VoiceOfReason?
First Post
I'm sure someone else out there has done it, or experienced it. I'm talking about 'hazing' a new DM. A collaberative effort on the part of an entire group, rather than one or two individuals, to antagonize the DM. It became somewhat of a tradition and/or art form in one of my gaming groups when a DM refused to accomodate player interests in his game (almost invariably someone's 2nd or 3rd campaign attempt-we weren't so cruel as to torment our 1st time game masters). Whether the game was too combat-intensive, or lacked motivational plot hooks, fell onto a railroad, or just plain sucked, everyone eventually got the business end of this little sport.
Basically the way it went was this: The players first decided (in secret) what they disliked about the game and confronted the DM as a group. If nothing changed, we would then come up with a rule guided by poetic justice that we would follow as a group. When the problem corrected itself, the rule was lifted (if the game lasted that long).
For instance, Tony was running his 3rd game. Players had complained to him through his first 2 games (about 15 sessions) that the plots were weak, and action (combat and skill checks) was sparse and easy. Sure enough, module #3 proved to be as low-quality as the rest (some cheesy thing about rescuing an alchemist from his mansion/laboratory-turned-bottomless-pit-in-a-bad-accident. Not exactly bad, just cliched thru n thru). Due to the complete lack of things to do besides answer the fair maiden from the tavern's request for aid, we decided to stir up some interest. Our group (5-6 people lvl 9ish, good mix) turns from a primarily NG/LN group to the scourge of the west coast, unleashing hordes of demons into the wilderness; worsening relations between two nations and starting a war between two others; disabling scores of miles of roadways through the use of magic; enticing dragons to take up residence on and off the coast, then marshalling a fleet of 4 pirate ships to lock down the harbor of the small port town where we were supposed to aid the local alchemist. Eventually, Tony got smart, played off our pirate thing, and after a couple fun sessions of naval battles and sea chases, he lured us to a haunted island of sorts (another module, but this one was better and he came up with a lovely hook to get us there, so we happily returned to our good behavior)
In an unrelated incident; Shane decided one day he was going to try to run a political game. Problem was he didn't tell the players beforehand. So, like any self-respecting D&D group, we ended up after character creation with a couple combat monkeys, a good healer, a rogue (mostly dungeoneering skills), and a sorcerer who also served as our 'talker'. Good setup for an all-purpose D&D game, not good for an almost strictly political game. We tried to convince Shane to let us alter or remake characters with a few more points in social skills or charisma with no success as intrigues flew, assassinations occurred that we had nothing to do with, and some bad guys got away. Then we enstated the 5-word rule. Every NPC had 5 words to convince the party that he should not be immediately slain out of hand. "Hi, my name is Dick" is 5 words...and not much incentive. And really, who starts a conversation by saying "I will give you gold" instead of introducing themselves? Surely someone with a manner like that is up to something and should be dealt with like the rest of the conniving vermin.
Blood flowed like floodwater. Every corpse was mutilated. Heads rarely rolled because they were often too mishapen by the time we removed them from the NPC's neck, instead they dropped like lumps of bread dough. The game died in a matter of minutes.
Any other groups out there that came up with in-game ways to deal with railroading/booring game syndrome/DM powertrip/crappy description/etc. whether they worked or not?
Basically the way it went was this: The players first decided (in secret) what they disliked about the game and confronted the DM as a group. If nothing changed, we would then come up with a rule guided by poetic justice that we would follow as a group. When the problem corrected itself, the rule was lifted (if the game lasted that long).
For instance, Tony was running his 3rd game. Players had complained to him through his first 2 games (about 15 sessions) that the plots were weak, and action (combat and skill checks) was sparse and easy. Sure enough, module #3 proved to be as low-quality as the rest (some cheesy thing about rescuing an alchemist from his mansion/laboratory-turned-bottomless-pit-in-a-bad-accident. Not exactly bad, just cliched thru n thru). Due to the complete lack of things to do besides answer the fair maiden from the tavern's request for aid, we decided to stir up some interest. Our group (5-6 people lvl 9ish, good mix) turns from a primarily NG/LN group to the scourge of the west coast, unleashing hordes of demons into the wilderness; worsening relations between two nations and starting a war between two others; disabling scores of miles of roadways through the use of magic; enticing dragons to take up residence on and off the coast, then marshalling a fleet of 4 pirate ships to lock down the harbor of the small port town where we were supposed to aid the local alchemist. Eventually, Tony got smart, played off our pirate thing, and after a couple fun sessions of naval battles and sea chases, he lured us to a haunted island of sorts (another module, but this one was better and he came up with a lovely hook to get us there, so we happily returned to our good behavior)
In an unrelated incident; Shane decided one day he was going to try to run a political game. Problem was he didn't tell the players beforehand. So, like any self-respecting D&D group, we ended up after character creation with a couple combat monkeys, a good healer, a rogue (mostly dungeoneering skills), and a sorcerer who also served as our 'talker'. Good setup for an all-purpose D&D game, not good for an almost strictly political game. We tried to convince Shane to let us alter or remake characters with a few more points in social skills or charisma with no success as intrigues flew, assassinations occurred that we had nothing to do with, and some bad guys got away. Then we enstated the 5-word rule. Every NPC had 5 words to convince the party that he should not be immediately slain out of hand. "Hi, my name is Dick" is 5 words...and not much incentive. And really, who starts a conversation by saying "I will give you gold" instead of introducing themselves? Surely someone with a manner like that is up to something and should be dealt with like the rest of the conniving vermin.
Blood flowed like floodwater. Every corpse was mutilated. Heads rarely rolled because they were often too mishapen by the time we removed them from the NPC's neck, instead they dropped like lumps of bread dough. The game died in a matter of minutes.
Any other groups out there that came up with in-game ways to deal with railroading/booring game syndrome/DM powertrip/crappy description/etc. whether they worked or not?
