Habits that kill fun in a session.

[Nidogg]

Players that insist on Rolling--This comes up a lot when as DM I'll just handwave things to keep the game moving.

DM-You walk by some bright red flowers that smell very pleasant.
Player-''Oh, what are they?!'' looks for d20
DM-With your 10 ranks in knowledge nature and 10 ranks in elven lore and the fact that your a half elven druid...you just know that the flowers are Resp Flowers, a type of specialty elven flower...
PlayerIgnores DM-I roll a 27 on my Plant Lore, what are the flowers?

the varient my 4e DM tried on our group

The DM who rolls for everything
The 3rd mage in the party: "I cast presidigation to light up a sign "winners" over our head"
DM: Uh oh. You rolled a one, you are now on fire.
All: Whaa??

It ended up as mages 1-3 using light and presidigation to try and light the gods on fire while me and my more experienced freind made jokes about "Oh noes! I failed my door opening rolls, I lose a finger in the door!!" All in all, a waste of time.

[Typewriter]

Getting three 20s in a row, even twice in a single night, is not as impossible as it might seem. You are just as likely to roll 3 20s in a row as you are to roll any combination of 3 rolls in a row. Especially when you factor in dice. Very few dice are created perfectly, and often they'll have dispositions towards certain numbers.

I have a d4 that rolls a 3 around 9 out of every 10 rolls. It's not a fixed die, it's simply got air bubbles in it that make it gravitate towards three.

"Luck", or rolling 3 20s in a row 2 times in one night, is just our mind seeing random chance working out in someones favor.

I was introducing my group to Paizos critical fumble deck one night in a test encounter, and in one combat the group (me included) rolled over 20 natural 1s, and only 1 natural 20.

Sometimes chance just works out funny. I'd still be leary of players getting that 'lucky' in one night, but as long as they're not snatching up dice immediately after rolling them or anything suspicious... well I've seen stranger things...

[Combat Reflexes]

This is 6 in a row, what was posited was 3 in a row, twice in one day. The probabilities of that vary, dependent on the total number of dice rolled, but unless the total number of dice rolled is 6 it is significantly higher than that. With a mere 7 total rolls, it is 7 times as likely, for instance.

You're totally right. My bad.

The right answer would be (1/20^3)/2 or 0.0000625 if my math-fu is correct.
Which is still a very slim chance, but not impossible(!)

Myself for instance, one time over half the d20 rolls I made the entire 6 hours session were 15's. Including 5 in a row. That was a good day.

I recognize this.
For the last 3 sessions, I have an inexplicable affinity with the number 3 on the d20. No matter which d20 or how I roll, at least 50% of all rolls are 3. Maybe someone wants to tell me something...

[Choco]

Getting three 20s in a row, even twice in a single night, is not as impossible as it might seem. You are just as likely to roll 3 20s in a row as you are to roll any combination of 3 rolls in a row. Especially when you factor in dice. Very few dice are created perfectly, and often they'll have dispositions towards certain numbers.

I have a d4 that rolls a 3 around 9 out of every 10 rolls. It's not a fixed die, it's simply got air bubbles in it that make it gravitate towards three.

"Luck", or rolling 3 20s in a row 2 times in one night, is just our mind seeing random chance working out in someones favor.

I was introducing my group to Paizos critical fumble deck one night in a test encounter, and in one combat the group (me included) rolled over 20 natural 1s, and only 1 natural 20.

Sometimes chance just works out funny. I'd still be leary of players getting that 'lucky' in one night, but as long as they're not snatching up dice immediately after rolling them or anything suspicious... well I've seen stranger things...

Yeah, it is definitely possible, I have seen stuff like that happen.

Myself for instance, one time over half the d20 rolls I made the entire 6 hours session were 15's. Including 5 in a row. That was a good day.

[Knaight]

The right answer would be (1/20^3)/2 or 0.0000625 if my math-fu is correct.

Modeling this is a bit more complicated than that*. I'm actually 100% sure about how to model it, though it seems like one could look at the probability of it appearing once in all the dice rolled, then at the probability of it appearing again in all the dice rolled ignoring the 3 20s, with it broken up into 2 sets, one those rolled before the 3 20s, one rolled after. I'm not that well versed in probability, so what follows after this is likely a poor method, and possibly inaccurate. As such, it is in the first spoiler.

Spoiler

Show

However, what makes sense would be to look at the first set of rolls one die at a time. Essentially, there are 5 cases worth looking at.

• 1st Roll
• 2nd Roll
• Last Roll
• 2nd to Last Roll
• Other Roll

The odds of any individual roll in any case being a 20 are 5%. The odds of either of the ones adjacent to them being a 20 are 1-(.95^2), except for in the case of 1st and last roll, where there is only 1 adjacent roll. From here, you look at the cases left.

• Neither Adjacent is a 20.
• One Adjacent is a 20.
• Both Adjacent are 20.

The first of these cases means the roll is not part of a 3 20s set, the last of these means it is a 3 or more 20 set. Calculating the odds of it being more than 20 is another step, and one I'll ignore in the explanation, suffice to say it is there. Its also important to note which of the adjacent is a 20, as in the 2nd or 2nd to last case if it is the 1st or last only it is not a 3 20 set. For everything else, another specific roll must be a 20, which is a 5% chance. For it to only be 3 20s in a row, the next must not be a 20, which is a 95% chance, ignoring the cases where the first roll was the 3rd or the 3rd to last, and the first adjacent was the 2nd or 2nd to last.

One must then look at the 2 remaining cases, both of which act as the first. Moreover, one must note that much of the specifics were left unsaid, as that is dependent on the original case.
*And it assumes entirely fair dice, which is unlikely given the shoddy manufacturing in most cases.

That said, if only 6, 7, or 8 dice were rolled the odds are pretty easy to calculate. They are
6: 1/(20^6)
7: 3/(20^6)
8: 5/(20^6)

[Lamech]

That said, if only 6, 7, or 8 dice were rolled the odds are pretty easy to calculate. They are
6: 1/(20^6)
7: 3/(20^6)
8: 5/(20^6)

Ahh... time for MATH! (Explanation inside.)

Spoiler

Show

Hmm... lets see here. Modeling the chance three twenties are rolled?

Well first how may times were the dice rolled. (Note: I assume rolling a 20 triggers a confirmation roll, and that rolling three 20's is really "rolling a twenty, then two more on the confirmation rolls; this makes the math a easier.)

Okay then furthermore lets assume you don't have high quality dice, and this particular die rolls 20's twice as much on average.

Which finally means that the chance of getting three twenties is 1/1000.

But what about if we roll the dice several times? The chance that it happens on any two specific rolls is 1 in a million. How many specific combinations of two rolls are there? If the first triple 20 was the second to last roll, we only have one combination. Then consider if it was the third to last roll. That gives 2 combinations. If it was the nth to last roll its n-1 combinations. So we get 1+2+...total rolls-1. Or (total rolls-1)*total rolls/2.

Therefore the chance in one session of rolling three twenties twice is roughly (total rolls in that session-1)*(total rolls)/2,000,000 if the die is slightly weighted to the twenty. (If its a fair die its (total rolls-1)(total rolls)/128,000,000 since it vastly more likely with even a little weighting, and I have found a shoddy die from a local game store before, I think weight is a fair assumption.)
P.S. The formula is actually a estimate, but it will do a decent job unless you get to overly high numbers.

[Knaight]

Well first how may times were the dice rolled. (Note: I assume rolling a 20 triggers a confirmation roll, and that rolling three 20's is really "rolling a twenty, then two more on the confirmation rolls; this makes the math a easier.)

See, this was never actually said, which is a shame, as it makes life much, much easier as regards accurate calculations. Without this in place, you have to look at individual cases and work with them, and it is much more involved. I'd go into the specifics of what makes it complicated*, but this is already a bit of a derailment. Suffice to say that looking for the probability of patterns of numbers within a large set of randomly generated ordered numbers is a pain.

*At its simplest, the basic "break into sets of 3", binomial probability method doesn't work, due to the failure to note adjacent sets (a, b, 20) (20, 20, c) where a, b, and c are non 20 rolls as a roll of 3 in a row. There are a bunch of other nice models that also don't work, which means we get to deal with the ugly models.

[Lamech]

See, this was never actually said, which is a shame, as it makes life much, much easier as regards accurate calculations. Without this in place, you have to look at individual cases and work with them, and it is much more involved. I'd go into the specifics of what makes it complicated*, but this is already a bit of a derailment. Suffice to say that looking for the probability of patterns of numbers within a large set of randomly generated ordered numbers is a pain.

Do the same thing I did except now you have to start at the 6th to last for the first set of three. Which makes the end result I think (total rolls-5)(total rolls-4)/2000000 roughly.

[Knaight]

Which makes the end result I think (total rolls-5)(total rolls-4)/2000000 roughly.

No, this is entirely incorrect. Look at it carefully, the probability can get over 1 with enough rolls, which simply can't happen.

[Lamech]

No, this is entirely incorrect. Look at it carefully, the probability can get over 1 with enough rolls, which simply can't happen.

P.S. The formula is actually a estimate, but it will do a decent job unless you get to overly high numbers.

You estimate the probability of something happening if it has multiple chances to happen and a small chance of happening by simply multiplying the probability of it happening each time by the number of times.
For example the chance to roll a 1000 on a d1000 if you roll ten times is 1-0.99004488 or roughly 1%. Same thing I did in the estimate above.
If you want a lower bound for the probability I'm pretty sure its
((total rolls-1)(total rolls)/2000000)*(1-(total rolls-1)(total rolls)/2000000)

P.S. Wait a minute this isn't actually that hard* to calculate its (1-chance of getting six twenties in a row)^((total rolls-1)*(total rolls-0)/2). (Replace the -1 and -0 with a -5 and -4 if your not rolling to confirm I think).
*Difficulty depends on if you know how to calculate it.

[Greenish]

I still know that it is frigging impossible for you to get 3 natural 20s in a row twice in one day.

It's not. It is merely unlikely, but then, unlikely things happen all the time.

Say, the SuperEnalotto, if we are to believe wikipedia, is one of the hardest to win lotteries in the world, with the chances of winning at 1 in 1,235,346. Yet demonstrably it isn't impossible.

[Elm11]

I love hearing stories like that. Tell me, did he storm out of the room in a rage after that happened? Quit the group?

Much to our chagrin, he didn't leave the group or the campaign, and it only took him a session or two to completely forget the lesson he'd learnt. By now just about everyone has contingencies to kill off his current player (myself included) who, by complete coincidence, just happens to have a burning hatred for every person who comes from the planet my character comes from for secret backstory reasons he can't tell us about. considering i've caught him trying to sabotage my room with traps and the like before, i'm probably going to kill the new character next session and tell him to get the hell out of my house (it's being played at my place and if he's not going to play constructively, he's not playing at all).

Don't ask me why we're friends with this guy, it's a question we've been asking ourselves for a long, long time.

[Razgriez]

People who insult others at the end of games.

[Gnoman]

This only applies to online sessions

Insanely Complicated Macro Guy

It's one thing to use macros to speed things up, and when well done, thet make things nice and easy for the DM. This guy takes it too far. When a single attack roll takes up 12 lines without a critical threat (bonus points if half of the time it's full of error messages), it usually winds up better just to manually type in your attack, as this makes it a lot easier for the DM to see your actual roll.

[Roga]

Here's a few more, because I really want this thread to continue and not get derailed by math.

I don't have a funny name for this type of guy:
This guy doesn't respect the nature of a game, or abuses it to protect himself. Example, in Spycraft the game kind of relies on you guys not getting caught. The game can't continue really, and this guy has no regard for that and relies on Deus Ex Machina to pull his, and subsequently the rest of the group, out of the fire. It's not that he's being foolish, or ignorant. He has a grin on his face where he knows he's trying to break the game knowing the DM won't let it happen.

This guy can manifest in other games where the DM really hates to kill players. If he senses that the DM fudges things to allow the players to live, he'll start running down the slippery slope of stupidity to see what he can get away with.


The DM/Player who loves Kender.
Now I've heard that it's possible to play a Kender "Right" but I have never ever seen it. Ever experience I've had has been player or DM encouraging the Chaotic Stupid HairPullingOutFrustating little prankster thieves. They always seem to have a ridiculous amount of Deus Ex Machina on their side.
The final time I ever played in a game with one:

Spoiler

Show

Situation: Party has your stereotypical Klepto Kender, which I despise. I'm been in 5 games with them and they've always been the reason the game collapsed. I was determined to Kender-proof my character.

My Solution: I'm playing an Oozemaster, and had commissioned a Special Bag of holding that was a Small Iron flask. The nozzle was 1 inch across so I could squeeze anything I wanted in there from a Canoe to a potion using Malleability. So I was the only person who could get things out of it. I paid for it, and it's cap, to be immune to Acid. And I would swallow it when I didn't need it, and could reach in and pull it out as a full round action. I would sleep myself in a larger Urn (also immune to acid) and coated myself in my Con damaging slime.

GM Response: I wake up in my urn and find that despite my defenses the Kender had unintentionally stolen my flask. To compound the issue, he had put a note in it and threw it in the ocean to see if anyone would ever read his message. I hate kenders, that's the game that made me refuse to ever play in a game with one again.


ME: How exactly did he "accidentally" Open my Urn, reach down my throat without taking at least 1d6 Con, and pull out my flask?
DM: He's a Kender
ME: But explain how, I put a lot of investment into protecting myself. You knew my intentions when I commissioned those items.
DM: I already said, He's a Kender.
ME: *Incomprehensible Rage*

[ScionoftheVoid]

The DM/Player who loves Kender.
Now I've heard that it's possible to play a Kender "Right" but I have never ever seen it. Ever experience I've had has been player or DM encouraging the Chaotic Stupid HairPullingOutFrustating little prankster thieves. They always seem to have a ridiculous amount of Deus Ex Machina on their side.
The final time I ever played in a game with one:

Spoiler

Show

Situation: Party has your stereotypical Klepto Kender, which I despise. I'm been in 5 games with them and they've always been the reason the game collapsed. I was determined to Kender-proof my character.

My Solution: I'm playing an Oozemaster, and had commissioned a Special Bag of holding that was a Small Iron flask. The nozzle was 1 inch across so I could squeeze anything I wanted in there from a Canoe to a potion using Malleability. So I was the only person who could get things out of it. I paid for it, and it's cap, to be immune to Acid. And I would swallow it when I didn't need it, and could reach in and pull it out as a full round action. I would sleep myself in a larger Urn (also immune to acid) and coated myself in my Con damaging slime.

GM Response: I wake up in my urn and find that despite my defenses the Kender had unintentionally stolen my flask. To compound the issue, he had put a note in it and threw it in the ocean to see if anyone would ever read his message. I hate kenders, that's the game that made me refuse to ever play in a game with one again.


ME: How exactly did he "accidentally" Open my Urn, reach down my throat without taking at least 1d6 Con, and pull out my flask?
DM: He's a Kender
ME: But explain how, I put a lot of investment into protecting myself. You knew my intentions when I commissioned those items.
DM: I already said, He's a Kender.
ME: *Incomprehensible Rage*

I've read this before, and every time it amazes me that the DM was that stupid.

I would have punched him and asked again, rinse and repeat until I'm forcibly removed, the DM is unconcious or I've recieved a proper answer.

[Traab]

So apparently kender are incorporeal and can manipulate matter at a subconscious level so as to steal anything, anywhere, at any time without intending to do so? Damn, I want to play a kender!

[Combat Reflexes]

This is one of the rare occasions where one is allowed to punch the DM. Enjoy it while it lasts. (it won't last long)

[dsmiles]

What? I like Kender. (Of course, that's...extremely overboard...even for a Kender.)

[Grendus]

The DM/Player who loves Kender.
Now I've heard that it's possible to play a Kender "Right" but I have never ever seen it. Ever experience I've had has been player or DM encouraging the Chaotic Stupid HairPullingOutFrustating little prankster thieves. They always seem to have a ridiculous amount of Deus Ex Machina on their side.
The final time I ever played in a game with one:

Spoiler

Show

Situation: Party has your stereotypical Klepto Kender, which I despise. I'm been in 5 games with them and they've always been the reason the game collapsed. I was determined to Kender-proof my character.

My Solution: I'm playing an Oozemaster, and had commissioned a Special Bag of holding that was a Small Iron flask. The nozzle was 1 inch across so I could squeeze anything I wanted in there from a Canoe to a potion using Malleability. So I was the only person who could get things out of it. I paid for it, and it's cap, to be immune to Acid. And I would swallow it when I didn't need it, and could reach in and pull it out as a full round action. I would sleep myself in a larger Urn (also immune to acid) and coated myself in my Con damaging slime.

GM Response: I wake up in my urn and find that despite my defenses the Kender had unintentionally stolen my flask. To compound the issue, he had put a note in it and threw it in the ocean to see if anyone would ever read his message. I hate kenders, that's the game that made me refuse to ever play in a game with one again.


ME: How exactly did he "accidentally" Open my Urn, reach down my throat without taking at least 1d6 Con, and pull out my flask?
DM: He's a Kender
ME: But explain how, I put a lot of investment into protecting myself. You knew my intentions when I commissioned those items.
DM: I already said, He's a Kender.
ME: *Incomprehensible Rage*

Wow... that's just wrong. No wonder everybody hates Kender.

[Seb Wiers]

Now I've heard that it's possible to play a Kender "Right" but I have never ever seen it.

Its easy. Kender have no concept of personal property, and expect others to have the same view. For example, if they see a friend in need, they give that person whatever they have on hand which will most help that person. Or if they have no immediate use for treasure, they just leave it sitting there and walk away.

What, that's not how you've seen Kender played? I'm shocked, truely...
;)

[big teej]

-kender story-

I must confess.

if that happened at a game I was in....

people would be smacked.
hard.

and repeatedly.

until my hand started to hurt.

and then I would use my non-primary smacking hand.

...

or turn to the DM and say "I gut the kender. like this" and gut the player.

.... ah cathartic violence....

on topic penance.

Mr. "I refuse to commit to a schedule"

this is the guy who REFUSES to commit to a set place/day/time. if everyone else is like "yea sure, we can meet at x's house y day of the week at z time"

this is the guy that says "uhm... I dunno if I can make that."


variant: mister xyz time.

this is a group full of people who plan a session from week to week. not necessarily "fun killer" but it can lead to the "too many campaigns" syndrome. with none of them going anywhere.

bonus points if the problem is the DM.



related.
mister "no my X is cooler/more fun than you guys"

this is similar to Mr. can't commit.

this is where everyone in the group says "okay, we can meet here at xyz day/place/time, because that's a free slot for everybody" (saturday night for example)

but one person in the group has "something better to do"
this "something" could be anything from catching a movie with a seperate group of friends, spending time with the new squeeze, church youth group, whatever.

and so the entire session has to be called off because this guy has 'better things to do'

even better is when these things "come up at the last minute"

"oh dude, yea I know I was hosting and DMing the game tonight, but susie invited me to go see this cool movie!"

bonus points if this statement is delivered as you are pulling into their neighborhood.


and just in case I haven't posted it (it's been so long I can't remember)

Mr. Can't Take A Joke. aka. Makes a Bad thing Worse.

this is the guy who just can't take a joke, it may be a hotbutton for them, or it might just be a touchy ego.

example tale from my life.

Spoiler

Show

I was DMing for my old group (who inspire the great majority of mine.) and one player wanted to take a "full blade"
not having a hardcopy source to go buy, i said "show me a picture"
and he described the sword.
I pulled up Cloud Strife and asked "this?"
no, bigger.

oookay.
we pulled up a picture of the fist fighter from ruroni kenshin.
This?
yea that! I want that sword!

"dude.... it's at least twice his height"
I WANT IT
fine fine, we'll call it 2d8 and swinging it is a full round action*

so, game proceeds.

eventually the player uses a phrase along the lines of
"I swing my giant sword at the kobold"

and another player makes a comment along the lines of "ah yes, the giant compensating sword of smooshyness"

and the player stands up and yells at the other player "DON'T MAKE COMPENSATION JOKES"

-dead silence for several rounds-

me: -ahem- well.... so..
the kobold is dead... and.....


*yes yes I know, I was newb

sorry if I've mentioned that one already....

[Choco]

on topic penance.

Mr. "I refuse to commit to a schedule"

this is the guy who REFUSES to commit to a set place/day/time. if everyone else is like "yea sure, we can meet at x's house y day of the week at z time"

this is the guy that says "uhm... I dunno if I can make that."

...

related.
mister "no my X is cooler/more fun than you guys"

this is similar to Mr. can't commit.

this is where everyone in the group says "okay, we can meet here at xyz day/place/time, because that's a free slot for everybody" (saturday night for example)

but one person in the group has "something better to do"
this "something" could be anything from catching a movie with a seperate group of friends, spending time with the new squeeze, church youth group, whatever.

and so the entire session has to be called off because this guy has 'better things to do'

even better is when these things "come up at the last minute"

"oh dude, yea I know I was hosting and DMing the game tonight, but susie invited me to go see this cool movie!"

bonus points if this statement is delivered as you are pulling into their neighborhood.

UGH, those are my biggest complaints. Here is a variant I am dealing with in my 4e game now:

Mr. Excuses-At first this guy is basically "Mr. I refuse to commit to a schedule". He demands the game be held during a specific time of his choosing. Then he turns INTO "Mr. no my X is cooler/more fun than you guys".

After arguing for days, we finally settle on the date/time. This was the ONLY date/time that was apparently available on his schedule. He has uttered the following line: "The only time I will do it is on <x> day, <y> time. I will not play otherwise." So eventually the rest of us were able to rework our schedules to accommodate him. Then of course every time <x> day rolls around, he is "Mr. no my X is cooler/more fun than you guys". Basically after the big stink he threw about the ONLY time slot he can play apparently, he then cancels 3/4 of the time.

Unfortunately I am not the DM of that group, or he would have been gone a long time ago.

[dsmiles]

mister "no my X is cooler/more fun than you guys"

this is similar to Mr. can't commit.

this is where everyone in the group says "okay, we can meet here at xyz day/place/time, because that's a free slot for everybody" (saturday night for example)

but one person in the group has "something better to do"
this "something" could be anything from catching a movie with a seperate group of friends, spending time with the new squeeze, church youth group, whatever.

and so the entire session has to be called off because this guy has 'better things to do'

even better is when these things "come up at the last minute"

"oh dude, yea I know I was hosting and DMing the game tonight, but susie invited me to go see this cool movie!"

bonus points if this statement is delivered as you are pulling into their neighborhood.

Now, I can understand being irritated by someone who comes up with excuses at the last minute, but at someone who has a life outside of gaming, and lets you know beforehand? Really?
That's not cool. Some people have other interests. Gaming isn't priority 1 in everybody's life.

[Trellan]

Now, I can understand being irritated by someone who comes up with excuses at the last minute, but at someone who has a life outside of gaming, and lets you know beforehand? Really?
That's not cool. Some people have other interests. Gaming isn't priority 1 in everybody's life.

I understand what you're saying, but once you've committed to a game, it's an obligation. You have a group of people who have all decided to set aside time in the week to do something. It's a set plan, and many people (myself included) will turn down other plans because they have already devoted that time to something else. When someone bails, it messes with everyone else's schedule. The fact that it's gaming isn't necessarily relevant. It's an agreed upon time to do something with friends, aka a plan. Most people get annoyed when someone cancels plans specifically to make plans with other people. If you can't devote an evening a week to a group on a pretty regular basis, either let the group know that's the situation, or don't join.

[archon_huskie]

Does it ever occur to the group that they can play without Mr. I'm cooler than everyone else?

Geek Social Falacy #1 & #5
Read them, Know them, break them.

[big teej]

Now, I can understand being irritated by someone who comes up with excuses at the last minute, but at someone who has a life outside of gaming, and lets you know beforehand? Really?
That's not cool. Some people have other interests. Gaming isn't priority 1 in everybody's life.

I understand what you're saying, but once you've committed to a game, it's an obligation. You have a group of people who have all decided to set aside time in the week to do something. It's a set plan, and many people (myself included) will turn down other plans because they have already devoted that time to something else. When someone bails, it messes with everyone else's schedule. The fact that it's gaming isn't necessarily relevant. It's an agreed upon time to do something with friends, aka a plan. Most people get annoyed when someone cancels plans specifically to make plans with other people. If you can't devote an evening a week to a group on a pretty regular basis, either let the group know that's the situation, or don't join.

this here.

I have no problem with people having a life outside of gaming, I have recently aquired one myself.

however, if I tell someone "yes I'll show up for the game thurdsay night*"

unless something major comes up/prevents me from being there.

I'll be there, even if it means turning down an evening with my best friend or my girlfriend**

as stated by Trellan, the fact it's gaming is irrelevant, it's the disrespect for me and the rest of the group.

*or any other given timeslot
**luckily, my girlfriend plays ^_^

so to summarize, my problem isn't so much "you have a life outside of gaming"
it's "you decided something else was more important, after making a commitment."
being a rather Lawful individual (almost as bad as dwarves)

this does get under my skin a bit.

[slaydemons]

I don't think anyone has said this but

Mr. takes five minutes and when that encounter is over wants to stop its basically Mr. takes five minutes making a turn to cast a spell, but after the first encounter is over he wants to stop playing because the encounter took too long.

[Silus]

example tale from my life.

Spoiler

Show

I was DMing for my old group (who inspire the great majority of mine.) and one player wanted to take a "full blade"
not having a hardcopy source to go buy, i said "show me a picture"
and he described the sword.
I pulled up Cloud Strife and asked "this?"
no, bigger.

oookay.
we pulled up a picture of the fist fighter from ruroni kenshin.
This?
yea that! I want that sword!

"dude.... it's at least twice his height"
I WANT IT
fine fine, we'll call it 2d8 and swinging it is a full round action*

so, game proceeds.

eventually the player uses a phrase along the lines of
"I swing my giant sword at the kobold"

and another player makes a comment along the lines of "ah yes, the giant compensating sword of smooshyness"

and the player stands up and yells at the other player "DON'T MAKE COMPENSATION JOKES"

-dead silence for several rounds-

me: -ahem- well.... so..
the kobold is dead... and.....


*yes yes I know, I was newb

sorry if I've mentioned that one already....

Bonus points if the person berates you and uses rude, crude or derogatory words, either directed at you or in their argument.

[Knaight]

Wait a minute this isn't actually that hard* to calculate its (1-chance of getting six twenties in a row)^((total rolls-1)*(total rolls-0)/2). (Replace the -1 and -0 with a -5 and -4 if your not rolling to confirm I think).
*Difficulty depends on if you know how to calculate it.

If it were a matter of six twenties in a row, it would be pretty simple. However, it is much more complicated if you are merely looking for patterns within data. At its simplest there are several steps.
1) Calculate the probability of 3 twenties in a row in the set of ordered data.
2) Look at the probability distributions of where this first case would be.
3) In the rolls before and the rolls after, find the probability of 3 twenties in a row.
4) Combine data as appropriate.