Things that annoy you as DM?

[DragonLancer]

To carry on the trend of recent threads...

Players who argue everything call you make, even when it makes sense to everyone else at the table.

Players who don't bother to read the rules and just coast through a game.

Players deciding what PrC they are going to take before the game has even started, and without knowing if its going to be suitable.

You spend ages putting your monster/villain/whatever together and the characters walk in and trounch him straight of the bat!

Any others?

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Players with the appraise skill, who feel the need to walk around the dungeon appraising every little detail (door frames, door hinges, broken off legs of a table) just to squeeze every last bit of coin from the dungeon.

Players who can't decide what alignment they want their character to be, during, before and after each session.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Players who do not even try to figure out the underlying plot.

Players who complain about being railroaded, but sit around waiting for the DM to drop the next part of the adventure into their laps.

Players who cannot decide what their character will do in combat.

Players who spend too much time figuring out the best path to take to avoid any AoOs

Having to be the one who buys ALL of the books

 

[diaglo]

players who arrive late and leave early.

players who want to watch tv until it's their turn in combat

players who cheat with dice or the rules

players who fall asleep..


never had any of these happen as a referee. but i've observed them happen and the DM's reaction to them.

 

[Yokiboy]

Players who are dying for combat to start, then take a pee-break just as it's their turn to act!

Players who make snack runs during intense moments.

Players who fiddle with their cell phones during a game (this has been banned at my games).

Players falling asleep during role-playing sequences, usually as a consequence of partying too hard (while their poor GM sat at home preparing for the game) the night before.

Players who are so cheap that they complain about the GM sampling their snacks, when he has just bought new game books for $200!

Players who stick the GM with most of the pizza delivery bill, as they apparently don't believe in tipping.

Players who complain about having to come up with some hooks for the GM, or a simple background story, but flip out if the GM happens to be unprepared for a session.

Players who prefer roll-playing to role-playing.

Players who refuse to play anything that's not a Tolkien-based fantasy trip, usually meaning D&D and nothing else.

I believe I could go on, but this is making me both sound and feel bitter...

TTFN,

Yokiboy

 

[BlackMoria]

Players who name their characters with inappropiate names - here is some from players at my table over the years. Bob the Paladin (paladin), Long Wang (samurai character), The Great Pumpkin (rogue), Lenny the Leper (rogue), etc

I try to run a somewhat serious campaign, and then some bozo player wants to make his character's name a running joke or so lame in imagination.

I never had a NPC character bartender, in which the PCs will spend a total of two minutes tops interacting with, named Bob. So if I can spend the time to appropiately name a throw away NPC in which the PCs may talk to for 30 seconds before moving on, then the players had better take some thought in naming their characters.

My players have figured out, over time, that characters with stupid or inane names don't survive the session.....

 

[Cor Azer]

My main irking is the late-shows or early leavers. I understand that such things are sometimes necessary (we all have jobs, and most of the group has shift work), but arriving 2 hours later to a four hour session wastes my time and theirs.

Out of game comments. I'm guilty of this too, so I try not to harp on it too much. We attempted to institute Piratecat's group's Piggie system, but it didn't fly.

Same character, different body. I get to play so rarely, and have so many character ideas, it really bothers me when I see people playing the exact same character over and over, except in different campaigns or with minor cosmetic changes.

And my players and I are really trying hard to be ready when a person's turn comes up in combat - rule books are open to appropriate pages, but there's still usually a lot (too much many times) of thinking still to do.

 

[Tyris Harmon]

I really hate it when someone casts a spell and doesn't even know what the spell does. Or thinks they know what the spell does and it does something completely different.
My brother in law is notorious for this. Too bad I have to put up with it.

 

[Gothmog]

Players deciding what PrC they are going to take before the game has even started, and without knowing if its going to be suitable.

Amen to that one. That really pisses me off. Some other good ones have already been listed, but also:

Players who deride other players for a sub-optimal "build", or who get pissy when their "build" doesn't function as well as they think it should.

Players who can't keep out of character and in character knowledge apart.

Players who say "I'm going to give a rousing speech to the mercenaries. I rolled a 27 on Dipolmacy- how did I do?"

Players who think the GP/Level guide in the DMG is a hard and fast rule. HA!

Players that try to look up monsters, spells, or magic items used against them in a game. Grounds for immediate character whammy, and/or full healing on the monster.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Players deciding what PrC they are going to take before the game has even started, and without knowing if its going to be suitable.

Actually I ask players to tell me what PrC they want to go for before the game even starts. That way I can make sure it fits as well as structure the campaign to give them the opportunity to gain that PrC.