Shawshank Redemption too!
Everyone remembers the movie Deliverance.
And Pulp Fiction, of course.
Each of those scenes are definitely the parts I like least about the movies.
This has ceased to be about player horror stories and more about "Rape and it's place in fictional storytelling"
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This has ceased to be about player horror stories and more about "Rape and it's place in fictional storytelling"
And to fight back against this heinous thread drift, you offer...what, exactly?
So back to the nominal topic. This one isn't really a horror story on a par with having a paladin fall for being dominated, but it was kind of annoying. It was also a while ago, so I may have remembered parts of it wrong.
Champions game. The ref has decided he wants a fairly low-power game...average human stat runs around a 6 (instead of the base 10; I think he wasn't sure the average human could hold up 100 kg basically indefinitely, which makes sense), a twenty is truly extraordinary. Incidentally, this makes normals really, really fragile. There may have been a limitation on powers as well, but I don't remember. Anyway, I'd gotten there late, so I was just spectating and reading, waiting for them to wrap up so we could play something else. I remember four players--one was a thief/skill monkey, one was based strongly on the Marvel Comics Valkyrie, one was a fast-healing brick, and one was based strongly on Stephen Boyett's unicorn Ariel. The skill monkey had an idiotic sidekick NPC critter straight out of bad '80s kids' cartoons; I think it was a little ball of fuzz that sat on his shoulder and made occasional comments. The plot revolved around a demented military quartermaster (no lie) who had successfully issued a series of bogus orders that resulted in an armed nuclear weapon being set to detonate at a particular time, then sealed inside of a metal shell with ~16 hardened resistant physical & energy defense and shipped to a warehouse in the middle of New York City.
OK, the plot calls for more than a few people to be carrying the idiot stick, but that's nothing new. The skill monkey has something to do--he's able to track the thing down. That's about the end of player usefulness, because remember that whole low-power thing? Valkyrie has a sword that'll do 2d6 killing *if she pushes her strength*, and that won't scratch the shell. If Ariel charges, she can do 3d6 AP killing with her horn, but the ref rules that all that does is poke little holes in the shell--too small to work through. So none of the PCs can do squat to this thing. What does the ref do? He has the NPC sidekick pull a Captain Planet "let our powers combine!" Much cheap theatrics ensue on the part of the ref, but now Valkyrie's sword will actually cut the thing. She opens up the shell, the bomb is disarmed, exeunt alles in triumph, stage right.
As far as I could tell, that was what the ref had in mind from the start--he designed the scenario so that none of the PCs could get past the wonder material shell, and they'd be forced to combine their powers through the convenient NPC. Which is not a very fun time for everyone else, I think, and he wouldn't have enjoyed it as a player (he played in my V&V campaign, so I know this). That was an ongoing problem with this particular ref, though. He had a lot of hero NPCs that didn't really fit that whole low-powered paradigm. It was too bad, because I otherwise liked the way he'd set up the approach to Champions.
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At Dragon Con 2001, we had the distinct pleasure of playing the RPGA module “Winds of Blood.” It is a module about 6 monk schools, each sending 1 champion to save the world. The 6 schools are all based on the six ability scores. The school of the dragon (Str) the school of the bear (Con), etc... Each pre-generated PC we were given was a 12th level monk (3rd Edition) who had like a 22 in his school’s primary stat. I’m thinking, how cool is this!
Well, we sit down and wait for our DM and introduce ourselves. Each player is really cool and mature. Everyone looks like they are gonna’ perform really well, and I give my friend sitting next to me a big thumbs up. Then our DM shows up. He is a big and tall guy, about 6ft 6 in. and kinda flabby. I say this because it was showing. He wore a pair of ratty khaki shorts, some sandals (the “flip-flop” kind) a muscle shirt and a camouflage baseball cap. He carried an enormous bag of Animal crackers and a HUUUGE plastic mug with a lid. He had red hair and a big, bushy red beard. He also walked with a bit of a slouch and lope. No problem, he should do character acting very well. He did NOT carry a battle-mat, the first DM I had seen at Dragon Con without one (maybe a good thing?).
He sits down and says (in a very strong southern accent – Dragon Con is in Atlanta, Georgia), “Hai yaw durin.” (How are you all doing?) Contrary to popular belief, not all people in Georgia are hicks, nor do all of us speak with strong accents. So far, I’m still thinking, “he could be good.”
He goes on to explain that he isn’t too familiar with the module or with 3rd edition in general, but to bear with him. Uh... he IS running an official RPGA event. I think, “Do they let just anyone run these?” The answer is a resounding YES. He also explains that he is dyslexic, and that he will have to read slowly. Right... Well, 5 agonizing minutes later he is finished with the introduction, having read things like, “do not read the next part to the players…” or “the players do not know about this…” We are trying to be patient. He does tell us that “the forces of evil are sure to try and stop the s...s...sta...stall...stallwort...stalwart heroes, and will send their dark minions.” We will see more of that later.
The first part of the adventure centers around riddles, and we solve them the best we can. Our Dm just sits looking smug and makes occasional jabs at our intelligence (!) We finish the riddles and get some nifty items for them, like a monk’s belt, a wand of stoneskin, a +4 frost Kama, and other things.
We next get to a bridge guarded by a fire elemental. We are all monks with no weapons (except my friend who has a +4 kama), and he doesn’t want to parley. So when he attacks, we attack back. My guy rocks in combat (he is the Dex man) and I have over 80 hp, so I figure, I’ll take a jab at him and see how many d6’s of fire damage I take to see if it is worth it. Our DM looks down his nose at me, chewing on animal crackers, his bushy beard going up and down with each chomp, and says very calmly, “Remooove an orrrmm.” (Remove an arm).
~insert sound of a record coming to a scratching halt~
“What?”
“Remooove an orrmm!” (Remove an arm)
I look at the other players, they look around... is he serious!?
I say, “ok...why?”
Our DM says, “Yur thuh MORON that deecided ta puunch a moltin beeyin! (You are the moron that decided to punch a molten being)
“Ok. How much...damage is that?”
Our DM is clearly rattled by that profound question. “Uh...tayen” (Uh...ten)
I say, “Damn, guys, don’t let that elemental hit you in the head!” There are a few chuckles in disbelief.
Well, I now have a 1 armed monk. I look at my friend and ask him for his Kama (I want REVENGE). He hands over the kama without hesitation, and I beat the ever living snot out of the elemental.
Next, we are walking up a mountain path, and our DM tells us that we see some dark figures hiding behind some rocks. I look over at the Charisma monk’s player (who, by the way, is doing an outstanding job role-playing a bardic type monk, complete with haikus!). I look over to him and say, “hey man, maybe this is your time to shine. They haven’t attacked us, and the Elders told us that everyone will have their test.” I wiggle my stump. “I had mine! Get up there and try to parley.” We all laugh and he decides to go up and talk to these guys.
Our DM looks at him, chin up. He very beautifully says (in an Eastern accent) that we are here to save humanity, yadda yadda. I can’t possibly do his speech justice. Our DM simply rolls a BUNCH of dice, and tells him. “Yew tahyeek aytee fouwer poeents uh daymage.” (You take 84 points of damage). We all pretty much go “WHAT?!”
“Yur thuh MORON that deecided ta tawk teu DORK MIINYUNS!” (you are the moron that decided to talk to Dark Minions)
We stare at each other in disbelief, and ask what they look like. He tells us that they are “Dork Miinyuns” (Dark minions). We roll initiative, and his monk moves back to our group. Then the Dark Minions go. They charge, THEN each makes 5 (!) attacks with dual-wielded swords coated in a slimy substance. Our DM asks for “fourtitewd” (fortitude) saves all around. Everyone looks worried. I say, “Don’t worry guys, we are all 12th level monks. We have Diamond body, and are immune to all poisons, magical or otherwise.” Our DM (we still don’t know his name) looks furious and says, “Wur yew not towld dat Dork Miinyuns wood be sayent tew try an stawp yeeeww, an thayet they wood hayuv powurs as grait as or more powerfuuul as yorse?!” (Were you not told that Dark Minions would be sent to try and stop you, and that they would have powers as great as or more powerful as yours?) We sighed the sigh of cheesed players, and continued.
Well, the monks are getting their rears beat down by 15th level barbarian/ranger guys with unstoppable poison, and it is everything we can do to keep the stoneskins up. Then we get blasted by a lightning bolt, and our evasion “Don’t wurk” (Doesn’t work). We are getting pissed, and I say that I’m charging the mage 80 ft away. I do so and attempt to flurry on her (blatant rule break). Our DM actually catches this and says I can’t. I look sheepish and say I just thought it was ok, ‘cause the barbarians did it. He says nothing. So I use my monk belt and Haste myself as a free action, then charge and flurry on the mage. DEAD.
The rest of the adventure was pretty bad, and at the end, someone had to sacrifice himself to get the item. We all unanimously volunteered (anything to get this over with).
We insisted on voting, and asked him his name. He just thrust his arm out, showing us the top of his wrist. It said, “Jake.” MAN, what a hoot. We later talked about Jake, pondering what MORON (heh) tattoos his own name on his wrist. We said that maybe he forgets his name, and one of us said, “If he’s dyslexic, wouldn’t his name be Ekaj?”
Thus the legend of Ekaj was born.
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NOTE: After this incident took place, the D&D module "Winds of Blood" was downloaded for further research. It was found that each of the "dork minyuns" actually only had TWO attacks, were NOT hasted and did NOT have any kind of poison on their weapons or even on their person. The extra attacks and the poison were just figments of Ekaj's imagination. This serves as an excellent insight into the innerworkings of Ekaj's mind.
{stuff}
O_o
Okay, I might be able to beat the "name on wrist". I know a guy in my class that showed everyone that he had his last name tattoed in 6-inch letters across his upper back.
The only way that could be better was if he was shirtless and running from the police...
I have to say, after reading many of these, that I have been extraordinarily blessed in my gaming experience. Nothing I've experienced even approaches some of the horror stories mentioned here, many of which seem to involve people who really should be either better medicated or locked away from polite society.
Finding good DMs is hard, as there are many, many more people who can play the game well than can DM it well. When you find a good one, cherish him/her and make sure they know you appreciate their hard work. When you encounter a bad one, you need to be able to offer them feedback in the hope they can either improve, or will realize that they just aren't cut out to DM and step down in favor of someone else. Walking is, of course, always your option, but gaming groups can be hard to find, so I think there is almost always a case to be made for trying to work things out first.
All that aside, this relatively tame story is the worst I have to offer regarding bad DMing. In grad school I joined a group of undergrads who were just starting a new campaign. 1st edition (Yes, I'm that old). The DM told us his campaign was designed to give the players a lot of freedom to determine what happened, and that we should just decide what we wanted to do and he'd adapt. Sounded great (but is a very challenging way to DM). So we created characters, roleplayed out how we met and decided to form an adventuring group, and then set about deciding what to do and where to go. With absolutely nothing in the way of hints/plothooks coming from the DM, we decided to seek adventure in the Great Forest nearby. We wandered aimlessly for a while, then camped for the night. He finally rolled a wandering monster encounter using the old tables in the DMG: orcs, a whole army of them. These orcs, using their famed woodcraft, snuck up on our camp and attacked by surprise. That's right, 400 orcs snuck up within 30' of a party of adventurers in the woods and surrounded them, including the three on watch (big party), one of whom was a ranger and another of whom was an elf, without anybody noticing. TPK ensues amidst much player acrimony and disbelief, and the DM says it is time to roll up new characters. A few players walked right then, and our game session was over by the time the rest of us finished creating new characters.
Anyway, I stayed after to talk to the guy, who was pretty down in the dumps because the first session had gone so poorly and he'd lost a good portion of the group. He admitted that he had never DMed before, was still learning the rules, and hadn't really prepared anything for that week. I gently suggested that perhaps he might give way to a more experienced DM. He ruefully agreed that would be a good idea. I and another guy ended up DMing and we had a successful group for the next two years. The "Dread Ninja Orcs of the Great Forest" became a running gag with the group that he was never able to live down, though.
Bi, gay, or straight, NO ONE wants to be raped.
Not quite true. There are people who have rape fantasies where they are the victims.
I'm not saying those people aren't either more twisted than a crate of pretzels or have really unreal ideas of the whole thing, but it does exist.
Of course, the idea that everybody is really bi and doesn't mind being ****ed by anyone and anything unless they have had weird upbringing requires expedient action with a straight-jacket and really strong medication.
Story
That...is just horrid.
There's always the lovely sentiment 'she is only a lesbian because she hasn't had the right dick' too. -_-'
I won't totally rule it out - all kinds of strange things happen - but I think it's a lot more common for women considering lesbianism after meeting the "right dick"...
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wow....just, wow.
Ok, a couple much tamer anecdotes:
1: the stinky guy. I'm surprised this hasn't come up before on this thread. This fellow looked ordinary enough, until about 5 minutes into the game. B.O., flatulence, and a general fugue of death-stink hovered around him.
Eventually, he was asked to roll (and "roleplay", not that he had been) from the next table over. Bear in mind, this was at a Con, in about 1/3 of a ballroom, and the next table was some 15-20' away.
The worst part was: even at the next table, we could still smell him...
2: the contrary kid. At the same Con as the above story, but the night previous. We had been playing with the same group for 2 sessions, and had got a good groove going.
In the 3rd game session (4-5 hr blocks), a youngish kid sits down. He's introduced as one of the current players younger brother, and they swap places.
Ok, no big deal, how are you, etc.
But, this was the "Dream Planes" adventure, where the total party had to "think" about particular terrain effects and the like to achive the end goal.
That got very hard when the (new player's) fighter CONTINUALLY stated "I go off on my own and do this..." or "I wish the opposite of that..."
Usually in not those exact words, but he provided the dissenting voice most times.
We progressed very slowly through the Dream Plane encounters, missing out on several cool combats in favor of descriptive "I wish there were stairs here" and "I wish those stars were within grasp" exposition and little to no PC action.
Finally, in the last scene, we fight a chaos beast, and new guy is the only one turned into Spongebob. He then proceeds to whine and gripe about that for the rest of the time. We didn't finish the module until after 2300 or so, when the slot ended at 2200, but we didn't want to just end the whole thing with characters in "limbo" and no Societal Rewards for the PC's.
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There's always the lovely sentiment 'she is only a lesbian because she hasn't had the right dick' too. -_-'I won't totally rule it out - all kinds of strange things happen - but I think it's a lot more common for women considering lesbianism after meeting the "right dick"...
My wife's ex-boyfriend used that line in reference to a lesbian friend of hers, and she told him that he was so horrible SHE almost went lesbian.
Not quite true. There are people who have rape fantasies where they are the victims.I'm not saying those people aren't either more twisted than a crate of pretzels or have really unreal ideas of the whole thing, but it does exist.
A fantasy is not reality. Everyone involved in the S&M scene does not actually want to be tortured, males or females that fantasize about woman/men other then their wives/husbands don't necessarily plan on getting divorces or cheating on them.
Kirth's right, no one wants to get raped and the fact that some percentage of the population has fantasies about it does not change that.
Lol; bored me to death. Here are some from the same gm:
invited to the game; rolled up a character; and showed up every Saturday to play; sat there waiting to join the game; so after a few weeks of this; I would play Civ 2 while waiting; took like 8 months to actually have this gm come to a place in the game where my character could join the party; like these are my long time friends too; well, I got good at Civ 2.
ok; before that a few years; this gm was going to run a game; so I went over and rolled up a character; not keep in mind; in this guys game; rolling up a character can get your character killed; so you can spend a few hours rolling up a guy who will die before the rolling up process even finishes; now if that is not crazy enough - I got my character rolled up; and waited and waited with several other guys for the game to start; it never did; but the gm would give us updates that our charcter gained this or that level and after a few years of this the character was like 14th and retired and none of us ever got to play our characters; wierd eh?
online rpg; on these boards; was in a game where my character and another character didnt get on; class and race conflicts; all part of the game; but the GM decided to step in; like we were just doing roleplaying; but he was a jerk and stepped in and misshandled the whole thing; so I dont play that game anymore; nor talk to the guy who was my RL friend who was involved; though that is a bit deeper than just this game. So; beware of GM's who dictate players actions with an iron fist; may they all get rusty fingers.
Kirth's right, no one wants to get raped and the fact that some percentage of the population has fantasies about it does not change that.
All generalisations are false!
I'm not saying it's common, but some people have "fantasies" about that and for them, it's more than "I think of this". It's "I want that to happen".
Again, I'm not saying that they either have a very wrong idea about rape and would not enjoy it if it actually came to pass, or are very disturbed, but there are people who want it. Not many, mind, but more than 0.
took like 8 months to actually have this gm come to a place in the game where my character could join the party; like these are my long time friends too
You mean "had been, up to that point", right? I mean, I don't know about you, but everyone who wastes my time like this is no longer my friend.
Of course, I'd have said something after the 1st session, 2nd session tops, but that's just me :P
I remember something else.
It was one of the games we played on Sundays (we alternated 2-3 campaigns).
I had been present to every session so far - which is a lot better than a lot of other people, who often decided not to show up and only told anyone half an hour into the game (sessions got cancelled because of this - and in the end, I stopped playing with those guys on sundays after we had every game be cancelled 30 minutes into the game for something like 8 weeks in a row).
So one day I couldn't come because I was sick.
Next time I show up I find out everyone had some kind of dream and after that got some powerful ability. Except my character. I asked whether we'd do something like this, and the DM replied "No, I can't be bothered to think of a dream for you!"
Kirth's right, no one wants to get raped and the fact that some percentage of the population has fantasies about it does not change that.
It's not even possible - rape implies that the victim cannot or does not consent to the act.
If the victim consents, then it's just playing out a rape fantasy.
** spoiler omitted ** /threadjack
Its a common reaction to embrace what you cannot deal with.
Also, in my experience with such girls, or in general people who have been through serious abuse, you cannot believe what they tell you. One day she insists that it was rape, the next time you talk about it she swears was consensual.
The human mind works in weird ways when it comes to deal with trauma. Cognitive dissonance cannot be tolerated for long, so the past is reshaped and revalued.
Not exactly a DM horror story but close...
In 2nd ed I had just joined an on-going game. I had rolled up this kewl wood-elf ranger archer something. Being a wood-elf I played him as being somewhat aloof. This ticked off one of the other players. He figured I need some lessons so I could come down to earth with the rest of the group. To my knowledge I didn't behave offensive in any other way than being aloof, in character. So he placed some fire trap spells on my equipment. The next time I opened my backpack, used my quiver (can't figure out why that would even work) and such a small fiery explosion went off... He quickly figured out who caused this. He picked up his stuff (This was just after the first rest with the party) and went to the edge of the woods and shot him dead with arrows. Maybe childish of me, but I was so pissed off. 45min max I played this character... And this was all good friends I played with. The DM let it happen...
Can't remember if this was before or after I let him (the DM, now player) stay in a barrel (his character, that is) for 6 hours real time... Yeah... I am not without flawes either, but he did go on a thieving-thing in Waterdeeps nicer parts and stuff happens! And we were young!:)
** spoiler omitted **
She needed therapy.
Seriously.
I was married to a woman who suffered serious abuse as a child, and it took her several years to admit she needed help, and several more to get it. It was a long, hard road (and we ended up divorced in the middle of it), but she's glad she walked it and has a much better life now.
Just like with having children, there should be an age minimum and lengthy written test to pass before one is allowed to run a game.
That won't help. I have a DM that thinks he just crapped out the next lord of the rings and has us playing in it. The only problem is he didn't build his great story with our charcters in mind so whenever anything good starts to come up his NPC's always magically save the day and we the players feel like a cheering section.
Then of course the inter party conflict between my neu good cleric of the sun god pelor and a player play testing a NPC class for the GM. One of the classes abiliteis is to summon an imp as a famliar. I warned the player and the DM that if he did he would be bringing evil into the world and according to what I have read about the tenants of pelor thats a no no. In other words if he used his class feature I would have to kill the charecter, the other player agreed with me retired the cn mage and brought in a ng fighter. No more party conflict.
The DM is 25+ wife,kids and still runs a bad game but we play so he can get better. we mostly dislike his world.
Technically, this post doesn't belong here, since I DMed the game. But since the event made the whole party suffer, I thought it was a tale worth telling. Not as horrific as most of the others, thankfully, but still:
In one adventure I ran the main idea of the plot was a no-win situation where the party either had to let a local baron be executed for a crime he didn't commit, or alternatively, we had to make a deal with an evil death knight for the proof of the baron's innocence (yeh I know it seems harsh). The PCs chose the latter, since they were hired to save the baron's life. The trade would be a powerful greatsword (+3 Evil, Wounding Greatsword. Very Nasty) in exchange for the evidence needed to save the lord.
All the PCs agreed to make the deal. At the meeting place, the death knight appeared (riding a nightmare no less) and the PCs had the sword ready for the trade. I deliberately made sure the party KNEW this guy was tough, but honourable enough to arrive on his own. At this point, with no warning, the fighter in the party (who had claimed to be a 'noble knight' throughout the game) immediately charged him. The whole party was flabbergasted, but since he was already mounted, I could find no reason to prevent it, although I tried, and no way for another party member to stop him.
A single lucky hit injured the deathknight, who promptly teleported away, thanks to his nightmare mount. The whole party was in an uproar over the 'knights' actions. I asked him "why did you charge him?" after the game and he replied "well, he was evil right? I HAD to fight him."
I was unimpressed, but responded, "Well, you didn't know for sure he was evil, but you are right I suppose. But even so, you're a knight. And you attacked him unprovoked, before a parley was concluded." He then responded with surprise, "But I thought if I gave him a chance to attack he might kill me."
I was shocked into silence. But I then pointed out that what he did was both cowardly (he did declare himself a knight all this time) and against the code of arms. Plus he had effectively betrayed his party AND his duty to the baron.
After that I left him to be berated by his own party. Havn't seen him since.
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I've posted this story before - it's about the time I visited my wife's family out west, and my sister-in-law invited us to bring along some characters and play 3.5 with her husband and their DM, Robert.
The most glaringly obviously offense was the infamous DMPC. An uber-druid weretiger. With the stats of Jesus. (PCs in Robert's game get to have whatever stats they want, apparently. I saw sister-in-law's character sheet; her lowest score was a 17...in Strength...as a sorcerer...gah)
The DMPC did everything I hoped he wouldn't. He got about 5 or 6 attacks per round (at level 3), never had to roll. Every attack was auto-hit, auto-kill. At one point, he broke the neck of one orc, punched through the abdomen of a second, grabbed a third, picked it up and threw it at another two, killing all three. Then he bit the head off a sixth orc for good measure. All in one round.
All the characters, but especially the DMPC, had the gear and money of characters twice their level. All sorts of Robes of Eyes, Robes of Useful Items, armor for everyone that grants resistance to all energy types, limitless portable holes, bracers that grant armor bonuses as well as deflecting/absorbing/preventing attacks, tens of thousands of gold pieces...ugh.
Although, I suppose it was a good thing that this DMPC was a god in disguise, because Robert was the kind of DM that thinks mid-level munchkin PCs can only be challenged by massive amounts of very easy to beat enemies. We fought a mob of over 100 orcs (literally). The kind of orcs that have about 10 hp, can only hit us on a 20, and we can only miss them on a 1. They were so low in level that we didn't even get experience points for them...even though there were 100 of them.
After that "epic" battle, we fought a mob of 20 orogs (half-ogre orcs, I think). These provided about as much challenge as the first mob (ie. none). At least we got some XP for this, because they're CR 5 each, and our average party level was about 7. (Of course, he calculated XP wrong, giving us one orog's worth of XP x20)
Then, for the finale...we realize that all these orcs and orogs are mindslaves of... ) ...mindflayers!
Robert did some math and decided that, based on the number of slaves we saw, there should be about 10 mindflayers. This sounded very stupid to me, because 1 mindflayer should be a challenge to us, 2 or 3 should be just about deadly...10 is overkill.
Guess what. It gets stupider.
Robert wants it to be the finale, after all...so, looking in the Monster Manual, he decides to make all 10 of these mindflayers into sorcerers. Level 9 sorcerers.
Each of them became a CR 18. We are level 7. One of these things could kill us twice over...and he sent us 10. 1040hp worth of psionic tentacled doom.
One of the mindflayers was apparently acting as representative, because only one of them ever attacked us ("Rolling ten times is just too much work" he said). He managed to mindblast half our party into being stunned for the entire encounter. My sorcerer and my wife's dwarf got in one or two hits each, and then the DMPC went nuts and tore into the mindflayer like there's no tomorrow. Amazingly he actually rolled for one or two of his attacks, and critically misses. Of course, he used a custom critical miss rule, which gives you a 25% chance of hitting an enemy, even though you missed. What do you know, he rolled in that 25%. Surprise surprise.
He stabbed the mindflayer next to the lead one. The DMPC managed to destroy the mindflayer (somehow he managed to do 70+ damage) and all the other mindflayers get scared and teleport away.
No, really.
The ubermighty evil mind-controlling masterminds that can blow things up with their brains, that outnumbered us 3:1, that could destroy us even if we outnumbered them 3:1, got scared. And ran away.
Only one of them ever lifted a tentacle against us. Not a single mindflayer cast a single spell. They had 9 levels of sorceror each, and they didn't cast a single spell.
Ugh.
Then, at the end of the cave, was a massive pile of about 240,000 gold pieces. Because apparently, 10 CR18s have nothing better to do then amass 200 slaves and hide in a cave to guard 240k Gold Pieces...
Did I mention that this whole time we were playing outside in the wind, weighing our papers down with rocks, so that Robert, the only smoker in the group, could smoke his cigarettes?
After the game, I was in the car with my sister-in-law, and she asked what I thought about Robert and the game. I didn't really say anything at first, but she kept poking, so finally I told her that he wasn't playing by the rules. It was fine if they were houserules, but it just wasn't the way the game was designed, and I thought it could have been done differently.
Later, I heard that my sister-in-law had brought this up to her husband, saying that I had said that they "were doing it all wrong" and that I had said "Robert was a horrible DM who cheats" (not what I said at all, even if I didn't necessarily disagree).
This led to a big fight between them, and then a big fight with Robert, and now they don't play together at all anymore. To this day, I insist it's not my fault.
Kirth's right, no one wants to get raped and the fact that some percentage of the population has fantasies about it does not change that.All generalisations are false!
I'm not saying it's common, but some people have "fantasies" about that and for them, it's more than "I think of this". It's "I want that to happen".
Again, I'm not saying that they either have a very wrong idea about rape and would not enjoy it if it actually came to pass, or are very disturbed, but there are people who want it. Not many, mind, but more than 0.
OK above 0 but its likely to be a pretty small number.
On the other hand I know that the question "Have you ever fantasized about committing or being raped"? Is used on a battery of about 8-12 questions used to find out if some one is lying to themselves or at least will lie on an anonymous questionnaire. Basically the questions are all chosen because the topics are extremely taboo and yet its believed that the majority of the population has engaged in them at least at some point in their life. So if you go down the questions thinking - 'thats sick of course not'! and checking the no box for most or all of them then the rest of the information you have filled out is considered unreliable.
oh wait, how about the traditional "new player" stories?
Had this guy join. Was a friend of a player's.
There were two things going on at that time - a FR game where the characters were supposed to be Heroes (note the capital H - they were basically scions of a semi-angelic race that represented pure light, got aasimar abilities and then some, and I insisted that for once the characters would not be "non-evil", but really, really good.), and a WoD/Vampire thing where I requested to stick to the plot, i.e. the characters were not entirely happy with being cursed with vampirism, and had been basically okay people before (no "Path of True Darkness" kind of stuff, I wanted to keep things vanilla to get my bearings in the system and setting, both of which were not as familiar to me as D&D and FR).
I had to veto his half-orc with a vicious streak and his gang banger who liked killing Blood Bags.
In the D&D game, which was 3.5e, he was "oblivious" to some of the changes in the revision (usually stuff that was toned down considerably because it was too powerful, like the price for a glove of storing, which was adjusted from 2000 up to 10000 gil, and which he bought for 2000 apiece.
Of course, if that had been all, it would have been okay. But there was his attitude.
He was always very sure of himself (even, or maybe especially when he was dead wrong about the rules) and belligerent about disagreements.
There was this:
Player (Him): "I let my weapons appear in my hands. I love those gloves"
DM (Me): "How could you affair two of those? They're not exactly cheap"
P: "They only cost 2000"
DM: "No, they don't. They will send you back 10k. Apiece.
P: "That's wrong!!! They cost 2000, I'd put my hands into the fire for this!" (Note: That's translated from German, where putting your hand into the fire for something means vouching for it)
DM: "Then you'd get burned. *Opens book* Here, look, 10000, it was one of the 3.5 changes, and deservedly so, since they were way too good at the old price!"
P: "That sucks!!!!!!!"
No, "Oh, sorry I shouted at you." or anything.
He also was fond of answering a lot of stuff with, essentially, "Yeah, you can also put lipstick on a pig" (I'm not sure whether this gets through, but it sounded quite condescending.)
Needless to say he was disinvited. The other players (except his friend, who stopped playing with us shortly thereafter) actually asked me to, before I announced it myself.
Later, I heard that my sister-in-law had brought this up to her husband, saying that I had said that they "were doing it all wrong" and that I had said "Robert was a horrible DM who cheats" (not what I said at all, even if I didn't necessarily disagree).
This led to a big fight between them, and then a big fight with Robert, and now they don't play together at all anymore. To this day, I insist it's not my fault.
You homewrecking monster! ;-P
OK above 0 but its likely to be a pretty small number.
Never said it was anything but rare.
On the other hand I know that the question "Have you ever fantasized about committing or being raped"? Is used on a battery of about 8-12 questions used to find out if some one is lying to themselves or at least will lie on an anonymous questionnaire. Basically the questions are all chosen because the topics are extremely taboo and yet its believed that the majority of the population has engaged in them at least at some point in their life. So if you go down the questions thinking - 'thats sick of course not'! and checking the no box for most or all of them then the rest of the information you have filled out is considered unreliable.
Do you have the whole list of questions? A link maybe?
Anyway, by popular request, back to regular horror stories.
I have one more. I wasn't in that game, but someone told me. It's what happens if you have someone who wants to win the game, and a DM who lacks the confidence and control to rein in bad players.
It was an evil game using AD&D 2e rules. Mister I-want-to-win-AD&D played a minotaur, I think fighter. The character was the most powerful character in the whole group, nobody could have taken him on - and the party was too paranoid to gang up on that guy. So nobody did.
This guy abused his power. He kept most of the treasure for himself whenever the party found some (only stuff that was useless to him was handed down to the other characters). And the guy justified it with "my character is greedy, I'm just playing my character."
As I said, the GM didn't put an and to things because he wasn't confident enough and was basically overpowered by this guy. The whole campaign went under because of this.
Do you have the whole list of questions? A link maybe?
The list is discussed, pertaining to its use in evaluating people who lie to themselves, on the podcast for WYNC's Radiolab show in the episode "Deception".
The other example I recall being used was "have you ever derived pleasure from a bowel movement"? I believe one other example of such a question was given in that episode but no longer remember what it was.
I'd try for a link but I'm actually kind of scared of what I would get if I type "rape fantasy+bowel movement" into google.
Edit I think I remember the third example "Have you ever thought about committing suicide to get back at someone"?
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Later, I heard that my sister-in-law had brought this up to her husband, saying that I had said that they "were doing it all wrong" and that I had said "Robert was a horrible DM who cheats" (not what I said at all, even if I didn't necessarily disagree).
This led to a big fight between them, and then a big fight with Robert, and now they don't play together at all anymore. To this day, I insist it's not my fault.You homewrecking monster! ;-P
The story happened a few years ago, but they're now going through a divorce. Again, not my fault, I swear! They've got a lot of problems that have nothing to do with gaming.
~*~*~*~
I hate to post another rape story, but here it is. In one campaign, I was playing a half-orc barbarian/rogue who came from a culture based on power and dominance (he was raised with the orc side of his family). )(He also was bisexual with a voracious appetite for ale and wenches of both sexes, but this was mainly just for flavor and I never made any pursuit of a fellow party member).
I was adventuring with a very young (~14 years old) female cleric of Shelyn that I had to constantly protect from lecherous advances (this was the DM's NPC...it actually unnerves me that this guy almost always makes his characters, PCs or NPCs, as innocent girls under the age of consent that end up in sexually charged situations...but that's another story).
At one point, the girl got doped with a date rape drug, and was convinced to come back to the house of a "rock star" bard NPC. As they went off together, the DM made it very clear that the girl was going to be taken advantage of if we did nothing to stop it. We're in the middle of a large city, and the bard NPC is very influential (and likely higher level than me), so I don't want to start a combat -- instead, I decide to tag along and say that I want to "party" with them, so I can keep an eye on the girl. I drag another PC with me as backup.
Once we're in the guy's house, and me and the other PC are refusing offers of drugs and group sex, the DM makes it blatantly clear: the bard is advancing on the drugged, barely conscious girl, and a rape is going to occur within the next round unless you do something.
I knew that the bard could probably kill me or have me killed if I tried to attack him, and I couldn't think of anything else to do...so, I sighed, and uttered the words that have become immortal among this particular gaming group:
"What do I have to roll to rape him before he rapes her?"
It was a little funny in context, but it was mostly horrible, especially considering that I think that was what the DM had set me up for, with sex being the only thing that would distract the bard from his villainous intent. And for better or worse, displays of brutal force were in character for my PC's background.
So, my barbarian started having sex with the bard, and while he was distracted I had the other PC pick up the girl and carry her back to safety. I planned to follow suit, but the DM had the bard dope me with the date rape drug as well, and the next thing I knew, members of his band were emerging from hiding places behind the curtains, and now my character was the one being raped, from multiple directions.
Ugh.
That was probably the most egregious example, but for most of this campaign my CN half-orc barbarian/rogue ended up being the voice of moral reason in the party...I was supposed to be a brutish mercenary, and I often had to step in and defend the 14yo cleric, or protect the prisoners, or advocate against blatantly evil destruction and killing, all while the paladin PC just sat there staring off into space. Sigh...
Tell your DM to leave the hobby for me, if you could.
Jagyr, I'm not sure if that was funny, creepy or both.
The only event like that I heard of was a guy who played a female character in one adventure that freaked two other players by calmly and in-character almost persuading their characters into bed - one player was a girl, and her character was female, and she nearly ended up in bed before she realised that he was playing a female character; the other player was a guy who freaked because the seduction by a female character of his male character was being role-played so well by a guy ...
This guy wasn't creepy, though - just really, really good at role-playing and he really got into his characters.
Jagyr, I'm not sure if that was funny, creepy or both.
The only event like that I heard of was a guy who played a female character in one adventure that freaked two other players by calmly and in-character almost persuading their characters into bed - one player was a girl, and her character was female, and she nearly ended up in bed before she realised that he was playing a female character; the other player was a guy who freaked because the seduction by a female character of his male character was being role-played so well by a guy ...
This guy wasn't creepy, though - just really, really good at role-playing and he really got into his characters.
I hate to say it but I think I ended a campaign in just the same way.
I made a similar character. I had actually put a LOT of work into her background and her lecherousness was a result of deep trauma and significant mental issues. Still I mostly went after the NPCs rather than the PCs. Only problem was the GM was mildly homophobic. After about 3 game sessions he suddenly ended the campaign.
For the record the other players were really enjoying the character, and that GM had ADD when it came to games. I don't think I ever saw him run a system for more than 2 months at a time, so it might not have been me.
Ouch! cant be bothered; whoa. With mine and the multiple times; some guys you just dont take seriously; but you can still be friends.
I remember something else.
It was one of the games we played on Sundays (we alternated 2-3 campaigns).
I had been present to every session so far - which is a lot better than a lot of other people, who often decided not to show up and only told anyone half an hour into the game (sessions got cancelled because of this - and in the end, I stopped playing with those guys on sundays after we had every game be cancelled 30 minutes into the game for something like 8 weeks in a row).
So one day I couldn't come because I was sick.
Next time I show up I find out everyone had some kind of dream and after that got some powerful ability. Except my character. I asked whether we'd do something like this, and the DM replied "No, I can't be bothered to think of a dream for you!"
I dont understand why DM's get upset when you play a character like a character should be played; lots of race and culture descriptions are of aloof; nasty; backbiting; attitudes of superiority; crass; even canabalistic in nature; and seems everyone is surprized when you play that way.
Most peoples version of an evil character is so vanilla; it is hardly evil, and some people just do stupid things.
In one game I played a Paladin; LG. I was sixth level and had been in the game a while so had some gear when this lower level thief joins in the game, from back in 2ed; the party battles some creatures and wins and gets some treasure; the party is bandaging and healing and this guys starts taking the loot; I am watching him and ask him about it and he is putting it in his backpack; and he says its all his, I am writing it down as party treasure; I, being lawful; say its all ours per our party charter; things heat up as he wouldnt give it back or back down and I kill him for stealing from the party. So this player gets all hurt and surprized; everyone is like; Dude, what did you think would happen; you stole from us and got caught; ie Paladin and evil rogue who is stealing right in front of me and got caught; stupid. Anyway the player gets all beligerant and up in my face; always a bad idea; and as the game was at my house; I kicked him out and told him not to come back; he ate all our chips and drank a lot of our drink and sayed WE were the buttheads and had been mean to him; lol; yeah right.
I mean come on; who in there right mind would think they as the rogue would think what this guy did was ok or would get away with it or a good idea? sheesh; at least TRY to be sly about it; not brazen; silly for a rogue to take on a armored pally in a face to face duel; just bad odds.
heeh I played in a rolemaster game once; where the gm wanted to run a very low magic normal game of normal people against big nasty monsters; so I played a Houri; which is a fun class; so we play for weeks in this game; no treasure; no money; no gear; and we get to about sixth level where some of us magic using people start to get some good magical powers; and we find our first magic item; rare for a rolemaster game; anyway; it is cursed; I put it on; and it is a necklace of strangulation; kills my character; nothing any of us can do; gm thought my character was getting to tough for the campaign; everybody was like; this isnt much fun; so we all stopped playing; and if you ever roled up a rolemaster character; takes hours; and played though all those crit charts; a character with some levels in that game really means something so loosing a character like that is a horror story.
Ah, the classic "hey this class said 'thief' so I get to steal from people and they cannot do anything about it!" mentality ... WRONG!
Step one to playing a tabletop game: don't be a jerk.
Woops you failed at step one, better stop playing.