Bad DM stories
MadMaxim
First Post
I had a DM who recently ran a Dragonlance campaign. We were 3 players: A minotaur barbarian/fighter, a human fighter and a human warlock (me). Everything starts nicely with us walking around in Solamnia which is currently taken over by the Knights of Nerakha (sp?) and we walk around getting different jobs (the characters haven't met each other yet). Everything goes nicely, until the two fighters end up in rebellion against the Knights of Nerakha and are storming the city together with some thousand soldiers. They don't get any chance to fight, not a single attack roll the entire session. I was the only one fighting and I was fighting some bugbears in a cave, because I had been struck unconcisous while protecting a caravan to a city west of Solamnia. I woke up before they attacked, but a bugbear still strikes me and I'm out cold, even though I still had hit points left to keep fighting.
The worst came when we traveled to the minotaur's island. We've finally teamed up and are looking for creatures who've been infused with some of the gods' powers. Good enough so far, but when we get into some arena battles, I end up fighting a harpy. She attacks and the DM tells me to make a Reflex save to avoid her (!?) Then she lifts me up in the air and drops me 40 ft. I survive and zap her with an eldritch blast and wonder how the heck she was able to carry me (Medium-sized creature with not nearly enough Strength to carry me).
This leads to an out-of-game discussion of my DM's skills which I seriously starts questioning due to those incidents listed earlier. He thinks that D&D's rules system is too heavy and obviously angry with me because I've got a better grasp of the rules. He refuses to see the errors he made and I decide to drop out of the game because I think his rulings don't make sense. Now, he's making up his own rules system which is better to cater to his sense of realism which he claims that D&D is devoid of... Good for him... I'm not looking back...
The worst came when we traveled to the minotaur's island. We've finally teamed up and are looking for creatures who've been infused with some of the gods' powers. Good enough so far, but when we get into some arena battles, I end up fighting a harpy. She attacks and the DM tells me to make a Reflex save to avoid her (!?) Then she lifts me up in the air and drops me 40 ft. I survive and zap her with an eldritch blast and wonder how the heck she was able to carry me (Medium-sized creature with not nearly enough Strength to carry me).
This leads to an out-of-game discussion of my DM's skills which I seriously starts questioning due to those incidents listed earlier. He thinks that D&D's rules system is too heavy and obviously angry with me because I've got a better grasp of the rules. He refuses to see the errors he made and I decide to drop out of the game because I think his rulings don't make sense. Now, he's making up his own rules system which is better to cater to his sense of realism which he claims that D&D is devoid of... Good for him... I'm not looking back...
Dark Jezter
First Post
Don't bet on it. There are plenty of people online who are more than willing to take offense even when what's being said does not concern them.Tewligan said:
DarrenGMiller
First Post
I have probably posted mine here before, so I will do the short versions:
1.) The reason I almost ALWAYS DM: I was only about 11 or 12 years old and learning to DM. I had recently run my first session and one of my 2 players was DM'ing a few days later. He was an experienced DM and about 2 or 3 years older. The other player was also in high school. During the session, the 2 PC's were separated and my PC was transported to the Abyss to face a demon lord (Demogorgon, IIRC). He captured my PC and bartered me off to another sinister being. At that point the other player moved to block the door and I was told that to teach me a lesson for the rules I had interpreted incorrectly during my DM'ing session a few days earlier, as well as those in character creation for this guy's game, I would have to complete some "tasks" for this being. They included holding the other player's hand while singing a love song to him (in RL, not in game), etc. I was called all sorts of things and my exit was blocked by these two older kids. They left the room, locking the door, to get some things for their scheme and I climbed out the window before they came back.
2.) Due to the above, as I said, I almost always DM, I allowed myself to be talked out from behind the screen about 3 or 4 years ago. The game started with the PC's (there were 4 of us) naked in a ceremonial chamber with the village elders around us. There was a fire burning in the center of the room and we were all ritually scarred with a "soul knife" that drained our Con and took a bit of our soul (as a rite of passage). We were then given a backpack full of rocks and sent out unarmed and unequipped to survive a month in the wilderness. The party got split up and I and another player had our PC's at the edge of the valley, in the mountains. We saw a sheltered ledge and tried to climb. We both fell (remember, our Con scores are drained permanently) and my PC is down to 2 HP. The other PC is unconscious and dying. Then, we are attacked by a pair of wolves. I have no weapons and if I run, the dying PC is dog chow. We both handed our character sheets to the DM and planned my next game. That DM was very unfamiliar with the rules of 3.x, having mostly run Storyteller games.
DM
1.) The reason I almost ALWAYS DM: I was only about 11 or 12 years old and learning to DM. I had recently run my first session and one of my 2 players was DM'ing a few days later. He was an experienced DM and about 2 or 3 years older. The other player was also in high school. During the session, the 2 PC's were separated and my PC was transported to the Abyss to face a demon lord (Demogorgon, IIRC). He captured my PC and bartered me off to another sinister being. At that point the other player moved to block the door and I was told that to teach me a lesson for the rules I had interpreted incorrectly during my DM'ing session a few days earlier, as well as those in character creation for this guy's game, I would have to complete some "tasks" for this being. They included holding the other player's hand while singing a love song to him (in RL, not in game), etc. I was called all sorts of things and my exit was blocked by these two older kids. They left the room, locking the door, to get some things for their scheme and I climbed out the window before they came back.
2.) Due to the above, as I said, I almost always DM, I allowed myself to be talked out from behind the screen about 3 or 4 years ago. The game started with the PC's (there were 4 of us) naked in a ceremonial chamber with the village elders around us. There was a fire burning in the center of the room and we were all ritually scarred with a "soul knife" that drained our Con and took a bit of our soul (as a rite of passage). We were then given a backpack full of rocks and sent out unarmed and unequipped to survive a month in the wilderness. The party got split up and I and another player had our PC's at the edge of the valley, in the mountains. We saw a sheltered ledge and tried to climb. We both fell (remember, our Con scores are drained permanently) and my PC is down to 2 HP. The other PC is unconscious and dying. Then, we are attacked by a pair of wolves. I have no weapons and if I run, the dying PC is dog chow. We both handed our character sheets to the DM and planned my next game. That DM was very unfamiliar with the rules of 3.x, having mostly run Storyteller games.
DM
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