Charles Rampant
Explorer
I think that, as others have identified, there is actually two problems here:
1) Your plans as the DM seemed oddly restrictive. I've only ever heard of out-of-game time limits/expectations being used in very special circumstances (the end of a campaign, convention megagames, etc). Whenever you wrote that the party was '3 hours behind schedule' I got a little weirded out. I would not normally stress it to that degree. Especially since I am lazy, and regard players going slow as an excuse to do less work for the next session
2) The group seems to want different things from you. I've said that quite baldly, to give it more emphasis. Now, obviously your post won't include everything that happened in the game; I imagine that you had to leave some stuff out for space, and your players might disagree with your interpretation. Regardless, it seems from the text of your post that the kind of game you were running for this session was not the same as the kind of game that your players were wanting to play. Perhaps it is even just that they like to dilly-dally - pause to chat to minor NPCs and the like - where you want to move on with the BIG IMPORTANT EVENTS. You are not wrong for wanting to run your plot and have your fun; but it may be that you were not on the same page as your players.
I don't know if you've got the option open to you of going back to the group and discussing with them, or whether you burned bridges and ended the game. Either way, I would suggest to you - respectfully, not trying to be rude or anything - that you think about the above points. If you can, see whether you could loosen up your planning, hopefully leading to less stress about slipped schedules and the like. And, whether with this group or another one, make sure that you and the players form an accord with how the game runs. This doesn't need to be some grand social contract stuff. All that I do is explain to the players - clearly and hopefully swiftly - during character generation what kind of game I am going to run. (For example, 'no rape and no torture; no characters rolling dice against each other; some humour but not full comedy'). Then the rest should come with time. Just observe what makes your players have fun, and try to focus on that.
Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that your game collapsed, and I hope that you manage to get a game going soon that fits with your desires!
1) Your plans as the DM seemed oddly restrictive. I've only ever heard of out-of-game time limits/expectations being used in very special circumstances (the end of a campaign, convention megagames, etc). Whenever you wrote that the party was '3 hours behind schedule' I got a little weirded out. I would not normally stress it to that degree. Especially since I am lazy, and regard players going slow as an excuse to do less work for the next session
2) The group seems to want different things from you. I've said that quite baldly, to give it more emphasis. Now, obviously your post won't include everything that happened in the game; I imagine that you had to leave some stuff out for space, and your players might disagree with your interpretation. Regardless, it seems from the text of your post that the kind of game you were running for this session was not the same as the kind of game that your players were wanting to play. Perhaps it is even just that they like to dilly-dally - pause to chat to minor NPCs and the like - where you want to move on with the BIG IMPORTANT EVENTS. You are not wrong for wanting to run your plot and have your fun; but it may be that you were not on the same page as your players.
I don't know if you've got the option open to you of going back to the group and discussing with them, or whether you burned bridges and ended the game. Either way, I would suggest to you - respectfully, not trying to be rude or anything - that you think about the above points. If you can, see whether you could loosen up your planning, hopefully leading to less stress about slipped schedules and the like. And, whether with this group or another one, make sure that you and the players form an accord with how the game runs. This doesn't need to be some grand social contract stuff. All that I do is explain to the players - clearly and hopefully swiftly - during character generation what kind of game I am going to run. (For example, 'no rape and no torture; no characters rolling dice against each other; some humour but not full comedy'). Then the rest should come with time. Just observe what makes your players have fun, and try to focus on that.
Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that your game collapsed, and I hope that you manage to get a game going soon that fits with your desires!