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I have been a longtime Pathfinder GM. I had some free time last night, and have been itching to play lately, so I went to my LGS to try out Pathfinder Society.
I won't even touch on how awful the GM was. Honestly, I was running games better in Jr. High. But I won't fault him for that. I will, however, fault him for not reigning two of the players in.
One player was a barbarian who did nothing but lift weights and drink protein shakes. He was named Bro-heim and worshiped a deity named Bro-nan. His war cries were "Come at me, Bro!" and "YOLO!" he made constant...I mean CONSTANT...jokes. Every single scenario had to stop while him and the other player made jokes in character as well as out of character.
The other player made him look amazing. The other player was named Backpack. Because he was, literally, an animated backpack. Let me say that again...he was actually an animated backpack. He even had a miniature that was just a backpack. I have pictures to prove it. He also joked constantly. Backpack tried to antagonize EVERY NPC we came across into a fight. He did this on purpose and openly declared it every time he did it.
At one point, we were being attacked by a group of female inn keepers. Bro-heim and Backpack made constant sexual jokes, and wanted to drag the women into their "sex dungeon" to have their way with them. I'm not a prude and it didn't offend me, but I thought it was entirely inappropriate.
In the final battle, Backpack approached a bad guy and chose to buff him until he was very powerful. He then provoked the buffed bad guy to attack him just to see if he could heal himself enough to survive the buffed attacks.
I spoke up quite a few times about this behavior, but I was the only one at the table that felt this way.
I am really upset at the GM for not doing anything to curb this behavior. He laughed at them quite a bit, and let them continue disrupting the entire game.
So, my question is, who do I report this GM to? I know there's nothing I can do about the players, but I am absolutely disgusted that a GM would allow this to happen. It has turned me off of PFS and I can only imagine it has turned others off, as well. I won't be playing again, that's for sure. And, before last night, I had been talking to the players in my game group about getting together to play PFS at this LGS, but I quickly told them what a mistake that would be.
Or am I jut overreacting?
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Doesn't sound like you were playing PFS at all - neither the deity "Bro-nan" nor the animated backpack race are legal. :/ Neither is any of the behavior you described.
Seriously, though - the store likely has a coordinator that you can and should speak to - the store staff should be able to tell you who that is. That should be your first step.
There are also folks called Venture-Officers, and almost certainly there's one that oversees your area... check the main PFS page under "Get Involved", there's a list there by geographic region.
EDIT: LINK
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Were chronicle sheets issued? Was this a scenario or an adventure path? Was it possible this was an ongoing campaign you stepped into under the auspices of PFS? The rules for those are a bit different. As others have said, this is not a typical PFS session. I would encourage you to reach out to the store organizer and the local Venture-Officer for help. If this is a PFS group not following the rules, action should be taken. If however it's just a miscommunication, they can get you in contact with a "real" PFS group. I'm sure you'll find our community has quality GMs and is very inclusive
I received a chronicle sheet at the end. It was scenario #5-01 called The Glass River Rescue.
This was definitely PFS.
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They may have been calling it PFS, but it certainly doesn't sound like they were adhering to PFS rules. Definitely report this behavior so that this situation does not repeat itself. I would also recommend asking whomever you report them to to get you in touch with a PFS group that is more representative of the community as a whole. I've been playing PFS for about 3 years now, and can assure you it is full of great GM's and players.
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1. Talk to the GM first; if it doesn't get resolved then take it to the:
2. Game day organizer; if it doesn't get resolved than take it to the:
3. Venture-Lieutenant; if it doesn't get resolved than take it to the:
4. Venture-Captain; if it doesn't get resolved than take it to the:
5. Regional Venture-Captain (me); if it doesn't get resolved than take it to the:
6. Organized Play Coordinator (Tonya)
Taking it to the boards makes it more likely to devolve into a he-said/she-said type of situation that doesn't help the situation in the slightest.
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I just came to the board since I didn't know who to turn to.
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It has turned me off of PFS and I can only imagine it has turned others off, as well. I won't be playing again, that's for sure.
As with anything else in life, don't let this first bad egg sour your taste for eggs everywhere.
When I showed up to my first PFS game (with 3 friends), our GM was terrible. And he specifically targeted my character in fights, openly admitting that characters like mine (a Tengu Rogue) were "destroying PFS".
Instead of scaring me away, two of those three friends decided to never come back.
Next game (different GM), the players were terrible. "Kill everything in sight". That scared away my last friend.
But I was determined to try a third time, and I've been hooked ever since (4 years later).
I also vowed to offer my GM skills so encounters like mine would never happen again.
So, try to tough through this one experience if you can. I guarantee you that it's not the norm.
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...
And he specifically targeted my character in fights, openly admitting that characters like mine (a Tengu Rogue) were "destroying PFS".
...
That. Is. Hilarious!
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That's a negative, Ghostrider...That. Is. Hilarious!
Well it's not funny that it happened to Nefreet. That's a bummer. But the idea that chained rogues were a menace that needed to be wiped out? That's hilarious.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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@Aaron: I hope you can give PFS a chance again at some point, and like in another location. It is very likely that talking to the people involved will have some effect.
If the game was not fun based on the player's actions, usually the best way is to give feedback to the GM (frankly, someone should talk to him, a least the backpack thing sounds quite illegal).
It might also be a good opportunity to get your local venture officers involved, from your side of the story, it sounds like a couple of people in that location could benefit from a bit of constructive criticism, and having the Guide to Organized play shown to them.
This was really not a common occurrence, and I assure you, that most PFS GMs are very motivated individuals. Of course, everybody has to start somewhere, and with the wrong kind of motivation/lack of guidance, it is easy to pick up some really nasty habits.
It is very likely that there will be another PFS location in your area, or maybe online play might be an option to give PFS a fair go.
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One player was a barbarian who did nothing but lift weights and drink protein shakes. He was named Bro-heim and worshiped a deity named Bro-nan. His war cries were "Come at me, Bro!" and "YOLO!" he made constant...I mean CONSTANT...jokes.
They were playing Brofinder Society, which uses PFS resources but is a different game altogether.
At one point, we were being attacked by a group of female inn keepers. Bro-heim and Backpack made constant sexual jokes, and wanted to drag the women into their "sex dungeon" to have their way with them. I'm not a prude and it didn't offend me, but I thought it was entirely inappropriate.
There is nothing prudish about being opposed to sexual assault or jokes that normalise it.
HI. I'm in Iowa City too and had a somewhat similar experience at what I'm guessing is the same place.
In the PFS game I attended, there were a lot of characters that were truly total bat-&$%# crazy, played by some super-animated, chaotic neutral players (not characters, chaotic neutral players, if you know what I mean), but the players and their characters weren't really the problem. I've DM'd in similar situations and you can still have a really fun game, albeit more of the looney-tunes variety, although it's incumbent upon the GM to be very firm in the ramifications of actions within the world.
But the GM . . . The GM was running a scenario he obviously had never read. He couldn't pronounce anything correctly, anything, and the read-aloud text almost sounded like another language.
He did nothing to discourage the chaos at the table. He was really foggy on basic rules and super specific on obscure rules. There was a first time player at the table, whom the GM assigned the task of managing all the intuitive and announcing whose turn it was, because he couldn't be bothered. A first time player.
At one point, the GM took a break, gave me the adventure, and had me, a player in said adventure, map out the final encounter while he chatted with friends and ate chips. After a while he came over and told me not to map all the secret doors, because we didn't know about those.
Now this GM (assuming it is the same GM you had) is not a bad person or rude or cruel or anything. But he should not be allowed to GM, esp. not for new players.
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We have to run a lot of times at a blink of a eye and sometimes just have to go with the flow. Sometimes I'm just brain dead after working all day outside but I try and give my players a fun night.
What happen to the OP seems over the top but I know we have some players that have some crazy character concepts too.
My suggestion is to figure out what players you don't enjoy playing with see if your local Pfs chapter uses warhorn and try to find games were you will have fun and not feel annoyed
I think that it is often difficult to join a group of people who have played together for a long time. When people have spent a lot of time together they inevitably create protocols for the game and set boundaries on personal behavior, but these are normally unspoken rules which are created through a complicated process of signalling that takes place over many small conflicts.
For a new person, the awareness that everyone else has this shared experience can be alienating. The feeling that you are lost and/or being judged isn't usually a pleasant one.
And for those already in the group, the presence of an outsider can feel uncomfortable and even a bit threatening. A new person can shift the balance of power established over those long hours of shared experiences, and sometimes their judgement can make previously established boundaries seem inadequate.
It can take a lot of hard work and empathy on both sides to make these experiences pleasant for all. And sometime even that fails.
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HI. I'm in Iowa City too and had a somewhat similar experience at what I'm guessing is the same place.
In the PFS game I attended, there were a lot of characters that were truly total bat-&$%# crazy, played by some super-animated, chaotic neutral players (not characters, chaotic neutral players, if you know what I mean), but the players and their characters weren't really the problem. I've DM'd in similar situations and you can still have a really fun game, albeit more of the looney-tunes variety, although it's incumbent upon the GM to be very firm in the ramifications of actions within the world.
But the GM . . . The GM was running a scenario he obviously had never read. He couldn't pronounce anything correctly, anything, and the read-aloud text almost sounded like another language.
He did nothing to discourage the chaos at the table. He was really foggy on basic rules and super specific on obscure rules. There was a first time player at the table, whom the GM assigned the task of managing all the intuitive and announcing whose turn it was, because he couldn't be bothered. A first time player.
At one point, the GM took a break, gave me the adventure, and had me, a player in said adventure, map out the final encounter while he chatted with friends and ate chips. After a while he came over and told me not to map all the secret doors, because we didn't know about those.
Now this GM (assuming it is the same GM you had) is not a bad person or rude or cruel or anything. But he should not be allowed to GM, esp. not for new players.
I've only been playing Society since January but I can tell the difference between a GM who has prepared and one who sits down and runs the game dry. In my area, Maitland FL, the only reason we ever really have for Gms running a game dry is because we have a 3-4 games running and have more people signed up than expected or a GM had to cancel at the last minute, even then when they don't have time to prepare the game can be fun and engaging due to the simple fact that the person running it, whether they put some deep thought into it or not, respects the fact that they made a commitment to be in charge of a game and create a safe and fun environment for everyone involved.
And Yolande, while I must admit I find the fact that you also received the same experience at (probably) the same place as I am talking about, as depressing, it is also somewhat comforting because now I know I'm not the only one that felt this way.
So, between you and me, that's two players who have been turned off by this particular group. I hate to think about how many others there are.
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If a few more people with the same experience show up here, maybe you could start your own PFS game.