Share you worst campaign meltdown

[Felon]

Y'know, these stories really are helping me develop an appreciation for the players I have.

As a DM, my biggest meltdown occurred when I was running the Banewarrens. It's a great mega-adventure, but Monte seems to have a fondness for lame, nondescript magical traps that require a ridiculously high DC Search check, and you probably won't think to search for it anyway, and when you set it off something terrible happens to the entire party. Oh, and they magically reset themselves, so players don't even enjoy the meager benefit of having disabled the trap the hard way.

So, a handful of players find themselves teleported the top of a 100 foot deep pit, due to no particular fault of their own really, and one player decides he's going to casually pull out his scroll of featherfall and read it. At the time I didn't think careening and caroming off of the walls of a pit was a viable condition for scroll-reading so I simply said "no", at which point the player told me to get out of his house (well, actually his mother's house).

Had I to do it again, I would have allowed the player to use the scroll. It was a lameass trap, and it's quite possible some characters would have died. I could see a character in a movie doing it, and it would probably make the whole scene a lot cooler than just watching characters go splat. Then again, I probably would have allowed it in the first place if he had argued the point a little, instead of blowing a gasket.

As a player, I had a campaign meltdown occur when the DM decided to let us try the new epic-level rules that just came out. We'd say years had passed and our characters were re-united for one last big quest. But early into said quest, my dwarven figther/barbarian/frenzied berserker became possessed some by some mist and attacked the rest of the party. He couldn't be killed by sheer hit point damage, and he had a helm of teleportation, a ring of freedom of movement, and a couple other choice items that rendered him virtually unstoppable for about 17 or 18 rounds. I power-attacked by 10 and nearly killed our other big fighter/barbarian in one round.

The DM quickly realized that he was dooming the party with a stupid deux ex machina, and allowed my character to drop. The other fighter/barb was angry, ostensibly at my character's treachery but in actuality it was that my character was more munchkin than his. When he wanted to discuss me not waking back up--ever again--everyone scowled and told him to chill out. He said that his character would never fight with mine again.

 

[Simplicity]

I've been through a couple of meltdowns, usually as DM. But my meltdowns
always seem to be inspired by in-party fighting. In one particular campaign,
one of the players (a shifty rogue I'll call C) got his hands on a magical pocket watch
that gave him access to various time-related spells.

Another character D had a ruby ring that contained a very angry efreet who could communicate with the wearer. Sometimes the efreet would be helpful, and so the party thought the ring was a good thing. Unfortunately, sometimes the ring would screw the party over royally. This time was one of the later.

After C gets the watch, D hears the ring in his mind... "Pssst. Be careful, that thing is cursed."

D begins to demand that C hand over the watch. C refuses. D, fearing that the watch has taken control of C (it hadn't), pulls his sword out and demands again. C refuses again. He likes the watch, and he's going to keep it. D swings, and C pulls out the watch.
*Plink*. D disappears into a tiny pocket plane.

Now all hell breaks loose. The rest of the party try to subdue C, but wind up killing him. They tie him up, take away the watch, and then cast raise dead on him. They then demand that he release D from wherever he got sent. Now C is annoyed, but he still refuses to release D. He demands that they give him the watch back. The party of course refuses to do that. Unsure of how to proceed, they kill him AGAIN.

At this point, C's player is pissed. He storms out of the game, and won't play with anybody again for quite a while.

 

[Qualidar]

My friend Dave's Planescape campaign had a complete meltdown...along with the rest of his car. That's why you don't store your D&D stuff in your trunk if you're going to secure the bumper with a bungee cord too close to the tailpipe

~Qualidar~

 

[Kristivas]

When I read the post about the inebriated paladin kicking the rogue through the door as he bent to look through the keyhole "because it was really funny", I laughed til I got tears.

When I read the line about the halfling that stole from the party and left 'presents' in their backpacks, I laughed so hard I woke up my daughter from her nap and nearly peed myself!

Wow. I was gonna post my little tales of woe but they pale in comparison to this lot. A couple of things I just don't get though:

1. 'I had a problem with player X and discontinued the campaign'. I don't get why one problem player (who in one case, left the table for good) should lead to the collapse of the whole campaign.

2. 'I had a problem with player x that ultimately stopped me roleplaying for y months/years/editions'. I can't fathom any annoyance strong enough that would cause me to give up the game like that.

:\

I think the reason a player can stop a campaign might be lack of players. I played with this guy for years who was a real richard because there weren't many others to play DnD with. He always played an , better-than-you character (often a paladin). He had to have the best stats, the best gear, and be able to beat any party member so he could get his way.

Oddly enough, a mutual friend had a guy come in from out of town to DM. I made a paladin (because I'd never played one before) and so did the . My paladin was the first to aid people, his was the first to worry about loot. When we slew a group of cultists, my paladin was the one freeing the captives and he was "patrolling the area" (searching for loot). He was concerned with showing the new DM his 'expert playing style' and in the end, got really mad at me because my character received a lot of recognition for his deeds.

Well, he starts writing notes to the DM, and decides to go "Anti-Paladin" to teach me a lesson (this was 2e days). It just so happened that one of the captives my character freed while he was off plundering was able to witness and warn me of his turn to evil.

The characters clashed, he lost the element of surprise, and my paladin killed his. I was jumping up and down inside like a little kid, that I'd finally crushed him after dozens of games of having to listen to his version of right and wrong. I guess it showed in my facial expression.

He sat there for a second, and slugged me. Right in the face.

The guys had jumped between us before a real fight could escalate, and the game pretty much ended there, as did me playing DnD with him again.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Worst game I ever played in

How I killed a campaign. By Son_of_Thunder

Boy, the memories this thread has resurrected from the darkest recesses of my mind. It was a 2e game an old friend invited me to play in. Mistake one: I played the first session on the last day of my honeymoon; wife still doesn’t let me forget it.

The DM’s were brothers. They had crafted a well thought out campaign. I liked the background and my friend said it was a blast to play in. I rolled up a dwarven cleric, about 6th level I believe. Not bad but str only 15. I later realized he couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag when compared to the ‘3 core’ player’s PCs. Mistake number 2: They told me what happened to the last player’s character they had leave their group. He was a bard that was used in Minotaur fertility rights, that’s all I’ll say.

DM 1 had a fighter w/berserker kit. He had a magic sword akin to that pasty-faced Elric dude, you know steal souls that type of thing. Oh, he also had complete and utter immunity to dragon breath of any type because he was born in the year of the dragon.

DM2 also had a fighter w/peasant hero kit. Specialized in longbow and quarterstaff. Had a quarterstaff of speed and longbow of slaying and +4 elven chain.

Friend who introduced me to game, has a +1 two-handed battle-axe for his dwarven fighter, until later. This is important.

My guy, Hammer of Creation. Seems fair right. Artifact dedicated to my deity, who is a creator deity. It supposedly makes me this incredibly gifted smith and what do I create, +1 plate mail. Oh, Hammer of Creation in a fight is a +1 war hammer.

I introduced two friends to the game later. Friend 1 had a paladin with +1 bastard sword, light on command and full plate. Friend 2 had a human cleric of Heimdall from Legends and Lore 2e. If you’ll recall, the clerics special power was to be able to hear any noise within like 500’ or something, it’s been awhile. This is important.

The situation that started it all. Alright, the dm’s have a race of drow called woodrow, silly huh? Anywho, they live on the surface, no light blindness but same as subterranean drow, this is important. Adventure is we’re on the plains of his campaign world traveling. We come upon an entire geographical area that is covered in magical darkness. We go forward into the darkness and investigate. We’re attacked by ‘drow’ without any casualties and flee the darkness.

Now, we think this is an invasion force so we set up plans. Things do not go even bad, they go bend over the not ‘core 3’ players and give it to ‘em up the tailpipe. The cleric of Heimdall is ambushed by four ‘drow’ outside the area of darkness, never saw or heard (remember special power) anything. The paladin uses sword to shed powerful daylight effect but, inexplicably didn’t work; later explanation, they must have been woodrow, shya right. We later find out that they were really the deep dwelling drow that had been pushed out of their caverns by mind flayers. Me, I might as well have been fighting goblins for all the good I was doing. My spells didn’t seem to work against these particular ‘drow’, you know magic immunity and all that.

So, my two friends and I just let the ‘core’ group clean ‘em up. They did so with efficiency and no loss of life.

Later, in a town we came to, think frontier old west, we enter an inn. The proprietor is a duergar, who the axe-wielding dwarf considers scum, racial enmity and all that. So without further ado, he strikes the head off of the innocent innkeeper. LG dwarf mind you. No alignment adjustment at all. It was simple murder. My two collaborators and I accuse the dwarf of murder, he flees town after receiving an ancestral artifact two-handed battle-axe from a relation that just happens to be going through town.

Well, my colleagues and I are pissed. I email the DM and say “I regrettably can’t play in his campaign anymore because I want to start my own campaign”. My friends left with me and his campaign collapsed shortly thereafter. I guess no one to show off to.

There’s more I could tell but I’ll stop there.