Zardnaar
Legend
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).
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).