Worst DM Quotes at Gencon

[billd91]

Adso, I appreciate what you're saying about why the judging of DMs was scrapped, although that sentiment ("rule in my favor or I'll knock points off your judge score!") neatly encapsulates why I'll never be active in the RPGA. I certainly asked the table for feedback after each game; I just think it's easier for folks to give honest feedback on paper than in person.

It's not a huge deal to me, but I would've liked to find out what folks said about my judging when they weren't under social pressure to nod, smile, and thank me. I could give a rat about any sort of DM level or similar hoohah; I just want good feedback.

I think it would also be in the RPGA's interest to solicit good, frank feedback too since it's the RPGA that the DMs are representing. Judging from some of the comments on this board, I don't want to think about how many players shun RPGA events because of one bad experience with a bad DM.

I think evaluation forms like the ones you get at the end of a university class would do nicely. Put down some rating questions (from 1 to 5) for DM's knowledge of the rules, DM's apparent preparation, DM's role playing ability, and overall impression of the DM plus some open-ended comments and an optional name and member number in case anybody wanted to follow-up. That's all you'd need. Well, you also might want a block about the adventure in question for appropriate challenge, fun, etc.

Then, don't use the evaluations to give rewards, just use them to help you figure out which judges you want to allow to volunteer for which events. If they consistently rate low at D&D, DON'T put them in LG. If a writer consistently gets bad reviews for his work, solicit adventures from other writers.

Does this give the players some power over the DM? I suppose it does. Considering the DM has a fair amount of control over whether our characters live or die, I think that's fair. But, I'm also talking about consistently bad reviews and not just from one session or one particularly disgruntled player. Regression to means suggest that the evaluations will eventually center around the DM and writer's approximate abilities.

 

[Kugar]

Lurch,

I feel sorry that you had a bad DM at the Open. In the 2001 tournament I also has our share of bad DMs, which we chalked up to 3E still being new. After that I decided to judge the open the next year to tip the sucky/non-sucky ratio . The next year was the first major con DMing I did, and my first round was not pretty. I got hammered in the scoring, but by the end I was feeling comfy and doing better. This year I had a blast and judged all 8 slots the open ran. In the finals we put 2 Judges on a table, and I was the "shotgun" (rule judge). I was shocked at the lead DMs mannerisms, and probably wouldn't have liked the way the game went as a player. The players loved him. (shrug) I don't know, I assume that a lot of this head-butting may not be caused by bad DMs, just a conflict of style.

I encourage everyone who has a bad table experience to at least volunteer to run one game and take a look at if from the other end. I know it really helped my DMing, plus you meet a lot of great gamers.

Kugar

 

[WizarDru]

OK. here's a let's pretend scenario:

Say there's this guy who likes D&D...well call him, I dunno...BlizzarDru. Let's say he joined the RPGA over two years ago, but only played one LG game at the first gaming con he'd been to, and was disappointed. Now say, for the sake of argument, that based on the continued recommendations of some folks (with names like Iratecat), he was considering giving the RPGA a second chance.

Pretend that he normally DMs, but doesn't even know to rejoin the RPGA (and he never got any points or anything after the first 'con, which also ticked him off). Say, for the sake of argument, that he still has his character, still has the two CERTS he earned and might even have his outdated x.p./time log.

What would BlizzarDru have to do to be able to join an RPGA game as a player (since he certainly hasn't taken a test to be a judge)? What if the 'con was on Labor Day weekend?


What would you do, smart guy?
What would you do?

 

[Lurch]

OK. here's a let's pretend scenario:

Say there's this guy who likes D&D...well call him, I dunno...BlizzarDru. Let's say he joined the RPGA over two years ago, but only played one LG game at the first gaming con he'd been to, and was disappointed. Now say, for the sake of argument, that based on the continued recommendations of some folks (with names like Iratecat), he was considering giving the RPGA a second chance.

Pretend that he normally DMs, but doesn't even know to rejoin the RPGA (and he never got any points or anything after the first 'con, which also ticked him off). Say, for the sake of argument, that he still has his character, still has the two CERTS he earned and might even have his outdated x.p./time log.

What would BlizzarDru have to do to be able to join an RPGA game as a player (since he certainly hasn't taken a test to be a judge)? What if the 'con was on Labor Day weekend?


What would you do, smart guy?
What would you do?

Well, speaking purely hypothetically of course, assuming BlizzarDru still had his RPGA ID# handy, he could just go to http://www.rpga.com , log in, and pick up where he left off. Mind you, the RPGA has changed its scoring/tracking format within the last year or so, so he may find the database shows him as having "no activity," despite the fact that he has participated in the past. Whether or not his previous LG certs & such could still be reactivated I couldn't say, but I'd bet there's an email link on the RPGA site to someone who would know for sure. At least, that's my theory, & I'm stickin' to it!

 

[Lurch]

Lurch,

I feel sorry that you had a bad DM at the Open. In the 2001 tournament I also has our share of bad DMs, which we chalked up to 3E still being new. After that I decided to judge the open the next year to tip the sucky/non-sucky ratio . (SNIP)

I encourage everyone who has a bad table experience to at least volunteer to run one game and take a look at if from the other end. I know it really helped my DMing, plus you meet a lot of great gamers.

Kugar

I quite agree, Kugar; I know I had a blast judging the Open last year (and if the feedback I got was any indication, my players had a great time as well!) Hopefully my next go-round will be as much fun!

 

[buzzard]

OK. here's a let's pretend scenario:

Say there's this guy who likes D&D...well call him, I dunno...BlizzarDru. Let's say he joined the RPGA over two years ago, but only played one LG game at the first gaming con he'd been to, and was disappointed. Now say, for the sake of argument, that based on the continued recommendations of some folks (with names like Iratecat), he was considering giving the RPGA a second chance.

Pretend that he normally DMs, but doesn't even know to rejoin the RPGA (and he never got any points or anything after the first 'con, which also ticked him off). Say, for the sake of argument, that he still has his character, still has the two CERTS he earned and might even have his outdated x.p./time log.

What would BlizzarDru have to do to be able to join an RPGA game as a player (since he certainly hasn't taken a test to be a judge)? What if the 'con was on Labor Day weekend?


What would you do, smart guy?
What would you do?

Simple enough. Said hypothetical individual would take his character sheet, xp/time log and his certs to the con. He would also print out a 3rd year conversion sheet (try the LG site at RPGA) to take along. On the conversion sheet he would list what items he had obtained (probably just the certs since he only payed once). Then at whatever game he was in, he would present the conversion sheet, log and certs to the DM. The DM would sign off on the conversion, and off to play they go. This whole conversion review takes little time.

buzzard

 

[woodelf]

Well, i'm guilty of a GM faux pas at this past Gen Con. They had solved the problem and defeated the beast, and the shaman was having issues with a very powerful spirit of death she had summoned, i interpreted one of her failed persuasion rolls as being the straw that broke the camels back. Two of the characters were seriously wounded, and almost certainly going to lose their souls (a fate worse than death), so it seemed like a fitting end to have the spirit take the life of one of the wounded PCs, instead of the creature she had summoned it to kill (and which was now already dead). Seemed perfect: demonstrates consequences, yet still within the character of the world. And we were basically at the end of both our time and the plot (i was very proud of having timed the scenario almost perfectly), so it's not like i'd have a player sitting around.

But i goofed. I was running a 4hr game which started at 12:30. Somehow i got muddled and was thinking it was due to end ot 3:45, rather than 4:15. I had 35min to go, not 5min. I started to wrap up the adventure and explained that we didn't have much time and i wanted to say a few things before everyone had to take off, when someone pointed out my error to me. Luckily, the player of the dead character took it quite well, and didn't seem at all upset. We actually played through the denoument (took about 10min) and then i did my wrap-up and we simply got done a few minutes early. In the end, no big deal, but i still felt horrible. I never would kill a character in a con game, except perhaps for *really* gross stupidity (never actually had that problem), unless it was a game of Dread. There's no point in making a player sit out part of a con game--there's no "next week" to get back into the game.

 

[Acmite]

Man, I hardly know where to begin. My Convention RPG experiences have nearly all been negative.

• "Superman breaks your arms, then gouges out your eyes"...(Champions)

That must have sucked, and I feel bad for you, but, man, reading that made me laugh.

I have very little con experience, and of that, about 25% sucked sour frog butt.

The worst was a Tier 1 (1-3 level, IIRC) Living Greyhawk mod. The group was formed of a cleric (me), a fighter, a wiz/sor (I don't remember which), a druid, a rogue and another cleric. We were investigating these holes caused by giant beetles in a farmer's field and we had a very good startegy laid out. We were all set to ambush the bugs when they came out, and I was set as the guy near the front to cast some close range spells then book it outta there.

Well, the female druid was played by an overweight older man (mid 40s, I'd guess) who had decided to give his character an outrageously horrid pseudo-french accent. I mean, reaaallly bad. Imagine bad, then make it worse. And not a parody--he took it very seriously.

So, we were all set up for our well-laid out ambush and as soon as the bugs show up, he decides to break with the plan and cast Entangle centered on the hole.

Him: "I cast Entangle on the hole the beetles are coming from."

Me: "Ummm.....that's a 40ft radius burst, dude. That'll get most of the group except you and it lasts a looong time and you can't dismiss it."

Him: "I know. That's what SHE would do" (referring to his character)

The Group: That's the plan the whole group came up with, what changed?"

Him: "It's just what my character would do"

DM: "OK, you cast entangle".

Well, needless to say, my 2nd level cleric with dex 8 died spectacularly becuase I couldn't possibly defend myself and I was 30ft away from the edge of the effect. The fighter almost dropped while the rogue and the others were able to escape.

Plus, earlier in the adventure, the druid's player had had a hissy fit because the town guards wouldn't let a WOLF into town.

I had people coming up to me the rest of the weekend telling me about this guy does these idiotic things all the time despite the fact he's been playing since the late 70s. I talked to one of my friends later that day (he was one of the organizers) and he mentioned that he'd had people specifically request to not play with him because of past experiences.

I stopped playing LG shortly thereafter due to rules changes (including the item disappearance mentioned earlier), but mostly due to the changes in how experience was awarded--experience was basically awarded only through combat. Roleplaying solutions were not considered to have "overcome the encounter". It also nixed my plans for writing a mod.

Anyway, Superman shouldn't be ripping peoples arms off.

 

[Seule]

I stopped playing LG shortly thereafter due to rules changes (including the item disappearance mentioned earlier), but mostly due to the changes in how experience was awarded--experience was basically awarded only through combat. Roleplaying solutions were not considered to have "overcome the encounter". It also nixed my plans for writing a mod.

I know the mod you are referring to, I can guess with about 99.95% certainty the player you are referring to (and no, I don't play with him voluntarily), and I understand the issues with mod writing. If you are interested in trying again, things have changed, and you may find the administration of the region to be more amenable to your views. Or you may not. I encourage you to at least try, however.
Things are, in my opinion, better than they have ever been. The administration actually listens and responds to the player base, and even (gasp the horror) solicits their opinions voluntarily!
Mostly, I'd like more good gamers in my area (Guelph, for me) that I can play with occasionally. That's the real strength of Living campaigns, in my opinion. People get to bring their characters together, and play with new people.

--Seule

 

[Rune]

Am I the only one who looks forward to playing in cons (someday) so that I actually get to play with these terrible players/DMs? I have a strange fascination with people with social deficiencies.