1000 Signs you're in GM HELL

104. In describing the scene, you completely leave out the clever clue that will misdirect them about the identity of the BBEG.

105. You come up with a really cool spell-like ability for the PCs new NPC companion that will scare them silly—and use it at a moment that fails to have the desired impact.
 

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106. You draw out the elaborate temple of death on the battle mat and then realize you are using a permanent marker.
107. Your players present there characters for a four-color superhero game, and they are all gun-toting gangster-wannabes.
108. You plan an adventure around a key player who shows up for every session, except this one.
109. Next game, you plan another adventure around a different player but ask first if he can make it, but at the last minute he doesn't show.
110. So you plan an intricate plot that revolves around the background of three of your six players, figuring one of them would have to make it. Figuring incorrectly at that.
111. One of the backgrounds submitted for your low-fantasy campaign begins with "I am the sunderer of worlds. I was born with the birth of time and have led countless civilizations to their distruction."
112. Actually, regardless of the campaign you are running, you get the background in #111.
113. You get a player who submits a D&D character with stats all in the 20s and 30s for first level, and the player claims to have rolled him up fairly.
114. For a champions game, you get a player whose character concept is "any power with a stop sign next to it."
115. A new character in your superhero game takes the mimic power, and then with each mimic, asks, "What does this power do?"
116. A d20 player takes 5 minutes each turn to figure out how much to power attack by and how much to set his combat reflexes by.
117. After you have started skipping the player in #116 as he decides these thing, he continues to argue that he should be able to take as much time as he wants.
118. You have a player that adds up each bonus individually for each roll of the dice. Doesn't matter if it is the same as the previous roll. Doesn't ever write anything down.
119. You have a player request to make his own feat, and then turns in a twenty-page disceration on what the feat does.
120. You have a player who hates your game, but shows up anyway and makes backhanded comments all the time.
121. You have a player who can only play Evil characters, and I mean Evil with a capital E: plotting truly vile stuff like genocide regardless of the campaign style or theme.
122. You write a detailed campaign arc around a character, and the player switches to a different character.
123. So you write another detailed campaign arc around a character, and the player switches to yet another different character.
124. So you don't bother to write another detailed campaign arc for that player's character, and he quits the game because you didn't include him in any of the plots.
125. You have a player who must tell his story of Hrrg lizardfolk barbarian at least once per session.
126. You have two players who argue over who lost the Great Diamond of Zerkog. Two campaigns ago.
127. You really know you are in GM hell, when all this happens you to and you keep on playing anyway.
 
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128. After reading what you thought was a straightforward riddle clue to the party, you see their deer-caught-in-headlights looks, and then the ackward silence begins...

129. During the epic-scary scene where Lolth walks in and the risen Orcus gets ready to bullrush her you hear one of the party say "I think I can take her.."

130. ...and then he tries, wherethen the automatic magical defenses of the goddess decimate the party during a scene that was supposed to have been all narrative by the DM.

131. When one of the group mentions that their friend Tommy wants to play you happily accept...to find out Tommy is 11 and ADD

132. ..said Tommy wanders off into woods during what was supposed to be a noneventful trip between two places, and takes nearly the entire game session hiding from the rest of the party and running away, pelting them with sling bullets while laughing his head off..

133. ..and then rest of the party, including a barbarian and a minotaur, tie him up and take turns beating on him in the back of their cart. After a time the subdual turns real and DM must explain to the 11 year old why he got tied up and beaten to a dead bloody pulp...sheesh...
 
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134. One player is out to "win" the game.
135. They all are
136. The "winner" makes a character that cannot be beaten by any other character alone (and they're too stupid to gang up on him) and then takes most of the treasures, claiming that he roleplays his character, who is greedy.
 

maggot said:
...
118. You have a player that adds up each bonus individually for each roll of the dice. Doesn't matter if it is the same as the previous roll. Doesn't ever write anything down...

OH! This happens EVERY SINGLE WEEK!

Sorry, please continue with the thread.
 



138: Telling the new guy that the wife has rules about uninvited guests, then having him walk in with two of his buddies...

139: The new guy intro's his one HD Yaun-ti brood guard turned anthropomorphic cat with the templates Psionic, Endurant, Sneaky, Beast of Legend, and a few others...

140: When you deny the first character, he intro's his thri-kreen with four rocket launchers and equipment from a COMPLETELY unrelated campaing setting...

141: When you deny THIS character, the player tells you that you don't understand the rules, and spends the rest of the session in the background telling you how you can improve your game... on his first day in YOUR house.

142: After being gone for the next two game sessions (because you can't play real D&D, after all...) the new guy calls and asks about joining your campaign again. Of course, your going to have to change a few things to improve the game...

143: Having the rest of the players later show you the notes they passed to each other noting how angry you were getting (and how obvious it was). They also placed bets on how long you'd 'stay calm'.

143a: You didn't get a piece of the winning bet. :)
 
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#+1: You realize, in game, that the phonetic spelling of the awesome extradimensional material that you've created sounds lewd, and your party snickers every time you mention it.

#+2: The NPC that is supposed to sacrifice themself to save the party gets beaten to the punch by a martyr-ish PC.

#+3: Your half-orc monk players decides to do math out loud and proclaim to the group how far he can jump, at least 2-9 times per session.

#+4: Each round take 10mins+ and there is no arguments or rules discussion.

#+5: The druid that WS into a fire elemental thinks he should be immune to horrid wilting.

#+6: The paladin in the party has no problem threatening/torturing/killing prisoners (because they are evil).

#+7: The party insists on TPKing themselves by not resting/healing/rushing onward ever onward. "We'll either finish tonight or die trying."
 


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