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Bad DM'GM'ing
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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5057474" data-attributes="member: 40177"><p>Worst example I ever saw of bad GMing came from a guy that actually showed a lot of promise at the start (when he put a lot of thought and effort in his campaign).</p><p></p><p>It involved our 3 PCs (a spellthief, a monk, and a cleric, if memory serves) meeting up with four NPCs of 6th level (we were 4th). And then following these NPCs on a quest to stop an ogre war force. So far, so good.</p><p></p><p>Except after the first fight, where the GM ran about a dozen villains, plus his DMNPCs. Mostly, we sat back and watched him run a fight. Later, I suggested we take over the DMNPCs to help speed things up. I didn't like the idea of being saddled with DMNPCs, but whatever.</p><p></p><p>Then we hit the ogres. Who one-hit killed two of the 6th level DMNPCs, and were obviously outmatching the others. And when he one-hit killed both the monk and the cleric, he laughed at us... in such a way of "hey, look, I'm winning... I'm a better player than you!". </p><p></p><p>And then he was confused as to why my spellthief tried to run (grabbing his companion as he fled) and bent things to block that course of action, forcing me to fight. Where I was killed in one round.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Other awful things this bad GM did:</p><p></p><p>* At first, he tailored encounters for our group, which was good. We enjoyed that, and this became the suggested playstyle (I even asked him "if I play a spellthief, will I get a chance to actually be a spellthief?") We did our respective roles - the monk snuck around, I stole spells, and the cleric got a chance to be an awesome caster. And then the GM decided it was his duty to nerf our powers. Again. And again. My spellthief no longer had people to steal spells from (or anything else), turning him into a gimped rogue. The monk couldn't really sneak around because everything had high spot checks... and they all used direct damage, so his evasion meant nothing. As for the cleric... he got to spend a lot of time healing us... and doing little else.</p><p></p><p>* The GM didn't read our player cues. Without going into super detail, he played out our PCs coming across some bandits 'violating' a village girl. Which he presented almost as a comedic encounter. This is something I am not okay with, at all, and it made me super uncomfortable... but the rest of the group was enjoying the chance to be "heroes", and I had my PC play a secondary role before handing him off to my friend and leaving the room "to get some food and air". I tried to make it clear to the GM later that I really don't like this sort of play... which was not listened to, or even really addressed (except for an apology when I first spoke up, but nothing later).</p><p></p><p>* The GM slowly began to see it as his goal to "beat" us, turning the game from what was originally a very fun campaign (1st and 2nd level were awesome, and really well put together) into a grind of "us vs. them". </p><p></p><p>* The GM had the worst sort of railroad - the one that appears to be a sandbox, but is actually a railroad. And what I mean by that is, there is a specific path you must follow, but there are little clues as to what that path actually is... and if you stray from this invisible path, there will very heavy-handed ways to push you into things that take you from the game ("You can't cross the river... the bridge is closed" "Oh, um, can I swim across the river?" "No, there are sharks" "Well, um, what should we do now?" "Hey, it's an open world, feel free to explore...")</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5057474, member: 40177"] Worst example I ever saw of bad GMing came from a guy that actually showed a lot of promise at the start (when he put a lot of thought and effort in his campaign). It involved our 3 PCs (a spellthief, a monk, and a cleric, if memory serves) meeting up with four NPCs of 6th level (we were 4th). And then following these NPCs on a quest to stop an ogre war force. So far, so good. Except after the first fight, where the GM ran about a dozen villains, plus his DMNPCs. Mostly, we sat back and watched him run a fight. Later, I suggested we take over the DMNPCs to help speed things up. I didn't like the idea of being saddled with DMNPCs, but whatever. Then we hit the ogres. Who one-hit killed two of the 6th level DMNPCs, and were obviously outmatching the others. And when he one-hit killed both the monk and the cleric, he laughed at us... in such a way of "hey, look, I'm winning... I'm a better player than you!". And then he was confused as to why my spellthief tried to run (grabbing his companion as he fled) and bent things to block that course of action, forcing me to fight. Where I was killed in one round. *** Other awful things this bad GM did: * At first, he tailored encounters for our group, which was good. We enjoyed that, and this became the suggested playstyle (I even asked him "if I play a spellthief, will I get a chance to actually be a spellthief?") We did our respective roles - the monk snuck around, I stole spells, and the cleric got a chance to be an awesome caster. And then the GM decided it was his duty to nerf our powers. Again. And again. My spellthief no longer had people to steal spells from (or anything else), turning him into a gimped rogue. The monk couldn't really sneak around because everything had high spot checks... and they all used direct damage, so his evasion meant nothing. As for the cleric... he got to spend a lot of time healing us... and doing little else. * The GM didn't read our player cues. Without going into super detail, he played out our PCs coming across some bandits 'violating' a village girl. Which he presented almost as a comedic encounter. This is something I am not okay with, at all, and it made me super uncomfortable... but the rest of the group was enjoying the chance to be "heroes", and I had my PC play a secondary role before handing him off to my friend and leaving the room "to get some food and air". I tried to make it clear to the GM later that I really don't like this sort of play... which was not listened to, or even really addressed (except for an apology when I first spoke up, but nothing later). * The GM slowly began to see it as his goal to "beat" us, turning the game from what was originally a very fun campaign (1st and 2nd level were awesome, and really well put together) into a grind of "us vs. them". * The GM had the worst sort of railroad - the one that appears to be a sandbox, but is actually a railroad. And what I mean by that is, there is a specific path you must follow, but there are little clues as to what that path actually is... and if you stray from this invisible path, there will very heavy-handed ways to push you into things that take you from the game ("You can't cross the river... the bridge is closed" "Oh, um, can I swim across the river?" "No, there are sharks" "Well, um, what should we do now?" "Hey, it's an open world, feel free to explore...") [/QUOTE]
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