Dungeon Master May 2026

Players and DMs often share "horror stories" about sessions gone wrong on forums like Reddit.

: The history of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson is a story in itself. They co-created the game in the mid-1970s, starting from a basement in Lake Geneva and eventually fueling the multi-billion dollar video game industry. You can find a detailed account of this journey in Rise of the Dungeon Master [8, 34]. Dungeon Master

There are many ways to approach a story about a Dungeon Master (DM), ranging from the real-life creators of D&D to fictional explorations of the "DM from hell." Famous Real-Life Stories Players and DMs often share "horror stories" about

: One DM shared a story about a player who wrote a tragic backstory for her character's twin sister. In response, the DM had a lich raise the sister as a death knight, forcing the player to kill her again with no chance for redemption—a classic example of a "cruel" DM move [33]. You can find a detailed account of this

: Another DM recounted a session where they intended for the Cheshire Cat to be a guide, but the players panicked and stabbed it to death instead [25].

: For those interested in the "LitRPG" or fantasy reincarnation genre, this story on Royal Road features a character reincarnated into a fantasy world as an actual dungeon core. He must defend his "dungeon" from adventurers [10, 14]. Community Stories (D&D Horror Stories)