I met some guy through a posting on a bullitin board in a local game shop.
As a DM this player stomped out of a game because his PC failed an opposed strength check at a door with a hobgoblin and was unable to throw the door into the hobgoblins face.
Then when we let him Dm the game he told me he was going to kill my character. In the first encounter my character was ambushed and died in an attack with no chance of escape or fighting back. then he told me that what I get for not letting hium have his way in the game I DMed.
I don't play with him anymore! And (yes I am going to rub it in) while I have a group of 8 players that I DM once a week with 3 other players waiting to join, no body I know wants to play with that kook.
I probable would have beaten him with in an inch of his life! I've had players try to bully me when I'm DMing in the past, but luckily none of them have EVER been allowed to DM.
I DM 90% of the time, so I'm aware my own gaffs are numerous but regardless, I myself have been on the receiving end of poor DM'ing (imo).
- We decided to try an 'evil' party but the DM ruled I alone had to play a good character. I made a halfling cartographer (2nd ed.), as I felt that would fit into the party of thieves the rest were creating. I thought this would be challenging & fun. Making a fighter/thief, I put my highest stat (17) into STR but the DM ruled halflings shouldn't have higher than 15 STR so promptly cut it to a 15 (no chance to swap it to DEX etc., just cut it). My halfling's career consisted of being kept in a locked room naked until the party needed me for a job, at which point I was led around on a rope to set off traps. The majority of my rolls were saving throws, and I was allowed an attack only once when the majority of the party was bleeding to death in a large battle. I grabbed up a weapon in what the DM assumed was an attempt to defend my fallen 'companions', but instead I dealt the killing blow to the assassin in the party. This was negated (time warp) when the DM realized I'd attacked a party member instead of a foe, with the comment "You wouldn't do that, you miss.". The rest was downhill from there and I quit playing with that DM soon after.
- Another friend tried his hand at DM'ing with a homebrew game. He had an interesting way of describing new areas, which saw my beloved monk (2nd ed. Faiths & Pantheons) die. Anytime a new room was to be entered, it would read like this:
DM: There's a closed door ahead of you.
Player: I open the door.
DM: You see a room, 20' by 20'.
Player: What's in it?
DM: You can't tell from here.
At this point the players would enter & THEN get the description of the room...the contents were simply not visible from outside the room, through the open door. This led to many surprises such as 10 orcs, a scene of carnage, a packed temple, etc. etc. In my case, the 20' by 20' room consisted of a 40' pit filling the entire width & length of the room...of course, as I had to walk in to see that I promptly fell & died to the denizens of the pit. Obviously this led to prolonged arguements about how vision works etc. ;) That friend, though well meaning, isn't asked to DM much (twice in 10 years) ;)
Re-reading what I've written above, I'm realizing how important player feedback is. I'm going to encourage my players to let me have it...hopefully I can learn from what they think! Thankfully, the group we have now is pretty forgiving, understanding, and open to discussion when we don't see eye to eye.
J-
Alright, here is one on the lack of control. There was a group 5 or 6 of us playing. As freshmen in High School we were quite honored that an upper classman (a Junior, I believe) wanted to join our game. After several hours of playing, the new guy killed us all! It turned out that he was an assassin and took delight in killing PCs. We even had to hand over our character sheets as trophies. Our poor DM was dumbfounded...
Must have been in 2e, because in 3e, stuff like that isn't in the rules :P
I met some guy through a posting on a bullitin board in a local game shop...Funny,
Isn't that how these horror stories ALWAYS start out?
Ultradan
It's the equivalent of "A friend of my cousin's neighbour...", "Dear penthouse forum, I often wondered whether these stories were real..." or "Once upon a time....".
Every sort of story, be it urban legend, pervy schmachtfest or fairy tale needs an opening ritual.
A friend of mine was asking how my preparations for the next adventure were going (we all havent played for about 3 years due to player commitments [guys had girlfriends aka ball and chains that didn't like them playing once a fortnight for 3 hours])
anyways not much has been planned so far since we have a new member who we're going to try and introduce soon. so we're talking away about DM play styles and how he's having such a tough time with his current DM who literally play as though it's DM trying to off the PC's as fast as possible.
my own play style is more the role of story teller and tour guide. it's no fun if the adventure ends at first level EVERY game. sure it's sometimes cool and can be a wakeup call for players who are getting bored or too cocky, but i try to avoid killing off PC's who have thought through good plans.
anyways "That Guy" basically won't allow any new rules suggestions, even if they streamline the rules (eg Pathfinder RPG vs 3.5 SRD) or even give the players a tiny chance of surviving to see 3rd level.
the worst encounter I think they had was barely getting through a few waves of hobgoblins and ogres attacking a city. only to find out that the hobgoblins were part of an army of good resistance movement trying to get rid of the oppressive government.
DM who literally play as though it's DM trying to off the PC's as fast as possible.
We have a GM who often seems to play like that, too. Add to that someone who's easily piqued and you have a ticking time bomb.
He seems to get cranky if the players win (often easily) against encounters he probably thought would be tough. Then he uses meta-gaming and really tough stuff to try to overpower the party (something that usually can't end in anything but death if the others win because of the kind of enemies he uses).
The best part is when the party manages to defeat that party-killer troupe and the GM throws a fit and ends the campaign.
DM has my character captured (which I thought was fair: they could've killed him instead, and it was a result of a hard but evenly matched group combat).
Then he announces that they are going to torture him and that I had to decide if I would prefer my character to die a horrible, humiliating death, or have him bum-raped, but live to 'tell the tale'.
Nice choice.
The DM in question was good in almost every regard: plotting, logic, excitement, rules knowledge and characterization were all top notch.
But he just couldn't resist messing with the players heads. And assumed we all liked it as much as he did.
We didn't.
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DM has my character captured (which I thought was fair: they could've killed him instead, and it was a result of a hard but evenly matched group combat).
Then he announces that they are going to torture him and that I had to decide if I would prefer my character to die a horrible, humiliating death, or have him bum-raped, but live to 'tell the tale'.
Nice choice.
The DM in question was good in almost every regard: plotting, logic, excitement, rules knowledge and characterization were all top notch.
But he just couldn't resist messing with the players heads. And assumed we all liked it as much as he did.
We didn't.
"Hey, you want me to go ahead and start rolling a new character or @#$% on your table?"
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Hmmm, let's see. I've had my fair share of the "your character wouldn't do that" moments ... and the attacks by home brewed creatures with talons/fangs/tentacles/breath of insta-death no save ... the cursed items that turned my PCs into no more than NPCs by proxy, again with no save ...
As far as specific moments, the worst was probably the game where we faced off against a dragon. We would roll to hit and then have to follow up with a d% roll against some chart the DM worked up and kept behind his screen. Every freaking attack missed, even when it hit. Arrows bounced off, swords impacted with no effect, magic was cast in vain. We ended up with a TPK and found out after the fact that there was a 1% chance of hitting the dragon's "vulnerable spot" to do damage to it. Never played with that DM after that event.
Also had a DM who created a dungeon with puzzle traps and riddles throughout. Even if we (the players) could actually figure out the riddle or puzzle when it was presented to us, we had to make intelligence checks to see if we "really" knew the answers.
My horror story involves a brief gaming session while I was in the Army. I grew up playing with a group of friends that I game with now that Im out, but I was looking to game while I was in. I met up with this guy who wanted to run a 2nd edition game. I decided to create a human fighter. My strengh was pretty good at 17.
Anyway, in the first gaming session we came to this dwarven mining town. For some reason that now escapes me I got in to a brawl with a dwarf, both of us were unarmed. I managed to roll a natural 20 on my attempt to wrestle him down, followed by, I swear this is true, a few 18s and 19s for my rolls. NOTHING I did worked. He said, after the dwarf put my face in the mud, and embarrased my character, that he feels dwarfs are just stronger than humans, no matter what.
Whatever, I kept playing for awhile because his wife made great cookies every gaming session.
Your a much better sport about that type of gameing than I would have been, mind you I'll put up with alot for good cookies but that type of "fantasy racial prejudice" is annoying.
Your DM would have probably gone nuts when my wizard with a 16str beat a orc barbarian while he was rageing in a open die role arm wrestling contest.
I did have to use action points (eberron setting) but the fact that my wizard was the strongest member of the party and beat a 20+ strength NPC would have made your DM lose it.
Mine thought it was great that I even tried so he rolled openly with no screen and he rolled low and I rolled high so we got the information we needed from them to continue the adventure. We would have gotten it either way but now our party is much more respected amoungst the locals.
I hate druids too...these are some good ideas.I've got a few of these, and could write a book... unfortunitly, time is of the essence at the moment, so just some fun little summaries...
First year university. I join my friends in there first attempt at 3e, and decide to finally play a druid, which I've been really wanting to play for 2 years. I found out, after 9 sessions, the DM hated druids, and made an example out of me. High points:
- Crit Hitting a gargoyle and being told nothing happened... because druids suck.
- Having my druid levels being replaced as a cleric who couldn't turn and use any new weapons or armor.... by Loki.
- Going invisible and being told by one of the other players the backstory... which no one knew about. It's fun to be yelled at by a player who's using metagame knowledge and having him backed up by the DM.
So to say the least, it wasn't fun.
If thats the case then you shouldn't allow your players to get there hopes up and tell them that you don't allow druids in your game.
being unfair to a player that goes to the trouble of makeing a charecter and backstory and concept and then pulling stuff like what was mentioed above "oh YOU don't crit because I don't like your charecter class" thats insane
I happen to like druids alot because IMO they have a greater usefullness in the party than a standard heal-bot cleric. Unless your going against the savage hordes of the undead necromancer a druid provides better overall skills and abilities than a cleric.
If your just looking at a charecter as a portable wand that recharges everyday whoes sole purpose is to make sure the fighter gets healed every little HP so he can go into every battle full then I would suggest A) a party wand of healing B) a party wand of lesser vigor C) every charecter should be wearing a belt of healing from The Magic Item Compendium. Spread the responsibilty for the parties healing to every member of the party not just one guy so that eveybody can yell "medic"
Last thing about druids, turning is usefull sometimes, wild shape is usefull every encounter.
Player: I sneak attack the creature that is grappling the other party member.
DM: Make a Knowledge (Dungeoneering) check to know if you know where this aberration's vitals are.
All of the players at the table: Huh?!?
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Player: I roll a 34 Acrobatics to jump from point A to point B.
DM: You've rolled too high. Make another Acrobatics check to see if you gain you balance or overshoot the landing and plummet 180 ft. to your demise.
All of the players at the table: Huh?!?
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DM: You guys may want to purchase horses to make this journey a bit easier on you.
Players: Nah we'll walk because you always seem to kill our mounts anyway.
DM: Suit yourselves. But, it'll take much longer and you might not make it in time.
Players: Okay, fine we'll all buy horses.
DM: Two days into your journey there is a terrible storm during the evening but you can see a small cave in the hillside to take shelter in. But, your horses can't fit inside so you'll have to tether them outside.
Players: *One collective groan.*
DM: The next morning the horses are all gone. You're only a few days from town, you should go back and buy more horses or you'll never make it in time.
Players: You know, you really are a crappy DM, why do we put up with your countless minor quirks that collectively drive us all insane?
DM: If you guys don't want me to DM then I wholeheartedly ask one of you guys to try it. Then we'll see just who the DM should be.
Needless to say I didn't put all of the times that he did things that irritated us... Another of the players has been the DM for us ever since. It's been 3 years now and the old DM still kinda sulks because he's been kicked out from behind the DM screen.
@Spaetrice
Im still pissed about that roll a knowledge check to sneak attack stuff. I really liked that character.
Edit-To add to Spaetrice's rant, The same DM also admitted that no mildly important NPC would EVER fail a will or fortitude save, ever, no way, no how. Kinda makes 75% of the spells out there worthless, no?
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It's been 3 years now and the old DM still kinda sulks because he's been kicked out from behind the DM screen.
@Spaetrice
Im still pissed about that roll a knowledge check to sneak attack stuff. I really liked that character.Edit-To add to Spaetrice's rant, The same DM also admitted that no mildly important NPC would EVER fail a will or fortitude save, ever, no way, no how. Kinda makes 75% of the spells out there worthless, no?
Cripes.
Could you guys tell him that the cold heart of the internet couldn't muster a single tear over the butthurt of a GM that actively trolled his players? That guy should count himself lucky you folks even let him continue playing.
I mean damn.
It's been 3 years now and the old DM still kinda sulks because he's been kicked out from behind the DM screen.@Spaetrice
Im still pissed about that roll a knowledge check to sneak attack stuff. I really liked that character.Edit-To add to Spaetrice's rant, The same DM also admitted that no mildly important NPC would EVER fail a will or fortitude save, ever, no way, no how. Kinda makes 75% of the spells out there worthless, no?
Cripes.
Could you guys tell him that the cold heart of the internet couldn't muster a single tear over the butthurt of a GM that actively trolled his players? That guy should count himself lucky you folks even let him continue playing.
I mean damn.
Well, TheWhiteKnife is the new DM. He is currently taking a much deserved break after he ran AoW. Next on deck is going to be STAP.
But, since he is taking a break another (3rd DM) is running us thru Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (methinks that's it) but doing so in the Pathfinder ruleset. That being said we get to Barovia to find some nasty zombies terrorizing the town.
Of course we dive right in and TheWhiteKnife and I are flanking one of the undead beasties and the DM says no SA. Of course we say but this is Pathfinder and you're running a 3.5 module so you gotta convert.
DM: Look, the stat block says they're immune to crits and SA.
Players: Ugh... (Of course everyone EXCEPT the first offending DM who says "Guys, he's the DM.") It's so irritating.
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Though this thread is clearly dated, I have read some of the posts and have a few thoughts, as someone who has been called a Killer GM by some past players. A fair number of the examples of bad DM'ing listed in the posts above strike me as being perpetrated by DMs who frankly have personality problems, serious social skills deficits and/or other cognitive issues going on with them. Effective DM'ing requires good social wherewithal and people skills. Knowing the rules, making the game fun, and providing logical consequences are all a part of it.
While I have certainly greased my share of player characters, I do it according to the rules, and also conduct myself as a sensible, amicable person during the game. As far as the game mechanics go, I keep encounters to within 3 or 4 CR's/EL's of the average party level. When I read stories of traps greasing half of a party with no save or way to avoid it; or CR/EL 20 opponents being dropped onto a group of low level characters, that isn't a "Killer GM," rather, it's a moron and a social idiot who has little ability to engage in a game that requires mutual reciprocity of all participants, good impulse control, diplomacy and solid people skills.
In short, these types of Kooks, masquerading as Killer GM's are giving us real Killer GM's a bad name. These clowns shouldn't be running a game. They should be involved in group therapy and social skills training through a local mental health provider.
It was at a convention. It doesn’t matter which convention it was, nor really who the other participants were. I will say that we were at least theoretically supposed to be playing Mongoose’s Conan d20 game. My character was a Bossonian archer; my memory is that the other characters were an Aquilonian soldier (P1), a Zamoran rogue (P2), and a Stygian sorcerer (P3). Basically, except for the Cimmerian barbarian, we were Ye Olde Hyborian Cliché Party.
That’s okay, RPGs are like that. But little did we know what were were getting into from there…
(Note: This is paraphrased from memory.)
GM: You’re in Nemedia, all headed for a tavern. It’s getting dark. Up ahead the road goes through a narrow gorge. (draws the road on the mat)
Me: Uh-oh, smells like ambush. I’ll hang back.
P3: I’ll hang back too.
P1: Well, I guess I’ll march ahead then.
P2: I'll head for cover.
GM: A bunch of bandits pop up out of the rocks and charge you! Roll for initiative. (we do: P2 gets the highest player initiative with a 15, I get an 8)
GM: Okay, the bandits go first. These three attack you (P1), these two run towards you (P2), these two run towards you (P3), these two run towards you (me). (rolling dice) Two hit you, doing 15 points of damage.
P1: Holy crap! Good thing I’ve got 23 hit points.
P2: Okay, my turn. I’ll move forward and attack this one. (roll) 15?
GM: You miss.
P2: Wow, on a 15. What kind of armor are they wearing?
GM: They’ve got a real high DEX.
P2: Oh. Okay.
P1: (roll dice) 20! Let’s see if I crit. (roll) 16?
GM: Nope, not a crit.
P1: Aww, crap. Okay… (roll dice) 15 points of damage.
GM: (frowning) You kill that one.
P1: Sweet! I’ve got Cleave, so I’ll attack one of the other guys next to me. (roll dice) 18.
GM: Miss.
P1: Miss? On an 18? Seriously?
P3: My spells all take like 10 minutes to cast, and all I've got is a dagger. I flail around defensively and use harsh words on them.
Me: (doesn’t roll anything like a 20, so I miss) I waste some arrows.
GM: These two attack you (P1) again. These two see their friend go down and break off from you (P2) to go attack the fighter.
P2: Cool! Attack of opportunity time! (starts to roll dice)
GM: Nope, they have Combat Reflexes.
P2: What does that have to do with it? Combat Reflexes just gives you extra attacks of opportunity.
GM: Not Combat Reflexes. The other one. (looks at his notes) Mobility.
P2: So they get a bonus to their AC. I still get to roll, tho.
GM: No, one of my house rules is that Combat Reflexes mean you just don’t get attacks of opportunity against them. You would have missed anyway, this is faster.
P2: …
GM: (roll dice) Okay, that one hits you (P1) for only 5 points of damage that time.
P1: Cripes! I only have 3 hit points left.
GM: Suddenly this amazingly gorgeous woman comes around the corner. She’s wearing nothing but these skimpy furs, and some fur boots, and a big fur cape. She’s got this amazing flowing blonde hair and blue eyes, and she’s obviously a barbarian. But she’s like, hot. She has 18 Charisma. She’s carrying a big, blood-spattered axe.
Me: Well there’s something you don’t see every day.
GM: It’s her initiative right after the bandits, so she charges the bandit that just hit you. (roll dice) She kills him! She’s got Great Cleave, so she attacks the other two.
Me: Doesn’t Great Cleave mean you can only keep attacking as long as you kill each target?
GM: (roll dice) Well, she does.
P1, P2, P3, Me: Ooohkay.
P1: Well, uh, I guess I’ll move to this guy and attack. (roll dice) 14.
GM: You miss.
P2: I’ll move into flanking position, with the +2 that gives me (roll dice) 18.
GM: You miss.
Me: Guess I’ll shoot! (roll dice) 17.
GM: 15. You’re -2 for shooting into a melee.
Me: You mean the -4? I’ve got Precise Shot.
GM: That’s one of my house rules. Precise Shot means you only get -2.
Me: (sigh) Doesn’t matter, I would have missed anyway.
(next round: barbarian chick easily wipes out remaining bandits)
GM: She says, “My name is Anima. You’re lucky I happened to be here, this road is dangerous. These bandits were probably searching for the cursed amulet I carry.”
P2: No doubt.
Me: I recover whatever arrows I can and say, “Well thank you, Anima. We’re headed for the tavern ahead.”
GM: “I’ll join you, in case more bandits show up and you need my help.”
P1, P2, P3, Me: (exchange dubious glances)
GM: You go to the tavern. Anima orders a huge chunk of meat and just starts eating it right off the bone. Then she guzzles down a whole mug of ale all at once and orders another. She obviously has no idea of what to do in civilization.
Me: Uh huh. Well I’ll go find a seat somewhere and order a meal.
P1: I guess I’ll sit with Anima. I eat about the same way she does!
GM: You spend the meal staring at Anima. She’s hot.
P3: I spend the evening lecturing these local barbarians on the inferiority of their culture!
P2: I’m looking around for pockets to pick.
GM: (roll dice) You find about 22 silver pieces from picking pockets.
(fast forward over a painful scene of attempting to do a little RP talking to the innkeeper and such that goes nowhere)
GM: Anima says, “Those bandits were sent by an evil wizard who wants the cursed amulet I’m carrying. We have to go kill him.”
Me: Like, right now? It’s night.
GM: “Yes. We’re going now.” (erases the canyon from the map, then draws almost-identical lines to indicate a road) So after paying your tavern bill, you start heading for the wizard’s tower. You’re walking on a raised road that goes through a swamp. Anima says, “There’s undead in this swamp.”
P1: Bring ‘em on! They need wiping out.
GM: Anima says, “Be careful what you wish for!” (laughs the typical “I’m an evil GM and you’re in for it!” laugh)
Me: I’m not afraid of undead. We’re protected by Mary Sue the Barbarian.
P2: (snicker)
GM: These zombie-things come shambling out of the swamp at you. They all have gemstones in their chest that look like the amulet Anima is carrying. She says, “Oh no, they’re being drawn to the power of the amulet!” Roll initiative. (we do: I get 19, P1 gets 11, P2 get 15) Okay, the zombies go first.
Me: Wow. Before my 19?
GM: Yep, they’re really fast.
Me: Huh. Really fast zombies.
GM: They all shuffle towards Anima. (creepy groaning noises) She snarls and says, “I hate undead!” and attacks.
Me: Because her initiative is higher than 19, too.
GM: (roll dice) She kills that one. And with Great Cleave, she runs over and attacks the next one (rolls dice) but misses.
P1: Uh, I’m pretty sure that Great Cleave doesn’t let you move.
GM: Yes it does. That’s one of my house rules.
P1, Me: (shrug at each other)
GM: Okay, your turn.
Me: (roll dice) 20! I assume I can’t crit these guys.
GM: No, you can’t. Also, you missed.
Me: What??? I rolled a 20!
GM: Yeah, but they’re undead. You need a magic weapon to hit them. Anima can hit them because she’s carrying the amulet that gives them their power.
Me: …
Shortly thereafter, the session ended due to time. Strange as it may sound, the other players and I did manage to have some fun, but for all the wrong reasons. It was a bit like a cross between a tabletop RPG and living an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
-The Gneech