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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pour" data-source="post: 5646042" data-attributes="member: 59411">I had a lot of fun at game day, and I could forgive a lot in the spirit of inducting new players and generally celebrating the game... however, I admit our DM was terrible: timid, mumbling, and not nearly familiar enough with 4e rules to facilitate a game day event. This is the second time  I've been burned at this shop with a new DM, and it's ultimately what  convinced me to drop last Encounters season. I really don't want to be a rules lawyer or a jerk, but there is only a certain threshold I can take before, in my opinion, we're not playing the game everyone planned to, things like ignoring the more complicated mechanics of people's powers because he couldn't understand them, ignoring attempts to role play or explore (even with the limited degree the session allowed- we couldn't even talk to dock hands or guardsmen) because he was so dependent on the adventure booklet, reverting back to certain 3rd edition rules like Sleep not affecting undead and standing from prone provoking OAs simply because of lack of rules knowledge. He didn't spend any time describing things unless sorely pressed, and it often felt we were moving from his lowly spoken monologues to confusing combats. He was flustered much of the time, and stalled twice via cigarette breaks, and I feel for the guy, I do, but he shouldn't have put himself in that situation. Running a game day event is not the place to cut your teeth, and many times the DM responsibilities fell on me, lest the whole table collapse. I spent the hour with new players drawing up their characters. I was the one they often referred to for rulings, half the time the DM along with them, the other half to his frustration. I didn't argue with the DM, I tried to be just a player, but still, for all  the work I did I should have just DMed the table myself.The only real saving grace was how great the party was. I won't go into detail, but they really were a nice, eager and creative group that were often robbed out of really fun experiences save when we created them ourselves via inter-party rp/interaction/jokes. Despite the difficult session, all of them want to come back and run through the whole Encounters season and there in lies my dilemma. They've asked me to become a permanent addition to their  Encounters group, but I just don't think I can handle this sort of DM for  the whole 13 or so weeks. At the same time, I really like the party and I'm not sure it will even work without me there for rules referencing and creative prodding.  That puts me  in a bit of a spot, as I don't want to overshadow the DM or be 'that guy', but I want these new gamers to learn the rules and experience a fun season. Ugh, what do I do?</blockquote>

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