Wow! Some of these just make me wonder, and some of these make me wish I was there with a video camera to catch the unbelievable stuff that you guys have experienced.
I do have my own stories too though, however they're not as bat-sh%t crazy as some of the stuff here lol.
Game #1: D&D 3.0/3.5
I was roleplaying with a bunch of co-workers in the Air Force from 2003 to 2004/2005. We played on and off for about a year and a half, and we had some great sessions every so often. My character was a Half-Orc Barbarian and was relied upon to do the real damage in combat, as other party members included a sorcerer, a druid, and a fighter. Now, I never bragged about how much damage my character could do, nor did I portray any power-gamer-like qualities (aside from a strong and focused character build) during the campaign. However, the other players went on and on about how important and how much better their characters were. I didn't really pay attention, but over a few months, it became prevalent that the DM had some favorites: everyone but me.
Over the course of the campaign, I noticed the other players continually claiming they had won the day (above the hard work my Barbarian put in), and they would continually try to make me look like an idiot (in person) by out-roleplaying me (and I am admittedly not the best at it). For a while, the DM allowed this kind of interaction, and sometimes encouraged it. I was a subordinate to some of them in real life so I just went along with it for the duration of the experience.
It got so bad that during one session, we had arrived in Waterdeep (or whatever that super-huge FR city is), and I started to seek out a new greatsword. I had a +2 Greatsword (with no other magical properties), though the rest of the party had heavily-enchanted gear in almost every slot (weapons, armor, rings, bracers, boots, gloves, necklaces, etc.). I wanted something more interesting, and when I asked the DM about it, he sort of chuckled and rudely said "No, there's no other magical greatswords in Waterdeep". I was kind of confused because this city was supposed to be a big deal in FR. So then, in a brief moment of swift thinking, I said I wanted to sell my +2 greatsword for a boat-load of gold because I was the only person in all of Waterdeep with a magical greatsword! The DM looked at me with a blank expression and said "No, no one wants to buy your sword." I was pretty pissed, but just kept on playing.
A few months later, my character totally ate it, as I was roleplaying my character flawlessly. My character (again, being the main damage-dealer) had gotten a reputation for handling the big baddies that we would come across (dracoliches, big monsters, tough enemies, etc). So one day we happened to stumble across a Grey Render. My Half-Orc wanted a piece of it and was subsequently rended in twain. I wasn't completely upset with the result, but I was disappointed because the party didn't back me up in the fight (which they were quick to instigate). After a week or two of thinking up a new character, and being told I had to write up a full-page background (not a big deal), I came up with an interesting character and handed it to the DM. He told me that he would bring me in about half-way into the session one evening because he didn't have an "in" for me right away. I was okay with that and was trying to be compliant, but when that half-way point came several hours later, I was unprepared for what was coming.
The DM explained to the rest of the party that there was a character (mine) being attacked by some monsters and that I was asking for assistance. He set me at 1/2 hit points as I was supposed to be "injured" and would appear to be losing the fight, thus enticing the players to be heroic and all that good stuff. When the monsters turn came around, before I got to roll a single damn die, he rolled up the damage they were dealing to me and ended up putting me at -14 HP (which in D&D 3.0/3.5 meant instant death). I had spent four days writing up the background for the character, and even got one of the players to draw a portrait of him for the character sheet. He was dead before I got to roll a single die. I packed up my stuff, was extremely angry, and stormed out while I heard the DM say "oh wait, no, you're not dead, wait..." but I had had enough of being their subservient little <insert term that calmly portrays my anger and politely describes how I was constantly an outlet for their bad attitudes>.
Game #2: World of Darkness - Forgotten Realms?
It was about 2007, and I was invited to a sweet sounding campaign using a roleplaying system I had never used before, called World of Darkness. The guy who was going to be the GM explained that it was a system that "didn't have you level up but instead you just got better at certain things, but that overall you were already good at some things and not-so-good at others". Okay, that's not the best recollection of his description, but you guys know what he and I are getting at. Anyways, he was going to run a Forgotten Realms D&D campaign using the World of Darkness rules. We were going to play a party of Drow in Menzoberranzan, and honestly his little speech on how the campaign was going to play out was pretty enticing.
I brought my wife along for the first session (she is a gamer as well), and we had our character sheets ready to go (we had created our characters beforehand and were actually quite anxious to play). Now, the GM had explained that this campaign was going to be more about role-playing and less about roll-playing, so we weren't going into the game expecting much combat. The GM started describing the city, the culture, the House system, the environment, and the party members, and just kept talking and talking and talking. I mean, several HOURS passed while my wife and I just listened to him going on and on about stuff, while his wife was just listening intently and smiling (she was "playing" too). After about three hours of story and background descriptions, we finally started to interact with each other and the people/things around us. We maybe rolled a climb check once, and maybe a perception check (or whatever they're called in WoD), but most of the evening passed without a further die roll. We didn't have a single combat at all, and were more or less just meandering around near our homes in the Drow city. My wife and I got quite bored, and asked if we could call it so we could get some sleep (we were "playing" for about five hours, up to about 11pm). The drive home was just akward and silent. We had no idea that the campaign was going to be a long set of sessions listening to the GM liking the sound of his own voice, and we weren't too happy with that either.
Game #3: Star Wars Saga Edition
In 2008 I was asked to GM for Star Wars Saga Edition, a game that I was a huge fan of since it's release in 2006. I bought a copy of the book the day it was released, and I still have it (and all of the other books for that matter). It is by far my favorite game system. After harping on it over and over again over the course of several months to my friends, some of them took notice and asked if they could play in a campaign if I ran it. Surprised by the question, I agreed. I threw together a campaign set in the Force Unleashed era (or the "Rise of the Empire" era, or whatever you want to call it, basically between episodes III and IV) and we were quickly off and running (thanks to Saga Edition's streamlined character creation process and game-play).
After three months of some fantastic game sessions, and a specific encounter and adventure I wrote that my players said was the "most fun they'd ever had in a roleplaying game" (which I'm still in the process of turning into a module), things started to change. The players became increasingly hostile towards one-another both in and out of character, and were starting to become slightly more evil. Heck, maybe my attempts to lure them to the Dark Side had worked! Things progressed in a downward spiral despite my best efforts, and culminated in a Mexican standoff in a cantina when the PC's had had enough of each other. My policy at the time regarding character conflicts was "I don't care. Kill each other if you want, but just remember, if you cause a problem with the other players, or cause the game to no longer be fun for everyone, you're out of the campaign". I'm not a fan of PC vs PC violence, but I expect my players to be adults about any conflicts and roleplay-out a situation if it needs to happen, regardless of the results.
Well, the Mexican standoff turned into a bloody massacre. The main instigator of the group (a Jedi, of all things) hacked down an NPC that was needed for questioning and wasn't even remotely a threat (or evil for that matter). One of the other players had enough, and had their Soldier fire at the Jedi, using Destiny Points and all, and dropped him, thus starting the epic, hilarious, and bloody combat. Another soldier in the group ducked behind a table and took a pot shot at the first soldier but missed, and the Noble of the group ducked out of the Cantina altogether, wanting nothing to do with this nonsense. The two soldiers fired back and forth at each other a few times, before finally the first one emerged from the Cantina victorious. That is until the Noble put a gun to the back of her head and pulled the trigger. The Noble gathered up everything he could, hopped in his ship, and flew off.
The party decided that it was "fun", and I was fed up. I explained they had basically killed the campaign in that cantina, and I was done trying to mend relationships both in and out of the game. I walked.
Game #4: Star Wars Saga Edition - Now with less Saga Edition!
I was hanging out at my local game store on a Thursday night (about a year ago now), and noticed a group of players playing Star Wars Saga Edition. Still anxious for play (but hurting from the previous Star Wars campaign), I walked over and asked if I could watch their game. The GM said that was perfectly fine, and even invited me into the campaign after their session had finished up for the evening. I took the offer, and started the following week.
I had decided to make a character that I would find interesting, and would break the mold of most of the characters I had played in other campaigns. I built a Jedi, but it was a Consular (the investigative negotiator, who focuses on using the Force and his words to solve problems, instead of his lightsaber). I was actually going to attempt to role-play, and had even printed out a list of movie quotes from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan (just some cheesy lines that I thought would bring my character some...character). He spec'd in using the Force, deception, gather information, perception, persuasion, knowledge bureaucracy, knowledge galactic lore, Adept Negotiator, Force Persuasion, Master Negotiator, and Mind Trick, initially.
During the first session, I giddily explained to one of the players that I couldn't wait to try to negotiate with the big bad Sith they had told me about, only to talk him in circles and use the Force to help get information out of him and stuff. When the GM heard me say that, he looked upset, and chuckled out loud saying "Hahaha, oh no, that's not gonna happen". I was kind of confused as to whether or not he knew what I was talking about, so I kept on playing. After a little bit, we were in an encounter against some Sith soldiers, and instead of playing the role of the hack-and-slash sword-wielding type I usually play, I tried to actually role-play a bit. When most of the Sith soldiers were defeated, I told the GM I wanted to use my Master Negotiator talent in conjunction with my Force Persuasion talent to get this last guy to fill us in on some information he was supposed to have. The GM looked at me like I was dumb and said "Uh, no, he won't tell you anything." Now I'm not one to argue with a GM, but flat-out telling a player they can't use an ability that is the soul purpose of their character is just plain wrong. I expressed my disappointment and continued to play, but I had no idea what I was in for. (Gosh, this seems to be a trend for me, huh?)
Over the next few weeks, the GM started to show that he actually didn't quite understand the rules. It progressively got worse and worse, to the point that when I tried to explain the radius of grenades and other "blast" or "splash" weaponry, he told me "No no no no NO! We're not gonna play
that game. That's not how it works". Not gonna play
that game? What game? Star Wars Saga Edition??? He went on and on like this about almost every little rule for weeks, completely revealing his lack of knowledge about the Saga Edition rules (and his lack of understanding of my character build) to the point that I honestly told him after a session, "You should seriously consider reading the Combat chapter, and the Jedi class, and the Force chapter." I was only using CORE BOOK rules and abilities, and he continued to have problems with almost everything my character was doing. During the last couple of sessions I had with him, I got so fed up with his nit-picking (while not knowing the rules) that I told him, "No,
this is how it works, according to the rules laid out in the rulebook". I know you're not supposed to argue with the GM but seriously, if they don't know how to play the game they're running, why are you playing in it? Well after a few sessions of that, he started implementing rules changes and enemies from other game systems from like the 1980's, and not only implied they were easier and better to use, but used them to completely bypass our characters' abilities and nearly hand us TPK's week after week.
And that's only the tip of the iceberg. His daughter was playing in the campaign too, but she had some special force-using droid thingy following her that would allow her to teleport anyone and anything anywhere in the galaxy with minimal consequences. The GM would try to tell her it would "hurt her" by going further and taking more people with her, but when we teleported the entire party across the galaxy one night, she only took 1/2 her hit points in damage, and never took condition-track penalties or anything. It was the Deus-Ex-Machina device that he gave to her, and it even came with the ability to solve any plot problem that was mysteriously unsolvable by the rest of the party regardless of any skills we had (or were masters of).
The GM had an open policy, however, that if I didn't like something on my character, I could change it. So week after week my character lost personality and gained combat efficiency to combat the random weaponry, powers, and aliens that he's throw at us from different systems. My negotiator slowly turned into a stealthy Special Forces Jedi (which was also cool) and ended up being rewarded regularly for doing so.
I guess the straw that broke the camel's back in that campaign was when it came time to fight the big bad Sith Lord that the party was afraid of. My character was way more potent in combat now, so I didn't care. When the encounter kicked-off, my character began dueling the Sith Lord almost immediately, while the rest of the Party focused on some of the other enemies. When the Sith Lord tried to use some amazing Force Power on my character, I handily used Rebuke and negated it. The GM was unaware that Rebuke existed so he questioned the ability and had me look it up (he didn't even think it existed). After showing it to him, I responded that I was going to use a Destiny Point to act out of turn and use a Force Power on him, to which he grew a cheesy grin and replied "He uses Rebuke".
Later in the same fight, the Sith Lord rolled a critical hit which I responded to by using a Destiny Point to negate the attack. Again, the GM was the one who said we had Destiny Points to begin with, and that we were playing a game called Star Wars Saga Edition, and that we had Destinies. Still, he was in total disbelief, and pulled out his rulebook. He looked up Destiny Points and read them for about 15 minutes, and then continued combat seemingly upset. Seconds later when I had randomly rolled a non-critical but well placed hit, the GM said "Well uh, he uses a Destiny point and negates your attack..."
It was at that point that I started to pack up my dice, put my stuff away, and say that I fought defensively for the rest of the encounter until his daughter's character would save the day. BUT THE GM WASN'T DONE YET! He didn't understand what "fighting defensively" was, and continued to harass me about how it worked.
Needless to say, I was #$&@ done with that campaign.
