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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 2660069" data-attributes="member: 7737">Here's my belated story -- of how a gaming group kicked me, the DM, out!It was about a year after the release of 3rd edition, and my friend Fred(*) invited me to join him and his buddies for some new-school gaming. As I hadn't played in years, I was totally gung ho to do this.(*) Names have been changed to protect the guilty. Except my name, of course. Oh, the embarrassment!Now my friend Fred is an artist who does art for Magic: the Gathering and D&D, so he's got that going for him. Plus, we were pretty good friends outside of gaming. Fred's group consisted of his brother, Jed, his best friend, Steve, and a couple other guys who were nondescript and do not factor into the story all that much.So we all agree we want to play some D&D, but no one is stepping up to the plate the be the DM. Finally, reluctantly (because remember, I have not played in years and am not familiar with the 3.0 rules), I volunteer to DM. I immediately spring into action, pilfer a campaign world from a series of books I like, and being working closely with the players to get their character ready.Did I mention that at the same time I was engaged to be married and was helping my fiancee plan the wedding? Or as much as she would let me help, anyway! Suffice it to say that I was very busy, but not too busy to DM for Fred et al.In the weeks leading up to our first session, I spent hours and hours meeting with each player indiviually (either in person or through e-mail / chat) to hone their PCs. Now I had made just a couple of house rules regarding characters: (1) no bards and (2) no monks, because neither class fit the campaign world.Of course Fred's brother, Jed, immediately announces that he wants to play a monk. I explain to him my no-monk policy and the reasons behind it, and suggest he try a fighter with plenty of cool combat feats instead (Improved Trip, Improved Bull Rush, etc.). Jed says he will get back to me.He gets back to me with a bard. I explain my no-bard policy and the reasons behind it, and suggest he play a wizard with a lot of ranks in Knowledge (history). Jed says he will get back to me.Finally it's time for the first session. I have prepared an adventure that starts with a rousing combat before moving into some (not very difficult) investigation and ends with more rousing combat. Jed shows up with a fighter (OK!), Fred has a paladin (hmm...), Steve has a sorcerer, and the other guys are nondescript.The first session went pretty well, as did the next few. However, the entire time we are playing, Fred and Jed spend about 50% of their time cracking jokes, doodling, and distracting the other players. This is particularly unfortunate for Steve, who is Fred's best friend, but clearly wanted to pay attention to the game and actually, y'know, play D&D.Eventually, the PCs complete the first adventure arc, and are in the baron's castle when a messenger bursts in with the next plot hook! Fred's and Jed's characters say they are not interested in my plot hook. "No problem," I resopnded. "What do your characters want to do?"No answer. They then begin disparaging my campaign world, at first in-character (insulting the baron, etc.) and then out-of-character. I made the time-out motion with my hands and said, "Hold on, guys, I volunteered to DM because no one else wanted to. Now, I admit, I'm a bit rusty after not D&D'ing for years, but I'm doing the best I can. So what do you want to do?"They had no answer, so I ended the session and told Fred to call me later.Fred eventually calls me later. We chat a bit and I said, "What the heck? Why are you and your brother distrupting my campaign?" Fred says they are quote-unquote old school players, as if that somehow answers things. I again asked what kind of adventures they wanted to go on.Fred changes the subject. "So I have this other friend, Larry, who wants to join the game." I said, "Fine, but right now there isn't a game until we resolve this other issue." Fred hems and haws and eventually says, "It would be more fair to say that Larry wants to run the game."I was speechless. I asked, "Are you kicking me out of my own campaign?!" The answer, essentially, was yes. Larry was already in the process of taking over the web site I had built for the campaign (! it was on Yahoo Groups so I ended up just making him the moderator and removing myself as a member). But the best, the very best, was the reason that Fred gave me for why they were throwing me over in favor of Larry:"You see, Joshua, it's like this. Larry understands our needs better than you."I actually laughed out loud when he said that. I felt like I was on Dr. Phil's show. Heck, I'm laughing about it now, while typing this up. "Larry understands our needs...," indeed.Their campaign lasted about three sessions. Mine is still going. Hah.</blockquote>

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