Quote Originally Posted by AxeAlex View Post
I think you don't get what Keltest means. If you simply refuse a plan because it won't work (Nah, don't do this, you will die), you are robbing them of their agency. Sometimes, they make bad choices, sometimes, these choices will kill them.

When that happens, you have some options, like:

-Create a Deus Ex Machina to save them, which, if done too much, will let your players know they can't really die, will lessen suspense and tension, and will make them take more and more risks, and put themselves in more and more deadly situations. (That does not mean it's a bad thing if you guys like it that way)

-Tell them they are dead.

-Try to play out their death scene, it's the end of the story afterall, there is nothing wrong if you try to make it as memorable (Epic/Funny/Gruesome/Dramatic) as possible.

Keltest isn't saying he taunts his players and insult them... They are his friends afterall!
"As great detail as possible just how spectacularly my party's ill-conceived plans fail" is a direct quote of the approach he uses. My position was, and continues to be, that a DM who goes into that level of detail to make the failure of a plan 'spectacular' will make some Players feel taunted and insulted, regardless of whether that's the DM's intent or not. This position is consistent with my experiences on both sides of the DM's screen. I fully recognize, and have now acknowledged repeatedly, that others may have different experiences.