair that their characters will never get out of the terrible situation they've found themselves in and he was a little bit, "o_O" about it. He rephrased everything I'd been telling him about the game as, "So you like to torture them? Do they hate it?"

And I simply said, "Of course not! It's no fun unless they're on board with it. After all, they get epic triumphs after the despair. And levels. Never underestimate the soothing power of leveling up."

Another friend, on a similar topic, said, "So it's consensual character torture." Of course, I hadn't thought of it like that prior to her comment, but yes. Yes it is.

The story's no fun unless they have to work for it and I get to come up with all the most fun traps, situations, monsters, and mindfucks to make sure they don't get everything for free. As I improve as a GM, too, everything gets that much better.

So, there you have it: for a mild sadistic thrill combined with the joy of storytelling, learn how to run tabletop games.