Creepy Players, Killer GMs, and Int 8 Wizards: Gaming Horror Stories

[weenog]

Of course some players will make nuisances of themselves like that even if you do gloss over everything, and even if they themselves aren't involved.

If that damn gnome doesn't stop making cracks about the dragonborn and the half-orc soon, the dragonborn might "accidentally" cause an extradimensional space interaction disaster next time the gnome uses the handy haversack for summoned archon teleport taxi services.

Gnomish interdimensional punting. I approve.

It's kinder than what the half-orc is likely to do to him now that he has teleporting underwear and she can't give him a tree-hanging wedgie when he steps out of line.

[Basket Burner]

I don't even want to know.

[Libertad]

From the Wizards of the Coast boards:http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19712886/I_want_to_make_an_openly_Gay_Villian.?pg=1

So some guy wants to make an openly gay villain in his 4th Edition campaign.
Risky, but it could theoretically be done well.

The post was was fine until the DM revealed how he was going to introduce the villain to the PCs.

Let's just say it involves togas, mass voyeurism, and leave it at that.  Click the link if you dare.

[RobbyPants]

Yeah. That sort of thing really depends on the players. If they're cool with somewhat graphic descriptions of sex acts in their games, then everything's fine. But you have to make sure they're on board with that. If not, it looks like the DM is just taking them all on a stroll down Personal Fantasy Lane.

[CE2JRH]

My DM's have been pretty good, except we had one really boneheaded DM moment:

It's a great campaign; loads of fun, old friends, clever plots, neat dungeons. We all start with 4 levels of NPC classes before our main classes, which makes it a little low powered, but all in all, game is pretty good. I'm playing a crafter Adept 4/Wizard 1/Mindbender 1/X1/Mystic Theurge 1  (Can't remember what the X1 was, but some other free lunch prestige class). I'm reasonably potent, partially because magic items are worth X4, so I can sell them for lots, barter with my party members, and pretty much have quite a bit past WBL gear.

So we're off exploring some ruined temple on a lost continet which we boated to, and we find this orcale. We end up freeing the orcale, which requires me to take it's place. "No big deal, I'll just creatively magic my way out." I end up almost trapped, except the party can kill me and  then use an orcale-granted-wish to revive me.

As a practical joke, they revive me as something random. My DM rolls reincarnate, gets "choose one", chooses Yak-folk for his own amusement. I'm like "well, that sucks; I unqualify for one of my prestige class" and the DM goes "Well, since this is forced change, I'll let you keep your feat and skills from being human."

Bam. I am now a 5th level adept/4th level wizard casting with +7 Natural armor, large size, strength of 26, con of 18. I immediately became approximately powerful enough to take on the party, which caused balance issues as the party shifted good, while my characters alignment was "Manipulative and subtle Neutral and unfathomably evil" Ended up the villain. Was incredibly fun...but there were several moments where it was clearly DM mistake.

Same DM tried to do Morrowind style "After first adventure, you get stats based on what you did." But tried to adhoc it. Most charismatic/boisterous/active players got +8-+13 to their base stats over all, (13's and 10's), quieter players got +1's - +3's. We quickly were like "Uh, let's do a redo on that one." and divvied up ~7 pts to each of us (at a 1 to 1 ratio).

Still, aside from minor mistakes, my group has been wonderfully fun and wonderfully great...which makes me all the more amused at reading these stories.

[RobbyPants]

Same DM tried to do Morrowind style "After first adventure, you get stats based on what you did." But tried to adhoc it. Most charismatic/boisterous/active players got +8-+13 to their base stats over all, (13's and 10's), quieter players got +1's - +3's. We quickly were like "Uh, let's do a redo on that one." and divvied up ~7 pts to each of us (at a 1 to 1 ratio).

That approach is almost impossible to pull off without pissing someone off at the table.

[archangel.arcanis]

Same DM tried to do Morrowind style "After first adventure, you get stats based on what you did." But tried to adhoc it. Most charismatic/boisterous/active players got +8-+13 to their base stats over all, (13's and 10's), quieter players got +1's - +3's. We quickly were like "Uh, let's do a redo on that one." and divvied up ~7 pts to each of us (at a 1 to 1 ratio).

That approach is almost impossible to pull off without pissing someone off at the table.

I've had a DM that tries to do something similar. They won't let you get a feat or take skill ranks unless it is something you show you have been trying to figure out or learn before that point. The issue is you can't really do the things you need to for the feats or skills until you actually have them. In the same token if you get stat points based on what you did, then you get screwed if the DM doesn't provide you the opportunity to do somethings you want to work on. Otherwise it becomes just like Morrowind and you jump everywhere you go while trying to hide and swing a sword so you can get the stats you want increased.

[RobbyPants]

I've had a DM that tries to do something similar. They won't let you get a feat or take skill ranks unless it is something you show you have been trying to figure out or learn before that point. The issue is you can't really do the things you need to for the feats or skills until you actually have them. In the same token if you get stat points based on what you did, then you get screwed if the DM doesn't provide you the opportunity to do somethings you want to work on. Otherwise it becomes just like Morrowind and you jump everywhere you go while trying to hide and swing a sword so you can get the stats you want increased.

Yes and yes. You just can't do some things before you have them, and the last thing you want is people jumping all the time for no reason. Other potential pitfalls:

• Making someone make lots of crappy trip attempts before they can take Improved Trip (play this crappy version of your archetype before you can actually play your archetype).
• Multiclassed combinations (have your wizard actually attempt to hit someone with a sword at level 1. Worse yet, have your fighter try to... cast a spell ???).
• Endless requests for downtime/cutscenes detracting from gameplay ("Hold on, guys. I need to climb this wall over and over for a few hours.").
• If the DM's a real dick, he'll use a forced progression ("Oh, you used untrained Climb last level, so you have to put a point in it this level.").
  

[veekie]

Well, it depends on the game really, D&D is not really made for training times,  not with your gaining a wide array of capabilities at a go. They do however, make a bit more sense with point buy systems, but most GMs with a whit of sense would waive them into background activity, and just require the time to pass.

[Basket Burner]

Any system of that sort simply promotes grinding activity.

[altpersona]

That´s when the prostitutes arrived.

 

[RobbyPants]

Yeah, the guy I currently game with was toying with a system like that and I talked him out of it. If push comes to shove, I'll just jump off the adventure rails and start doing things to justify my skill points/feats before I gain a level. I'm not going to let something that arbitrary tell me I can't put a rank in a skill.

[Libertad]

Any system of that sort simply promotes grinding activity.

Hey now, grinding's a time-honored tradition in World of Warcraft and Japanese RPGs!  If we get rid of this sacred cow, then it won't be the same anymore!

Just kidding.

In my games, players usually get "off time" between levels.  Since they're adventurers, they probably either have a network of contacts or people willing to teach them useful stuff.  It's just your luck that the village you saved from the demon horde has a crusty old guardsman skilled in the ways of the Spiked Chain Trip Attack.

[Mooncrow]

Any system of that sort simply promotes grinding activity.

Hey now, grinding's a time-honored tradition in World of Warcraft and Japanese RPGs!  If we get rid of this sacred cow, then it won't be the same anymore!

Just kidding.

In my games, players usually get "off time" between levels.  Since they're adventurers, they probably either have a network of contacts or people willing to teach them useful stuff.  It's just your luck that the village you saved from the demon horde has a crusty old guardsman skilled in the ways of the Spiked Chain Trip Attack.

Hey, given how potent they are, there should be lots of ex-soldier types that know the spiked chain^^

[Basket Burner]

Any system of that sort simply promotes grinding activity.

Hey now, grinding's a time-honored tradition in World of Warcraft and Japanese RPGs!  If we get rid of this sacred cow, then it won't be the same anymore!

Just kidding.

In my games, players usually get "off time" between levels.  Since they're adventurers, they probably either have a network of contacts or people willing to teach them useful stuff.  It's just your luck that the village you saved from the demon horde has a crusty old guardsman skilled in the ways of the Spiked Chain Trip Attack.

Heh. The thing is though it forces you to micromanage and plan your build even if you otherwise wouldn't just to grind yourself up to par. It's not the sort of mentality you should be coming at a tabletop game with.

Moon: True. In fact it's likely that the chain would be one of the more commonly used weapons. Surely someone realized it was good before the PCs after all.

[Libertad]

Heh. The thing is though it forces you to micromanage and plan your build even if you otherwise wouldn't just to grind yourself up to par. It's not the sort of mentality you should be coming at a tabletop game with.

I didn't intend it that way.  I intended it to mean something like this:

Player: "I want to get ranks in use magic device."

Other player: "We're in a rural forest region.  Where'd you get the time."

Player: "I met a traveling bard while on the road.  He taught me some stuff."

The "off time" solution is meant to be an explanation for when players have trouble justifying new feats/skill ranks.

[veekie]

Training time is mostly a means of spacing out character development, particularly for simulationist systems which have a largely static character power level(point buy systems usually also gain points slowly) and an assumption that you are not 24/7 in crisis situations. So the time that passes determines what you could have improved with XP between sessions.
Additionally, due to the very low recommended XP rates for some of these games(some advocate 1-3XP per session), in a system where raising your weakest abilities would cost some 6 points or so, and raising your strongest might cost dozens, mandatory training times also give the less forward thinking players a reason to bank up their XP and spend big lumps towards core competencies later.

At least, that is how they are supposed to work. If you put them in an action-adventure game's light, of course there will be grinding. Its not exactly an action-adventure game to begin with.

[RobbyPants]

At least, that is how they are supposed to work. If you put them in an action-adventure game's light, of course there will be grinding. Its not exactly an action-adventure game to begin with.

I agree it would work better this way. That's why I complained to my friend who thought about doing it in spotlight time.

[Azrael]

I certainly can recall the worst DM I have ever had.

First of all, it was obvious he was a control freak and I never liked him personally, but all my friends were playing in the game and I had been DMing for 10 straight years so I wanted a chance to play in a 3.5 campaign (my last chance I figured since it was just before 4.0 came out and it was shaping up to be a 3.5 killer according to people I knew...thank god that didn't happen ) so I reluctantly agreed to play. The game started at level 9 so I could do a bit with the char and I made a Elan Psion. Now, I am known around my circle for my knowledge of the game and my ability to min-max so the DM didn't like me from the start. Now, keep in mind I wasn't doing many broken things, I think I barely did anything if I can remember. But every time the DM would attack me I would either have vigor already manifested or I would simply negate the damage with resilience. I barely got attacked as it is and usually not more than once a round so I don't think I ended up taking a single point of real damage that entire game (but if the DM would have attacked me more than once, well resilience only works once a round, he would have been able to damage me).

The game came to a boiling point the first time when I negated an attack from a scorpion with my resilience, reducing the damage to 0. Now, I failed my save to resist the poison but I was pretty sure that if you negated damage from a contact injury poison it wouldn't effect you. I didn't make a big deal about it when I failed my save but I didn't apply the poison damage to my character yet as I attempted to look up the ruling. Combat continued and a few turns later I found the rule and showed it to him. However, he refused to listen to reason and wouldn't even see the ruling..."his game his rules," he said.

Now the poison would have nearly killed my character so I decided to stand up for myself and defend the ruling but he wouldn't hear it. He argued with me for 30 minutes over something that could have been solved if he just looked at the book...

Anyway, a few games later we were fighting some pirates and I negated the damage from another one of his monster's attacks against me...just using resilience. He basically flipped out, called my character broken and when I tried to argue back and say that if he really cared and wasn't such a lazy DM he could easily find ways around it (like the fact that I can only use it ONCE A ROUND!). But he threw a tantrum and just arbitrarily killed my character on the spot (i.e. the hand of god comes down and smites me...not even a legit death). So naturally I got mad and quit the game.

Last I heard about him he was arrested for possession of child pornography...hearing that made my day  jumping



On another note, I had a not-so-bad DM later on who actually worked with me rather than against me but still wouldn't go a session without complaining how broken my character was...keep in mind I like to play defensively, not offensively so my character was hard to get at, sure, but he barely did anything otherwise. If anything he should have been complaining about the fighter (iajutsu master) who did 100's of damage almost every round and basically killed everything before anyone else could do anything...but I didn't dislike that DM, I just don't get why people always complain about my characters :\

[Libertad]

A story in which the Dungeon Master pursues a personal vendetta against a player.  Why?  Because said player made the terrible crime of drawing an anime figure as part of his character illustration.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23784

A story in which the Dungeon Master intentionally creates an unwinnable scenario as a practical joke in the first encounter.  And by "unwinnable," I mean "you all die!  No save!"

The experience was so bad for this poor newbie gamer that he swore off Dungeons & Dragons.

http://rpgdiehard.blogspot.com/2009/10/looking-back-on-worst-session-ever.html