Do DM's ever go on strike?

[frankthedm]

When i have enough of they players antics i let someone else run [one of my players likes high lethality games {who is running tommorow & wants me to run d% call of cthulhu}, one plays to play and takes the 'lead roll' because no-one else does, one is a steam venter who is happy with a paladin or barbarian and one plays because there is not much else for him to do. I can't stay in a character for long unfortunaty and would almost rather wargame than roleplay a single character who isn't an Insane worshipper of some unspeakable god [and wants his mountan sized patron to visit the game world.] And since the other PCs are sane inhabitants of thier worlds, they would justifiably kill anybody with such intentions [my group agrees its the lawfull good thing to do].

So tomorrow i take a girl i know to dinner rather than run my game. If i can roleplay being a normal human to her again, i might be able to trick my gaming group into not lynching my next alienist.

 

[Breakdaddy]

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

I am fortunate in this regard as well. I have a waiting list that has grown to double digits over the span of our campaign this last year or so. When a player gives me one too many times, that player is ejected faster than a gun wielding baddie in the passenger seat of 007's car.

 

[pogre]

I really enjoy DMing. I only play to get a better perspective of what players like. If a player is consistently unappreciative or a pain I point it out to them. If it continues I ask them to leave the table. Very rarely happens thankfully! Usually, I try to judge whether a player is goping to fit into the group rapidly and dismiss them if they are annoying anyone. That annoyance is only going to magnify over time.

 

[James Heard]

I've gone on strike, manipulated strikes by other GMs, kicked out specific players as a GM rather than going on strike, kicked out specific players as a fellow player rather than going on strike, specifically engineered my game schedules so that annoying significant others wouldn't be off from work to come and disrupt my games, kicked out bystanders, tossed players for failing to retain control on regular basis of their children, banned TVs, computers, and the Dominoes pizza guy even once (he kept coming around at the end of his shift to unload pizzas for cheap, and eventually people started making a too big deal about it)...I dunno, the main significant fact that keeps coming up that marks my games as different is the fact that I game with a ton of people (6-15) and without some sorts of rigid boundaries as to what goes on everything tends to spiral into socializing. Plus, let's face it - I was born driving other people's strollers. At some point either I leave or someone else does, I'll put up with annoyances for a little bit but once someone steps over the line significantly I've never been shy about voting with my feet or tossing someone else off the island.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Some of the problem players I have had that would have caused me to strike were not easily solved. Its one thing when a player directs a nasty attitude towards the GM. That is fairly cut and dry and I simply won't tolerate that. But that has not happened in 10 years. Its when the players start taking nasty attitudes with each other and things get demoralizing for me from seeing it, is when things get slightly more complex.

 

[Emirikol]

I call it the DMing embargo... Others have stepped up to the DM plate, so I still get my playing time; but it's not the same now.

I like that description You're right though. For a DM, being stuck as a player isn't typically as fun when he's used to roling all the dice.

jh

 

[Emirikol]

Dude, some of us who DM for people beyond their mid-20s only manage one game a month as it is. I myself do prefer playing to GMing, and will generally jump at a chance to play. However, the needs of gamers with full time jobs, families, and all sometimes makes that impossible.

I'll attest to that. I'm only 32 now, but I still get to game about twice per month. I'm restricted because I'm both a parent (two kids under 3 years old) and an independent businessman.

Jh


..

 

[takyris]

Never had to go on strike. I play with a pretty decent group. When problems have come up, I've discussed it and we've dealt with it as a group. one player was smoothly removed from the group in such a manner that he thought of it as him deciding to leave, and really, a lot of DMing is learning to spin plates. If someone is abusive and rude, that's obviously bad, but if it's just different gaming needs, you can often find a way to balance things.

 

[Arnwyn]

I'm just curious but doesn't anyone run a game and then find a separate group to play in so they can git in on the PC-action?

Heavens, no. What with a career and a life, I certainly don't have time for more than one game (which is played perfectly, for me, at once every 2 weeks).