D&D 5E DM Quits The Game

[Zardnaar]

Today the DM quit the game. The problem being I am the DM. The lead up to it was a game scheduled for 1pm. I spent hours prepping the week before, the PCs were in disguise in a LE empire of Hobgobins.

Before the game starts (1pm start time)
Can't make it. Fair enough, things happen.
1st players arrive more or less on time.
Sometime around 2pm next player arrives, he is always late so 1pm is optimistic I suppose I really mean 2pm. We start around 2:30pm while waiting for the last player to show who had communicated he was going to be late.
Close to 3pm last player arrives.

So we start 3pm more or less. I had spent a fair bit of effort dropping hints and tips, the PCs were on the road towards the a city. They had very strict laws in regards to travellers in the empire. Basically if you get caught off the road its death, the nation is a cross between Sparta and Prussia- its a military state theocracy ruled by the church of Bane (we use the Faerunian pantheon).

Then there is a discussion to go forward or back. Fair enough discussion lasts for half an hour (until 3:30pm)and the city is literally can be viewed from the top of the hill a few miles away. Party votes to go on (3-2, 5 players) as one player constantly wants to run away form everything. As a good aligned Paladin. There was a timeline roughly and the mission was to prevent a second day of 1000 suns which they players thought was a nuclear/quasi magical nuclear using weapons of ancient design.

Since we are around 2 and a half hours behind schedule I was trying to get the game moving along. What was really supposed to be a simple stay in disguise and don't pick fights with NPCs was dragging out into an overly complicated affair and discussion about a lot of pointless crap that did not matter. Even if the PCs wanted to run away I am fine with that, they just have to face the consequences of that.

They eventually get to the city and an elaborate RP part I abbreviated to a NPC nutjob they have meet goes NATO in the city. Bastion is a city roughly modelled on the Aztec capital/Venice. With a distraction the PCs charge up the Great Pyramid in the city sometime after 5pm real time.They bluff the 1st guards to go and reinforce the city. A simple fight breaks out on the 2nd level (12 hobgoblins with a captain, all CR 1/2 and CR 3 vs 5 lvl 9 PCs) and one player took around 5 minutes to try and decide what to do. I ended up ruling she skipped her turn, it annoyed her but we were around 3 hours behind schedule at this point. A simple fireball or something like that would have ended the fight. They clear out that layer and the next which was a similar encounter to the 1st with an extra captain and hobgoblin warlord added. They win but the Paladin is KOed but they have ample healing to go around (potions, life cleric 1/lore bard 8).

Anyway onto the the enxt fight which had a high priest, a warlord type general and 3 elite imperial guard. Warlock tries something clever with the hadar spell (level 3 zone of dark and cold) but it also blocks line of sight for the other PCs. I explain I consider around a minute of real time a fair amount of time and we have a clock in the back ground. After 2 minutes of the same player trying to make up her mind I rule she skips here turn after she claimed she can take as long as she likes. This lead to another argument, long story short I left the room as I was not having much fun. I tried calming down but had enough and went back and called it a day and also that the campaign was over as I no longer wanted to run it. Basically don't piss the DM off as well, I can seem to run 5-12 characters in a combat without to much hassle.


Anyway I admit I could have handled it better but I am not sure what to do. I am used to PCs getting sidetracked a lot (it happens) and I am usually fine with it. I wanted to finish up around 8pm (other things to do) and had told everyone that but we ended up around 3 hours behind schedule and there was a rough in game time limit as well (failure would lead to baddies completing a ritual). One problem is I suppose being in 2 games where everyone seems to act CN despite what is written on the character sheets with various players doing their own thing in some cases taking 2-3 hours to resolve (away form the rest of the party). I usually ad hoc things if things do not go according to plan but they were not even doing anything I could ad hoc just pointless drivel. Attempts to speed the game up or get on track (or even run away from the objective if that is what they want to do) just lead to arguments.

The plan was to go to city, fight in the pyramid, go through a portal and have it out with King Snurre and his archmage on a floating base over a magma lake in a James Bond over the top stop the weapons of mass destruction type showdown. After 5 hours though they were about where they should have been after and hour maybe 2. I was not having fun so I pulled the plug. Anyway what would you have done and what would you do? I like all of the players but we have 2 inexperienced players, 1 power gamer type player, 1 rules lawyer (CN type) and one CN whatever type player. The concepts of team work, being effective (or coherent) seem to elude them. I do not care if people do stupid crap and get themselves killed but in some cases they get others killed. The good aligned Oath of the Ancients Paladin done a runner (smart) while everyone else stood there with a countdown going and took 40d6 damage they did not have to (which the Paladin could have halved). I was telegraphing the explosion (run) and even more or less doing a countdown for it and they all just stand there or move to the corners of the building (which was not big enough).

 

[jadrax]

My first question would be why you feel the need to have a schedule for what the PCs should be doing?

 

[garnuk]

This is why I read up on all the techniques to DM without prepping.

 

[Imaculata]

My players have been stuck in the same city for over five sessions now, and I would have liked to see them on their way about 3 sessions ago. But new things keep popping up, and so the players are still in the same area. But does it matter? Not as long as the players are having fun. I don't feel the need to push things along, or to keep things on schedule, if the players are finding things to do. I'll make up new situations on the spot, to keep it from getting dull. I'll come up with new plots for npc's and their crew, and before you know it, one more session is gone, and they are still in the same bloody city by the end of it. And that's fine. If they are having fun, then I am having fun.

 

[Celtavian]

If you're not having fun DMing, you quit just as you did. DM has to have fun as well as the players or what's the point?

 

[CapnZapp]

I feel your pain Zardnaar, but this really is a case of you wishing them to take a particular set of actions.

As a DM you must enjoy the players actions for what they are, not what they should be.

Good luck in the future and keep DM:ing

 

[Lanefan]

Since we are around 2 and a half hours behind schedule I was trying to get the game moving along. ...

Sometimes you just gotta put your feet up and enjoy the show, while realizing that what you had storyboarded for one session might now take two or three or six...or not get done at all.

It's not like you're stuck with a hard limit on the number of total sessions the campaign can go. It's open-ended; just pick up in the next session right where you left off in this one, and let it roll.

Lan-"if I'd bailed out after the first few times something like this happened my DMing career - which started in 1984 - would not have made it to 1985"-efan

 

[Herobizkit]

There are a number of points in the OP's post that need touching on... I'm going to try and point form it.

* Unless you're paying them a fair wage, players will never be on time for any number of reason you can't control.

In my home game, we schedule an hour of buffer time for socializing - We chat, catch up on stuff, and get warmed up for the game. Schedule the "show up" time 2 hours ahead of when you want to start; that gives you an acceptable hour of leeway plus an hour of warm-up. ^_^

* You know things players don't - don't expect them to make plans based on your knowledge.

Players are going to question a lot of things they do or could do, _especially_ new players who haven't learned the system or perhaps even how story or narrative works. If you feel that players are taking too long to decide what to do OUTSIDE of combat, push the scene ahead - either with a fight (fr'ex, a patrol or random encounter; doesn't have to be a fight, but something to get their brains working faster) or drop some obvious information that forces them to act or lose an advantage.

* Inexperienced players take longer at the table because the choices and uncertainties of success/failure can be paralyzing.

In the case of your dawdling player, rather than skipping her turn entirely, you could have had her 'delay' and move her initiative down the line, until she got to the end - then she would have had to decide or forfeit. You could also have her talk to her fellow players for advice rather than forcing a "be in the moment" RP... it's a game, after all.

* Don't be afraid to allow the PC's to fail.

Honestly, it's the only way they'll learn... sometimes.

* If the players aren't working together, maybe you're not running the game they want to play. DM's always tend to run games they wish THEY were playing.

You're at the head of the table, so you direct the action - if the players are all off doing whatever they want, forcing you to make stuff up on the go... that's fine, but it's clear they're not interested in a time-sensitive story-driven game or the plot you've placed before them.

It's generally better to run 'situations' and let the PC's handle how they're going to deal with them. If they're indecisive, either they're just worried about the pass/fail of their efforts or their goals may yet be unclear.

These are some random insights from where I'm sitting, but bottom line, you need to have a chat with your players and get down to what kind of game they _really_ want to play. Players who say "whatever is fine" may think they MEAN that, but they might not actually be sure what they want to do and will follow whatever you have written for them.

But you still have to work at their pace... or force their hand.

 

[Lanefan]

* Inexperienced players take longer at the table because the choices and uncertainties of success/failure can be paralyzing.

In the case of your dawdling player, rather than skipping her turn entirely, you could have had her 'delay' and move her initiative down the line, until she got to the end - then she would have had to decide or forfeit. You could also have her talk to her fellow players for advice rather than forcing a "be in the moment" RP... it's a game, after all.

Good point. Another thing to revisit might be how complex you've got the system. 5e has a wide range of complexity level; if you reboot with the same new player(s) maybe think about stripping out feats and skills and other complexities as much as you can, to simplify things.

* Don't be afraid to allow the PC's to fail.

Honestly, it's the only way they'll learn... sometimes.

I'm very upfront about telling players going in that bad things can - and sooner or later inevitably will - happen to their characters. And yes, kill 'em all and let the gods sort 'em out is sometimes the best option, though adventuring parties can be surprisingly resilient things when really put to it.

Lan-"reading the story as written the Paladin in that party should be up for an alignment audit sometime round now"-efan

 

[Lars Lykke]

"After 2 minutes of the same player trying to make up her mind I rule she skips here turn after she claimed she can take as long as she likes"

Big mistake that she thinks like that, GM is god and make rules on the fly if needed, players only say "sir yes sir" and game on.

Be more dominant