Have your Players Ruined Your DMing?

[Stormonu]

As sort of a reverse of the Players ruined by bad DMs, have you had (or known) a DM who was ruined or developed bad habits by player antics?

Personally, over the years I found myself becoming a rules lawyer because of players who cheated (two in particular, both from different groups). I always found myself double-checking anything they did, keeping character sheets and watching dice rolls like a hawk. It's made it very hard to relax as a DM and "go with the flow" - I'm always trying figure out a player's "angle" when they try something odd or unusual.

 

[Zephrin the Lost]

I'm running a group of RP'ers after running a tactics and power-player group for years. It's hard sometimes to avoid crushing the new players with challenges the old group would have rolled over.

It's brought a great new energy to non-combat encounters however.

-Z

 

[Gilladian]

I won't say it has ruined me, but I am a very methodical person who prepares fully ahead of time. I can "run off the cuff" only when I have a lot of tables, descriptive bits, and ideas already prepped.

I have one player right now who is a wild-hare player. He gets ideas to go do things that never occurred to me. He also tries options in combat that I'm not expecting. I am often baffled and have to stop, evaluate, and make decisions on his moves. Fortunately he's a very easy-going guy, and if I say (as I did this sunday) "I was expecting the icy cold water filling these passages to stop your exploration in this direction; could you please not go this way today?", he's willing to do it.

Maybe he's stretching me, not ruining me. I am adding more terrain features etc... to combat, just for him.

 

[TerraDave]

ie, see the thread on player backgrounds.

Defensive DMing is an issue. In fact I think its a huge issue.

And, for all those players driven away by bad DMs, how many DMs quite 'cause some of their players drove them crazy.

Loose a player, loose a player. Loose DM, you risk loosing your whole game.

 

[Neonchameleon]

The closest is by bad feedback. (Although I prefer that to none).

And why play with players you know to be ruining your DMing?

 

[JediSoth]

I've encounter this when getting new players that come from games that are in the PCs vs. DM vein (or they just been reading too much KoDT and think it's their jobs to try to "beat" the DM).

Rarely has it completely ruined my game, though. If I can't get the players to drop the attitude by explaining that I'm not running a DM vs. PCs game, then I just uninvite them from the group.

It makes for an uncomfortable experience while they're around, though.

 

[Deset Gled]

For awhile back in college, I both DMed and played with a group that annoyed me enough that I developed a habit of getting drunk while playing. Quitting the group solved the problem.

 

[Mallus]

Ruined? No. Spoiled... definitely.

 

[Hussar]

Since I started playing online some years back, I've developed some bad habits brought on by what I consider bad players.

I have pretty much zero tolerance anymore for people blowing off sessions. Having had FAR too many people come into the game, spend time making characters, work on character histories and whatnot, only to have them play one session and then piss off into the Internet, never to be seen again, I largely eject players after the first time any more.

I also tend to be less forgiving than perhaps I should be of players who are not on the ball and spend too much time dithering. Dead air drives me absolutely ballistic anymore.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Personally, over the years I found myself becoming a rules lawyer because of players who cheated (two in particular, both from different groups). I always found myself double-checking anything they did, keeping character sheets and watching dice rolls like a hawk. It's made it very hard to relax as a DM and "go with the flow" - I'm always trying figure out a player's "angle" when they try something odd or unusual.

Welcome, brother, to the Way of Pessimism! When you always assume the absolute worst, the only way you will ever be surprised is pleasantly.

I don't usually watch dice rolls like a hawk (though, most of my DMing has been online where everyone sees the die rolls anyway; more often than not, I'm demanding a player with a crappy luck streak to reroll...), but I do try to know exactly what the build they're using is when I approve a character sheet and as they level up, it's good to be aware of that. And I like to post sheets online for everyone in the group to see. It's a lot harder to flat out cheat, and a lot easier to proofread, when the entire group is helping you do it. I'd say these are good habits to pick up...