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Enjoy it!
(I'm always happy when someone steals something from me. It's like Christmas, only involuntary and with larceny instead of generosity! Win/win, really!)
:D
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not counting my example with my Adopted Brother whom happens to be a Fatalite. here is the second worst player i still game with. the worst of Weekly William's Group Rather than Tuesday Tony's Group.
this Greasy 700 lbs Caucasian male named Aaron. well, 700 is a bit of a slight exaggeration, but at the game table, he literally requires 3 seats and well, he breaks chairs under his sheer weight. and because he has no funds of his own, somebody else has to pay the comic store for those chairs.
he smells like sweat and defiled leather, despite wearing a pair of sweatpants and a greenbay packers jersy. it's not just his smell that's bad, nor his plumber's smile due to his extra small sweatpants.
he gets worse than that. he sexually harrasses everybody at the table, regardless of gender and sets up innuendo and double entendres, poorly, but enough to freak out the table and cause lots of vomiting to overfill the barf bucket. yes, as a group, with him, we pay extra for the store owner to provide a barf bucket, and i am the one that tips him for cleaning it.
Aaron Exclusive Plays Females with Dump Statted Charisma that he claims are "Pretty but Vain" which is valid in some cases, but, his females are usually named Polegara or something sounding like the next Bond-Girl. he tries to sleep with every NPC and PC to give graphic sexual descriptions that are extremely poorly thought out. if you character refuses, his character will force you. his women are always bisexual, and tend to be more Hedonistic and Easy than the Entierity of Rome Combined
he will make any Armor Skimpier and will seduce with no social skills. he always takes profession (merchant) and always tries to sell for a markup. plus, he hogs all the treasure and has been banned from managing party inventory distribution.
plus, it's kinda hard to RP without choking on his Gas, puking at his Bodily Odor or Vomiting when you see his Plumber's Smile. Aaron is also the most reckless player ever, he does insanely stupid stunts and expects to be saved, complains when he dies from his own stupidity and whines about penalties from his own recklessness. he has gone through more character sheets than any other player ever to play in the group.
he has a special fondness for my characters especially. i play a lot of petite framed women, and can't fight off his attempts due to the no PVP clause, despite the fact it should count as PVP when he sexually harasses my next petite girl. so to get around the no PVP clause, even if the DM won't simply let me refuse to heal him as a cleric. i make up by prioritzing him over other allies in my AoEs, whether a fireball or great cleave. if i had a choice between Catching Dale in an AoE or Catching Aaron in the same blast instead, expect me to choose to Catch Aaron in the blast instead, a lot of the group does that.
even if we kick him out and ignore him, the game store is a public venue and he will whine to the comic shop owner. because it's a public venue. so as long as we play there, he pretty much has diplomatic immunity, because the rule of Great Escape Games, is if a player sits at a table, no matter how little tolerance you have for them or if you exiled them, they still get to play. regardless of how inflated a table gets.
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I understand and feel for you Umbriere, for a while at out games back in the day when i was in the army and in Tacoma we had a person whom had simular... personal fragrence issues. Also strangely enough played the pretty yet annoying archtype. Since it was a living campaign, backstory wasnt all that important. I remember when they tried to inform me that my wood elven ranger should want to fawn over their little elven cleric because of her high charisma my sudden ad-libbed excuse for why my ranger basically ignored her was "Im sorry My Wife would be cross if i spoke with you too much." Yup I invented a Wife right then and there. They moved on to other targets when i ignored their attempts. To this day my sea elven maid and wood elven ranger are my favorite couple. I have an awesome backstory how they met even as well.
I understand and feel for you Umbriere, for a while at out games back in the day when i was in the army and in Tacoma we had a person whom had simular... personal fragrence issues. Also strangely enough played the pretty yet annoying archtype. Since it was a living campaign, backstory wasnt all that important. I remember when they tried to inform me that my wood elven ranger should want to fawn over their little elven cleric because of her high charisma my sudden ad-libbed excuse for why my ranger basically ignored her was "Im sorry My Wife would be cross if i spoke with you too much." Yup I invented a Wife right then and there. They moved on to other targets when i ignored their attempts. To this day my sea elven maid and wood elven ranger are my favorite couple. I have an awesome backstory how they met even as well.
even if you were married, Aaron would force his character's advances upon you. the one thing he could do correctly, was make absurd grapple checks with bonuses independant of race or size. somehow, he managed to get a level 1 gnome with +25 to grapple through traits, flaws, subraces and all sorts of crap. he claimed it was, "obscure rules that are too complicated to explain"
he couldn't optimize anything else, but the ability to hold a larger man down and demasculate them in graphic detail in front of everyone. all his attempts to optimize a character failed with the exception of minmaxing Grapple for the purpose of Unwilling Unions.
Escape Aaron's Women? no way. he claimed they were pretty but vain, an explanation of 5-7 charisma at highest, except for certain classes, and his gnome had the lowest starting grapple of his characters at +25 at level 1. he has been known to break +40 or even +50 grapple bonuses on a first level character. but it's the only trick he knows to optimize, which i think he cheats. because their is no way a first level character should even break +10 Grapple, let alone +25 or even +50.
My group plays multiple games. Just about everyone runs at least one game, some of us run two. So when I say that the worst PC and DM are the same person, you can see how.
When it comes to a worst PC, i can't really narrow it down. The guy just didn't seem to make good characters. I take that back, he had one that was good but the rest were horrible. His first character was back when we plaid D&D 4e. He was playing a cleric named Cirelc (cleric backwards). In the opening battle the party is fighting a two warring bands of kobolds and goblins. In the fight, one of the fighters gets ganged up on and nearly killed. the cleric took two points of damage from a bad roll. The cleric decided to heal himself. Thankfully the fighter was able to get out of the mess thanks to the other players.
His most recent character was a druid he made for a one shot game I was running in pathfinder. It was one shot for him at least cause moved across state and was here to visit. He made a fifth level druid who spent all his gp, all 10,500 of it, on a quarterstaff that did fire and electric melee damage. His AC was 11 for christ sakes. He said its because the party he plays with at his place focuses more on roleplaying than combat, while our group focuses more on combat than roleplaying (we've fixed that now and do our best to balance the two). Either way, I would think even in doing a roleplay centric game you'd still build a character that was properly prepared.
As for him being the worst DM, I'm thankful that I personally didn't deal with it. I personally haven't dealt with a bad DM (a bad event organizer yes, but not a DM). Everything was essentially an illusion, one that was impossible to save against and even wolf could not tell the difference between when he smelled it.
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even if you were married, Aaron would force his character's advances upon you.
On one hand I'm feeling bad for Aaron; given the description of him and how hard it must make his life especially socially.
But that is no excuse for his behavior.
he tries to sleep with every NPC and PC ... if you character refuses, his character will force you.
Has the GM or store owner talked to Aaron about the fact that he's using his characters to engage in his rape fantasies? Where it would be one thing if the campaign was private and explicitly stated to be a heavy mature-themed campaign and then have him make one rapist character. But even in a mature-themed campaign making multiple rapist characters is concerning to say the least.
And to do so in a public play-space; it is shows a severe lack of judgement on his part...to say the least. I would think (hope) the store owner would want to be made aware of it because, given it's a public space as you say, there's a chance that children and parents will be present when one of the players under going one of Aaron's attacks will yell out, "Stop trying to rape my character, you pedo!" Not exactly good for business (assuming standard overall game store clientele).
I feel for you, Umbriere, that is by far the worst player story I've ever heard.
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Yeah, I would have to build a monk and knock him the...you get the gist im sure. In game, then I would go to the guards and decribe his behaviour... let the DM figure out how the molester isnt arrested. I would certainly be in the ear of ownership and the game master. That sort of behavior isnt family friendly and entirely no appropriate. Im a little shocked and slightly disapointed no one has said anything to this fellow yet, but being in an area that gaming is tough to find, I also can see how people might just bite their tongues.
Pulling for you and I hope somehow that gets resolved.
Yeah, I would have to build a monk and knock him the...you get the gist im sure. In game, then I would go to the guards and decribe his behaviour... let the DM figure out how the molester isnt arrested. I would certainly be in the ear of ownership and the game master. That sort of behavior isnt family friendly and entirely no appropriate. Im a little shocked and slightly disapointed no one has said anything to this fellow yet, but being in an area that gaming is tough to find, I also can see how people might just bite their tongues.
Pulling for you and I hope somehow that gets resolved.
we talk to him about it a lot, and so has the game store owner, but the game store has a no exclusions policy on their game tables. it's part of the contract for renting them.
it's not that the store owner and my DM don't talk to him about it, it's that they have a policy that prevents them from excluding him, while he engages in his fantasies of unwilling unions, by means of Women with absurd grapple checks, and well, he is a sexist pig. no respect for women, and well, he has no respect for other players and their rights.
they don't even have a ban board, and well, because of the area and lack of groups, as well as Lack of DMs, there is a rule at the comic store that the GMs whom rent a room or table, are forced to accept walk in players with the exception of the game being already over. now, we can be passive aggressive in how we deal with troublesome players, as long as the PVP isn't obvious.
i can't deliberately kill Aarons character directly, or force a cursed item upon him. but i can suggest penalties to for the DM as ideas to punish Aaron's Characters in game, and we can warn him, but kicking him out goes against the no exclusions policy of the shop, and fighting him directly goes against the no PVP philosphy of the campaign, but catching him in a fireball or great cleave when he recklessly surrounds himself in mooks, doesn't count as PVP nor does using monsters to grief him back as long as they weren't summoned, such as by using a taunt to tell the NPC GM made wolves in the random encounter "that gnome in the skimpy plate bikini looks like a yummier meal than me" with a bluff check, is fine, but summoning or charming wolves to make the attack, is not.
roleplaying Dislike is fine, as is Engaging in Events that Aaron can't go to, but a PC cleric can't refuse to heal him or use the touch to harm him, the cleric however can intimidate him to make him shaken or call him out in a harmful manner on a mistake.
usually how we get his characters bruised, is we report him to the guards, he gets roughed up a bit, fined after a stay, we get a restraining order he violates anyway, and well, as the major heroes, we go on the meeting with the king without him, then he crashes the meeting and has to deal with the guards
it doesn't stop his sick ways, but he goes through more character sheets than thrice the whole party combined.
we don't consider him a member of the party in character, we consider his characters a sick stalker that pursues whichever character he feels like, usually my petite framed females, whom deliberately take, an AoE option to catch him in the crossfire. he makes amazing great cleave fodder.
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The solution is simple: the DM makes sure his PC is successfully captured and imprisoned for being too rapey. His PC can't continue his bad behaviour from solitary confinement, and his PC is prevented from suicide by restraints/force feeding/whatever.
The DM can easily impose a rule on everyone that you can't play a new character while the old one is alive.
So, you're not stopping him from playing at your table, but the few times the scene changes to solitary confinement is to say, 'Yep, still there!'
There's no PvP, because it's NPCs that arrested the PC for crimes that his PC committed.
What could go wrong?
The solution is simple: the DM makes sure his PC is successfully captured and imprisoned for being too rapey. His PC can't continue his bad behaviour from solitary confinement, and his PC is prevented from suicide by restraints/force feeding/whatever.
The DM can easily impose a rule on everyone that you can't play a new character while the old one is alive.
So, you're not stopping him from playing at your table, but the few times the scene changes to solitary confinement is to say, 'Yep, still there!'
There's no PvP, because it's NPCs that arrested the PC for crimes that his PC committed.
What could go wrong?
good idea
put him in solitary confinement, i like that.
but the no new character while the old one is still alive, punishes players whom feel the desire to retire their character at a key arc because they feel the character is ready to retire of has circumstances that urge it.
such as maternity leave for a soon to be mother or a ninja whom starts an assassin's guild and takes a backseat.
i guess it could be, you have to have a set of circumstances before you can retire the character, and arrest doesn't count.
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hmm, talk to you regulars and make a dwarven party build with big ugly beards and scabs or something, when he arrives enact gropey dwarven party and turn the tables on him? Man gamers like him make me a bit angry. you know making stereotypes and all that. In my younger more recklass days I might have had a talk with him that wasnt as polite...but im less aggressive soldier now and more that retired army bartender build. Still wish you luck on that
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Pierce: Now you can all hang out in suspended humiliation (time stop) and think about what you learned today. 1. Don't screw with me. 2. Invite me to your crap.
Neil (playing Ducane): Is it my turn?
Abed (DM): Yes, but you can't move.
Neil: That's fine. For my turn I feel sorry for Pierce Hawthorne.
Pierce: Pfff, save it.
Neil: No, I really do man.
Pierce: Good. For my turn I rape the Ducane family. Again.
Troy: Geeze.
Britta: For my turn, I pity Pierce too.
Pierce: Trust me kitty, I'm having the time of my life. I won. I won Dungeons & Dragons...and it was advanced!
Jeff: I pity Pierce.
Pierce: Knock it off.
Annie: Yeah, you really out-did yourself this week. There's a lot of pain in you. I seriously feel bad.
Pierce: Feel sorry for you new fat BFF.
Shirley: No we're done doing that. He's going to be fine, aren't you, Neil. You, Pierce, I really worry about. At least for my turn, anyway.
-Community (S2E14)
Or in other words, a form of peaceful protest. "For my turn, I do nothing but point out the sexual harassment of Aaron's character." And if sexual harassment continues and you're playing a cleric then, "for my turn I do nothing but point out the sexual harassment of Aaron's character in honor of the goodness of my deity." If the DM says you must not withhold healing on Aaron's character, then "I'm sorry, but my deity would not allow me to heal rapists who are going to continue on their evil paths. Only after she atones for her sins, will I heal Aaron's character." And the no-healing until atonement clause resets after every misdeed.
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I'm not a violent person, but I think the best solution would be to deal with the Aaron's of the world away from the game store.
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I feel for you as well Umbriere. Then gamers wonder why LGS go under. Which store owner in his right mind creates a policy that no one no matter what cannot be excluded from the store. I work in a bookstore. Even with poor sales because of the internet management bans certain customers. Personally imo it's less to do with policy and more not wanting to get involved on the owners part. A customer engaging in rape fantasies even in character. Whining about not being in games. Would have been kicked out of any properly run lgs.
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The solution is simple: the DM makes sure his PC is successfully captured and imprisoned for being too rapey. His PC can't continue his bad behaviour from solitary confinement, and his PC is prevented from suicide by restraints/force feeding/whatever.
The DM can easily impose a rule on everyone that you can't play a new character while the old one is alive.
So, you're not stopping him from playing at your table, but the few times the scene changes to solitary confinement is to say, 'Yep, still there!'
There's no PvP, because it's NPCs that arrested the PC for crimes that his PC committed.
What could go wrong?
good idea
put him in solitary confinement, i like that.
but the no new character while the old one is still alive, punishes players whom feel the desire to retire their character at a key arc because they feel the character is ready to retire of has circumstances that urge it.
such as maternity leave for a soon to be mother or a ninja whom starts an assassin's guild and takes a backseat.
i guess it could be, you have to have a set of circumstances before you can retire the character, and arrest doesn't count.
How long will Captain Rapey continue to play while his PC is in solitary confinement? The DM may reconsider the 'no new PC' rule after he leaves.
Or he could just impose the rule on Captain Rapey in a completely unfair manner. What's he going to do, leave the game? Complain to the shop manager that the DM isn't letting his imaginary friend rape someone else's imaginary friend?
In all seriousness, how can the 'you must let anyone play' rule override the 'you can't engage children you don't know in your rape fantasy in the store' rule? Let the shopkeeper know that this is what he's doing, and he's fooling the shopkeeper into facilitating this child abuse. Now that you've told the shopkeeper what's happening you're confidant that he'll fix it, because no shopkeeper wants you to complain to the authorities that he's facilitating child abuse in his shop.
This is a last resort, of course. Give people a chance to do the right thing themselves first.
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Aaron sounds too good to be true. And that is not counting the 700 lbs weight. How amazingly some people fit the stereotypes!
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(Awesome community reference, Fizzygoo!)
And if sexual harassment continues and you're playing a cleric then, "for my turn I do nothing but point out the sexual harassment of Aaron's character in honor of the goodness of my deity." If the DM says you must not withhold healing on Aaron's character, then "I'm sorry, but my deity would not allow me to heal rapists who are going to continue on their evil paths. Only after she atones for her sins, will I heal Aaron's character." And the no-healing until atonement clause resets after every misdeed.
You know, this is actually a really good point. The game notes that,
Ex-Clerics
A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. She cannot thereafter gain levels as a cleric of that god until she atones for her deeds (see the atonement spell description).
If Aaron, then, requires you to heal him after his actions, that grozzly violates your code of conduct. Thus, you lose all spells and class features. Thus, by his actions, he is engaging in PvP.
On a related note, harassment is PvP. A kind of PvP that applies both Out of Character and In, which just makes it that much worse. Thus, when Aaron declares an action, the GM - since PvP is not allowed - can simply declare, "No, you don't - that's PvP, and it's not allowed." and move the scene along. If Aaron doesn't play, the GM can declare that Aaron has spent his turn pouting. If you must, to simply be fair, institute a timer. Make this happen. There are ways.
Aaron can whine as much as he wants, but ignore him. Eventually, he'll either do something to get himself kicked out, leave of his own accord (as he's not doing anything other than spending his turns whining), or continue whining - which you can ignore, and continue to play the game.
Now, before you take any of the following advice, you need to talk to Aaron. A lot. Repeatedly. You need to find out why he's obsessed with rape fantasies, note the potential terrible trigger warnings, the fact that he's actively harming his favorite hobby by doing so in public, and the fact that doing so with others against their will is cruel. You need to understand why he doesn't shower. You need to make an intervention. Buy him supplies for cleaning himself. Get to know him. Make sure you understand his life.
You need to tell him to shower before he comes to the store. The owner needs to enforce this. This does not fall under the "no exclusion" policy - it falls under the right and necessity of a store to ban certain customers. It may be harmful to your game (and thus less fun), but simply have the GM refuse to run a game until Aaron takes a shower. This is not just for you, mind - this is for Aaron. He needs to get better.
Aaron clearly has serious issues. Very serious issues. Armchair psychology makes me suspect that he himself was sexually harassed or abused at some point in the past, and now he's attempting to do the same towards others without getting in trouble with the law. Alternate options, are, of course, that he's simply addicted to porn, is just sexually sick, is inherently socially inept, something else I haven't thought of, or some combination of the above.
If, after all reasonable (and some unreasonable) attempts at intervention, he continues in his methodology, it's time to begin more extreme measures.
If he continues to come in without any sort of shower, ask the owner to allow you to make his place smell better (though be sure to aim squarely for his clothes, away from his face - his armpits, back, and crotch are all viable targets).
If the owner does not wish for you to Febreeze him (or even if that's fine) and his obnoxious behavior doesn't get him kicked out of the store, you can always take the extreme step of, I dunno, dumping this on him. It's no-tears, so it's not assault. About the worst thing that you can be charged with is "unexpected cleansing of a terrible person".
If he complains, explain that the fact that he doesn't shower or bathe is terrible, and it harms him, the game, and everyone else. Get everyone to pitch in and purchase a crate of the stuff, so you've got plenty of supplies.
The fact is, Aaron needs help. Something is seriously wrong with him - whether it's the kind that can easily be fixed by group intervention and making real friends (which you really should do with your gaming group) is not something I can guess at - but with the behavior you describe, he needs to change or you need to get him out of your group. Barfing at each game is not a viable option. It actually harms your long-term health to do so with any frequency. Not to mention the stress on your mental health simply having to deal with him. This situation is not acceptable.
And if Aaron continues to frequent the shop, then you should not. Find somewhere else to game and exclude Aaron.
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we talk to him about it a lot, and so has the game store owner, but the game store has a no exclusions policy on their game tables. it's part of the contract for renting them.
I think I would never go into that store again in my life and let them know why. The kind of behavior they are allowing could easily get them involved in a lawsuit at the worst or just drive away customers.
The solution is simple: the DM makes sure his PC is successfully captured and imprisoned for being too rapey. His PC can't continue his bad behaviour from solitary confinement, and his PC is prevented from suicide by restraints/force feeding/whatever.
The DM can easily impose a rule on everyone that you can't play a new character while the old one is alive.
So, you're not stopping him from playing at your table, but the few times the scene changes to solitary confinement is to say, 'Yep, still there!'
There's no PvP, because it's NPCs that arrested the PC for crimes that his PC committed.
What could go wrong?
good idea
put him in solitary confinement, i like that.
but the no new character while the old one is still alive, punishes players whom feel the desire to retire their character at a key arc because they feel the character is ready to retire of has circumstances that urge it.
such as maternity leave for a soon to be mother or a ninja whom starts an assassin's guild and takes a backseat.
i guess it could be, you have to have a set of circumstances before you can retire the character, and arrest doesn't count.
Or ask the GM to be very very biased against his character. How long will he sit at your table if his character is always robbed by mysterious thieves, always targeted by the monsters (but never killed just left unconscious), or the subject of foul curses that transform her into a greasy pig or some such. If everyone else at the table asks the GM to drive him away I am sure he will.
One thing I have done is Make a Scene. But I realize making a scene doesn't work for everyone. As for the smell; Try a dab of perfume on a handkerchief and just hold it in front of your nose when he wanders near. This might be considered rude by him... but since he is being rude to everyone else it's fair game. Or use just enough perfume to overpower other scents on a scarf and tie it around your neck (I did this at a Con once). Once safely away from the unhygienic crowd I could tuck it away and be free to smell other things again.
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Don't pay for his chairs anymore. He breaks he deals with the store owner. If the store owner says the table is responsible, point out that it his no exclusion rule that keeps this guy coming which results in his broken chairs.
Seriously, if he continues to sexually harass you, tell him to stop. If he continues, call the police and file charges.
Man, there is some nasty stuff here. I have seen nothing even close. The worst I've seen (but not experienced myself) was a GM that got pissed at players not staying on his rails, tore up his notes & ran off in a huff.
They know their table has been dissolved after one game. Which is kinda sad for them. And I know their GM is already looking for new players.
I'm a fairly new GM, so hopefully seeing this can help me stay away from other's mistakes. At the very least, I have NO shame kicking someone off the table that makes the game unpleasant. NOW, I know to check what kind of rules the place I play at has first.
No real nasty players yet though. Despite having played a lot through roll20, I really would have expected more randoms.
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I think I would never go into that store again in my life and let them know why. The kind of behavior they are allowing could easily get them involved in a lawsuit at the worst or just drive away customers.
we talk to him about it a lot, and so has the game store owner, but the game store has a no exclusions policy on their game tables. it's part of the contract for renting them.
Seriously. If the guy is there and literally causing people to vomit, and apparently never has any money on him, has can be removed by the police.
"No exclusion policy" sounds like a cop out to me. I'd file a restraining order on this Aaron person if he was that bad.
Then again, I'm not too sure I'd want to go to a game store that had an overflowing barf bucket on hand that seems to always need cleaning.
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Precisely. Aaron does indeed sound too good to be true. I have a hard time seeing anyone tolerating a barf bucket.
That's just nasty.
Precisely. Aaron does indeed sound too good to be true. I have a hard time seeing anyone tolerating a barf bucket.
well he is useful as trap fodder, send his characters through a minefield, and literally, every mine in the entire minefield will trigger while they cross in their proximity.
he is also useful for repelling unwanted elitist rules lawyers because a lot of them are obsessive about hygeine, but, at the same time, he is bad to deal with.
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I've actually... never had a bad GM. I've had ones I don't agree with, but I wouldn't call them 'bad'. Every GM I've had has put a lot of effort into what they'd prepared, and ran a pretty fair game (Guess I'm lucky :) ).
Bad players, however...
We usually figure those out pretty fast. Me being the usual Gm (and, being a female), issues tend to arise quickly with douchebags, and they get asked to leave. Neither I, nor my boyfriend, are willing to tolerate that. Coincidentally, players with poor attitudes tend to have poor play styles that none of the other players enjoy, either. So it works out :)
The second worst player description I've ever seen.
Dear god. I'm so sorry you have to put up with that.
Man, there is some nasty stuff here. I have seen nothing even close. The worst I've seen (but not experienced myself) was a GM that got pissed at players not staying on his rails, tore up his notes & ran off in a huff.
They know their table has been dissolved after one game. Which is kinda sad for them. And I know their GM is already looking for new players.I'm a fairly new GM, so hopefully seeing this can help me stay away from other's mistakes. At the very least, I have NO shame kicking someone off the table that makes the game unpleasant. NOW, I know to check what kind of rules the place I play at has first.
No real nasty players yet though. Despite having played a lot through roll20, I really would have expected more randoms.
Yeah I've heard of that williamoak, in fact one of my friends was sort of gloating (complaining and sure he was in the right?) that he did tear it up and walk off when the players wouldn't obey.
This got us into a discussion on dming, where I had the position that it is the job of the dm to adapt to and not force the players. If they are getting off track, get them back on or go with it. The railroad never mattered because the railroad doesn't have to exist. Be like the water my friend.
My friend was not happy with my position in this monks on the mountaintop like discussion on the true essence of dming, they thought it was fine to fold and walk if the players didn't obey.
So I think some dms have that view--play my way or I leave dramatically.
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Precisely. Aaron does indeed sound too good to be true. I have a hard time seeing anyone tolerating a barf bucket.well he is useful as trap fodder, send his characters through a minefield, and literally, every mine in the entire minefield will trigger while they cross in their proximity.
he is also useful for repelling unwanted elitist rules lawyers because a lot of them are obsessive about hygeine, but, at the same time, he is bad to deal with.
What!? This guy is making people barf and costing them financially, not to mention inflicting some kind of trauma on others. How does an elitist rules lawyer in any shape equal that? There are easier way of getting away from those types then hanging around with a money sucking, barf inducing, sexually harassing, stink cloud that this guy is. This doesn't make any sense.
What!? This guy is making people barf and costing them financially, not to mention inflicting some kind of trauma on others. How does an elitist rules lawyer in any shape equal that? There are easier way of getting away from those types then hanging around with a money sucking, barf inducing, sexually harassing, stink cloud that this guy is. This doesn't make any sense.Precisely. Aaron does indeed sound too good to be true. I have a hard time seeing anyone tolerating a barf bucket.well he is useful as trap fodder, send his characters through a minefield, and literally, every mine in the entire minefield will trigger while they cross in their proximity.
he is also useful for repelling unwanted elitist rules lawyers because a lot of them are obsessive about hygeine, but, at the same time, he is bad to deal with.
i forgot about that. sorry. i have dealt with him so long, that he seems so difficult to remove, and any change in Venue is going to either cost more to rent a room, or cost more for Gas, and we would have the same problems if he stalked us, which i am sure he will.
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What!? This guy is making people barf and costing them financially, not to mention inflicting some kind of trauma on others. How does an elitist rules lawyer in any shape equal that? There are easier way of getting away from those types then hanging around with a money sucking, barf inducing, sexually harassing, stink cloud that this guy is. This doesn't make any sense.Precisely. Aaron does indeed sound too good to be true. I have a hard time seeing anyone tolerating a barf bucket.well he is useful as trap fodder, send his characters through a minefield, and literally, every mine in the entire minefield will trigger while they cross in their proximity.
he is also useful for repelling unwanted elitist rules lawyers because a lot of them are obsessive about hygeine, but, at the same time, he is bad to deal with.
Indeed, it doesn't make sense at all. I may be out on a limb here, but I find Aaron to sound about as real as Skeletor. Barf buckets aren't tolerated anywhere. And honestly, Umbriere, there is enough prejudice about people who play RPGs that we don't need to make up freaks and stories about them for the lulz.
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I forgot about that. Sorry. I have dealt with him so long, that he seems so difficult to remove, and any change in Venue is going to either cost more to rent a room, or cost more for gas, and we would have the same problems if he stalked us, which I am sure he will.What!? This guy is making people barf and costing them financially, not to mention inflicting some kind of trauma on others. How does an elitist rules lawyer in any shape equal that? There are easier way of getting away from those types then hanging around with a money sucking, barf inducing, sexually harassing, stink cloud that this guy is. This doesn't make any sense.Precisely. Aaron does indeed sound too good to be true. I have a hard time seeing anyone tolerating a barf bucket.Well he is useful as trap fodder, send his characters through a minefield, and literally, every mine in the entire minefield will trigger while they cross in their proximity.
He is also useful for repelling unwanted elitist rules lawyers because a lot of them are obsessive about hygiene, but, at the same time, he is bad to deal with.
Yeah, a restraining order on this Aaron guy sounds good considering he might be stalking your group outside the game, too. Seriously, this guy shouldn't just be kicked out of the store you hang out at. He should be put into some kind of mental institution, because he's clearly off his fat rocker. Either that, or prison. This guy's clearly been doing his fair share of damage to the people around him (whether it be broken chairs or minds disturbed by his harassement), and he should pay for all of it. How nobody has done anything about him for that long is beyond me.
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Man, some bad stories in here. This Aaron fella reminds me of a local GM*, who you couldn't pay me to play with, but others do, merely because it means they get to play in games. Not enough GM's = desperation/tolerance of any behaviour. However, that is not my story. I, thankfully, have practically no bad GM stories at all. My worst GM stories are ;
(1) The above GM. He wasn't as bad as the * at this point in his life. I had just started college, and was an avid video gamer. I found out about a fantasy and science fiction society at the college, that apparently played these things called table top role playing games. Yes, this was my first experience of TTRPG's. I sat at a random table, with four other fellows (3 guys, 1 girl). It was a pre-made scenario with pre-made characters, that were randomly handed out. I got the high charisma/appearance, socialite bombshell babe. And I was, repeatedly, by this grossly overweight fellow, encouraged to play up the flirtatious, "easy" femme in roleplaying with NPC's, and the other players. Needless to say, for the introverted, shy, nerdy guy, who was playing his first TTRPG ever, it wasn't the most enjoyable experience.
(2) Thinking back on the above, this 2nd story is hardly worth a complaint, but as someone who enjoys a little verisimilitude in his games, this was annoying to deal with. This GM is so affected by every TV show and anime he watches, his games changes constantly. From high powered, anime antics, to survival horror, to civilisation/trade empire building, the game genre drastically changed on a weekly basis. It was impossible to tell what was going to happen next, unless were asking him what he was watching the night before the game. :P
As for worst player?
The GM in (2) above. When he's on the player side of the table, he has no patience for non combat scenarios. It's all about the fight, like that's the only way to play games. And not just any fight, it has to be his fight. Kind of a spotlight hog. But, you know, he makes a good combat monster, and combat is inevitable, sooner or later, in most RPG's, so none of that bothers anyone too much. No, what makes him the worst player was when he purposefully derailed one of the best campaigns I've ever been in.
So, story set up. This game was run by our resident super GM. Like, he is always running a game, and they are always awesome. The only flaw he has is he is a doormat, which only matters when a certain kind of player is in his game. Maybe you see where this is going. :P So, he starts running a Cthulhu Tech game, set at the start of the war that is the backstory for the setting. And we're all soldiers in the army, the ones testing the Mechs the game does so very well, in the war that I'll try not to spoil. Now, Mr Spotlight decides that he's going to play a commanding officer type, strict and serious. By-the-book kinda guy. Extremely out of character for him, as he usually likes Chaotic Neutral, I do what I like characters. And he picks an option at character creation which just about breaks the game. He's so much more powerful than the rest of us, that anything that challenges him, kills the rest of us outright. The GM regrets letting him have it, but he's already given it to him, so too late to go back on it.
As the game progresses, Mr Spotlight starts letting his Chaotic tendencies flow through his character, which starts to make the whole military chain of command a bit messy. Eventually, we have to scarper from a military base, absconding with our Mechs, because the General we're reporting to has a top secret, off the record mission for us to take care of. As soon as we leave the base, Mr Spotlight decides his character can take no more, and tries to arrest us and the General, and sabotage our equipment. His character unfortunately dies and the game derails, due to both this, and the GM breaking up with one of the players. Okay, probably more the second one. :P
Now, almost two years later, we get to why he's the worst player story. The GM finally goes back to this game, without his ex playing, or dating any of the players this time. Collectively, we are hyped. Mr Spotlight wants to play with the same option he had last time. This is where things start to fall apart. The GM decides that, now that he knows better, this option is not allowable at character creation. Also, as our characters are all experienced veterans at this stage, while his new character is a fresh faced newbie, both to the group and to the scenario, he would start with slightly less xp than the rest of us, but would level up faster and would be at our level after a few games. Mr Spotlight does not want to play "if he's as weak as the other players". His words. So, some contention, but eventually he agrees to the GM's ruling.
He decides to play a support character, from a veteran retirement home. A support character, a specialist in the dangerous but powerful engines that power the Mechs. Very unusual for him, but sounds okay. In play, he decides it's a retirement home for insane veterans. And his character acts unstable. And breaks out and starts to work on the Mechs without clearance. Now, the engines on these Mechs make nuclear power seem as safe as firewood, and when it goes wrong, it makes nuclear bombs seem as small scale as grenades. Needless to say, the soldiers take exception to the crazy person messing with their highly dangerous, unstable engines on the military equipment they need to fight the war. Mr Spotlight is furious that his character is not automatically accepted, solely on his PC nature, despite his PC making the idea incredibly ludicrous. As the other PC's complete a small side mission to get equipment (such as spare Mechs that his character could work on slightly more safely), we discuss a way to reasonably accept his character in the story, including assurances his character would take his meds (act more stable in character) and other such things. After this hour long side step, we return and begin to try and engage his character. He stands from the table, declares he has better things to do, and leaves. Just like that.
Now, you might think, hey, you're free of him now. Continue the game! Nah, GM is completely floored, and demoralized. The game is officially sealed, and shall never be returned to. All because Mr Spotlight had to be "as weak as the other players". *sigh*
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If that guy was in The Last of Us, he would be put down with that level of fungal infection.
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i forgot about that. sorry. i have dealt with him so long, that he seems so difficult to remove, and any change in Venue is going to either cost more to rent a room, or cost more for Gas, and we would have the same problems if he stalked us, which i am sure he will.What!? This guy is making people barf and costing them financially, not to mention inflicting some kind of trauma on others. How does an elitist rules lawyer in any shape equal that? There are easier way of getting away from those types then hanging around with a money sucking, barf inducing, sexually harassing, stink cloud that this guy is. This doesn't make any sense.Precisely. Aaron does indeed sound too good to be true. I have a hard time seeing anyone tolerating a barf bucket.well he is useful as trap fodder, send his characters through a minefield, and literally, every mine in the entire minefield will trigger while they cross in their proximity.
he is also useful for repelling unwanted elitist rules lawyers because a lot of them are obsessive about hygeine, but, at the same time, he is bad to deal with.
If this is true and, really my last reply on the subject, as a mental health professional if he is harassing people to the point of throwing up, call the police. If he is sitting there telling you his sexual fantasies and will not stop when you request it, call the police This behavior should not be supported and it is not safe for anyone, and if you are in the United States is a criminal offense. If the owner refuses to remove him, call the city health inspector because I am sure having a barf bucket violates all sorts of health codes.
If you are unwilling to do these things then you are choosing to be in this toxic environment and the only person to hold responsible, at that point, is yourself.
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Yes. Lots of questions. No reasonable answers.
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Yes. Lots of questions. No reasonable answers.
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...
Umm...I...uh...
<facepalm>
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Yes. Lots of questions. No reasonable answers.
Well, this is clearly not Staples.
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Easy button or a BS detector?
I'll take both!
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Yes. Lots of questions. No reasonable answers.Yep, that's Umbriere for you.
Oi vey.
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Yes. Lots of questions. No reasonable answers.
So, so many questions..
1. How is attempting to or actually raping PCs NOT PVP activity?
2. As far as the rules that are too complicated to explain, perhaps the GM should try "No, really, we'll take the time. Explain, in detail, with page numbers and pictures."
3. Have you folks tried "No, you don't" when he begins his advances? Ignore him and move on. The shop owner may decide that anyone can come in and sit at the tables, but that doesn't mean that you have to let them do whatever they want.
4. If he has no funds to pay for these chairs, how on Earth can he move to a new location if you folks move? Do the bad smell fairies carry him?
5. If he is really making people sick and you are paying for chairs, a bar bucket and someone to clean said bucket and yet it would somehow cost more than CHAIRS in gas to play elsewhere, these are either cheap chairs or very expensive gas and table fees. Play at a public park. Check for a recreation center that allows gatherings. A library has spaces. Someone's garage. A street corner. A dark basement rented by a serial killer under a porn studio sounds like a better deal at this point.
6. Is this real?
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Was just reminiscing about my worst DM when I saw this thread. Paizo regulars who have seen any of my posts might have heard me talk about a GM named Damien. I think it's time to let my story out. A warning below... I'm going to try to keep the slurs and cursing to a minimum, but trust me when I say things were bad. If I mention that a character was a certain race, it's because it unfortunately came up.
When I was in high school, I used to game at this Not-So-FLGS. It wasn't a gaming store as much as it was a pagan store that just happened to have D&D stuff in it. The owner was an a@*~@%& if you were obviously Christian (wore a crucifix, etc.) but otherwise, didn't really bother you. Also the store at an adult section that included anime for whatever reason (like, non-mature anime like Dragonball and Voltron), so it was cool to sneak in and get my anime fix.
Anyways, a regular there was a kid named Damien. He was in high school when I was in middle school, and had dropped out when I was a junior. The kid wasn't very intelligent. He had read a lot of history, but in a very close-minded, biased way. See, he was a closeted white supremacist and believed that history showed that European culture was superior to all other cultures. He'd bemoan about how Wizards of the Coast was "pandering to minorities that don't have a real culture" with their depictions in art as well as Oriental Adventures/Al Qadim sets.
Playing a game with him was never fun, but admittedly I had time to kill as a kid and I wanted to play D&D. In most of his games, non-white humans weren't allowed. We could only play European-styled characters because it was "a medieval game" and there weren't African/Asian/Latino people in the Dark Ages. We could also only play men (including female players) for the same reason. Dark Ages. Of course, even then, he was inconsistent. I had brought in a character inspired by the Don Quixote, but was nixed because he was Spanish...
Yeah... maybe Anglophile is a better word for him.
In the first game we played in, we had two of Damien's flunkies, Jacob and Paul, that always supported his settings. We also had myself (Puerto Rican), a new guy named Tyler who was black, and a girl named Hope. Jumping into the game, I'm playing a paladin and we are trekking to find a lost treasure or something. First game, Damien's little henchmen are already talking down to my paladin and Tyler's wizard because we (not our characters) are of color. Despite the fact that our characters are white humans. Whatever, I can ignore Tweedledee and Tweedeldumber. So we run across a black man running towards us in fear. As a paladin, I am worried about his well being and any threats coming up on us. The black man was voiced as a horrible stereotype. Like, it would make Jar Jar Binks sound respectable. I could see Tyler twitch in his seat. Behind him comes a white nobleman and two guards. The noble told us that the black man was an escaped slave and that he has to be taking back to his keep for punishment. The black man kept begging us not to, and I quote, "let massa whip me!" It was... revolting.
Now, my paladin was not okay with slavery nor allowing this man to get punished. So, he offered to buy the slave. No dice, no Diplomacy roll allowed. Nobleman flat out said no. Me, Tyler, and Hope agreed that we would not allow harm to come to the man, and chose to stand between the nobleman and the slave. GM says that slavery is not only allowed, but encouraged in the setting and that by going against it, my paladin has just fallen. And of course, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern side with Damien and attack us. And the nobleman and guards attack us. Our characters die and my paladin is apparently sent to Hell to burn for all eternity for speaking out against law.
Yeah... let that sink in.
So, after that game imploded on the first session, you'd think I'd learn my lesson, right? Well, sadly, he was the only GM in the area and at the time, I didn't really want to GM. So he'd pull a game together, I'd get suckered into it, then we ride the racism roller coaster into oblivion. And each time he'd always try and hide it with "it was like that in the Dark Ages!" type of mentality. But the last game was by far the worst.
Fast forward a couple of years. I'm in high school now and Damien just dropped out of his senior year. He's running another game and at this point, he's actually allowed people to play non-white characters. So I figured he's finally lightened up and learned from his mistakes right?
Well, I wouldn't be telling this story if he did ;)
We've got myself, a black girl named Shayla, and my brother in this game, along with Damien's Dynamic Duo playing in a Caribbean-esque pirate game. So I play a native pirate, Shayla is an ex-slave turned pirate, and my brother was a ninja. Cause he was 12 and why the f&$+ not :D. This session started with promise. We had to rob a royal naval ship and take its goods. The first session was pretty normal and non-racist, with us fighting and killing a bunch of royal navy men and stealing their plunder, then fighting some sahuagin that had jumped onto our ship. We end the first session dropping anchor in the equivalent of Tortuga to drop off our ill-gotten goods.
With the beginning of the second session, however, we immediately saw a return to form. Jacob and Paul started the session demanding more of a take of the plunder, because they deserved more of loot over "a n~#*#+ and a s*#$". Shayla was rightfully shocked, never having played with Damien before. When we almost threatened mutiny, the issue was dropped and we went to shore. But things only got worse. Our characters found it impossible to sell the plunder, as all the pirates were racist against us. Cause apparently, horrible thieves and cutthroat murderers apparently have enough pride to not sell to us *rolls eyes* Stupid reasoning aside, we decide to let Ace and Gary: The Ambiguously Racist Duo handle selling stuff while the three of us went drinking and adventure seeking. Things were alright for a bit, until we had a five-man pirate mob approach us. They demanded that we leave the bar, since they don't serve our kind here. Of course, as pirates, we told them to f&*~ off. Apparently, that was a huge mistake. The pirates fought us and used some sleep poison to knock us out. They then coup de graced my brother and me, but left Shayla alive.
Unfortunately, Damien decided that as pirates, they had no problems raping her character. He proceed to describing it in pretty horrible detail, all while Jacob and Paul were giggling like moronic teenagers. It was enough to bring Shayla to tears and run out of the store. At that point, I had enough and I wasn't going to take this sitting down. Words were exchanged, yells were had, and then I ended the campaign by punching Damien in the face. Luckily, I didn't get in trouble, but I was kicked out and banned from the store permanently. Still, that was the last I ever saw of Damien.
Of course, there is always an epilogue. Playing under Damien spurred me to start GMing for the first time. Learning from his mistakes, I'd like to think I've become a better GM. Tyler, he still plays Pathfinder for low-income kids as part of a Big Brother/Big Sister-type program in Chicago. Hope doesn't touch anything nerdy unfortunately, but Shayla still plays a lot of video games. We actually dated for a bit in college, but she moved out to New York to pursue modelling. My brother isn't around anymore. He went to the Marines, suffered from PTSD, and committed suicide a year ago tomorrow. And me? I live in Florida and I GM for a group of friends as well as online. Jacob and Paul dropped out and got arrested for drug possession up in SC. Haven't heard anything about them since then.
As for Damien, he's actually resurfaced in recent months. I found out he got arrested and charged for assault against an interracial couple when he was 18. He's out of prison now and I actually saw him crusading on a different rpg forum against rpg companies that portray minorities in positive light. Kinda sad to see that things never change... but at the very least, I'll never have to deal with him again.
I've got more stories, but I figured I'd lead with the worst. And remember kids: Don't be a Damien.
... holy cow.
Yeah
My worst player story doesn't really compete. I'd have to think about that one admittedly.
That is just awful Odraude. Sickening and awful.
At least you know what not to do now.