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Why does the stigma of the "jerk GM" still persist in our hobby?
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<blockquote data-quote="DeathbyDoughnut" data-source="post: 7568015" data-attributes="member: 90519"><p>I agree that Jerks exist in all walks of life, I think that while talking about stereotypes that GMing can be enticing to those who feel powerless in other social situations. GMing comes with a sense of authority, not saying GMing in anyway grants authority, rather the act of creation itself evokes a sense of authority; a GM creates a game or setting, thus they feel in control of that game or setting. This inkling of social power can attract those who, traditional rpg players, may have felt marginalized.</p><p></p><p>I've played with many different players over the decades. I've played with some real jerk GMs in the past, and the common attitude between them is they enjoyed the power trip. The "It's my game!" GMs, the "This is my setting you're just playing in it!" GMs, the "Players follow the rules, I ignore rules when I feel like it!" GMs. I am not attributing value to these traits, rather the actions of the individuals that use these declarations as shields for their jerk behavior. Similarly to the "But it's what my character would do!" jerk players. Not all players who play to their characters are jerk players, not all players who use the "But it's what my character would do!" statement are jerk players. But jerk players tend to hide behind the "But it's what my character would do!" to justify their jerk behavior.</p><p></p><p>Power tripper GMs tend to be the stereotypical jerk GMs that I've experienced in the rpg hobby. Last time I played with a Power Tripper GM it was with a fellow supervisor at an old job. He discovered I enjoyed rpgs and would often talk to me about them as we shared shifts. I knew he ran games on our shared day off as he would often tell me about them. Then one day he invited me to play, I said sure, sounds fun. I was running games at the time, but as a forever GM I rarely get to play and was happy for the opportunity. He ran Pathfinder. I cut my teeth on rpgs with D&D 3e so was fairly familiar with the system. I read the corebook, made a character, and sat down to play at the FLGS he ran his sessions at. The fellow players were others we worked with so I knew them in passing. I was early to my first session because I wanted to make sure he had the chance to look over my character, and had some background stuff I wanted to ask about. As the other players filtered in I found out why I had been invited to the game. Over half the group quit last session. He had been running this game for like a year, but a few weeks prior him and his wife announced they were divorcing, and apparently he had been taking it out on the group. I should have ran when I had the chance. </p><p></p><p>He came in a half an hour late, while we all just sat there. Half heartedly introduced me as the new guy. Said we'd be playing until the store closed, in about 10 hours time. I was not prepared for a 10 hour game on my one day off a week. He said anyone who left early would be kicked out of the group. There would be one break for dinner about half way through. I waited until the dinner break, then asked when my character would be introduced? I had sat there for five hours without being able to roll a single die because my character wasn't there yet. "Soon", he said. The next half begins, he narrates my character chained up in a dungeon the party was going to, the orcs had stolen all my gear, as a 6th level Pathfinder fighter I had 0 gear. The party rescued me, let me use to spare pieces of gear they had been carrying. I never recovered my starting gear. We went through the rest of the dungeon, then towards the end of the session we entered a room, and my character was killed by like 30 orc bow attacks. Then the GM gloated about how awesome it was to kill my character. No save, all 30 attack rolls hit me, and he proceeded to roll each attack knowing full well that he had definitely killed my character, turned out to be something like 250 damage, on my level 6 character. While gloating, he told me to bring a better character to next session.</p><p></p><p>I was irritated, and challenged so I scoured the min/max forums for a decent build that could survive and still handle a bunch of ridiculous battles, then sat down next session. He took one look at my character and said, "This is overpowered." I argued with him for a solid 20 minutes about how he had told me to make a better character, and this was it. Eventually he gave in and said fine. First combat of the game he had my character sink into a soft stone trap with no save, and then the dragon that was the boss of the dungeon, ate my character coup de grace, no save, no attack roll, just narrated that my character was dead. I hadn't been able to make a single roll with this new character. I packed up my stuff and left. I learned from the other players that by the end of the session he had tpk'd the whole party with his dragon, laughing about each character death. At work later that week he gloated to me how he killed my "overpowered piece of <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> character". But didn't know then that none of his players would be returning to his game, they had all contacted me saying how they were tired of his B.S. and were quitting the group, some of them quit rpging as a whole, some of them asked if I would run them through an adventure. Later on he would try to get me fired without proof of anything, blaming me for his group disintegrating. Then the company folded and I happily never saw him again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DeathbyDoughnut, post: 7568015, member: 90519"] I agree that Jerks exist in all walks of life, I think that while talking about stereotypes that GMing can be enticing to those who feel powerless in other social situations. GMing comes with a sense of authority, not saying GMing in anyway grants authority, rather the act of creation itself evokes a sense of authority; a GM creates a game or setting, thus they feel in control of that game or setting. This inkling of social power can attract those who, traditional rpg players, may have felt marginalized. I've played with many different players over the decades. I've played with some real jerk GMs in the past, and the common attitude between them is they enjoyed the power trip. The "It's my game!" GMs, the "This is my setting you're just playing in it!" GMs, the "Players follow the rules, I ignore rules when I feel like it!" GMs. I am not attributing value to these traits, rather the actions of the individuals that use these declarations as shields for their jerk behavior. Similarly to the "But it's what my character would do!" jerk players. Not all players who play to their characters are jerk players, not all players who use the "But it's what my character would do!" statement are jerk players. But jerk players tend to hide behind the "But it's what my character would do!" to justify their jerk behavior. Power tripper GMs tend to be the stereotypical jerk GMs that I've experienced in the rpg hobby. Last time I played with a Power Tripper GM it was with a fellow supervisor at an old job. He discovered I enjoyed rpgs and would often talk to me about them as we shared shifts. I knew he ran games on our shared day off as he would often tell me about them. Then one day he invited me to play, I said sure, sounds fun. I was running games at the time, but as a forever GM I rarely get to play and was happy for the opportunity. He ran Pathfinder. I cut my teeth on rpgs with D&D 3e so was fairly familiar with the system. I read the corebook, made a character, and sat down to play at the FLGS he ran his sessions at. The fellow players were others we worked with so I knew them in passing. I was early to my first session because I wanted to make sure he had the chance to look over my character, and had some background stuff I wanted to ask about. As the other players filtered in I found out why I had been invited to the game. Over half the group quit last session. He had been running this game for like a year, but a few weeks prior him and his wife announced they were divorcing, and apparently he had been taking it out on the group. I should have ran when I had the chance. He came in a half an hour late, while we all just sat there. Half heartedly introduced me as the new guy. Said we'd be playing until the store closed, in about 10 hours time. I was not prepared for a 10 hour game on my one day off a week. He said anyone who left early would be kicked out of the group. There would be one break for dinner about half way through. I waited until the dinner break, then asked when my character would be introduced? I had sat there for five hours without being able to roll a single die because my character wasn't there yet. "Soon", he said. The next half begins, he narrates my character chained up in a dungeon the party was going to, the orcs had stolen all my gear, as a 6th level Pathfinder fighter I had 0 gear. The party rescued me, let me use to spare pieces of gear they had been carrying. I never recovered my starting gear. We went through the rest of the dungeon, then towards the end of the session we entered a room, and my character was killed by like 30 orc bow attacks. Then the GM gloated about how awesome it was to kill my character. No save, all 30 attack rolls hit me, and he proceeded to roll each attack knowing full well that he had definitely killed my character, turned out to be something like 250 damage, on my level 6 character. While gloating, he told me to bring a better character to next session. I was irritated, and challenged so I scoured the min/max forums for a decent build that could survive and still handle a bunch of ridiculous battles, then sat down next session. He took one look at my character and said, "This is overpowered." I argued with him for a solid 20 minutes about how he had told me to make a better character, and this was it. Eventually he gave in and said fine. First combat of the game he had my character sink into a soft stone trap with no save, and then the dragon that was the boss of the dungeon, ate my character coup de grace, no save, no attack roll, just narrated that my character was dead. I hadn't been able to make a single roll with this new character. I packed up my stuff and left. I learned from the other players that by the end of the session he had tpk'd the whole party with his dragon, laughing about each character death. At work later that week he gloated to me how he killed my "overpowered piece of :):):):) character". But didn't know then that none of his players would be returning to his game, they had all contacted me saying how they were tired of his B.S. and were quitting the group, some of them quit rpging as a whole, some of them asked if I would run them through an adventure. Later on he would try to get me fired without proof of anything, blaming me for his group disintegrating. Then the company folded and I happily never saw him again. [/QUOTE]
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