DM Schticks That Grind Your Gears

[Agent Oracle]

So the player misses a session. Oh well. Them's the breaks. He comes in AFTER the fight. If you have battles that last three full sessions, then perhaps a little bit of brushing up on the rules is in order. If this is happening frequently, then perhaps a shift in design may be in order.

I'm more curious of HOW a fight could last more than a single full session. I mean, I suppose if we draw the scale clear back to visualize an entire army of thousands fighting another army... and... ummm... make each attack roll individually on each side?

I dunno. In my experience, even the mightiest wizard is feeling kinda depleted after the first hundred and twenty seconds of pitched battle.

 

[reanjr]

I gotta agree with AaronL on this one. Duping players on the nature of the campaign is generally not a good way to start. It might be fine for groups that have played together for a long time, but, if the players and DM don't know eachother, blatantly lying to your players at the outset might hurt that whole trust the DM thing I keep hearing about.

Well, I've been playing with the same group for many years, so it's not really a problem. They trust that I will move the campaign in different directions depending upon my desires and the entertainment of the players.

 

[reanjr]

You've just lied to the players. And if what the GM wants to run is the last thing the players want to run in, you just might find yourself looking for new players. RPGs are a cooperative venture. Ignore that fact at your peril.

I don't attract players by running campaigns that appeal to them and then switch it on them. I attract players by running all sorts of campaigns well enough that they want to play in my game no matter the campaign style. So it's not like I am truly "baiting" them in the traditional sense. I am just putting them in the right mindset to create characters appropriate to the campaign themes. If lying to them is the most effective way to do this, I do.

 

[LordBOB]

ok I didnt feel like reading EVERY page and im sure what im about to say has already been said but i need to say it.

UNDEAD! - you know how it is...... walking through the woods and BLAM, you get attacked by undead. The fight ends and 5 minutes later BOOM, more undead. 10 minutes after that SNAP, more undead! UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD !!!!

ok everyone lets say it together this time - UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD !!!!

AHHH it makes me scream! You would think that with 4 Monster Manuels the DM could find some new FUC**** monsters to throw at us.

IM TIRED OF THE UNDEAD...... GIVE US SOMETHING ELSE!!!!

 

[The Shaman]

UNDEAD! - you know how it is...... walking through the woods and BLAM, you get attacked by undead. The fight ends and 5 minutes later BOOM, more undead. 10 minutes after that SNAP, more undead! UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD !!!!...IM TIRED OF THE UNDEAD...... GIVE US SOMETHING ELSE!!!!

Deathless?



Edit: I confess - this is one of my schticks. I loves me some undead, yes I do.

 

[reanjr]

I totally agree with the undead thing. I'm even kind of reactionary. I see so much undead in other people's campaigns that I hardly ever use them. I even tell people during character creation who want to play an undead-killing class that they should probably pick something else or they're going to be disappointed.

 

[I'm A Banana]

We're not Lawful Good Paladins. This is grim and gritty CyberPunk and my character is a badass kung fu mercenary.

I think I'm yoinking this. As a life-mantra.

 

[Drowbane]

Ugh. I played a Shadowrun game with a long-time gamer/first time GM who pulled this kind of crap on me. I was a Physical Adept, martial artist type. A gun bunny and two shaman round out the group. We're sent on a mission to hijack a truck. We get to the guy, attack him and knock him down, injured. He then orders his truck AI to kill us. Mind you, my nasty PA is standing over him while he's laying injured on the ground. I attack, roll exceptionally well, and do enough damage to kill him.

GM asks if it was subdual/non-lethal. Nope. Are you sure? Yes. I KILL HIM. GM gets all quiet-like and begins to think bad thoughts about me (the player) as a human being.

Has my character haunted by the man's ghost. Constantly harangues me in and out of the game about how I shouldn't have killed the guy.

Dude, this is ShadowRun. We're not Lawful Good Paladins. This is grim and gritty CyberPunk and my character is a badass kung fu mercenary.

I feel your pain bro! This is the same GM who always had gangers pull the pins on their grenades just as they were dying (LAME)!

...I confess - this is one of my schticks. I loves me some undead, yes I do...

I hear that, I dig thems undead. (hah, a pun!)

 

[shilsen]

I've seen players do a 3 game mega combat session a couple of times. Throwing in a brand new PC would be absurd under most circumstances. "Luke, you are the only hope for destroying the Death Star....oh wait, here comes Pink Five...where did she come from?"

"Luke, you're the only one left ... oh wait, you're not ... Han and Chewie and the Millennium Falcon are here..."

 

[Agent Oracle]

I hear that, I dig thems undead. (hah, a pun!)

Yeah, but Undead should be kept within reason. I mean, Zombies don't just wander the countryside aimlessly. Now, if there was a Necromancer who was assembling a patrol of zombies in the area around a unholy altar... that I could understand! Double points of the encounters aren't just random, and the players begin noticing ones they put down last time are in the fray again...