"....so we tossed the jerk out...."

[Azul]

One of my players (well-thought-of RPG industry freelancer, the late Nigel Findley...

It's been several years since I heard Nigel Findley's name but it brings back good memories.

My friends and I had a chance to meet and get to know Nigel just a bit at one of the two GenCon's I attended back around the mid-90s. He was a class act all the way and a hell of a lot of fun to go out drinking with. We were freelancers working for Dream Pod 9. We were young and pretty hyped about getting in the biz and he, a well-respected veteran of the industry, hung out with us a fair bit (drinking at the Safehouse, naturally, attending a party or two) and gave us plenty of advice that GenCon. Maybe he just took a shine to us because we were fellow Canucks but we appreciated it.

Nigel was one of our best memories of GenCon and those of us who had gotten to know him were saddened to hear of his passing not so long afterwards (within a year of meeting him IIRC). I remember a few of us raising a toast to his memory. Even though we'd really only known him for a few days, he'd earned our respect and admiration. I wish I had had a chance to know him better.

He must have been a lot of fun to have in your gaming group, Billy.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Too Forgiving

He lasted about a half-dozen sessions. He was then let go.

Dude, you're the patron saint of RPG tolerance. We would have flensed him after the first session.

 

[StupidSmurf]

Dude, you're the patron saint of RPG tolerance. We would have flensed him after the first session.

Hehehehheh....Like I said, I don't like confrontation. I also feel a little more reluctant kicking out someone that one of my established gamers invited, as opposed to someone I invite in who simply doesn't work out!

Which reminds me, I'm actually engaged in a still-running blocking action in keeping out a FOAF, so as to avoid a potential confrontation down the road. The established player is this really terrific guy who's very loyal to his friends, and really wants to bring this friend in. The friend in question can be kind of, well, piggy...and at a party made a crude remark to my daughter. For some reason she was on her knees on the carpet for a brief moment, and he made a rather dirty (and if you think about it, obvious) reference. So, SHE doesn't want him in the game; my wife, who heard about the incident, doesn't want him in the game, and I'm not so thrilled about having him in either. There's been some other minor peripheral stuff that simply leads me to believe that he just wouldn't be a good fit, for a number of reasons. But this particular nice player brings his name up every so often, and each time I've had to say "no."

 

[StupidSmurf]

It's been several years since I heard Nigel Findley's name but it brings back good memories.

My friends and I had a chance to meet and get to know Nigel just a bit at one of the two GenCon's I attended back around the mid-90s. He was a class act all the way and a hell of a lot of fun to go out drinking with. We were freelancers working for Dream Pod 9. We were young and pretty hyped about getting in the biz and he, a well-respected veteran of the industry, hung out with us a fair bit (drinking at the Safehouse, naturally, attending a party or two) and gave us plenty of advice that GenCon. Maybe he just took a shine to us because we were fellow Canucks but we appreciated it.

Nigel was one of our best memories of GenCon and those of us who had gotten to know him were saddened to hear of his passing not so long afterwards (within a year of meeting him IIRC). I remember a few of us raising a toast to his memory. Even though we'd really only known him for a few days, he'd earned our respect and admiration. I wish I had had a chance to know him better.

He must have been a lot of fun to have in your gaming group, Billy.

Once at GenCon, I attended a meeting held by West End Games for their stable of freelancers. They were pitching the idea of Shatterzone to us. Nigel was one of the writers, and I'll always remember him sitting there, in the circle, leaning forward, with this look of genuine interest and enthusiasm. Although I saw him and talked to him after that, that's the one image that always comes to mind when he's mentioned.

 

[Tewligan]

we used to have a player who would drink an entire 6-pack of cheap fruit-flavored sodas during each game session, despite being diabetic - they weren't diet sodas, either. And when he got excited he'd emit a high-pitched giggle and pat his hands together like a 3-year-old.

and...

Heck one of my players is topless most of the time, big, flabby belly rolling with every chuckle.

In my mind, these two players have become one composite person. Sniffles, amazingshafeman, thank you both for murdering a piece of my soul.

 

[Joshua Randall]

... and I've just found the perfect image for the next villain in my campaign: Giggles, the morbidly obese no-shirt-wearing fruit-drink-guzzler!

 

[buzzard]

... and I've just found the perfect image for the next villain in my campaign: Giggles, the morbidly obese no-shirt-wearing fruit-drink-guzzler!

This will of course use CoC rules so you can have SAN checks right?

buzzard

 

[StupidSmurf]

... and I've just found the perfect image for the next villain in my campaign: Giggles, the morbidly obese no-shirt-wearing fruit-drink-guzzler!

Color me frightened and unsettled.

 

[sniffles]

and...

In my mind, these two players have become one composite person. Sniffles, amazingshafeman, thank you both for murdering a piece of my soul.

I'm not responsible for your imagination.
Actually, the Giggler is a fairly nice guy, he's just got some odd behavioral habits. I could say the same about myself or anyone else I know, though. My best friend picks his nose all the time, in front of everybody. I never have figured out a tactful way to point it out to him.


StupidSmurf's friend-of-a-friend problem reminds me of our group, too. We know one guy who's constantly looking for a game. We used to play with him; in fact I played for over a year in a WHFRP campaign that he GM'd. But he's a flake. First off, for D&D he's firmly convinced that the best way to make a character is to take a level of rogue for the skill points, then a couple of levels of fighter for the feats, and then go into whatever class he really wants to play. He also likes to play oddballs who don't fit in with the rest of the party (drow, anyone?). And he just can't be relied on to show up regularly. So, like Smurf, we keep having to find ways to deflect his interest in our campaigns.

We also used to have a player who cheated. His characters would have unusually high stats, and he seemed to roll crits just a little too often. On one occasion he went in the other room to lie down on the couch because he didn't feel well, and rolled his dice from there. He got 3 or 4 crits in a row. He seems to think gaming is a competitive endeavor, though I'm not quite sure what he's competing for. To be best at everything, I guess. And whatever we're doing isn't what he wants; if we're having lots of combat then he wants roleplaying, and if we're roleplaying then he wants hack 'n' slash. He's like this with almost everything he does. He used to play video games with us but after he started accusing other players of cheating on things that it's physically impossible to cheat on, or claiming that there was always something wrong with his controller, we stopped inviting him to video game night.

 

[Dwarf Bread]

This guy, who I'll call Crappy McCrapface in order to protect his identity,

I laughed and laughed when I read this. Well played, sir!

I never realized how truly fortunate I've been in my gaming career until I read this thread.

I've had some weird moments, though, like the time I responded to an ad at my FLGS for a 2e game; the GM was a bouncer/AV tech at a local club, and had his entire living room set up like a stage--complete with multiple spotlights with different color gels. He also told me he'd painstakingly created multiple cassette tapes (with some MIDI equipment) full of different music that would act as a sort of "soundtrack" for the campaign (there were at least 20 tapes, carefully labelled and arranged on a nearby card table). We start playing (in an all-Viking campaign, iirc), and he pops in a tape. Pretty standard Conan background music, kind of cheesy, but not any kind of problem. Then we begin to travel, and he carefully selects a new tape, puts it in, and we hear...the exact same music. I don't mean "similar," I mean I couldn't tell the difference between them at all. Maybe this guy had some kind of dog hearing, and had adjusted the bass a tiny fraction, but that was it. Then, we finally run into some bad guys and are about to start combat, but the GM makes us wait for a couple of minutes while he painstakingly selects the appropriate "combat music." He puts in the tape, plays it and...yes, once again, it is the *exact* same music.

By this point, I was trying so hard not to laugh I didn't trust myself to talk, so I just rolled some dice, waiting for my chance to cut and run. Once I finally made it out of there, I told the GM that I was sorry, but that the campaign wasn't for me. Luckily, though, I stayed in touch with one of the other players (who also bolted after the first session) and we've been friends ever since.

We still talk about that night. In retrospect, I dearly wish I'd had the foresight to ask the GM if I could have a copy of one of the tapes, if only to have him earnestly ask me which one I'd liked best.

"Oooh, the combat one!" I would have said, and it would have been awesome.