History Main / KillerGamemaster

* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' has truly random spawns, but early in development it was discovered that they needed a way to make it so that things are fairly balanced. They created the AI Director, who usually does a good job, making sure that you don't get a long string of good or bad rolls (via monitoring numerous variables, to know when to step in). Then you play on Expert, and find he stops caring about the bad rolls...

Any world in their hands will inevitably turn into a DeathWorld where [[EverythingTryingToKillYou every innocent-looking item]] will turn out to be a DeathTrap which kills the player without so much as a saving throw, every magic item they pick up [[PoisonMushroom will be cursed]] or [[ArtifactOfDoom even worse]], ''no'' NPC (''especially'' not the friendly ones) can be trusted, and their every deed will lead to [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption miserable failure]] or end up [[UnwittingPawn helping the forces of Darkness]]. They won't be crushing orcs or goblins at level one, they'll be getting curbstomped by ancient red dragons and tarrasques. And frequently, they'll have to make Dexterity checks to avoid ''randomly tripping and falling down''.

** Special mention must be made of how incredibly lethal early editions (1st and especially 2nd) were compared to later editions. Later editions specifically tried to nerf things which weren't fun. For example, early editions had LevelDrain, where a character lost 1 or more whole levels permanently, usually with no save. Later editions turned it into a removable debuff which could become permanent. Various editions from 3rd, ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', and 4th have rules for characters being KO'd when below 0 HP, but early editions played CriticalExistenceFailure straight barring an optional rule--once you hit zero HP, you were dead, period and report. The rule for max HP at 1st level was optional; you could really be a OneHitPointWonder, especially if you were a [[SquishyWizard wizard]]. A number of spells from Sleep to Unholy Word could wipe out a whole party of the appropriate level with no-one receiving a save -- and if the caster won initiative, with no-one even getting to take an action. There were goofy "trap" monsters clearly designed just to kill players. Only a few were [[GrandFatherClause grandfathered]] into later editions, like the Cloaker, Roper, and Mimic. Death was the ''default'' effect for poisons; those which only impaired or inflicted damage had to be specifically designated as such. Cursed magic items generally killed the character who tested them out, often without a saving throw. Finally, players started to gain a piddling number of HP for gaining levels after 9th-10th level (depending on class/edition) while damage continued to scale for some of the nasties; a great wyrm red dragon in 2E AD&D has ''higher'' damage on its breath weapon than 3.5 (144 vs 132). The fighter, meanwhile, has been gaining 3 HP per level above tenth with no bonus for stats, unlike his 3.5 counterpart who should be going up by at least 10 per level. Magic resistance was a flat percentage chance to ignore your spell, with very few ways to overcome it and all of those hidden in obscure splat books. Some monsters could hit about 80% plus. Some of the designers of later editions and ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' have explicitly stated they wanted to avoid these kinds of unfun rules for players.

** Special mention must be made of how incredibly lethal early editions (1st and especially 2nd) were compared to later editions. Later editions specifically tried to nerf things which weren't fun. For example, early editions had LevelDrain, where a character lost 1 or more whole levels permanently, usually with no save. Later editions turned it into a removable debuff which could become permanent. Various editions from 3rd, ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', and 4th have rules for characters being KO'd when below 0 HP, but early editions played CriticalExistenceFailure straight barring an optional rule--once you hit zero HP, you were dead, period and report. The rule for max HP at 1st level was optional; you could really be a OneHitPointWonder, especially if you were a [[SquishyWizard magic-user/mage/wizard]]. A number of spells from Sleep to Unholy Word could wipe out a whole party of the appropriate level with no-one receiving a save -- and if the caster won initiative, with no-one even getting to take an action. There were goofy "trap" monsters clearly designed just to kill players. Only a few were [[GrandFatherClause grandfathered]] into later editions, like the Cloaker, Roper, and Mimic. Death was the ''default'' effect for poisons; those which only impaired or inflicted damage had to be specifically designated as such. Cursed magic items generally killed the character who tested them out, often without a saving throw. Finally, players started to gain a piddling number of HP for gaining levels after 9th-10th level (depending on class/edition) while damage continued to scale for some of the nasties; a great wyrm red dragon in 2E AD&D has ''higher'' damage on its breath weapon than 3.5 (144 vs 132). The fighter, meanwhile, has been gaining 3 HP per level above tenth with no bonus for stats, unlike his 3.5 counterpart who should be going up by at least 10 per level. Magic resistance was a flat percentage chance to ignore your spell, with very few ways to overcome it and all of those hidden in obscure splat books. Some monsters could hit about 80% plus. Some of the designers of later editions and ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' have explicitly stated they wanted to avoid these kinds of unfun rules for players.

** Special mention must be made of how incredibly lethal early editions (1st and especially 2nd) were compared to later editions. Later editions specifically tried to nerf things which weren't fun. For example, early editions had LevelDrain, where a character lost 1 or more whole levels permanently, usually with no save. Later editions turned it into a removable debuff which could become permanent. Various editions from 3rd, ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', and 4th have rules for characters being KO'd when below 0 HP, but early editions played CriticalExistenceFailure straight barring an optional rule. The rule for max HP at 1st level was optional; you could really be a OneHitPointWonder. A number of spells from Sleep to Unholy Word could wipe out a whole party of the appropriate level with no-one receiving a save -- and if the caster won initiative, with no-one even getting to take an action. There were goofy "trap" monsters clearly designed just to kill players. Only a few were [[GrandFatherClause grandfathered]] into later editions, like the Cloaker, Roper, and Mimic. Death was the ''default'' effect for poisons; those which only impaired or inflicted damage had to be specifically designated as such. Cursed magic items generally killed the character who tested them out, often without a saving throw. Finally, players started to gain a piddling number of HP for gaining levels after 9th-10th level (depending on class/edition) while damage continued to scale for some of the nasties; a great wyrm red dragon in 2E AD&D has ''higher'' damage on its breath weapon than 3.5 (144 vs 132). The fighter, meanwhile, has been gaining 3 HP per level above tenth with no bonus for stats, unlike his 3.5 counterpart who should be going up by at least 10 per level. Magic resistance was a flat percentage chance to ignore your spell, with very few ways to overcome it and all of those hidden in obscure splat books. Some monsters could hit about 80% plus. Some of the designers of later editions and ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' have explicitly stated they wanted to avoid these kinds of unfun rules for players.

* In the world of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', it's well-known that nine out of ten Johnsons will deal straight with you, but the tenth is the one you really have to watch out for. Characters in a Killer Game-Master's game will be lucky to see a single Johnson who will deal straight with them, and more often than not, [[TheCakeIsALie the reward they are promised will inevitably turn out to be a lie]]. ''Shadowrun'''s zig-zagged this one, having gone through an early phase where player characters were incredibly hard to kill if they had a decent Body stat and armor. It became a joke that ''stuff'' happens, but no one cares since it can't penetrate your t-shirt. Later editions over-corrected by upping the lethality, then wound up dialing it back.

* ''Cyberpunk 2020''. It's meant to simulate a gritty, dirty, DarkerAndEdgier city of the future. It encourages the GM to not let the PlayerCharacters relax or rest without being just a little paranoid. Even of each other.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' is well-known that nine out of ten Johnsons will deal straight with you, but the tenth is the one you really have to watch out for. Characters in a Killer Game-Master's game will be lucky to see a single Johnson who will deal straight with them, and more often than not, [[TheCakeIsALie the reward they are promised will inevitably turn out to be a lie]]. ''Shadowrun'''s zig-zagged this one, having gone through an early phase where player characters were incredibly hard to kill if they had a decent Body stat and armor. It became a joke that ''stuff'' happens, but no one cares since it can't penetrate your t-shirt. Later editions over-corrected by upping the lethality, then wound up dialing it back.

** Something similar happens in ''Last Orders At The Yawning Portal Tavern''. When a player makes an IncrediblyLamePun that nobody found funny, Ben has the monster instantly kill the player's character, but then he changes his mind and declares that the character is OK, but the monster has instead [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou killed the player ''in real life'']], so the player is now metaphorically dead to them.

* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'': Tycho is shown to very much adhere to the "Players are the enemy" mindset, and tries to encourage Gabe to do the same in [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/11/25 one storyline]]. However, that story [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructs]] this trope by having Gabe's players get rightfully frustrated and quit, and when Tycho tries to convince him that this should be the ''desired'' result for any "good" [=DM=], he's forced to admit that he hasn't actually run a game since junior high school, showing exactly what being a Killer GM will get you in the long run.

** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' is perhaps the only non-comedic game where it is entirely possible for the player characters to kill each other on first meeting, simply by playing the rules as written. Vampires have what is called the Predator's Instinct, which requires them to resist [[UnstoppableRage frenzy]] on first meeting another vampire. There are ways to mitigate this (if you ''expect'' to meet another vampire, you get a decent bonus towards resistance), but if more than one person fails...

** The Leaping Wizards incident, where a team of three Level 1 wizards caused a TotalPartyKill. The official rules said the wizards had only one spell each, Magic Missile; Spoony felt this was moronic because Magic Missile does piddling damage at low levels and once spent they had nothing but their staves. So he made what he felt were common-sense alterations to their spell lists.[[note]]One got ''sleep'', one got ''charm person'', and one got ''ray of enfeeblement''.[[/note]] Good rolls on his part plus bad rolls on the party's part lead to the TPK, and to Spoony being thrown out of the RPGA.

* [[invoked]] ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'''s BigBad Kayaba Akihiko, locked his players into a virtual reality game where reaching Zero HP equals real death. Then he prevents the artificial intelligence that was supposed to help the players deal with this trauma from helping them by locking her inside Cardinal. Third, he creates rooms where healing and teleportation crystal (literal lifelines) are rendered useless. The 25th floor boss is a DifficultySpike, along with the 50th and 75th one. If all of that weren't bad enough, [[spoiler:He disguises himself as Knights of the Blood's guild leader so he can perform an epic betrayal at the final level.]] On the other hand, "safe zones" are definitely always safe, which Kirito notes and becomes a plot point in one of the side stories. [[spoiler: He also invokes LetsFightLikeGentlemen with his final duel with Kirito, and though he kills both Kirito ''and'' Asuna, he allows both of them to survive Aincrad's destruction.]]

* ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' has the god Truth. Truth and other gods of their ilk treat the world as a role-playing game with random rolls. Truth will tip the odds against the characters by increasing the number of monsters, cranking up monster power, putting traps in rooms and other dangers. He's thus incredibly frustrated by the titular Goblin Slayer, who never leaves things to chance and "never let's the gods roll the dice".

* In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Worst Case Scenario", [[spoiler: Seska had secretly rewritten a holodeck program into a deathtrap for its author, Tuvok]].

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