Never had to, fortunately. I’ve been lucky to have only ever got involved with sane, responsible people who have all gone on to be my friends.
Granted, having had plenty of experience attending public clubs and working at game stores, I’ve developed a good sense of who’s dysfunctional and who’s merely fricking awkward.
But…
HOWEVER, once of my other friends wanted to DM. It was in the middle of the first lockdown and everything was remote so when he wanted to run a game I happily hopped on board.
He invited two people along I didn’t know, though.
TL;DR one of his friends turned out was an ex-military troony who was absolutely fricking obsessed with mushrooms to the point his character art was an anime girl in a mushroom hat and dress and literally everything he did focused on shrooms.
He also was an archetypal murderhobo, right down to wanting to betray the mercenaries who freed us from slavers at the start of the game. When my salt-of-the-earth huntsman absolutely refused to do so, he OOC tried to pull some kind of condescending psyche-out against me OOC , trying to convince me it was somehow moral to betray them to a bunch of sentient omnicidal forest animals.
Eventually this same whackjob would then try to coerce the king into giving him a bunch of shit and accuse him of corruption- right at the fricking ceremony he threw to thank us for stopping the druidic cult/animals- where he freely offered to grant each of us any one wish.
At this point my Huntsman asked simply for a small plot of land in the forest to serve as a home and a position of leadership amongst the town watchmen to better help protect the town and its surrounding forests.
He granted it, and then I totally fricked off, retiring my character then and there on a high note.
Never found out what the fungus troony wanted. I just returned to DM’ing and reformed the group for a new game without the extra whack friends of my friend.
>Never found out what the fungus person wanted
On the outside chance this story happened and isn't an excuse to involve your personal bogey into yet another unrelated thread: She wanted you to quit being a boring pleb and get involved with the narrative a little.
Happened about 1.5 years ago now, still had no idea how it got to this point:
>Be me, first time GM >Been playing with a group of friends I'd met at uni, two guys who'd I'd met in 1st year (one was an autistic rules lawyer), and two girls who one of the guys introduced to our sessions in 2nd year >generally decent group, didn't realise at the time that I was 100% the bottom b***h >My turn to DM, want to do a sci-fi campaign, try to market Alien, or Stars Without Number >the group refuses to play anything else other than Pathfinder, so begrudgingly pick Starfinder >don't like the setting much, so try to throw a cyberpunk chaotic element in there, with Earth humans >plot is that they're a gang of escaped prisoners doing jobs for a corp, who keeps them out of jail whilst they do his dirty work > they roll up an envoy e-boy, a human soldier (rips off the protag from Ruiner), shape shifting operative, solarian (can't remember the race), and a human mechanic (this guy was aight) >First few sessions go well, get some decent engagement here >Roleplaying is very poor though, everyone is mostly playing themselves as they have before >Best mate that's been playing DnD for 12+ years expresses interest in playing, let him join as a Vesk Soldier >Try and throw a lot of opportunities for side-quests at the PCs, don't take any of the threads >have a meeting with the guy that got them out of prison, in his dingy apartment >have to wait 20mins for them to stop laughing at the fricking toilet >20 FRICKING MINUTES >This group really has an issue with side tangents >Vesk soldier is thankfully a voice of reason, and tries to push the plot forward
>Because the side tangents have got a bit ridiculous, I broach the players in the next session >Say that I appreciate it's a game, but it takes time to prep, would appreciate a bit more in character engagement, and fewer interruptions >Deathly silence at this >Pretty awkward, just take it as affirmative, and role with it >Have the PCs try to break into a prison by taking a route through the sewers and breaking into a drug lab >It’s in Roll20, so I've got a floor plan of a drug lab, with laborers packing product >bunch of random races, one in particular is an Ysoki (a rat person) >there is a reason for mentioning this >Am describing the drug lab to the players; how the walkways are separate, which parts they can't see, where they are, etc. >one of the girls talks over me as I'm in the middle of this, pointing at the rat token > "IS THAT A RAT?" >Ask her not to talk over please >Pushes back, says I talked over her >"well, It sounded like a side-tangent" >perhaps could have handled it a bit better, but never expected it to turn out the way it did
>Session runs on as normal think nothing of the exchange >Get to the end of the session, ask how everyone enjoyed it >The girl says she's literally on the verge of tears, couldn't believe I disrespected her like this >The other girl backs her up, says they thought I was really rude >totally caught off guard by this >like a dumbass, I apologize, say I never meant to hurt anyone's feelings, say I hope they can forgive me >girl says "yeah we'll see if you mean it next session" >every except best mate laughs at this >log off
>try to call the girl to clear it all up >best mate gets to me first >sets me straight, tells me that I did nothing wrong, and the girl went off for no reason >leave a message on my discord telling them I thought what went down was totally wrong >cancel the game and leave the discord we're on >cue about a month of fake panic attacks one particularly tiresome discord call with the girl, and general insanity and gaslighting
Thank God for this shitshow every day, glad to be rid of these people.
I was the DM and I had to walk away from a group because it contained such unrepentant simps that I couldnt tolerate them anymore.
>homebrew campaign about a bunch of mercs making do on the borderlands where a number of minor and major powers intersect >one of them is a slightly chinese flavored female necromancer dragon lady >everyone and their mother warns them about her >she always acts super friendly and slightly flirty, constantly asking for things and favors >one PC decides to run for the omegasimp award and steals a tome from the party to bring it to her >she takes it and immediately ties up the loose ends(him) which he was told she would do if she got the tome >"BUT DEWD WTF, WHY'D SHE KILL ME" >"she was a villain, son, a ruthless necromancer out for power to be exact" >"BUT SHE TOLD ME WE COULD RULE TOGETHER, DEWD WTF" >"she was a villain and she LIED to you to get what she want" >"BUT DEWD THAT MAKES NO SENSE, HAHA, SHE WAS ALWAYS FREINDLY" >"yes, she acted friendly to get what she wanted" >"BUT MAYBE HE WANTED US AS ALLIES WHY WUD SHE LIE DEWD >the others joined and started chiming in how she CANT be evil because they were given by some superficial compliments by her >tell them, that her entire story from poisoning her own family, taking over the family castle, digging up graveyards etc. were nothing but a conga line of evil acts out of nothing but a pure lust for power and immortality >WELL MAYBE SHE HAD A RIGHT REASON, LIKE, SHE WAS ABUSED BY HIS FAMILY OR SOMETHING >tell them, uhh no, stop making headcanon, she never had anything but a happy upbringing and went into it entirely out of her own volition >btw, she is a 140 year old Yzma looking ass hag who cannot even move her atrophied limbs without magic anymore, you have been interacting only with mindslaved flesh-puppets who just happen to be attractive girls she kidnapped for that exact purpose
Then they started calling me an incel for "not understanding women" so I fricked right off.
Other npcs did warm them, for sure.
But, did you ever have moments where you asked the PCs to roll perception to see through her lies?
Or roll deception on her behalf against their passive wisdom?
Do you give any other hints besides that?
Don't ask pc's to roll perception and knowledge checks; that should be passive; just ask to see their sheets for a moment if you didn't make note earlier, and roll them yourself behind the screen, without tellin' them.
D&D in particular is lacking a "passive gullibility check" which you could abstract like passive perception if you felt like it.
Are you fricking moronic by any chance? Or literally autistic and unable to interpret social situations without numbers telling you?
Don't ask pc's to roll perception and knowledge checks; that should be passive; just ask to see their sheets for a moment if you didn't make note earlier, and roll them yourself behind the screen, without tellin' them.
D&D in particular is lacking a "passive gullibility check" which you could abstract like passive perception if you felt like it.
Ahh of course, should have known, just a D&D player. They are the dumbest.
This is the most common reason. I just wish the malcontents that make up the large body of players also explained what they want before joining a game and wasting everyone's time. Can't tell you how many insane alt-right and troony players I've had to remove because they just make up what a game is about and then try forcing it on everyone including the GM. It's quite exhausting and, honestly, I probably should ignore American players until their country calms down.
Apparently the gaming group that poster had included political orientations.
When you play games with someone it leads to other conversations, politics being a fair topic to approach. When one gamer dares to voice their opinion and others agree, a circle forms. It may eventually outweigh the game itself.
Playing games with someone is a fantastic way to get to know them, especially challenging ones. And, unfortunately for the outcasts, social circles are a game old as time.
Nothing is inherently wrong with both the right or the left.
The problem is people that make politcs and political affiliation their entire life and subsequently try to preach their desired social norms and customs.
Some poltards are genuinely going on tirades on their societal issues, and so does the leftards.
Both are best avoided if they're the vocal type.
Seven years ago or so. Because I finally had too much of the GM's shit after about six years of watching other people come and go and it finally sinking in just how much of a shitboot he was.
It was one part 'Walk Away' and one part 'Total dissolution of the group'. Longest gaming group I'd ever been with - more than a decade RL - fell to bits after I decided enough was enough. One of our players, for the last three games she had been in, had made characters whose entire concept was to be antagonistic to the rest of the group;
>Medieval mage game, on the run from witch hunters >She decides to play a witch hunter hunting for us that doesn't realise their a mage >Never even attempts any character growth, just uses magic to try and hunt us down and make the game miserable for us.
>Playing a WFRP adventuring party >She decides she wants to be a dark elf slaver whose taking us all back to her Black Arc for sale. >Chucks a shitfit when we killed her character and escaped.
>Playing a Delta Green game >She decides she wants to play one of our characters kids >Player doesn't want that, GM over rules, she plays an obnoxious shit demanding to get her way constantly.
We'd brought up our issues with this shit before, but the GM consistently sided with her and said it was good PC interaction.
I just stood up, said I can't stand gaming with her any more, and told the GM that he was a shitty person for enabling her bullshit in these games and left. Other players came with me and we went back to the WFRP campaign and I took over GMing.
Haven't personally spoken to her or our ex-GM since, but apparently the entire friendship group just gave the two of them the boot.
>One of our players, for the last three games she had been in, had made characters whose entire concept was to be antagonistic to the rest of the group;
That sounds like it was significantly the GM’s fault for letting her make characters like that, she’s a jackass, but so is whoever was running
>DM is an American and autistically obsessed with ‘misconceptions about the middle ages’ >Hates leather armour, shoehorns in guns, obsesses over polearms etc >I really dislike guns in fantasy >We agree that she’s gonna implement all her dumbass anti fun gambessons and other autistic shit as long as there’s no guns involved >Have a fun few sessions, but outside of the games I notice she’s starting talking about the history of firearms again. >Final session, the party is returning to town after some errand I don’t recall and bumps into the guards. >They are armed with muskets and are loudly discussing a shipment of firearms that’s arrived in town. >I put down my character sheet and walk away from the table >The game dies
Am I just as bad as her for being so against guns in fantasy? Maybe, but we had an agreement and she broke it so I think I was well within my rights to tell her to frick off.
It was an online west marches type game with 4-5 ish DMs. My roomate at the time played and said their last campaign ended and were looking for more people as they were going even bigger for the next one.
Part of the hype was the new homebrew. It was all lead by this early retirement guy who had a lot of free time. I think he was online almost all day every day working on it, weird since he was married too.
So the character creation rolls around and I had a basic idea as this was theoretically dnd5e. However the creation system is completely on its head >race determines starting money >use money to buy class abilities and equipment >everyone was expected to start in debt and work their way up >rough cut of a profession system to make money
I make a high elf (started with the most money) with a longsword, bow and 10 arrows (put me in debt). Took a scribe as my profession.
First session rolls around, me and 6 others start in a misty grove. Immediately we are confronted by giant wasps and butterflies each with minimum 30 HP. It was a slog, each butterfly had a healing effect and 112 HP. Reminder we were all roughly level 1, roughly as there were no levels or classes just abilities. After 4 hours we kill everything, and I shit you not here we’re the rewards >20 GP (barely enough for a cantrip) to be split between everyone >pieces of bugs for crafting materials
So I got 3 GP, the downtime between sessions would put me in more debt despite playing for 4 hours.
Here’s the kicker. Adventuring wasn’t the main source of income, crafting was supposed to be. Shit was stupid thus far but at least there was a way our. But there’s one important detail the main DM forgot to tell people during char gen
>Forever DM >Players start flaking out to the point where game night is cancelled and I lose track of where they are in a campaign >Work around this with one-shots and 3-5 session games >Players start drinking at the table >Put my foot down, but a compromise is reached where they don't start pouring until we're well into the second half of the session >Players start power gaming hard >Try and talk to them about it, somehow make it worse >Player boldly insults me to my face, is absolutely shocked that I took offense >Does not apologize, acts like a petty b***h around me >Tell group that I'm burned out on tabletop and peace out >Group collapses in on itself a month later
The player who insulted me ended up taking on the role of forever DM but I'm told all of his games were linear fetch quests and no one else wanted to run anything.
Euros too. At our table we have one guy who drinks 1-2 beers each games. In his defense he's never been a problem player, and I've drunk cider a few times as well.
Can confirm, in my 4 man group two of us each nurses About 1-2 cans of beer during games.
Nobody vas taken offense so far and I don't think anyone will either as long as people arent bring morons about it.
You misunderstand. Are yanks really this puritanical about drinking during the game? Everyone at my table has a few beers during the session, but then we're Bongs, so we can handle our drink. Mind you, if one of them started slamming tequila I'd tell them to slow down.
I'm the anon who posted the greentext. I'm Aussie.
In Australian culture, it's common for drinkers to want to play catch-up. What started as a normal beer or two while playing was matched with two of my players who prefer spirits nursing a glass each per session. Given that spirits are stronger beer, the beer-drinkers doubled what they were drinking and the spirit-drinkers started topping up their glasses to play catch-up.
On the third session after the drinking began, one of my players was on his third glass of whiskey before the half-way point of the session. We had to go on break early to sober him up and that's when I put my foot down.
I don't even mind if my players drink or do drugs before the game or during a break, so long as they keep their heads together and are able to focus on the game.
Not only did I dissolve the first game I ran, I pretty much dropped my entire friend group for it.
>Start of Covid so I decide to do an online game for the first time >One player says he won't play this session, that's fine >Time comes to begin, everyone's playing Overwatch and other online games >Frick's sake >Okay finish your game and we'll start >They're all in seperate matches and when one player's match ends the other player is only halfway in >SO HE STARTS ANOTHER MATCH WHILE WAITING >This actually happens twice too >Missing player joins the call at this point, he wasn't actually busy, he just didn't feel like playing and he decides that it's appropriate to spectate his own fricking game.
At this point I'm fricking fuming at the complete lack of respect towards not only me, but towards the one player left who actually spent the last 20 minutes sitting patiently to start.
I drop the game and tell everyone that they're pricks before taking the only good player with me.
Still can't wrap my head around how there's so many people out there with zero respect towards other's time.
Because ITS JUST A GAME DEEEEWD is the shittiest fricking mindset possible. As a DM I always immediately kicked flaky players or the ones who just "didnt feel like playing"
You made a fricking appointment, stick to it or get kicked out. Imagine if you signed up to some amateur football team or something and no showed a game, you'd get your ass kicked out immediately. These people have zero respect for other peoples time and they are generally lazy, indolent and indecisive too so its actually a good way to filter out some shitty people too.
100%. There aren't many hobbies out there where one player has to essentially be a project manager so his friends can have fun, and it pisses me off to no end when they get shat all over by c**ts who in reality, just want to play videogames.
Whats the best way to deal with someone who players your game and is somewhat competent at the point of it (Role playing) but treats it alot like a video game, focusing more so on stats, gear and abilities, looking forward to the next combat encounter more then caring about RP scenes etc
This probably depends a lot less on the player, and more of what kind of person they are. If they are quite set in their ways and stubborn, I think it will be very hard getting them to enjoy your campaign. If they're quite open, eager to learn, try new things, etc, you might be in with a chance of opening them up to a new way of playing.
One of my players in the story I said was very like that; approached DnD in a videogame-esque way, was a poor roleplayer. I really tried to emphasise the RP aspect that I wanted to drill home, but I just don't think it was his thing.
You can be a fantastic DM, and still have a crap game. Just depends on the people I suppose.
Absolute shit heel was in the group acting like a stereotype of an american. Wanted everything to play out like a video game. Wanted a lesbian relationship with between his fem character and the most attractive fem NPC. Played as women because "I'd rather play as a hot character like in a game when I have to stare at a video game character for hours. I want to see a nice ass." Wanted to be the best at everything. Wanted the rules interpreted one way when he was a player, another when he was DM. Started arguments with rogues when they withheld loot only they could access because he felt entitled to a share of all loot but also didn't want new characters starting with the same amount of loot as he did regardless of how imbalanced the group would become. Would refuse to heal people who upset him, in or out of character. Basically just a selfish c**t. Every argument in our group stemmed from him or a problem he had with someone else. I left the group then the group disbanded and each member messaged me to get a game going again. My only stipulation was that the amerigay and his smoothbrained minion of a friend were never to join again. They could play somewhere else, with someone else, if they wanted that headache.
Right before that I left a different group where the DM was being a shitlord. Playing favorites, making houserules on the fly that weren't necessary, creating awful scenarios then complaining when it blew up in his face. That group got on just fine without me. The rest of the group were long time friends with the DM. The DM and I just didn't get along which is fine, doesn't always work out.
>be involved in 63% of all children debauchery crimes >posts pictures of crying children on a chinese basketweaving forum because it pleases the troony
Could you fricking not, please and thank you.
>star wars campaign, presented as criminals trying to make our own gang while rubbing elbows with Hutts, Black Sun vigos, and other such established organizations >one of the other player's characters was a jedi padawan, "just a teenaged girl look to live her life as a teenaged girl" was pretty much how the *guy* played her, but cranked up to 11 >summersaults, trying to jump on the back of the trandoshan slaver brawler and demand he give her piggyback rides, first time we the party met with a local head of the space italian crime family in the sector, innocent bubbly young girl who didn't know much about the world and confronted everything with fresh faced innocence levitated italian crime boss's plate of space spaghetti and dumped it into his lap for giggles
Since i was the party face because i wanted to be the dude who pointed at things he wanted the goons to shoot/beat up, I had to spend the first session trying to not get the party killed because of the stupidity of a 30 year old man deciding to play manic pixie tween girl padawan, and then, in character, explain to the "girl" why showing off force powers a few years after Order 66 by dumping a plate of spaghetti into the lap of the guy who was at the head of organized crime in the subsector and calling him a big meanie is a Bad Idea. Then I brought up the question as to /why/ he decided to play a character that wouldn't be out of place in a disney cartoon in a campaign that was presented as, and everyone else went along as, basically the Bad Guys who aren't Imperial purely because we're aliens who don't like uniforms and would probably be bad for PR.
gm got upset, magical realm dude got upset, other party members stayed out of the argument, and I ended up saying frick this and left like 20 minutes into the 2nd session. shame too, i liked my character and the trandoshan, he was a cool dude
>friends with a decent sized group who like dnd, a couple of which were my roommates >they want to play dnd, no one wants to gm >fine, i'll do it >spend a couple weeks slapping together generic continent, history, map a serviceable physical map, make up campaign plotpoints, some quest hooks, etc >"just have a character made by this date, if you have questions about stuff, or want advice, or have anything you want to run by me while i'm doing the gm legwork, feel free" >month and a half or so passes, everyone's schedule syncs up, we get together for game day >only 1 guy has a character made, and it's a stupid meme/gimmick character >everyone else has some stupid excuse >again, half the group were my roommates >ok fine, spend the next 4 hours walking everyone through character creation, having to practically do everything for one of the guys myself because despite playing for 10+ years, he still didn't know how to do or roll anything >get characters made, do short 1 hour session, call it a night because everyone has work or stuff they're doing the next morning >"alright, well here's my schedule for the next 2 months, lets all figure out the next time we can get together and play" >take the time to refine my work a bit >radio silence for 2 weeks >again, i'm roommates with half of them, can't get a straight answer out of anyone except the one guy who doesn't know how to play >finally tell everyone i'm holding a session on a certain day, get positive responses from everyone >day off, half the group flakes
this basically continued for like 4 months, we'd get to play for a few hours every couple weeks, i'd pull teeth to get them to try again, never with a full party before i finally said frick it, i guess the campaign is over
then like 6 months later they started whining that they never play dnd and how great it'd be if we'd do a campaign. i told them to go frick themselves and do it themselves if they wanted it so bad. they never did
Played with my group for more than 20 years, 8-10 players, rotating games and Masters. Some drama, expecially one douchebag player but we keep going on
Some years ago we begin playing less and less 'cause life and shit, but still one day a week. Douchebag stopped playing 'couse he doesn't like the game/the master (basically he only want to play Vampire and he always paly murderhobo Assamite/Brujah)
Suddenly the master at the time is not available the night we play. We discover later he, Douchebag and other two players created another group by themselves, which should never overlaps with the original grup, but douchebag asked them to change day to our same day...
We stop playing for a while, then we start again. Enter covid, we move to playing online but at the time master chooses Pathfinder, wich we never played and he himself doesn't know very well.
Very railroaded campaign, frequent pauses in which the dm looks for the rules but beggars not choosers so we keep playing until he and one player have a big fight on discord over his campaign and the excessive railroad. Stop playing altoghether, we all decide to wait for covid limitaiton to end
We never started playing again, I call everyone and try to get the game back on but there is always some problem. Finally I'm able to get the group on board, I think everything is solved
Discovered by chanche that douchebag and some player started again their Vampire game months ago, without telling anybody, and they are playing with us 'cause their campaign endend and the dm has nothing else ready
TL;DR Walked away from my 20 years long group because some of them created a sub group witohut telling everybody else and we are just their replacement group for when their master doesn't have an adventure ready
Pro Tip: Include the word manlet (or any slur you like really, it's just funny to me that redditors get as upset over manlet as they do over Black person or homosexual) in your stories to ward against post thieves
Had to walk away from a table after a lunatic player started punching the GM when his character got killed and turned to mince meat. Dude was normally pretty quiet and chill, but for some reason freaked the frick out and nobody has invited him since. GM never pressed any charges.
A couple of years ago. Will constantly wanted to play D&D like every weekend, but I was starting to get interested in girls so I ditched him. And then my adult nose grew in!
Last year >join an ongoing game >replacing a player who wasn't available anymore >they're mid combat so I agree to play his character before I make my own >there's like 30 enemies because the rogue failed a stealth check >fight for a bit but we decide to run because we're overwhelmed >GM makes us flee in turn order with the horde of individual enemies >two whole sessions of nothing but running away and getting picked off >not even the Deus ex machina the GM tried to pull helped >tell him I'm not coming next time
That was stupidly rigid and unfun, and since that's the kind of game he apparently likes running, I don't want in.
Never had to, fortunately. I’ve been lucky to have only ever got involved with sane, responsible people who have all gone on to be my friends.
Granted, having had plenty of experience attending public clubs and working at game stores, I’ve developed a good sense of who’s dysfunctional and who’s merely fricking awkward.
But…
HOWEVER, once of my other friends wanted to DM. It was in the middle of the first lockdown and everything was remote so when he wanted to run a game I happily hopped on board.
He invited two people along I didn’t know, though.
TL;DR one of his friends turned out was an ex-military troony who was absolutely fricking obsessed with mushrooms to the point his character art was an anime girl in a mushroom hat and dress and literally everything he did focused on shrooms.
He also was an archetypal murderhobo, right down to wanting to betray the mercenaries who freed us from slavers at the start of the game. When my salt-of-the-earth huntsman absolutely refused to do so, he OOC tried to pull some kind of condescending psyche-out against me OOC , trying to convince me it was somehow moral to betray them to a bunch of sentient omnicidal forest animals.
Eventually this same whackjob would then try to coerce the king into giving him a bunch of shit and accuse him of corruption- right at the fricking ceremony he threw to thank us for stopping the druidic cult/animals- where he freely offered to grant each of us any one wish.
At this point my Huntsman asked simply for a small plot of land in the forest to serve as a home and a position of leadership amongst the town watchmen to better help protect the town and its surrounding forests.
He granted it, and then I totally fricked off, retiring my character then and there on a high note.
Never found out what the fungus troony wanted. I just returned to DM’ing and reformed the group for a new game without the extra whack friends of my friend.
>Never found out what the fungus person wanted
On the outside chance this story happened and isn't an excuse to involve your personal bogey into yet another unrelated thread: She wanted you to quit being a boring pleb and get involved with the narrative a little.
Tend to your axe wound, it's leaking.
>She
>she
Next time you take a leap like that, don't forget the rope.
frick off. I dm for a player like that.
Acting like a disruptive moron isn't getting involved with the narrative.
>reddit spacing
not an argument
it's called double spacing underage
Happened about 1.5 years ago now, still had no idea how it got to this point:
>Be me, first time GM
>Been playing with a group of friends I'd met at uni, two guys who'd I'd met in 1st year (one was an autistic rules lawyer), and two girls who one of the guys introduced to our sessions in 2nd year
>generally decent group, didn't realise at the time that I was 100% the bottom b***h
>My turn to DM, want to do a sci-fi campaign, try to market Alien, or Stars Without Number
>the group refuses to play anything else other than Pathfinder, so begrudgingly pick Starfinder
>don't like the setting much, so try to throw a cyberpunk chaotic element in there, with Earth humans
>plot is that they're a gang of escaped prisoners doing jobs for a corp, who keeps them out of jail whilst they do his dirty work
> they roll up an envoy e-boy, a human soldier (rips off the protag from Ruiner), shape shifting operative, solarian (can't remember the race), and a human mechanic (this guy was aight)
>First few sessions go well, get some decent engagement here
>Roleplaying is very poor though, everyone is mostly playing themselves as they have before
>Best mate that's been playing DnD for 12+ years expresses interest in playing, let him join as a Vesk Soldier
>Try and throw a lot of opportunities for side-quests at the PCs, don't take any of the threads
>have a meeting with the guy that got them out of prison, in his dingy apartment
>have to wait 20mins for them to stop laughing at the fricking toilet
>20 FRICKING MINUTES
>This group really has an issue with side tangents
>Vesk soldier is thankfully a voice of reason, and tries to push the plot forward
(1/3)
>Because the side tangents have got a bit ridiculous, I broach the players in the next session
>Say that I appreciate it's a game, but it takes time to prep, would appreciate a bit more in character engagement, and fewer interruptions
>Deathly silence at this
>Pretty awkward, just take it as affirmative, and role with it
>Have the PCs try to break into a prison by taking a route through the sewers and breaking into a drug lab
>It’s in Roll20, so I've got a floor plan of a drug lab, with laborers packing product
>bunch of random races, one in particular is an Ysoki (a rat person)
>there is a reason for mentioning this
>Am describing the drug lab to the players; how the walkways are separate, which parts they can't see, where they are, etc.
>one of the girls talks over me as I'm in the middle of this, pointing at the rat token
> "IS THAT A RAT?"
>Ask her not to talk over please
>Pushes back, says I talked over her
>"well, It sounded like a side-tangent"
>perhaps could have handled it a bit better, but never expected it to turn out the way it did
>Session runs on as normal think nothing of the exchange
>Get to the end of the session, ask how everyone enjoyed it
>The girl says she's literally on the verge of tears, couldn't believe I disrespected her like this
>The other girl backs her up, says they thought I was really rude
>totally caught off guard by this
>like a dumbass, I apologize, say I never meant to hurt anyone's feelings, say I hope they can forgive me
>girl says "yeah we'll see if you mean it next session"
>every except best mate laughs at this
>log off
(2/3)
>try to call the girl to clear it all up
>best mate gets to me first
>sets me straight, tells me that I did nothing wrong, and the girl went off for no reason
>leave a message on my discord telling them I thought what went down was totally wrong
>cancel the game and leave the discord we're on
>cue about a month of fake panic attacks one particularly tiresome discord call with the girl, and general insanity and gaslighting
Thank God for this shitshow every day, glad to be rid of these people.
(3/3)
I was the DM and I had to walk away from a group because it contained such unrepentant simps that I couldnt tolerate them anymore.
>homebrew campaign about a bunch of mercs making do on the borderlands where a number of minor and major powers intersect
>one of them is a slightly chinese flavored female necromancer dragon lady
>everyone and their mother warns them about her
>she always acts super friendly and slightly flirty, constantly asking for things and favors
>one PC decides to run for the omegasimp award and steals a tome from the party to bring it to her
>she takes it and immediately ties up the loose ends(him) which he was told she would do if she got the tome
>"BUT DEWD WTF, WHY'D SHE KILL ME"
>"she was a villain, son, a ruthless necromancer out for power to be exact"
>"BUT SHE TOLD ME WE COULD RULE TOGETHER, DEWD WTF"
>"she was a villain and she LIED to you to get what she want"
>"BUT DEWD THAT MAKES NO SENSE, HAHA, SHE WAS ALWAYS FREINDLY"
>"yes, she acted friendly to get what she wanted"
>"BUT MAYBE HE WANTED US AS ALLIES WHY WUD SHE LIE DEWD
>the others joined and started chiming in how she CANT be evil because they were given by some superficial compliments by her
>tell them, that her entire story from poisoning her own family, taking over the family castle, digging up graveyards etc. were nothing but a conga line of evil acts out of nothing but a pure lust for power and immortality
>WELL MAYBE SHE HAD A RIGHT REASON, LIKE, SHE WAS ABUSED BY HIS FAMILY OR SOMETHING
>tell them, uhh no, stop making headcanon, she never had anything but a happy upbringing and went into it entirely out of her own volition
>btw, she is a 140 year old Yzma looking ass hag who cannot even move her atrophied limbs without magic anymore, you have been interacting only with mindslaved flesh-puppets who just happen to be attractive girls she kidnapped for that exact purpose
Then they started calling me an incel for "not understanding women" so I fricked right off.
good job leaving, no need to play with thirsty morons like that anyways
I just wonder what makes one so thirsty that they start simping to a fictional character.
Stop with the dumb pep talk shit.
right, like what the frick were you hoping to do dude, ERP at the fricking table with everyone else sititng there?
Other npcs did warm them, for sure.
But, did you ever have moments where you asked the PCs to roll perception to see through her lies?
Or roll deception on her behalf against their passive wisdom?
Do you give any other hints besides that?
Don't ask pc's to roll perception and knowledge checks; that should be passive; just ask to see their sheets for a moment if you didn't make note earlier, and roll them yourself behind the screen, without tellin' them.
D&D in particular is lacking a "passive gullibility check" which you could abstract like passive perception if you felt like it.
Are you fricking moronic by any chance? Or literally autistic and unable to interpret social situations without numbers telling you?
Ahh of course, should have known, just a D&D player. They are the dumbest.
I was incredibly bored of the gm’s homebrew setting
This is the most common reason. I just wish the malcontents that make up the large body of players also explained what they want before joining a game and wasting everyone's time. Can't tell you how many insane alt-right and troony players I've had to remove because they just make up what a game is about and then try forcing it on everyone including the GM. It's quite exhausting and, honestly, I probably should ignore American players until their country calms down.
whats wrong with the alt right?
Apparently the gaming group that poster had included political orientations.
When you play games with someone it leads to other conversations, politics being a fair topic to approach. When one gamer dares to voice their opinion and others agree, a circle forms. It may eventually outweigh the game itself.
Playing games with someone is a fantastic way to get to know them, especially challenging ones. And, unfortunately for the outcasts, social circles are a game old as time.
Nothing is inherently wrong with both the right or the left.
The problem is people that make politcs and political affiliation their entire life and subsequently try to preach their desired social norms and customs.
Some poltards are genuinely going on tirades on their societal issues, and so does the leftards.
Both are best avoided if they're the vocal type.
Annoying.
homies be whiney as frick
Seven years ago or so. Because I finally had too much of the GM's shit after about six years of watching other people come and go and it finally sinking in just how much of a shitboot he was.
>Mutts being mentally ill.
importing European ideas are what started that.
agreed, america didn't have these problems before the europeans colonised it
It was one part 'Walk Away' and one part 'Total dissolution of the group'. Longest gaming group I'd ever been with - more than a decade RL - fell to bits after I decided enough was enough. One of our players, for the last three games she had been in, had made characters whose entire concept was to be antagonistic to the rest of the group;
>Medieval mage game, on the run from witch hunters
>She decides to play a witch hunter hunting for us that doesn't realise their a mage
>Never even attempts any character growth, just uses magic to try and hunt us down and make the game miserable for us.
>Playing a WFRP adventuring party
>She decides she wants to be a dark elf slaver whose taking us all back to her Black Arc for sale.
>Chucks a shitfit when we killed her character and escaped.
>Playing a Delta Green game
>She decides she wants to play one of our characters kids
>Player doesn't want that, GM over rules, she plays an obnoxious shit demanding to get her way constantly.
We'd brought up our issues with this shit before, but the GM consistently sided with her and said it was good PC interaction.
I just stood up, said I can't stand gaming with her any more, and told the GM that he was a shitty person for enabling her bullshit in these games and left. Other players came with me and we went back to the WFRP campaign and I took over GMing.
Haven't personally spoken to her or our ex-GM since, but apparently the entire friendship group just gave the two of them the boot.
>One of our players, for the last three games she had been in, had made characters whose entire concept was to be antagonistic to the rest of the group;
That sounds like it was significantly the GM’s fault for letting her make characters like that, she’s a jackass, but so is whoever was running
True friends don’t walk out on each other. Through thick and thin. It is a very narrow population that chooses to believe so.
Stop watching anime.
This February, needed to focus on college, ditched distractions.
>DM is an American and autistically obsessed with ‘misconceptions about the middle ages’
>Hates leather armour, shoehorns in guns, obsesses over polearms etc
>I really dislike guns in fantasy
>We agree that she’s gonna implement all her dumbass anti fun gambessons and other autistic shit as long as there’s no guns involved
>Have a fun few sessions, but outside of the games I notice she’s starting talking about the history of firearms again.
>Final session, the party is returning to town after some errand I don’t recall and bumps into the guards.
>They are armed with muskets and are loudly discussing a shipment of firearms that’s arrived in town.
>I put down my character sheet and walk away from the table
>The game dies
Am I just as bad as her for being so against guns in fantasy? Maybe, but we had an agreement and she broke it so I think I was well within my rights to tell her to frick off.
>Am I just as bad as her for being so against guns in fantasy
Yes
>Maybe, but we had an agreement and she broke it so I think I was well within my rights to tell her to frick off.
Also yes.
It was an online west marches type game with 4-5 ish DMs. My roomate at the time played and said their last campaign ended and were looking for more people as they were going even bigger for the next one.
Part of the hype was the new homebrew. It was all lead by this early retirement guy who had a lot of free time. I think he was online almost all day every day working on it, weird since he was married too.
So the character creation rolls around and I had a basic idea as this was theoretically dnd5e. However the creation system is completely on its head
>race determines starting money
>use money to buy class abilities and equipment
>everyone was expected to start in debt and work their way up
>rough cut of a profession system to make money
I make a high elf (started with the most money) with a longsword, bow and 10 arrows (put me in debt). Took a scribe as my profession.
First session rolls around, me and 6 others start in a misty grove. Immediately we are confronted by giant wasps and butterflies each with minimum 30 HP. It was a slog, each butterfly had a healing effect and 112 HP. Reminder we were all roughly level 1, roughly as there were no levels or classes just abilities. After 4 hours we kill everything, and I shit you not here we’re the rewards
>20 GP (barely enough for a cantrip) to be split between everyone
>pieces of bugs for crafting materials
So I got 3 GP, the downtime between sessions would put me in more debt despite playing for 4 hours.
Here’s the kicker. Adventuring wasn’t the main source of income, crafting was supposed to be. Shit was stupid thus far but at least there was a way our. But there’s one important detail the main DM forgot to tell people during char gen
You can’t craft while in debt
Everyone started in debt
The group died within a week or two after that
>Forever DM
>Players start flaking out to the point where game night is cancelled and I lose track of where they are in a campaign
>Work around this with one-shots and 3-5 session games
>Players start drinking at the table
>Put my foot down, but a compromise is reached where they don't start pouring until we're well into the second half of the session
>Players start power gaming hard
>Try and talk to them about it, somehow make it worse
>Player boldly insults me to my face, is absolutely shocked that I took offense
>Does not apologize, acts like a petty b***h around me
>Tell group that I'm burned out on tabletop and peace out
>Group collapses in on itself a month later
The player who insulted me ended up taking on the role of forever DM but I'm told all of his games were linear fetch quests and no one else wanted to run anything.
>Players start drinking at the table
Do Americans really?
Euros too. At our table we have one guy who drinks 1-2 beers each games. In his defense he's never been a problem player, and I've drunk cider a few times as well.
Can confirm, in my 4 man group two of us each nurses About 1-2 cans of beer during games.
Nobody vas taken offense so far and I don't think anyone will either as long as people arent bring morons about it.
You misunderstand. Are yanks really this puritanical about drinking during the game? Everyone at my table has a few beers during the session, but then we're Bongs, so we can handle our drink. Mind you, if one of them started slamming tequila I'd tell them to slow down.
I'm the anon who posted the greentext. I'm Aussie.
In Australian culture, it's common for drinkers to want to play catch-up. What started as a normal beer or two while playing was matched with two of my players who prefer spirits nursing a glass each per session. Given that spirits are stronger beer, the beer-drinkers doubled what they were drinking and the spirit-drinkers started topping up their glasses to play catch-up.
On the third session after the drinking began, one of my players was on his third glass of whiskey before the half-way point of the session. We had to go on break early to sober him up and that's when I put my foot down.
I don't even mind if my players drink or do drugs before the game or during a break, so long as they keep their heads together and are able to focus on the game.
Fair enough. Spirits is likely where I'd draw the line.
>Nooo you can't drink alcohol at a friendly social gathering
Where are you from? I want to know where to avoid.
Australia.
Not only did I dissolve the first game I ran, I pretty much dropped my entire friend group for it.
>Start of Covid so I decide to do an online game for the first time
>One player says he won't play this session, that's fine
>Time comes to begin, everyone's playing Overwatch and other online games
>Frick's sake
>Okay finish your game and we'll start
>They're all in seperate matches and when one player's match ends the other player is only halfway in
>SO HE STARTS ANOTHER MATCH WHILE WAITING
>This actually happens twice too
>Missing player joins the call at this point, he wasn't actually busy, he just didn't feel like playing and he decides that it's appropriate to spectate his own fricking game.
At this point I'm fricking fuming at the complete lack of respect towards not only me, but towards the one player left who actually spent the last 20 minutes sitting patiently to start.
I drop the game and tell everyone that they're pricks before taking the only good player with me.
Still can't wrap my head around how there's so many people out there with zero respect towards other's time.
Because ITS JUST A GAME DEEEEWD is the shittiest fricking mindset possible. As a DM I always immediately kicked flaky players or the ones who just "didnt feel like playing"
You made a fricking appointment, stick to it or get kicked out. Imagine if you signed up to some amateur football team or something and no showed a game, you'd get your ass kicked out immediately. These people have zero respect for other peoples time and they are generally lazy, indolent and indecisive too so its actually a good way to filter out some shitty people too.
100%. There aren't many hobbies out there where one player has to essentially be a project manager so his friends can have fun, and it pisses me off to no end when they get shat all over by c**ts who in reality, just want to play videogames.
Whats the best way to deal with someone who players your game and is somewhat competent at the point of it (Role playing) but treats it alot like a video game, focusing more so on stats, gear and abilities, looking forward to the next combat encounter more then caring about RP scenes etc
This probably depends a lot less on the player, and more of what kind of person they are. If they are quite set in their ways and stubborn, I think it will be very hard getting them to enjoy your campaign. If they're quite open, eager to learn, try new things, etc, you might be in with a chance of opening them up to a new way of playing.
One of my players in the story I said was very like that; approached DnD in a videogame-esque way, was a poor roleplayer. I really tried to emphasise the RP aspect that I wanted to drill home, but I just don't think it was his thing.
You can be a fantastic DM, and still have a crap game. Just depends on the people I suppose.
If I ever needed to bail on a group I'd just stop bothering people about their availability and the group would die.
Thinking about doing it now because I'm too tired from work and my own private stuff to care about TTRPGs.
Absolute shit heel was in the group acting like a stereotype of an american. Wanted everything to play out like a video game. Wanted a lesbian relationship with between his fem character and the most attractive fem NPC. Played as women because "I'd rather play as a hot character like in a game when I have to stare at a video game character for hours. I want to see a nice ass." Wanted to be the best at everything. Wanted the rules interpreted one way when he was a player, another when he was DM. Started arguments with rogues when they withheld loot only they could access because he felt entitled to a share of all loot but also didn't want new characters starting with the same amount of loot as he did regardless of how imbalanced the group would become. Would refuse to heal people who upset him, in or out of character. Basically just a selfish c**t. Every argument in our group stemmed from him or a problem he had with someone else. I left the group then the group disbanded and each member messaged me to get a game going again. My only stipulation was that the amerigay and his smoothbrained minion of a friend were never to join again. They could play somewhere else, with someone else, if they wanted that headache.
Right before that I left a different group where the DM was being a shitlord. Playing favorites, making houserules on the fly that weren't necessary, creating awful scenarios then complaining when it blew up in his face. That group got on just fine without me. The rest of the group were long time friends with the DM. The DM and I just didn't get along which is fine, doesn't always work out.
>be involved in 63% of all children debauchery crimes
>posts pictures of crying children on a chinese basketweaving forum because it pleases the troony
Could you fricking not, please and thank you.
>star wars campaign, presented as criminals trying to make our own gang while rubbing elbows with Hutts, Black Sun vigos, and other such established organizations
>one of the other player's characters was a jedi padawan, "just a teenaged girl look to live her life as a teenaged girl" was pretty much how the *guy* played her, but cranked up to 11
>summersaults, trying to jump on the back of the trandoshan slaver brawler and demand he give her piggyback rides, first time we the party met with a local head of the space italian crime family in the sector, innocent bubbly young girl who didn't know much about the world and confronted everything with fresh faced innocence levitated italian crime boss's plate of space spaghetti and dumped it into his lap for giggles
Since i was the party face because i wanted to be the dude who pointed at things he wanted the goons to shoot/beat up, I had to spend the first session trying to not get the party killed because of the stupidity of a 30 year old man deciding to play manic pixie tween girl padawan, and then, in character, explain to the "girl" why showing off force powers a few years after Order 66 by dumping a plate of spaghetti into the lap of the guy who was at the head of organized crime in the subsector and calling him a big meanie is a Bad Idea. Then I brought up the question as to /why/ he decided to play a character that wouldn't be out of place in a disney cartoon in a campaign that was presented as, and everyone else went along as, basically the Bad Guys who aren't Imperial purely because we're aliens who don't like uniforms and would probably be bad for PR.
gm got upset, magical realm dude got upset, other party members stayed out of the argument, and I ended up saying frick this and left like 20 minutes into the 2nd session. shame too, i liked my character and the trandoshan, he was a cool dude
>friends with a decent sized group who like dnd, a couple of which were my roommates
>they want to play dnd, no one wants to gm
>fine, i'll do it
>spend a couple weeks slapping together generic continent, history, map a serviceable physical map, make up campaign plotpoints, some quest hooks, etc
>"just have a character made by this date, if you have questions about stuff, or want advice, or have anything you want to run by me while i'm doing the gm legwork, feel free"
>month and a half or so passes, everyone's schedule syncs up, we get together for game day
>only 1 guy has a character made, and it's a stupid meme/gimmick character
>everyone else has some stupid excuse
>again, half the group were my roommates
>ok fine, spend the next 4 hours walking everyone through character creation, having to practically do everything for one of the guys myself because despite playing for 10+ years, he still didn't know how to do or roll anything
>get characters made, do short 1 hour session, call it a night because everyone has work or stuff they're doing the next morning
>"alright, well here's my schedule for the next 2 months, lets all figure out the next time we can get together and play"
>take the time to refine my work a bit
>radio silence for 2 weeks
>again, i'm roommates with half of them, can't get a straight answer out of anyone except the one guy who doesn't know how to play
>finally tell everyone i'm holding a session on a certain day, get positive responses from everyone
>day off, half the group flakes
this basically continued for like 4 months, we'd get to play for a few hours every couple weeks, i'd pull teeth to get them to try again, never with a full party before i finally said frick it, i guess the campaign is over
then like 6 months later they started whining that they never play dnd and how great it'd be if we'd do a campaign. i told them to go frick themselves and do it themselves if they wanted it so bad. they never did
Pity not the nupperibo, for their eternal torment might have been averted had they shown one ounce of proactivity in their mortal existance.
Played with my group for more than 20 years, 8-10 players, rotating games and Masters. Some drama, expecially one douchebag player but we keep going on
Some years ago we begin playing less and less 'cause life and shit, but still one day a week. Douchebag stopped playing 'couse he doesn't like the game/the master (basically he only want to play Vampire and he always paly murderhobo Assamite/Brujah)
Suddenly the master at the time is not available the night we play. We discover later he, Douchebag and other two players created another group by themselves, which should never overlaps with the original grup, but douchebag asked them to change day to our same day...
We stop playing for a while, then we start again. Enter covid, we move to playing online but at the time master chooses Pathfinder, wich we never played and he himself doesn't know very well.
Very railroaded campaign, frequent pauses in which the dm looks for the rules but beggars not choosers so we keep playing until he and one player have a big fight on discord over his campaign and the excessive railroad. Stop playing altoghether, we all decide to wait for covid limitaiton to end
We never started playing again, I call everyone and try to get the game back on but there is always some problem. Finally I'm able to get the group on board, I think everything is solved
Discovered by chanche that douchebag and some player started again their Vampire game months ago, without telling anybody, and they are playing with us 'cause their campaign endend and the dm has nothing else ready
TL;DR Walked away from my 20 years long group because some of them created a sub group witohut telling everybody else and we are just their replacement group for when their master doesn't have an adventure ready
Your formatting is fricked
Yep, guilty as charged
The game schedule and my headaches overlapped. I was nonfunctional during a quarter to half of the game so I left to not frick up the game.
>posts a question
>doesn't start off with their own story
Frick off youtuber
Pro Tip: Include the word manlet (or any slur you like really, it's just funny to me that redditors get as upset over manlet as they do over Black person or homosexual) in your stories to ward against post thieves
Had to walk away from a table after a lunatic player started punching the GM when his character got killed and turned to mince meat. Dude was normally pretty quiet and chill, but for some reason freaked the frick out and nobody has invited him since. GM never pressed any charges.
A couple of years ago. Will constantly wanted to play D&D like every weekend, but I was starting to get interested in girls so I ditched him. And then my adult nose grew in!
Last year
>join an ongoing game
>replacing a player who wasn't available anymore
>they're mid combat so I agree to play his character before I make my own
>there's like 30 enemies because the rogue failed a stealth check
>fight for a bit but we decide to run because we're overwhelmed
>GM makes us flee in turn order with the horde of individual enemies
>two whole sessions of nothing but running away and getting picked off
>not even the Deus ex machina the GM tried to pull helped
>tell him I'm not coming next time
That was stupidly rigid and unfun, and since that's the kind of game he apparently likes running, I don't want in.