Bad DMs/GMs

[delericho]

IMO, there's a difference between a bad DM and one who is merely inexperienced. Most of the 'bad DM' behaviours I've seen are excusible in a DM who is still learning the ropes.

So, while I consider "killer DM", a "railroad DM", a "boring DM" or a "cheat DM" to be 'bad DM' behaviours, I'll only consider the DM himself bad if he is unwilling to listen to constructive criticism, and/or unwilling (or unable) to learn from his mistakes.

 

[S'mon]

2) Super NPC. A particuarl dm's game I play in now has super npcs. These are npcs that delivery a lot of monologue , do some actions then always escape before they can be killed etc. They can also do anything from sail a ship to romance a party member. Its not a bad game, I enjoy it mostly. Just some of the npcs we meet. Not so much

I can't stand Mary Sue GMPCs, yup.

 

[Rechan]

Control freaks. Among the problems that we had with one DM, he wanted a say in everything involving your character. For instance he wanted to limit the base benefits your class received; one PC wanted to play a druid, and the DM wanted to tell him what animal companion the first level druid got.

In highschool I had a DM who not only had the SuperNPCs, but also clearly was catering to some members of the group and neglecting others. I was the only player not playing a melee class - I was playing a wizard. So often I'd cast a spell and he'd ignore the rules of it and just say "Yeah it doesn't work". He also went out of his way to have the story suit the other players, but ignored me because they were bigger friends of his.

 

[Fox Lee]

Novelists. The only GM I've had who I just couldn't stick with was of the "I really want to write this as a novel" type, with a side order of "please fawn over all my broken-baby-bird-female-NPCs". She wasn't a bad writer at all, but the gaming table is just NOT the place for your magnum opus novella.

 

[ExploderWizard]

In addition to many of the things mentioned, I once had a DM whose descriptions drove me up the wall. He once spent almost 5 minutes describing a room in loving detail, from the color and pattern of the carpet, to the figures on he mantlepiece. Then, at the end, almost as an afterthought, "Oh yeah, there's also a large black dragon sitting in the middle of the room."

Some of this was actually written in boxed text this way. Detailed room descriptions followed by the obvious monster standing there almost as an afterthought.

Yeah, a DM who simply read this verbatim was pretty bad.

 

[Cor Azer]

The worst I've had are a few DMPC issues thankfully. Not to say all the DM's I've played with are great though; most just fall into the average camp.

My biggest peeve though is DMs that mess with the basics of my character, after we started playing. I don't mind restrictions on character generation, but after we've been gaming for a few sessions, don't say my elf is actually a drow who was polymorphed and needs to find a way to reverse the spell... No, he grew up as a gardener; he knows who he is.

 

[MoxieFu]

Boring DM's.

If a DM can get dramatic or act and is a good storyteller, it's great.

If the DM talks in a Monotone, gives one word descriptions of entire rooms, and has no imagination...that pretty much makes the game rather boring.

Just for me at least.

Ben Stein

Somehow Greylord I don't think you would like hims as a DM, am I right?


"It's your turn to attack Beuller, Beuller, Beuller..."

 

[Hussar]

Well, going by what I experienced:

1. Favoring players. There's nothing wrong with a bit of spotlight on different people at different times. But, when it becomes blindingly obvious that your DM has frustrated homo-erotic fantasies about his room mate, it's time to move on.

2. Railroading above and beyond the pale.

3. Campaigns that never go anywhere. Ever. I had one online campaign I played in where the players were posting pretty much every few days - decent pace. It took us nearly six months just to get out of the freaking tavern.

4. DM's who love their campaigns more than their players. I once accused a DM of considering his NPC's more important than the PC's. His response? "Of course they are."

5. Totally unprepared. I've got no problems with a DM who can wing it. So long as "winging it" doesn't mean that I'm staring off into space for half an hour while the DM flails around trying to get things going.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I have to say I think the bad GM thing is way over-blown, and it is usually more of a style clash than anything when someone says they had a bad GM. However there are some things I think make for poor GMing:

1) Not understanding the rules system: I don't expect GMs to be masters of the system in use, but I do expect them to understand the core system enough to run it (obviously if it is the first run of a new game, there is a learning curve).

2) Being unfair: No GM is perfect, no one can be 100% objective on every single rules call, but the GM should at least try to be a balanced judge of the game. Things like singling a player out for bad treatment, favoring characters because they are the focus of the adventure...these can disturb my enjoyment of the game.

3) The DMNPC: I love good solid NPCs. But I don't care for the DMNPC. Especially when it is a fellow who is maxed out, get's special treatment, and is virtually unkillable.

 

[GreyLord]

Ben Stein

Somehow Greylord I don't think you would like hims as a DM, am I right?


"It's your turn to attack Beuller, Beuller, Beuller..."

His voice tone may drive me crazy.

He shows some imagination and is descriptive, so he could go either way. I'm thinking he probably would be a fine DM if he knew how to play. Take away his imagination in doing things (which could very well just be his script writers) and his descriptive ability (once again, could be scriptwriters) and yes, he'd be terrible.