Ever have one of those sessions...?

[koesherbacon]

This vent is to both DMs and players out there. I just need to kvetch. If anybody has had similar experiences, maybe they need to vent as well.

Ever have one of those sessions where nothing really went right and nobody really had any fun?

I had one today and even after hours I feel more bummed about it than I thought I would. We had 3 new players today, which made the group quite large but 2 of my old players are going to be moving to a different city relatively soon. I wanted to add the new players before the others left so the current group could get to know the new players before the others left.

Now I don't think that was the majority of the problem, though it did contribute. I do know that having 7 players made combat encounters take longer than usual. Of course, the new players to the group were just getting used to their level 13 characters which made it take even longer.

Now even though combat took longer than usual, the majority of the problem was people using their computers at the table. I know that it took a while to get to each of their turns, but, I can't stand when people are playing on Facebook and whatever during the game. I'm going to make a rule next time that DND is a distraction-free-zone where computers and smartphones are to be left off unless they're looking something up, using a calculator, using a dice app, or using an app to keep track of their characters.

I hate, and I mean hate, when I'm playing (either as a DM or player) and somebody looks up from their computer during their turn and asks, "Wait, what happened?" I hate it even more when, after explaining everything's that's happened between their last turn and current turn they say something to another player like, "Wait, you shouldn't have done that... If you X, Y & Z instead I can U, V & W. That way (s)he could have R,S &T! I can't believe they didn't do that. Can we go back?"

AAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!
NO WE CAN'T GO BACK! YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN WHAT HAPPENED IF YOU WERE PAYING THE SLIGHTEST ATTENTION!

So, other than outlawing the use of computers, smartphones and other distractions is there anything I can do that could have made our session more fun? Or was it just one of those sessions?

Thanks for listening. Like I said, I just needed to kvetch.

 

[delericho]

So, other than outlawing the use of computers, smartphones and other distractions is there anything I can do that could have made our session more fun? Or was it just one of those sessions?

Honestly, it was probably just one of those sessions. They happen.

My advice would be to simply put it behind you and move on. (And you may want to apologise to the new players and tell them it's not usually like that!)

But I would advise against having a big rant at your players, or introducing a new rule about computers, or anything like that. As you note, nobody really had any fun, and it's likely they turned to their electronic toys because they weren't having any fun. If you now confront them, or unilaterally introduce new rules, you may well find that they push back, and perhaps even blame you for the problems. And then you run the risk of things getting heated and the group fracturing.

Just let it go, and move on. Do your very best to make the next session more fun to make up for this one. Good luck!

 

[Dwimmerlied]

I feel for you! I hope I never have to deal with this. I'd consider it a bit rude, though thing is they perhaps don't know how tough it is to be a DM.

With so many players, I think it makes things harder. My advice is find a way to streamline turns if you can, even if you have to dispense somewhat with mechanics.

If possible, find ways to palm off some of your dm duties to other players, particularly those on fb or smartfone or with poor spans of attention; (I have ONE player that is like this, and its bad enough. She actually likes playing, but if its not her turn every minute, shes studying what her fb friends had for lunch!) I get her to keep track of initiative now where I can. Mapping, and controlling monsters are other ideas, though maybe there are more.

Anyway, hope it goes better next session!

Cheers

 

[Li Shenron]

It never happened to me (or maybe I didn't notice?).

I really don't understand why people go play a game with others and then not pay attention and start doing something else... If they find it boring, they shouldn't play it at all.

 

[TerraDave]

Distractions are bad. People who don't want to be there are bad. Jumping into level 13 characters is tough.

I would set some table rules going forward. You don't want this to happen again.

 

[steeldragons]

So, other than outlawing the use of computers, smartphones and other distractions is there anything I can do that could have made our session more fun? Or was it just one of those sessions?

Thanks for listening. Like I said, I just needed to kvetch.

No worries. Kvetching is always good.

In all honesty, it probably was a "just one of those sessions."..and I also give considerable credibility to the idea that jumping new players in as 13th level characters probably made things worse.

But you say "other than outlawing the use of computers, smartphones"...why would you want to do anything OTHER than that? That's all you have to do. You're there to play D&D...if you can't do that without a computer or your smartphone confused:?!), don't play.

You say you want to end the distractions and then list a half dozen reasons why someone would be allowed [at your table] to use their computer or smartphone! How's that gonna work?

Print out your character sheet (if it's on your computer), make notes on it, in game and changes on your computer in between games and print it out again. Dice roller app? REALLY?! It's D-n-frakkin-D. Buy a damn set! Hell, get/have a "communal set" if people can't be bothered to get their own...[which I'd just as easily use as a reason to not let them play in the first place.] Looking up rules?! You're the DM. You have the books, I presume. At least one other person in the group must have a printed/bound set of the books...communal set/usage rules again...besides players should not be looking rules up during play...I know, I know it happens. But a copy of the relevant PHB on the table should be more than sufficient to look up player relevant info they don't know off the top of their head. Their character sheet(s) should tell them everything they need to know.

There is ABsolutely NO reason people should "need" computers or smartphones at their gaming tables.

None.

*huff*huff* Huh. Wudduhya know. I needed some kvetching too, apparently.

I say, don't allow 'em. Case closed. [Distraction] Problem solved.

 

[VariSami]

All right, here is my kvetch. I had this highly experimental campaign of a game within a game (essentially having the players play players of a MMORPG in which they are fully immersed). My first mistake was, of course, just publicly asking who would be interested in such a game among my roleplaying friends and accepting the first to tell me they were interested. The reason will become clear soon enough. Funnily enough, after the campaign crashed, my more experienced roleplaying friends became interested in the idea and one who works as an indie publisher prodded me to at least try designing something around the idea.

But yeah... Those kinds of sessions. I had prepared a new milieu for the characters after a small time shift after a total party kill last session (that session had been kind of epic, though). I had really tried putting thought into it to make it immersing and interesting. Essentially it was an underground city in the general form of an ancient theater stage. Whatever was said downtown would travel up the city since there were no absorbing materials used except for those which also resonate. Ok, enough about that. The players' first reaction? "Well, that's freaky."

In the city, they received 3 "official" quests (as in, pre-programmed quests of the in-game game) which included finding a mythic people of master illusionists and convincing them to help the city's inhabitants in their war efforts, tracking down the echo of an old woman's enchanted secret which she magically forgot once she had wistfully uttered it and finding an enemy monster who had been attacking the armies from their rear and was threatening the war effort from behind the lines. They also received "unofficial" quests regarding the storyline from other "players" in the city. While there is an element of searching in each of those, the quests were designed to be different and to aid with an earlier problem of excessive combat-orientation.

They started searching for the illusionists and actually managed to track one down to their home tunnels where I had created a relatively simple teleportation puzzle. They actually realized it was a teleportation puzzle but their strategy of solving it was "ok, I run there and see what happens" and eventually they just gave up without giving it any mental effort.

The old woman's secret just made them think it was a freaky quest and pass it up. Yeah, that's why I had variety in there. I thought this would happen with one or two possibilities.

They thought of tracking down the enemy but gave up at the first sign of trouble. Admittedly, the trouble generated was unnecessary and was thus my fault. But it was nothing unconquerable. They just happened across an "angelic creature" that could detect evil and questioned why a clearly evil individual (one of the characters was an assassin) should be let to join the battle and possibly sabotage their efforts. They just backed down, thinking that it was not worth the trouble.

Then the player-given quests... Well, they thought that the idea some players shared with them about the world having turned against them to assimilate all the players and recycle their mental information to power its inhabitants was interesting but they did nothing to pursue the "help us fight against it" path. And when they overheard some people talking about finding strong fighters to help them earn some gold, they rightly deduced that it was about an illegal fighting arena somewhere in the city. They even successfully tracked it down but declined to either participate or gamble. They just left it as it was.

Finally, they just decided to use an opening I had left but not thought through (I thought they would at least try finishing some of those hooks). Ok, there was a caravan way for supplies towards the war effort. They decided to join that front and died to a ER7 battle with their level 6 characters even though there were NPC guards that were attacked first. In the battle, they would mindlessly use the same tactic each round. "Ok, I blast it. Does it work?" "I attack it. Do I hit?" You know the feeling (or rather, hopefully you do not).

I know I was not the perfect DM and the campaign was really experimental but ARGH! Could they maybe even consider co-operating to create something of a story together? Could they try and put some thought to it? The foremost feeling I received was that they thought the game would unravel itself if they just mechanically followed some algorithms. Instead of trying to infer the blueprint of the puzzle (it was about 6x10 tiles) they just kept running straight ahead in circles until giving up. Instead of answering the angel, they just backed down. And in the fight they all just rolled d20 and possible damage each round without giving any thought to their positioning (well, except for the assassin who flanked an opponent) or any other options than trying to use the most basic tactic which had proven quite ineffective each round.

Edit: Oh, right. I had actually asked them what kind of a game would they want it to evolve into when I proposed the time skip. And they wanted less combat. More of the meta story. Diverse challenges. So I tried to make all that according to their feedback.