Worst DM Quotes at Gencon

[King_Stannis]

The idea of running a game at a con is partly intriguing and partly frightening. I'd love to test my wares against a group of strangers, but my one and only experience when playing at a con was, well, interesting. It was a Call of Cthulu game run by Scott Aniolowski, who has published several items for Chaosium. The group was saddled with a drama queen who thought that he could play his character best BY SHOUTING ALL OF HIS LINES IN A COCKNEY ACCENT. Another player was a 13 year old kid who was blatently cheating. Rolling the dice 2 or 3 times till he got the result he wanted. (As an aside, this actually helped in my own DM'ing by having me make a hard and fast rule that no roll is "official" until I know what it's for and it is made in plain sight in one of the "rolling boxes" on the table. )

So, much as it would be exciting to DM a group of different people, I am not sure I'd want to risk getting a drama queen, cheater, or rules lawyer. This last one really scares me. This notion that the DM has to know every single rule when running a game at a convention is somewhat intimidating. But that's the impression I get from some folks. I'd say that as long as he's fair and allows a reasonable amount of time to look up rules before using DM fiat, then he is running things okay.

When it comes down to it, if I ever find myself at GenCon I'm looking up Teflon Billy and a few others to game with. The last thing I want to do is waste 5 hours playing or running a game for a bunch of slackjawed idjits.

 

[Gundark]

my story

well this isn't a GEn-con story but I have to tell it anyways . It was back in 2nd ed and the party was crossing this log that went across a river. My fighter slipped and fell in, I had to take off my armour and stuff and managed to save my sword before being rescued by the party. After me the spell caster fell in ( who was the roomate of the DM ) he lost everything including his spell book. The DM (who was female...not a dig at female DM's it's just relevant to the story) spent the next 20 minutes saying sorry to the guy (he tried to be cool about it). She was like "Sorry but in the adventure it says that the players must roll to see if they lost their gear". I was sitting there going "Hello i fell in lost all my stuff too". She basically just ignored me and the adventure went on. I never went back.

 

[Chimera]

Originally posted by Warlord Ralts
And the dumbest thing EVER said by myself when DMing...
"You hear Karl the Baker chuckle from the shadows as he moves slowly.... D'OH!"-I was running a Ravenloft Game at a convention at Evergreen Convention, a 3 day straight game involving a twisted murder mystery that was MA only. I'd just blown who really committed the murders. Thankfully, the players were excellent, and we worked it out. Still....

I've DMed for groups that still wouldn't have known who the murderer was.

Worse yet, the last group I DM'd for would all bitch that it was too difficult and that they were going to leave the area and patrol somewhere else.

That's all they did, all they wanted to do. Wander in circles, wait for a monster to attack them, then look for the lair.

All. They. Ever. Did.

OOC, they spent the entire game complaining about how I never let them get away with things like casting Invisibility in the middle of a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd and then slip through the crowd unnoticed. Or how they themselves should have been able to negate a bad guy's invisibility simply by watching for his foot steps.

Got a new group I'll be GM'ing for starting in a few months. Much more intelligent players.

 

[Sanackranib]

DM had just gotten the epic level handbook (I was 8th level,
wiz 5/priest 3) and the character was opposed by the nose hooks the DM was constantly using to get us to to what he wanted us to when he wanted us to do it. (hey I was LE and had my own plans) so a deal came up to get me to play allong with what the DM wanted me to do (book of vile darkness) for my character and removing the curse from my people(curst from mythic races). in return I had to support the NPC's plans and do what I could to get the party to support them as well. so I told the DM that I would sell out for the power but IN CHARACTER wanted some assurance that the NPC's could live up to their end. so they summoned their deity who showed up pissed and cast some epic level spell save for 44d6 (fire damage)

then he wanted to use MY DICE to roll the damage!!!


44d6!!!???

 

[Piratecat]

(hey I was LE and had my own plans)....
44d6!!!???

Heh heh. Serves you right. I would have empowered it.

 

[diaglo]

Every time, just when I think I might actually do something with my RPGA membership (I've been eyeing the Green Regent Campaign for about a week, considering trying that when it starts up around here), one of these threads pops up to make me think I'm better off sticking to my home game ...

at least the DM shows up for your home game.

see you in 2 weeks...

oh wait, you're out of town.

i feel like i'm at Gen Con all over again.

 

[Holy Bovine]

The idea of running a game at a con is partly intriguing and partly frightening. I'd love to test my wares against a group of strangers, but my one and only experience when playing at a con was, well, interesting. It was a Call of Cthulu game run by Scott Aniolowski, who has published several items for Chaosium. The group was saddled with a drama queen who thought that he could play his character best BY SHOUTING ALL OF HIS LINES IN A COCKNEY ACCENT. Another player was a 13 year old kid who was blatently cheating. Rolling the dice 2 or 3 times till he got the result he wanted. (As an aside, this actually helped in my own DM'ing by having me make a hard and fast rule that no roll is "official" until I know what it's for and it is made in plain sight in one of the "rolling boxes" on the table. )

So, much as it would be exciting to DM a group of different people, I am not sure I'd want to risk getting a drama queen, cheater, or rules lawyer. This last one really scares me. This notion that the DM has to know every single rule when running a game at a convention is somewhat intimidating. But that's the impression I get from some folks. I'd say that as long as he's fair and allows a reasonable amount of time to look up rules before using DM fiat, then he is running things okay.

When it comes down to it, if I ever find myself at GenCon I'm looking up Teflon Billy and a few others to game with. The last thing I want to do is waste 5 hours playing or running a game for a bunch of slackjawed idjits.

Cons can be intimadating and GenCOn doubly so for a DM new to the Con scene.

I count myself as incredibly lucky as I have had fairly good luck in the games that I have DMed in the past at Cons. Mind you it has been about 8 years since I have gone to a Con (but I am at Indy in 2004 - lbelieve it!). It is vitally important, IMO, to lay down ground rules right at the beginning in how you expect the players to conduct themselves. I've even seen DMs hand out a sheet with the 'Rules of the Table' spelled out for everyone. Breaking them results in in-game penalties and (at the extreme) expulsion from the table. Never have I seen (or imposed) rules that are outlandish. Simple stuff like rolling in the open, not arguing constanly with the DM etc.

I encourage everyone to try their hand at DMing at cons - they can be a lot of fun and never know when you'll meet a truly awesome RPer!

 

[Number47]

C) Some of us who are qualified to have opinions on the matter disagree.

Qualified to have opinions?

Just think about that sentence for a minute...

 

[Pielorinho]

At a GenCon a few years back I heard one of my all-time favorites. The setup: we're playing Call of Cthulhu, and fighting some sort of undead in a large house. One of the investigators blasts a zombie -- who was currently standing at the top of the stairs -- with his shotgun. When asked why the zombie didn't get knocked back down the stairs, the GM replied:

"Blowback is a myth."

Given the debate over this line, I think we can see the DM's real error. When you asked why the zombie didn't get knocked back down the stairs, he shoulda said, "Make a knowledge: firearms check. Oops, don't have the skill? You have no idea why the zombie didn't get knocked back down the stairs."

Never get into an argument over the why of things with your players. As long as you describe the scene in a way they can visualize, you're doing your job; they shouldn't be asking questions their characters can't answer.

Daniel

 

[der_kluge]

I agree with PirateCat on his take of Cons. I've found that I generally have far more fun if I just DM, versus trying to play. I'm a competent DM, and have ran numerous games at GenCon, and other conventions, so that does not intimidate me. Plus, I can playtest dungeons on strangers before I unleash them on my own players.

Muahahaha