The "bitch about your GM" thread

My experience has been that GMs get reputation, and the players in an area know those reputations, the same way a teacher at school may have a reputation as a hard-grader or an easy-grader, or whatever, and any student who's halfway aware of the grapevine and cares can find out what that reputation is.

In the group of gamers I hung out with there was

• L:, who tried very hard to railroad his players, but had such severe tunnel vision himself that it was easy to fuck with him and get him completely derailed. If you didn't want to yank the DM's chain, and you didn't like ham-handed attempts at railroading, you didn't play in any of his games.
• C: He was almost completely freeform — the background for one of his campaigns would fit on an index card. One index card. Usually one side of one index card. If you wanted more structure than that, you didn't play in his games.

M: He was in-between C and L. He did some planning, but let the players roam pretty much. He's the one I think I described as "laying the tracks in front of the players as they move." Q: He was even more of a railroader than L, but he wasn't nearly as easy to derail. He just ignored anything that didn't fit his plot.

The point is, the players knew whose games they would enjoy. I only played in one, one-night game with Q because I hated it. I loved playing with C and M, because I loved that the games either were free-form or felt free-form despite not being. L, well, L was just so much fun to mess with.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Again, it's self-selection bias. As I've always said, communication is the key to a successful DM/player relationship.

@tomu: I can see that. I got my playing start in LARP, which has to be somewhat freeform; the GM is not present for everything the players do, so a cohesive plot is all but impossible to pull off.

My method of plotting is a little different than most G Ms I've played under; I simply figure out what the antagonist is up to, and if the players don't interfere their plans cook along smoothly. When it makes sense for the players to get a clue, they do. But if they steadfastly refuse to investigate, the antagonist's scheme just rolls along.

This has led to some fairly hilarious moments when the P Cs suddenly find themselves in the middle of a disaster...one that could have probably been avoided if they'd been paying better attention.

Also, when the players do decide to investigate/interfere with the antagonist's plans, I decide what information that antagonist would have access to and come up with his response based off of that, rather than plotting from a "God's Eye" perspective. This leads to antagonists -gasp!- sometimes making mistakes, because while I knew it was a bad idea, they didn't know it was.

Granted, this only really works with players who don't metagame (something that is less common than most believe); I pick my players very, very carefully.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

The ironic point is that my primary group started off as an online freeform game, which has become much more linear than any Dn D game we ever have because everything is story based. Even the combat encounters, that are basically "who can be the most over the top in defeating the badguys" (hint: it's me).

Honestly, what you describe is pretty close to what I do-if the players don't want to investigate the badguy's plans and whatnot, it can lead to disaster. But their players know this, so the players, not wanting to Epically Fail, go back on rails.

edited 14th Aug '11 1:46:39 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

HEY GUESS WHAT I GET TO BITCH ABOUT MY DM

I usually don't because we never play.

Now I'm bitching because WE NEVER PLAY. I was promised, after a month of inactivity due to a player's technological problems, that due to the solving of said technical problems, we'd FIIIIIIIINALLY be able to play come hell or high water. But BAM. Guy ends up having to baby sit. And BOOM! No game tonight. And then, when I'm making a big fuss about it-about how not quitting would be a stain against my honor etc-he has the gall to suggest I'm overreacting. WHAT THE FUCK?! If I had any sense at all, I would have quit a month ago!

I finally managed to talk him into some terms that are favorable to me, but seriously. Jesus.

The second night I ever played D&D, the DM got my PC stuck in a magical Bunny Suit that couldn't come off. I could wear clothes over it, but it would always be on. My character was a goddamned Dragon Shaman tank, not some girly-girl character.

Heh.

I finally had a session of Dn D tonight after I just started my own campaign. Ran pretty well.

That can be filed under "Stuff the DM thought would be funny, but didn't catch on to the fact that the player doesn't like it."

That category needs a better name. How about "inconsiderate dick"?

He was very aware of how flustered I was, and gave me extra XP for it

I don't see what you are complaining about, then. Extra XP is extra XP. He put you in a situation incongruous with with your character, and rewarded you when you roleplayed him properly.

When you remember that we are all mad, all questions disappear and life stands explained.

Fun games can't be bought with EXP. If the guy doesn't want to wear a bunny suit, he should get the opportunity to get rid of it, rather then getting stuck in a situation that ruins everything he intended to do with his character.

Yeah, I mean, 4E is is a much better game than 3.5 because it doesn't have all these stupid cursed item rules that basically just exist to be predatory to players.

Oh shit-

Damnit Zeke, this is not me literally saying AWMFG 4E IS BETTER THAN 3.5 LULZ, it's just a joke, click on the darned link!

It was a chick (as am I), but a chick shouldn't have to wear a bunny suit if she doesn't want to, either.

Same goes for chainmail bikinis-no matter HOW strong their enchantment is.

Though I'll always have a soft-spot for Alias... well, I don't know whether SOFT is the right word-

Well, there are going to be things in any campaign that will force your character to act outside of his boundaries, sometimes with hilarious consequences. At that point, it's wise to remember that it is just a game, and that it is for entertainment. In other words, not SRS BUZINESS, regardless of how cool and brooding and badass you imagine your character to be, as everyone has their bad (or outright hilarious bad) moments.

Granted, if the DM was being simply unreasonable and spiteful, that's one thing. But if you got stuck in a bunnysuit through chance or because something bad was going to happen to you regardless, well, that's the way it goes. And because you didn't envision your character as "girly", that's just all the more funny.

edited 29th Aug '11 11:07:41 PM by Korochun

When you remember that we are all mad, all questions disappear and life stands explained.

Ehhhhhhh... that's all great if you subscribe to the principle of narrative causality and whatnot, but remember: Dn D is also a social game, and there's a lot of things that people are uncomfortable with. Remember, not everyone views bunny suits as standard fare for anime heroines working in casinos-for the American consciousness, it still relates heavily to the Playboy bunny. So it's entirely possible that a female character might feel as though this was a deliberate attempt by the DM to sexualize her character in a way that might be seen as inappropriate.

I can see the "For the Lulz" element, but D Ms also have to be socially conscious.

Yeah, it's a social game. Like every tabletop game ever, aside from those D&D modules you can run by yourself, presumably while the world's smallest violin plays in the background. Therefore, any actual concerns along those lines can be easily brought up with his DM.

Also, a Dragonborn Shaman in a bunny suit? Yeah, that's pretty damn funny.

edited 29th Aug '11 11:39:59 PM by Korochun

When you remember that we are all mad, all questions disappear and life stands explained.

Female nerds have long been subject to the whims of guys drooling over chainmail bikinis and leatherbound drow seductresses and whatnot. It's not surprising that a female character might be more than a bit agitated over being forced to wear a bunny suit.

That's pretty far-fetched assumption to make about the poster's gaming group.

When you remember that we are all mad, all questions disappear and life stands explained.

<Shrugs> It's a theory.

Hey Sakan: That have any relevance whatsoever to your objections to the bunny suit? The "I'm trying to play an actual badass female, not some nerd fantasy of what female badasses are supposed to be" or anything like that?

I'm fairly sure that had less to do with a "nerd fantasy of what a badass female must be like" and more with "comedic effect".

Unless you will maintain that the nerd fantasy about badass female fantasy character involves a bunnysuit.

Which seems to contradict your entire line about concerns about being sexualized, while we are at it.

You're running out of material, good sir.

When you remember that we are all mad, all questions disappear and life stands explained.

I'm sorry, are you arguing to explain human behavior in a way that models what might be the reality, or are you just arguing to argue?

No one said the DM was doing it as some kind of power trip. But that doesn't mean that a female player, playing a female character, surrounded by male players, might not feel tinges of "Okay, this just got creepy." I'm not calling the DM some kind of bizarre sexist psycho cretin or anything-I'm just saying that we male nerds need to pay attention to some of our more creepy fixations sometimes, because they can be taken the wrong way.

It's about human-player-psychology. And I'm not saying anything definitively, I'm just proposing potential answers. Don't take it so personally.

edited 30th Aug '11 12:44:19 AM by TheyCallMeTomu

While it is good to know that you aren't actually implying what you seem to be implying, I also would like to ask you to refrain from assuming that the rest of the world operates exactly as you, fetishes and such. Because that's exactly the vibe I'm getting here.

edited 30th Aug '11 7:44:28 AM by Korochun

When you remember that we are all mad, all questions disappear and life stands explained.

Chainmail Bikini existed before on posted on this thread dude.

I think I'm going to have to agree with Tomu on this one. As it turns out, a bunnygirl is a rather common fetish for young nerds nowadays, and it strikes me as somewhat creepy that the girl of the group ends up stuck as one.

One of my few regrets about being born female is the inability to grow a handlebar mustache. -Landstander