Personally, I really like having as diverse a group of players as I can. It really brings good things to the games. Players of different backgrounds will bring different solutions to the in game problems, and that really keeps me on my toes as a DM.
In recent years I have noticed many more male players are willing to play female characters, and in doing so play them for more than a chainmail bikini clad buxom vixin. I've found that there are often plot hooks that require a female character, and that having a well mixed party really enhances the game.
Still, I've come acroos players who do not see things that way.
I was DMing for a couple of Army guys in South America. I'll camm them MP and Graphics Guy These were frankly power gaming dolts who had no idea of Role playing, and attacked anything they encountered...but I was desperate for a game, and hoped I could teach them a thing about the game (having played as a PC in one of Graphic Guys games where all we ever did was follow around MPs Paladin character and stand buy while he fought single combat against enemies who just walked up to us where ever we were)...anyway. I start running the Forest of Doom out of an old DRAGON as a pre curser to running the Scourge of the Slavelords. MP's character...A Paladin again... dies. Fortunately they managed to get hold of a scrol of Reincarnation. They were all chanting "Ogre Magi...Ogre MaGi..." so I let MP roll...and he got Human ::snort:: Then I had him roll odd/even Male/Female. He gets a 2 and I tell him he is now a human female.
Right there he goes "I aint play'n no girl character!" I had enough other players, and had gotten tired of this guys attitude so I pointed him to the door. Graphics Guy gets all "If he leaves then I leave"..."Oh goody 2 for 1. Feel free to follow him to the door."
and then the game got really cool.
ASEO out
I never played with my parents, but I did play one game with my grandmother! She (to this day, one of the coolest ladies I know) use to watch me, my brother and cousins over the summers when school was off. I was in high school at the time and my bro and cousins ranged down a couple years from there. We would game at her house all day long (eating Butterfingers and Flav-o-ice slush).
My grandmother is a wiley gal...she a longtime member of the my hometowns library board, and there hasn't been a murder mystery or horror that has gone in that she hasn't read. Listening to us play one day, she decided she would like to join in... My dear sweet grandma rolled up a character.
Enter Evil-lynn the Assassin (what can I say, she watched He-Man with us). My dear, sweet, coniving, brutal, blood-thirsty, mindful of a gold piece granny. She ended up slicing my brother's fighter's throat in his sleep because she thought he didn't deal square with her.
*sniff* I learned so much from her.
Thanks for reminding me that weird gamers aren't all just bad gamers.
Gav, that is so frickin' awesome!!! You just reminded me of my own grandma. She was interested in the game us "boys" were playing all the time, too. She never actually joined the game, but we talked about it a few times. She was also into murder/mystery novels. Hmmm... there's something about those old birds that watched "Murder She Wrote."
That would have been very cool. I would never be able to run a game for my mom...she would chain smoke us off the table, plus her thick German accent would be distraction:
"und vich dizze do I rrolll now?"
"venn kann I schwing my achse?"
(Sorry, Dryder)....LOL
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Hmmm... there's something about those old birds that watched "Murder She Wrote."
Yeah, but her favorite murder show wasn't "Murder She Wrote". That was to guessable by half. No, my grandma's favorite TV show was 'Twin Peaks'. In college I got her the whole collection on video (plus 'Firewalk With Me' and she still has a marathon viewing every winter when the weather turns nasty). She never swears, but to this day when I go over she'll ask me if I want a 'Damn fine cup of tea' (neither of us drink coffee).
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So in my old house, we had a mixture of gamers, each with there favorite system. My run in with a weird character started with one of my roomates. She was, well...
You know how exlated in DnD is basically the ultimate good? Well, her personality (as well as the personality of all her characters save one) was the ultimate chaos. We found this out in a simple way.
One person agrees with something? It's alright. Two people agree with something. It's wrong and should be fought. Example:
My character had attempted to transport a powerful mirror on our party's ship. The ship's captain decided that this endangered the ship and I was to be punished.. by running me off the ship. Long story short, I was saved, imprisoned and the group eventually showed up and saved me. At this point, someone said let's get back to the ship.
I said, being that the ship's captain attempted to kill me, and that about half (see 4 people) had witnessed it AND the ship's cook had told the rest (it had happened under a zone of truth) AND the captain had admitted it, a good chunk agreed with me...
Actually everyone save for Chaos agreed with me. She said it was stupid and they had no proof. The sad part was she was integral in interogating the chef. The argument went on for two hours...
To say the least, no one argued with her anymore, since we didn't want to waste time. Eventually, she was asked to leave the house since she applied the same logic to everything else.
Move the furniture so that it's more inviting? It sucks.
Put up plastic to keep in the heat? It looks dumb.
The best psycho has to be Kevin. I have no problem saying his name because, well, he'll never read this.
You see, DnD is beneath Kevin. Kevin only plays Exalted, because Exalted's system is so much better. Exalted allows for blah blah blah.
Anyway, Kevin always talked in character, and never liked how any DM ran things. A DM does something based on his only beliefs? Kevin's considering leaving.
But his moment in the sun was brilliant. Now I don't play with Kevin. He's nuts. But my roommates did. And they were running an Exalted game. He had slowly driven the DM insane, arguing at every oportunity, over everything, until he had finally stated that half the group weren't playing correctly.
The DM lost it. He decided to ask Kevin to leave. Kevin asked for one thing: His leaving wouldn't end the game...
Well, the players had decided said game was ruined, and some wanted it over. So the DM, my roommate, had Kevin and everyone else over to explain.
This is where it got weird: Kevin shows up in a black cloak, with a katana and a wind chime. Yes, a wind chime. When asked why he's wearing this and had all this, he said he was going to a game. Fine. He stayed calm and hung out. Then I went off to the back room, and they had there talk...
The DM started, saying that he was going to end the game. That's when I heard a sword being drawn, and Kevin yelling "We had a deal!" My roommate immediately asked him to leave, and he did. He later went on to say that he no longer felt anyone there was worthy of him, and the DM left his game.
To this day, Kevin is known as "SHING! We had a deal"
Well, since players showing up to games "armed" with things other than chips, beer and gummy bears seems to be a more common thing than I thought, all I can say is that I'm glad that my gaming group tends to screen out those type of people ahead of time and we've only recruited one new player (other than my wife and sister-in-law) in fifteen years.
Well, since players showing up to games "armed" with things other than chips, beer and gummy bears seems to be a more common thing than I thought, all I can say is that I'm glad that my gaming group tends to screen out those type of people ahead of time and we've only recruited one new player (other than my wife and sister-in-law) in fifteen years.
Reminds me of entering the metal detector at the Baghdad Airport...BEEEEEp
"Do you have any weapons?"
"Um, only this M-4 I'm holding...oh and this M-9 on my leg, and these two survival knives, and this boot knife, and..."
"Very good carry on."
ASEO out
I once had a member in my online gaming group confess to me that he was facinated with canibalism. Thankfully, he was ejected from the group for frequent conflicts with other players, particularly one of the founding members. To this day, he is the only person ever kicked out of our group.
Another member in our group said that he contacted him since then, and that he was now in therapy. Unfortunately, he was also stalking his therapist and wanted to eat her.
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The weirdest Gamers I have ever had at a one of my games was this married couple. Lets call them Mickey and Minnie. We were playing a Dark Sun game and Mickey was playing a half-giant and Minnie was a halfling who rode around on his back like Master Blaster from Thunderdome. That was strange but no big deal.
It wasn't until we decided to bring out different characters that it got weird. It seems that Mickey had a psionicist character named Mesmer. Apparently Mesmer had used Domination and some other powers to enslave a group of children, who he called the Mesmerteers. I won't get into the sordid details but let's just say the whole Mesmer and the Mesmerteers was sick and depraved on an unbelievable level. Strangely, Minnie seemed to think that this was perfectly normal and acceptable. It got very uncomforable after that (as this guy was in his 30's and we were all about 16yrs old and younger) and we ended the session quickly. Needless to say, Mickey and Minnie were never ever ever invited back to our game again!
I won't get into the sordid details but let's just say the whole Mesmer and the Mesmerteers was sick and depraved on an unbelievable level.
C'Mon, man...without details, we're just not going to believe you.
;-)
M
I won't get into the sordid details but let's just say the whole Mesmer and the Mesmerteers was sick and depraved on an unbelievable level. Strangely, Minnie seemed to think that this was perfectly normal and acceptable. It got very uncomforable after that (as this guy was in his 30's and we were all about 16yrs old and younger) and we ended the session quickly.
Yeah, sometimes you run into those players or DMs who just get a little too into the sexuality of their character. You find yourself sitting at the table looking at all the other players while the player in question goes off: "And then I do this, and then I'm all, awww yeeeah..." All you can hear is the crunch of a cheese puff in the ensuing silence.
The crazy DM codenamed "Drugs" that I had when I was playing cyberpunk was very much the uncomfortable sex DM. I was playing a female character and he would constantly have NPCs trying to get me into bed and molest me in some way or another. He would even pace around the table and brush my shoulders as he was playing the part of his NPCs. I've been afraid to play a female character ever since.
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I won't get into the sordid details but let's just say the whole Mesmer and the Mesmerteers was sick and depraved on an unbelievable level.C'Mon, man...without details, we're just not going to believe you.
;-)
M
Think (allegedly) Michael Jackson or R. Kelly. I cannot say more as this is a family place. :)
Think (allegedly) Michael Jackson or R. Kelly. I cannot say more as this is a family place. :)
C'Mon, man...without details, we're just not going to believe you. ;-)M
...Bet you a nickel that guy winds up on the news, someday... sad.
M
I had a really wierd SESSION, once. I have people in my group that are often seeking comical/strange ways to do things, to the point of rediculousness. There just happened to be an unusual concentration at this time.
The first part was funny. The party was going through a short section of forest rumored to be infested with goblins, and they had the explicit intention of hunting said goblins. The party's rogue decides to sneak along the side of the path, but for some reason, the dwarven cleric had a problem with that. He didn't want to go so slow, and thought sneaking along in such a fashion was stupid. A few moments later, he asked to borrow the sorcerer's crossbow. Now the player rolls a d20, looks at his paper, and then bends over to look at the rogue's sheet. "Let's see... did I hit?" At this point, everyone burst out laughing. The rogue's player was just grinning dumbly, and said, "what?"
The cleric begins bouncing and laughing in his seat. "Oh, I did! I did!" Then he picks up a d8 (light crossbow) and rolls it. 3 damage. We're all rolling with laughter, and the rogue's player is chuckling, too, and says, "What's going on?" It was painfully obvious to everyone else that the rogue had just been shot, which made it even funnier that the player (who is normally sharp and attentive) had no idea what was going on. With what words we could manage between laughing spasms, he finally figured out what was going on and slugged the cleric's player.
LATER: The sorcerer's player notices one of his dice is odd- the d20 has no numbers above 10. It goes from 1-10 twice. He thinks this makes the dice rare, special, and valuable, and starts to try and get the rogue's character to take the dice (Why? We don't know). The rogue's player could care less, and gently tries to tell the sorcerer so, but the player keeps trying to get him to take the dice. This goes on for a few minutes, when the fighter looks to me and says, "Can we wander off?", indicating himself and the cleric.
"I suppose so," I reply. I try to notify the rogue and sorcerer, but they're too busy bantering over the dice. The game must go on. So, the fighter and cleric wander off (they were still on the trail in the woods), and come to an small elven ruin, where they encounter a hungry pack of wolves. When initiative starts rolling, the rogue and sorcerer stop arguing and ask what's happening. I inform them, and the rogue slugs the fighter.
Now, the cleric and fighter are facing these hungry wolves. Rather than do something normal, however, they begin combat by throwing their weapons (a dwarven waraxe and a double sword) at the wolves, of course hitting nothing but the ground. Then they try to fight unarmed agains the wolves, hit nothing and provoking many AoO's. They are both 3rd or 4th level and have high ACs, so they're not too bad off. Then the dwarven cleric tells the fighter to pick him up and throw him at the wolves. I try to talk them out of this idea, but the players are adamant, so the fighter tries. The dwarf is too heavy, however, and they both collapse in a pile. Now the dwarf says, "Let me take my armor off". !!!! At this point, I break it to them that they ARE getting picked at by these wolves, they don't have THAT much hp left, and taking off heavy armor takes a full minute. They finally agree not to do such a stupid thing, retrieve their weapons, and manage to kill the wolves.
MEANWHILE: When wer'e done playing this out, the angry rogue and sorcerer claim they notice the abscence of their friends and wander off in the woods in search of them. Neither have survival or good Wis. So, they end up lost, and stumble into a cave with a small band of hobgoblins and bugbears. Now these two actually try to dispatch their foes without any foolery, and nearly die. This sends the watching fighter and cleric into stitches, since they pulled something extremely stupid and lived. No one does die, however, and the party quickly goes back to town once they find the path again. The campaign (our second ever) didn't last long.
"Pick me up and throw me."
This one kind of qualifies... But it paints me as a wierd DM. I suppose I can be at times. Everyone has their moments ;)
I had a player whose dwarven fighter lost one of his hands to a trap. He adapted by strapping his shield around it and capped the stump with a hook with a cork on the end. Yes, he was just as silly as he sounds. He was always taking a lot of damage in combat and in order to retrieve his potions of healing, he always had to drop his weapon and dig into his pack. So, in order to get around this inconvenience he told me he would always have a potion of cure light wounds (the party was about 3rd-4th level) in his mouth, which he would bite down on to break the container and imbibe the potion when needed and then simply replace it with another during a noncombat moment.
I had no problem with this, but told him he would take 1 point of damage from the glass shards (I could have been meaner, but keep reading). He thought it was worth it so he began doing it.
However, after 2 combats with this MO and him making all kinds of speeches and calling out stuff to other party members, I felt that it was very unlikely he could be so coherently verbose. I told him so and advised him that if he wanted to continue with this he would have to put something of proportionate size in his mouth and keep it there for roleplaying purposes. We took a look at the potions section of the DMG and agreed that the average potion vial was about the size of a fat marking pen cap.
The player agreed to it and began playing each session with a pen cap in his mouth until he was dominated by a vampire and was never seen again as a PC. But that's a different story.
I was sad to see him lose his character because it was an ingenius way of muzzling him during the game. He is very chatty and can be quite distracting. But for about 3 weeks my group really enjoyed watching him suck on a pen cap.
Time to add in one of my experiences with a rather disturbed university student.
For a lack of a better term (and plus it was an actual nickname the rest of the club gave him), let's call him "Crybaby." Crybaby was/is (?) a man with political aspirations and extremely high ambitions. He was also a man with an interest on all things Oriental that bordered on "scary." I suppose one could properly label him as a "fanboy." Most of his D&D characters either were named after popular anime characters or after himself. Literally.
He held himself in the highest regards, especially when it came down to knowing how to speak Japanese. To demostrate the level of his arrogance, he TRIED to correct native Japanese students on HOW to speak Japanese properly. I kid you not. And I assure you, his Japanese was not anywhere near the acceptable minimum to speak Japanese fluently (if I am not mistaken, he flunked his Japanese course).
He also viewed himself as a great DM. He was not. He was completely selfish, so far as to have his own pcs as the star of any adventure he ran, to have his pcs give our pcs quests so we could obtain rare items for his pcs (so he could have a legal, however weak, excuse for his pcs to have said rare items). He also had a penchant to use Klingons and other Sci-Fi related characters in his games as opponents. He also got upset everytime we defeated such opponents.
As a player, he was even worse. He developed the most extreme attachment to a pc of his own that I thought impossible. In one session (for which I was not present but heard the tale through everyone else who was there), his pc died. Apparently, he began swearing at the DM (also note that the session took place in a Common Room at an university building) and verbally threatening the DM. When that did not work, he threw a temper tantrum and hopped on top of the table (a feat for someone of his girth) and continued his tirade from there.
Rest assured that most people in the gaming club at the university did not want to hang out with him anymore (not that we really wanted to in the first place but we did not want to be rude to him since that would not be polite).
Finally, he was also a really bad sore loser, especially whenever anyone beat him in a game of Magic:The Gathering or in Spellfire. He swore profusely and threatened people who beat him in the games but would gloat like a maniac and taunt without mercy whenever he won (which was exceedingly rare).
To this day, I can still hear him cry "It's not fair!!"
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I think the strangest player in our group meets some of the characteristics already shown BO, overweight and with a personality quirk. He pounded the table when his PC died and lowered his head...
Of cource I could be considered wierd cause I was shocked, and slammed a book :)
When a 13th level PC of mine died from a crit taking 163 points of damage from a cheesed out monster in an RPGA Living Greyhawk game.
Mike