Do DM's ever go on strike?

[Emirikol]

Hey, it's tax day and I'm feeling ornrey. Do DM's ever go on strike
for better working conditions? Have you ever wanted to tell off a
group of players, give them the finger, and walk away?

I'm not a power-DM by any means, but seriously. There's been a lot of
tables where I sit and take abuse from some autistic-savant-dork, and
I wonder why I'm really there.

I measure what I prefer as this: Fun should be 85% of the feeling and
10% should be the feeling of giving. That leaves 5% for some sick,
masochistic TOLERANCE to be abused by players. Anybody ever feel that
that 5% has ever been surpassed and it starts overriding your 'fun'
percentage?

Ever wanted to go on strike?

Ever been called a prima-donna-DM because you wanted better?

Ever feel like players just take, take, take and never give?

Just askin'

jh

 

[EricNoah]

I do sometimes hear an impish voice in my head saying, "Make THEM entertain YOU once in a while!!"

But no, to me the game I DM is "my" game in a big sense -- I would only invite players I could tolerate and any "abuse" (which I'm having a hard time even imagining) would be dealt with simply by not inviting that person back to the table.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Ever wanted to go on strike?

Yes, and I've done so. "I won't be DM'ing again until you clown start speaking to me one at a ing time"

Ever been called a prima-donna-DM because you wanted better?

Not to my face, but I suspect yes.

Ever feel like players just take, take, take and never give?

Yes...and they aren't invited back.

I'm blessed with a waiting list for my games, so the players tend to either get their acts together or they are gone.

 

[Umbran]

Honestly, I don't think this has happened to me since Junior High. If the person isn't generally pleasant and respectful of fellow human beings, they don't play at my table.

 

[mroberon1972]

I have used the phrase: "Rocks fall, everyone dies."

 

[Emiricol]

I've killed a campaign because of it. I took the people I liked from that campaign and invited them into another campaign I had that had a slot or two open. But yeah - I don't take abuse from players. I don't treat them rudely and I expect the same in return.

Mostly it hasn't been a real problem though.

 

[Emirikol]

Honestly, I don't think this has happened to me since Junior High. If the person isn't generally pleasant and respectful of fellow human beings, they don't play at my table.

See you guys are spoiled with your home games and choice..I've got to run RPGA tables once in a while. There seems to be at least one unpleasant idiot at every table.

There's a saying, "You're stuck with your relatives." Yea, the RPGA too. Although, I"m much less tolerant of idiots at my tables. I usually just walk away and tell the players to deal with the offending player (i.e. if he isn't kicked out by THE OTHER PLAYERS in 5 minutes, the game is over). It's never pleasant DURING a game though. It's always a scene. It's always a mess.


jh



..

 

[barsoomcore]

Hell, yeah. Those dang-doodle-darn players. I'd be better off without them!

Oh, wait. Not so much.

But sure, yeah, sometimes I have a down period and get cranky. Or I come up with a story idea I think is KILLER only my players don't even notice, the dolts!

I guess it's POSSIBLE that the ideas I think are so great aren't. So great. Maybe.

And I've said, "I'm burned out, can't take it any more, the campaign is off until I feel like running it again." I've done that twice now in Barsoom. Hiatus, I call it.

I always think I'm going to spend this big time NOT running games for a few months and then I keep having cool ideas and next thing I know... "So you're in a tavern getting drunk and in walks..." or something. I can't help myself. Plus, they keep throwing stewardesses at me. What's a guy supposed to do?



What was the question? Blue! Burnt Umber! A small, vice-like object!

 

[Aristotle]

I don't think I've ever gone on strike... I've closed a game down because *I* was having an off night and I thought it better to not play than run an unentertaining game and possibly ruin the story I had built up.

I've also had to ask a few players to leave after finding that they simply did not mesh well with the rest of the group and/or my style of game play. As much as I hate doing this I suspect I haven't done it for the last time. *shrug*

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I'm not a power-DM by any means, but seriously. There's been a lot of tables where I sit and take abuse from some autistic-savant-dork, and I wonder why I'm really there.

Assuming that you aren't really gaming with an autistic-savant-dork, but rather with a "jerk", than I'm going to say "yes"... However, I don't tolerate it. Indeed, I'd be hard pressed to get the jerk out the door before the rest of the group does, and in situations where I'm a player and another player is given the GM a hard time, I pipe in if it appears like the GM isn't able to stand up to him.

Less jerks, better gaming.