What was your worst DM ever? This thread is impervious - roll to disbelieve!

[jaydubs]

I'm going to start by saying this isn't a horrible DM story. The sessions we played were generally fun, there was just some favoritism that really rubbed me the wrong way. Since I was getting kind of busy IRL anyway, I stepped out of the campaign.

We were playing Edge of the Empire, one of the new Star Wars RPGs. Unlike many of the previous versions, they had decided to avoid the "play a Jedi or feel overshadowed" issue by not having any Jedi player classes. You can gain access to the force, but it's more of a "discover the force in later life" thing. And no one gets lightsaber proficiency.

Anyway, as the games go on, it becomes apparent the DM's friend has force powers. It goes on a bit longer, we find out he has lightsabers. After the session, the group brings it up, and we find out the friend has a special Jedi homebrew class (which the friend created himself of course). We ask to see it, both because we're sort of concerned about Jedi balance issues and because the game has a career system where anyone can pick up new careers. So if it's imbalanced, at least we can hop on board as well.

Nope, we can't see the custom class (it was mostly the friend answering, the DM was just trying not to upset him I think). Not only because are we not allowed to use the custom Jedi class. The balance doesn't matter because he's the only one that will get to use it.

It bugged me a lot, and I left the session after that. I don't know if it ever turned into a "watch the DM's friend play the overpowered homebrew class" game, but I didn't really feel like finding out. And, I really did have some IRL stuff going on at the time, so it worked out I guess.

[Stuebi]

I've got another two, as told from a buddy over in the UK and one from a good friend of mine who actually got me intp P&P.

UK Buddy invites me over fairly regularly, and we tend to visit his local friendly gaming store. For the most aprt, you'll find people playing Warhammer Tabletops and Magic, but there's a basement with a few tables where you can play pretty much whatever. Buddy knows the owner, so he plays there frequently, and i've participated in quite a few games myself.

A new Edition for the Warhammer Tabletop just came out, and there was a lot of stuff going on in the store. Buddy's group had gathered up with the exception of 3 players who were wrapping up their table games up stairs. Unbeknownst to them, two of the guys that arrived later had just finished a game together, and had a rather nasty argument afterwards. And one of them was actually the on who was supposed to DM. I could probably leave it at that, as most of you can guess what followed next.

Cue a game where the DM has a specific player on "Oh no you dont."-list, and a player who's agenda consists of derailing and breaking the game as hard as possible. A few things buddy told me about:

- Not once but TWICE did the Player critically wound an important NPC while hunting, he insisted both times that it was an accident because he mistook them for game. (What, did her hair look like Antlers?)
- A Thiefguild, being part of the plot, was after the party. But would interestingly allways go for you know who when attempting murder.
- The Player in question would basically take any information from NPC's he got and do the exact opposite of what this information suggests. This was justified by paranoia, altough said guy had no problem trusting 3 other people in his party whom he just met days ago.
- Traps and environmental hazards the DM used would either directly or at least indirectly target said player. No chest is boobytrapped except the one the hunter tries to loot. Valley is really foggy, so ranged combat becomes useless (The guy is the only partymember with a bow!).

Stuff like that, over a good 4 hours. Appearantly, the game was nice enough for the others that the group did not disband. But the "subtle" rivalry was obvious enough to prompt the group to intervene. Appearantly, both of them reconsiled. But they dont play Warhammer with each other anymore.


The second one comes from a good friend, a girl who actually first got me into P&P.

She was part of a group that wanted to play a completely homebrewn-setting, made by the DM. It went reasonably well, until the fifth session came around. My friend was not really feeling well at the time, was depressed after some hardship in her private life, and thus asked the group if the session could be put of for a week. Party was dissapointed, but fine with putting the thing off for a few days. Except for the DM, who succesfully managed to make her feel bad for "Making the entire group wait just because you're a bit sad.". So the session happened anyway.

I never actually tried roleplaying while being in a sad mood. Had a few "angry" sessions before where I was a bit easier to get annoyed. But as you might imagine, sadplaying isnt fun. And it's probably hard to get properly immersed. It didnt take long for her to get scolded by the DM, for lack of roleplaying and motivation.

Eventually, she got angry. It's not like she told him that she was not feeling good and wanted to put the session off. The DM stands up. "I dont need to take this from you." Packs his stuff up and leaves. Understandably, the party is bit weirded out by this reaction. After dealing with further hissy fits, mainly him ignoring E-Mail inquiries andeven a phone call where she wanted to apologize for getting upset. Nothing.

So the group gets another guy to DM. The first one throws an even bigger fit. How dare they replace him! Sadly, a lot of the written paperwork and rules for the system were written by him. And he promptly confiscated the stuff. They switched over to a different setting, and as far as i'm informed, none of them talk to the guy anymore.

[DontEatRawHagis]

This is the reason why I will never play in a completely original game system made by the DM:

I wanted to try 3.5e and my friends said a guy they knew was running a game later that day. I spent some time creating a character and we met at his apartment. Little did I know that my character was useless in his convoluted system. He told me to put the character sheet away and that we were just going to roleplay(Not the worst thing in the world :P) and that we were doing skills based on opposed checks against the DM.

He quickly drew up a map with about five locations on them. One was a castle, another a cave. The others aren't important because we stayed mostly in those areas.

He said it was a sandbox game so we should feel free to do what we want. I decided to go through the castle and quickly realized he was rolling on a table for every room I entered. At one point I entered the armory and he rolled randomly for the gear that was in it. This was not an issue, the dungeon is where the real issues began.

First room 5 Dragons, uberpowerful beasts. And then he rolls for their dispositions towards us. It comes up a 20(Good), they become our mounts. Every room becomes this practically, so by the time 1hr has gone by a few of us have multiple legendary animals following us and some of us are getting a bit confused and power hungry. His DMPC does a special fusion ability(seriously like out of Yugioh or some crap) and essentially summons Tiamat as his mount.

The game ended with all the players wondering if the DM was high. A couple had a good time, but we all agreed not to let him run the games. Having a fun freeform game can be great, but the random rules he was pulling on us had no structure or rhyme or reason.

[DM Nate]

This is the reason why I will never play in a completely original game system made by the DM:

From what you explained, that DM didn't even have one.

[DontEatRawHagis]

From what you explained, that DM didn't even have one.

Apparently he thought it was.

[Inevitability]

During a 3.5 game the DM showed very little understanding of the rules. This little gem stands out exceptionally:

Fighter: I attack the troll for... 18 attack and 4 damage!
DM: You hit, but the wound heals immediately. Also, your sword is now stuck.
Fighter: What?
DM: Your sword is stuck. The wound regenerated while your sword was still in it, so it is enclosed in the troll.
Fighter: That's not how it works.
DM: Who's DM'ing this game, you or me?

Needless to say, no one kept playing for long.

[Somensjev]

i don't have anything that bad, but there is the time i had a DM that seemed to have a grudge against me

DM: There's a trapdoor in the room
Rogue: I pick the lock *Rolls*
DM: *Disregards the roll* It doesn't work
Fighter (Me): I hit it with my sword *Rolls damage*
DM: You break the door, and your mercurial (broad/long)sword shatters, it's now useless
Me: I.. What?
DM: Everything that touched the trapdoor was shattering
Rogue: And i didn't notice my lock-picks becoming shrapnel in my hand?
DM: *ignores and goes on with the plot*


there were a few other moments like this, if anyone wants more then i'll spoiler them later

[Sith_Happens]

During a 3.5 game the DM showed very little understanding of the rules. This little gem stands out exceptionally:

Fighter: I attack the troll for... 18 attack and 4 damage!
DM: You hit, but the wound heals immediately. Also, your sword is now stuck.
Fighter: What?
DM: Your sword is stuck. The wound regenerated while your sword was still in it, so it is enclosed in the troll.
Fighter: That's not how it works.
DM: Who's DM'ing this game, you or me?

Needless to say, no one kept playing for long.

Did you at least get a hero point?

[Milodiah]

I just pictured the attack failing because the troll gets +2AC from all the other sword hilts sticking out of him

[Nagash]

During a 3.5 game the DM showed very little understanding of the rules. This little gem stands out exceptionally:

Fighter: I attack the troll for... 18 attack and 4 damage!
DM: You hit, but the wound heals immediately. Also, your sword is now stuck.
Fighter: What?
DM: Your sword is stuck. The wound regenerated while your sword was still in it, so it is enclosed in the troll.
Fighter: That's not how it works.
DM: Who's DM'ing this game, you or me?

Needless to say, no one kept playing for long.

home brewed monsters are fine and none of those people who left should ever play for anyone, again, ever

[Inevitability]

home brewed monsters are fine and none of those people who left should ever play for anyone, again, ever

Sigh.

The monster wasn't homebrewed. It. Was. A. Troll. A normal, SRD Troll the DM went to apply ridiculous rulings to that made it unable for fighters and barbarians to do anything but hitting the troll once and then throwing rocks from the sidelines.

Also, grammar.

[illyahr]

Sigh.

The monster wasn't homebrewed. It. Was. A. Troll. A normal, SRD Troll the DM went to apply ridiculous rulings to that made it unable for fighters and barbarians to do anything but hitting the troll once and then throwing rocks from the sidelines.

Also, grammar.

I see what the DM did. A troll has Regeneration, which means all damage dealt to it, except fire and acid, deal nonlethal damage. This is actually a very believable Rule 0 that I would be ok with as long as it wasn't done every time. I'd say Piercing weapons get stuck and Slashing have a chance to get stuck as the troll regenerates around it but it's not something I would get too worked up over.

As a side note: yes, fighters and barbarians basically have to sit on the sidelines when fighting trolls. That's why trolls are trolls. Unless they have something that gives their weapons fire or acid damage, they literally can't do anything to trolls.

[DontEatRawHagis]

I see what the DM did. A troll has Regeneration, which means all damage dealt to it, except fire and acid, deal nonlethal damage. This is actually a very believable Rule 0 that I would be ok with as long as it wasn't done every time. I'd say Piercing weapons get stuck and Slashing have a chance to get stuck as the troll regenerates around it but it's not something I would get too worked up over.

As a side note: yes, fighters and barbarians basically have to sit on the sidelines when fighting trolls. That's why trolls are trolls. Unless they have something that gives their weapons fire or acid damage, they literally can't do anything to trolls.

I wiggle it around to cause internal bleeding.

[BRC]

I see what the DM did. A troll has Regeneration, which means all damage dealt to it, except fire and acid, deal nonlethal damage. This is actually a very believable Rule 0 that I would be ok with as long as it wasn't done every time. I'd say Piercing weapons get stuck and Slashing have a chance to get stuck as the troll regenerates around it but it's not something I would get too worked up over.

As a side note: yes, fighters and barbarians basically have to sit on the sidelines when fighting trolls. That's why trolls are trolls. Unless they have something that gives their weapons fire or acid damage, they literally can't do anything to trolls.

Trolls have Regeneration 5, which is significant, but I wouldn't say it's fast enough to heal around a stab wound before somebody could pull their sword out.

[DM Nate]

I wiggle it around to cause internal bleeding.

"Okay. Meanwhile, the troll wiggles his teeth around inside you."

[Grif]

I thought I was a bad GM, but reading these stories is really comforting. Good to know you're not the worst at least. <_< >_>

[Milodiah]

"The sword is stuck securely in the troll?"

"Yes."

"I borrow the Goliath's greathammer and start driving it in like a railroad spike!"


Let's see Regeneration 5 vs. "spike through really really vital internal organs"!

[jaydubs]

Honestly, the troll thing sounds more like "it'll be fun if random bad stuff happens to the player characters" than "well-thought homebrew ability for this creature."

I've run into DMs like that, who were convinced that events randomly turning against the players made the game more interesting rather than simply annoying. And the results were usually similar to those described by Dire_Stirge - game disintegrates as players get increasingly frustrated and leave.

Let's be clear - I've had DMs who put together custom creatures, where everyone had a great time. But "your weapon is stuck, now go throw stones" doesn't sound like an ability that keeps all the players interested.

[Nagash]

I can't believe fate handed you a Skunkalanche and you turned it down. That encounter was never about combat.

I am absolutely using the skunkalanche in my next session. Its both comedy gold and bound to get the players asking what the hell that many skunks are all doing in one place. And the most interesting theory they come up with be the true one.

[Nagash]

Sigh.

The monster wasn't homebrewed. It. Was. A. Troll. A normal, SRD Troll the DM went to apply ridiculous rulings to that made it unable for fighters and barbarians to do anything but hitting the troll once and then throwing rocks from the sidelines.

Also, grammar.

really? do you know that or are you just assuming it?

[AMFV]

Honestly, the troll thing sounds more like "it'll be fun if random bad stuff happens to the player characters" than "well-thought homebrew ability for this creature."

I've run into DMs like that, who were convinced that events randomly turning against the players made the game more interesting rather than simply annoying. And the results were usually similar to those described by Dire_Stirge - game disintegrates as players get increasingly frustrated and leave.

Let's be clear - I've had DMs who put together custom creatures, where everyone had a great time. But "your weapon is stuck, now go throw stones" doesn't sound like an ability that keeps all the players interested.

Well notably that encounter may have been designed to showcase other players. It clearly wasn't done well, since there were a lot of people who were bothered by it. But frequently when I'm DMing I'll design specific encounters to create a chance for each player to shine (not all the time or it gets cheap, or feels cheap), but often enough that each player gets a chance to be the crazy OP one.

This was probably not the case here though.

[Sartharina]

Trolls have Regeneration 5, which is significant, but I wouldn't say it's fast enough to heal around a stab wound before somebody could pull their sword out.

It heals faster than it took damage. However, in such a situation, if I wanted to increase the terror of the encounter by giving a chance of a weapon getting stuck, I'd... throw in a lot more rules (It gets stuck if the damage die is greater than 50% and don't beat AC by more than 5, you can still attack the creature at -2 to attack and damage to pull it free, and half weapon damage die remains as "Cannot regenerate until the weapon's removed")

I also concur with the sentiment that "No, you don't know it's an SRD troll, and that it uses Troll statblock and abilities". That's metagaming, and players shouldn't have that information.

[EvilAnagram]

Playing 4e LFR at the local game store. The DM for the week decides that I and my friend have overpowered characters, so he announces that he intends to kill them. My friend and I had taken these characters (his a berserker, mine a shielding swordmage) from level one all the way up to level nine over the course of many months, but he thinks they're OP, so they have to go.

Every single fight, the Djinn and Beholders seem to go after us. Every attack is directed at us. Every trap only targets us. And we pull off ridiculous victories because a water genasi swordmage basically dances around terrain laughing and marking everyone while Berserkers go berserk. Finally, we're fighting a dragon, and he stops pretending to justify anything anymore. He ignores rules, blatantly cheats, refuses to let us use items we've purchased, and generally acts like a prick. We still beat the dragon. He can blow me.

[Mikeavelli]

DM: Who's DM'ing this game, you or me?

This is actually the part that bothers me. Much more than the sword getting stuck nonsense. It's not inherently a bad mechanic - I'd probably throw in a reflex save and make it consistent for every regenerating creature, but meh.

Proper DM'ing isn't just about controlling the session, it's about consistency and legitimacy. If you're going to whip out homebrew rules, they should be consistent homebrew rules that don't take your players by surprise. If you are taking the players by surprise, don't be snotty with them when they ask "why have things suddenly changed?" Just demanding the players accept your authoritai as DM is an incredibly fast way to alienate players and destroy your gaming group.

I also concur with the sentiment that "No, you don't know it's an SRD troll, and that it uses Troll statblock and abilities". That's metagaming, and players shouldn't have that information.

After you've been playing for more than a few years, and everyone in the group has a fair amount of experience with the system, you're going to know the structure of the Game. Iconic monsters like trolls have a well-known stat block, and it's silly to pretend players don't know that information.

[DM Nate]

Playing 4e LFR at the local game store. The DM for the week decides that I and my friend have overpowered characters, so he announces that he intends to kill them. My friend and I had taken these characters (his a berserker, mine a shielding swordmage) from level one all the way up to level nine over the course of many months, but he thinks they're OP, so they have to go.

Every single fight, the Djinn and Beholders seem to go after us. Every attack is directed at us. Every trap only targets us. And we pull off ridiculous victories because a water genasi swordmage basically dances around terrain laughing and marking everyone while Berserkers go berserk. Finally, we're fighting a dragon, and he stops pretending to justify anything anymore. He ignores rules, blatantly cheats, refuses to let us use items we've purchased, and generally acts like a prick. We still beat the dragon. He can blow me.

Obviously your characters weren't OP at all.

[DontEatRawHagis]

I got a lot of mixed praise by the other DMs when I did RPGA DMing. At one point the DMs decided they would make lvl 1 characters for LFR.

I DM'd and a one of them complained I was not DMing correctly and that I should be focusing my attacks on this player because he was setting up and healing everyone else. I had to remind him that we are in a group setting.

And if I had focused on that one guy yes I would kill him and not be as in danger, but if I did that player would be out of the game or sitting twiddling his thumbs for 1hr doing nothing.

Luckily he went back to the Epic table, and I left the group for my own personal campaigns. The new players loved me though.

[Inevitability]

RE: Troll

No, I didn't know it was a typical troll. However, I am quite sure the DM wasn't homebrewing something, he believed that anything that regenerated was supposed to work that way.

Even if the DM was, I'd say he still qualifies as 'bad DM', because he was homebrewing a monster to make certain characters unable to fight while presenting it as a creature they know IC they should be able to fight.

And no, fighters and barbarians are not useless at all against trolls. They can still hack at it, thereby damaging it to the point where the wizard can walk up to it and kill it with a torch. The difference between fighting a troll and fighting anything else is just that someone else will have to deal the killing blow. No big deal.

[Sartharina]

This is actually the part that bothers me. Much more than the sword getting stuck nonsense. It's not inherently a bad mechanic - I'd probably throw in a reflex save and make it consistent for every regenerating creature, but meh.

Proper DM'ing isn't just about controlling the session, it's about consistency and legitimacy. If you're going to whip out homebrew rules, they should be consistent homebrew rules that don't take your players by surprise. If you are taking the players by surprise, don't be snotty with them when they ask "why have things suddenly changed?" Just demanding the players accept your authoritai as DM is an incredibly fast way to alienate players and destroy your gaming group.

Players are allowed to surprise the DM, and the DM is allowed to surprise the players. Arbitrating and interpreting the rules and the world is the DM's job, not the player's. Also, Dire Stirge's follow-up indicated he had all regenerating creatures work like this, so there IS consistency with the ruling. (And even if he'd modified it to be "All trolls regenerate like this" instead of a blanket all regeneration thing).

After you've been playing for more than a few years, and everyone in the group has a fair amount of experience with the system, you're going to know the structure of the Game. Iconic monsters like trolls have a well-known stat block, and it's silly to pretend players don't know that information.

At which point, it's perfectly acceptable for the DM to change the creature so that it can still take the players by surprise. Some days, you fight the normal, run-of-the-mill Minotaur, armed with brute strength, immunity to mazes, and not much else. Another campaign might feature a Chargin' Tauren, which looks like a man with a bull's fur and head, and augments powerful charges with lightning powers.

[AMFV]

This is actually the part that bothers me. Much more than the sword getting stuck nonsense. It's not inherently a bad mechanic - I'd probably throw in a reflex save and make it consistent for every regenerating creature, but meh.

Proper DM'ing isn't just about controlling the session, it's about consistency and legitimacy. If you're going to whip out homebrew rules, they should be consistent homebrew rules that don't take your players by surprise. If you are taking the players by surprise, don't be snotty with them when they ask "why have things suddenly changed?" Just demanding the players accept your authoritai as DM is an incredibly fast way to alienate players and destroy your gaming group.

It depends on the style of game being run. This guy had never played with this DM before, apparently they had a different idea about what kind of game was going to be run. After all there's been a very lengthy argument recently where many people have argued that consistency of rules is not always the most important thing.

[Mikeavelli]

From the story I'm reading, it started not because the DM was intentionally changing things up, but because the DM didn't actually know the rules, and was making stuff up, then got upset when the players were confused and started questioning him. This is different from understanding the system, and changing things to intentionally mix it up.

Good on him for at least making it consistent, but if this little snapshot is typical of his DM'ing, I'm not at all surprised the players eventually left.