Quote Originally Posted by Gallowglass View Post
When you respond to advice with comments like "in all my years of browsing forums and reading DM blogs" it comes across as if you are saying "your advice is worthless and I'm not going to listen because I'm an experienced DM and I'm right." Not saying that's how you mean it, just letting you know what it reads like to others.
I can see that. Sorry, my bad.

Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
In your specific case? Yes, it only applies to custom monsters. Remember, the problem we're discussing here is players' trust in you.

Followup questions:

Is the problem that they don't trust me to not make monsters which are unbalanced / to spite them in the first place or that they aren't able to check my work? If the latter, could letting them see my notes after the session help?


And on the subject of telegraphing, typically my monsters only have one or two unusual abilities, while something like a demon in D&D might have a dozen random powers and immunities. Is a DM really expected to telegraph everything, or is it just something about using "unofficial" material that breeds distrust?