I was not really THAT bad

[CourtFool]

The Worst Dungeon Master Ever Part One (http://thingsihate.org/article/123/the_worst_dungeon_master_ever_part_one)

Ah, good times...good times.

I remember my early gaming career when I was even more socially inept that I am now. I had, somehow, convinced my own mother to play a game with me since we had just moved and I did not have any friends to game with. I was running some faceless dungeon crawl where her character wandered into a room full of orcs and loudly asked where the treasure was. I told her they raped her.

Yeah. I've been that llama.

[input.jack]

Heck, man, just from hearing about that event, now =I= need therapy! #_#

[mattingly]

It's hard to beat Deadlands in Cannibal Country with Larry (http://www.peginc.com/Downloads/Humor/DeadlandsinHell.htm).

[CourtFool]

I once held the theory that all role players would eventually see the inherent flaws in The Game Which Shall Not Be Mentioned and follow me onto the path of enlightenment which was whatever system I was using at the time. In my theory, it was merely a matter of exposure time before this inevitable truth was revealed. I have since realized that not everyone is me and therefore, not everyone draws the same conclusions I do. In addition, not thinking like me does not equal wrong. I have come to accept that some people simply enjoy The Game Which Shall Not Be Mentioned.

Along these same lines, I once held the theory that all role players would progress through an evolutionary process where they would leave behind the same inexperienced errors many of us have committed. It is becoming apparent to me that my theory is once again flawed and that plenty of gamers will remain exactly as they are. I must also face the fact that, to them, their style is no less valid than mine.

Am I suggesting we should not mock these gaming abominations under the banner of PCness? Absolutely not! Mock on! Somewhere, there is a pasty-faced doughboy relating a story to his cronies about the time he played with a self-righteoous drama queen and mama's boy.

[Susano]

I notice there's rebuttal, in which the GM says the writer needs to change her ways instead.

[Markdoc]

I notice there's rebuttal, in which the GM says the writer needs to change her ways instead.

Yeah, I was actually kind of impressed by his response: he didn't go directly into counter-rant mode.

Having said that, the original rant has the slightly unwashed smell of truth about it: perhaps because it matches all too closely my own experience with a Champions GM in San Francisco. After that, I had difficulty getting Kath to even look at Hero system for a couple of years, because she associated it with crap GM'ing.

cheers, Mark

[Blue]

The Worst Dungeon Master Ever Part One (http://thingsihate.org/article/123/the_worst_dungeon_master_ever_part_one)

Ah, good times...good times.

I remember my early gaming career when I was even more socially inept that I am now. I had, somehow, convinced my own mother to play a game with me since we had just moved and I did not have any friends to game with. I was running some faceless dungeon crawl where her character wandered into a room full of orcs and loudly asked where the treasure was. I told her they raped her.

Yeah. I've been that llama.
Orcs raped your mother? Man, that's not bad GMing, that's hardcore!

[CourtFool]

Yeah, I was actually kind of impressed by his response: he didn't go directly into counter-rant mode.

True, but he did not refute her statements either. I suspect he simply was not fully aware how creepy he appeared to her due largely by his suggestion they game together again.

[wylodmayer]

Although I appreciate CourtFool's basic point - which is to say, don't mock the LARP weenies because they like that sort of thing - I don't this comes down to "gaming style." We must remember that there's a big difference between why someone comes to game (style, if you will, like combat monster or serious roleplayer) and plain, simple conduct. Comportment. Etiquette, as it were.

Let's make some nice distinctions.

Infodumping on two new players who are unfamiliar with DnD is not a "style" decision, it's stupid and inconsiderate. It is, at best, the act of someone who is just nattering on about whatever HE finds cool or interesting without ever checking for "audience feedback" - at worst, it's a passive aggressive form of intellectual bullying (and I know people who use their own complex house rules for just that purpose).

We've already heard how he drones on and on without caring if his audience is interested, without allowing for response or conversation, without moderating his tone or volume. This, if true (and it has the ring of truth), is not the act of someone who is engaged with others, with his audience. There's no exchange, no interplay, no give and take. This is someone who is either irredeemably narcissitic or just clueless.

The stuff about the dumb classes and the pointless extra rules and the childish map... those are all gaming style things, I'll give you that. But the rest isn't. It has nothing to do with "valid game styles." It has to do with being a horse's butt or not. And this guy was a horse's butt. The actual content of his game, like the maps, the new classes and the optional rules, could have been the coolest stuff ever and he'd still be a horse's butt.

Of course, his butt-ness makes cool game additions unlikely, because people like him are by definition disconnected from reality. They never stop to check whether anything seems cool or interesting to anyone but themselves, and they don't like to be wrong so - interestingly - they often are (being unable to admit mistakes and thus learn from them).

She has every right to judge those aspects of the man, as do we all. As we all should. The only way social standards of expected behavior survive is if people not only respect them but also call "shennanigans" when others don't. This guy's a dick, more people need to be willing to come forth and say he's a dick. Social disapprobation is the tool that enforces social standards, and society has, in my humble opinion, become a tad too accepting of what should be unacceptable behavior from people.

As for his rebuttal, I find it without substance. As near as I can tell, and perhaps I'm rereading this wrong, but she never claimed the GM was uncomfortable with email, but rather this Vincent guy. Getting the time wrong was apparently not her fault, because this Vincent fella seemed to have brokered THAT deal, but even if it was, it doesn't excuse his behavior. Note that Mikey doesn't address ANY of her substantial point. The fact that he's a loudmouthed boor, a know-it-all, a poser jerk in general. He talks about scheduling and whathaveyou in a sort of faux-compulsive kind of way, as if he's grasping for something SHE did wrong in order to salvage some kind of suppossed moral high ground to argue from. Even his closing just confirms the picture of him she's painted, with the unsubtle, passive-aggressive threat (and a laughable one at that).

Feh.

I used to be this guy. I stopped being this guy when I was about 16. I stopped being this guy because someone I gamed with, someone older than me, took me aside and explained to me what a royal pussbucket I was being and said, basically, "don't be that guy." I'm sure that in actuality there's more than just one conversation to credit for my change, but that was a watershed moment, and I started actually, you know, interacting with people after that, instead of posing at them, trying to impose my concept of reality on them (where I'm cool and interesting, you know) by talking continuously and not giving them a chance to do anything to disconfirm that idea.

The guy's a waste, and Annna's dead on. Go, girl - well written and entertaining.

[TheRealVector]

I had, somehow, convinced my own mother to play a game with me since we had just moved and I did not have any friends to game with. I was running some faceless dungeon crawl where her character wandered into a room full of orcs and loudly asked where the treasure was. I told her they raped her.

...disturbing. :eek:

[Toadmaster]

Yikes! :eek:

[Comic]

I once believed it's not truly the worst GMing of all time unless it involves the words, "That's NOT Mountain Dew, I just didn't want to climb the stairs to use the john," but I appear to be mistaken.

[Susano]

I once believed it's not truly the worst GMing of all time unless it involves the words, "That's NOT Mountain Dew, I just didn't want to climb the stairs to use the john," but I appear to be mistaken.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[CrosshairCollie]

Yep, bad gamemastering.

The fact that it's AD&D is irrelevant, however. You get the same crap in every game, like the Champions GM who gave a character a 25 point Phys Lim for being unable to have sex.

[Markdoc]

I once believed it's not truly the worst GMing of all time unless it involves the words, "That's NOT Mountain Dew, I just didn't want to climb the stairs to use the john," but I appear to be mistaken.

In the case of some people I (and at least two other posters on the board, snicker, snicker) knew it was beer, not mountain dew, but the basic idea is the same.

Damn, I'm grinning uncontrollably just thinking about it :eg:

cheers, Mark

[input.jack]

Yep, bad gamemastering.

The fact that it's AD&D is irrelevant, however. You get the same crap in every game, like the Champions GM who gave a character a 25 point Phys Lim for being unable to have sex.

I once had a Player try to get 10 points for Phys Lim: Cant Find Clothes that Fit Him :help:

[Captain Obvious]

The Worst Dungeon Master Ever Part One (http://thingsihate.org/article/123/the_worst_dungeon_master_ever_part_one)
Wow. :nonp:




Ah, good times...good times.

I remember my early gaming career when I was even more socially inept that I am now. I had, somehow, convinced my own mother to play a game with me since we had just moved and I did not have any friends to game with. I was running some faceless dungeon crawl where her character wandered into a room full of orcs and loudly asked where the treasure was. I told her they raped her.

Yeah. I've been that llama.

Wow. :nonp:

[TheRealVector]

I once had a Player try to get 10 points for Phys Lim: Cant Find Clothes that Fit Him :help:

A friend of mine wanted to take a Distinctive Feature: Different Colored Eyes limitation for a character he was making for someone elses game. He wanted to take it twice...once for each eye. :rolleyes:

If he had tried that in my game...:slap:

[Lamrok]

You get the same crap in every game, like the Champions GM who gave a character a 25 point Phys Lim for being unable to have sex.


I once had a Player try to get 10 points for Phys Lim: Cant Find Clothes that Fit Him :help:


A friend of mine wanted to take a Distinctive Feature: Different Colored Eyes limitation for a character he was making for someone elses game. He wanted to take it twice...once for each eye. :rolleyes:

So, make those disads worth the points - and then some. The first guy becomes the butt of every snickering smartass in the game. Picking up the nickname "The three second wonder" or "Impotent Man" would be a good start to making that disad worth the points. The second either can't find armor that fits him, or has problems keeping his costume on. The third has to deal with everyone making an intense deal out of both of his eyes (actually, my own eyes are different colors, and hundreds of people have pointed this out to me over the years.) Let the punishment fit the crime.

[Hugh Neilson]

So, make those disads worth the points - and then some. The first guy becomes the butt of every snickering smartass in the game. Picking up the nickname "The three second wonder" or "Impotent Man" would be a good start to making that disad worth the points. The second either can't find armor that fits him, or has problems keeping his costume on. The third has to deal with everyone making an intense deal out of both of his eyes (actually, my own eyes are different colors, and hundreds of people have pointed this out to me over the years.) Let the punishment fit the crime.

Gravitar says "Pleasure me or I will destroy you."

The Queen looks up, shocked: "Knave! Thou wouldst moon me in mine own court? Off with his head!"

"Grond HATE people whose eyes not match!!! GROND SMASH!!!!"

[archermoo]

I used to game with someone (female) who would note "flavour" for all of her female characters. And "length" for all of her males. Though there was no die rolling involved...

Come to think of it, she might have done the "flavour" bit for both sexes. It has been a while...

[Necromancer]

I used to game with someone (female) who would note "flavour" for all of her female characters. And "length" for all of her males. Though there was no die rolling involved...

Come to think of it, she might have done the "flavour" bit for both sexes. It has been a while...


... Wow! That is one disturbing woman.

[Captain Obvious]

A friend of mine wanted to take a Distinctive Feature: Different Colored Eyes limitation for a character he was making for someone elses game. He wanted to take it twice...once for each eye. :rolleyes:

If he had tried that in my game...:slap:

The eyes are only different colors when taken as a set.

[Savinien]

... Wow! That is one disturbing woman.

Hey! That was my wife.

[Evil Steve]

I used to game with someone (female) who would note "flavour" for all of her female characters.

What, like raspberry?

Sorry, had to. I actually don't get the reference, and probably don't want to either.

And yes, I am unafraid of my ignorance.

[lemming]

i think I'll stop at


"Don't worry, you ladies and your randomly-determined breasts will be safe in my fantasy world!"

[Karmakaze]

What, like raspberry?

Sorry, had to. I actually don't get the reference, and probably don't want to either.

And yes, I am unafraid of my ignorance.

Maybe it was something like this (http://ask.metafilter.com/52203/)? (text only, but possibly NSFW for topic).

[Comic]

Possibly? ;)

I've gotta say, interesting workplace!

[teh bunneh]

I've gotta say, interesting workplace!

Pretty mundane, for where I work. :king:

[nexus]

Yep, bad gamemastering.

The fact that it's AD&D is irrelevant, however. You get the same crap in every game, like the Champions GM who gave a character a 25 point Phys Lim for being unable to have sex.

To be fair, Temptation in Predators gets 10 points for "Lack of Sexual Desire" And Blind gets 0 points for being, well Blind (He can compensate to large to degree for that in comba3t but its going to cause him trouble in areas ) Off topic, I'm sorry but those two character creation choices baffled me. Disadvantages can be of variable worth depending on the character's situation and all but still...

Regarding the story, yeah it sounds pretty horrible and I guess almost all of us know "that guy" but I like to take Internet rants with a grain of salt. I'm ususally only hearing one side of the story (there is a rebuttal here admittedly) and people tend to try and make themselves look better when recounting something than they actually were or to be "witty". On the other hand, the anatommical tables and focus on rape did make me think "Midhael" had at least paged through FATAL.

[archermoo]

Maybe it was something like this (http://ask.metafilter.com/52203/)? (text only, but possibly NSFW for topic).

Exactly that. :)

[archermoo]

... Wow! That is one disturbing woman.

I never found her to be. She was (and presumably still is, though I haven't seen her in ages) a great friend, and a wonderful RPGer. A bit odd, but then again I don't have many friends who aren't. :)

[Blue]

Yeh, what's the point to "normal". I've got no time for that.

[Enforcer84]

I never found her to be. She was (and presumably still is, though I haven't seen her in ages) a great friend, and a wonderful RPGer. A bit odd, but then again I don't have many friends who aren't. :)
I'd game with her in a heart beat.

Yeh, what's the point to "normal". I've got no time for that.
Everyone's nuts to some degree. We're normal.

[Evil Steve]

Maybe it was something like this (http://ask.metafilter.com/52203/)? (text only, but possibly NSFW for topic).

A NINE VOLT BATTERY?!?!?!:nonp:

I knew about fish jokes, but an eletric eel?

My world just became wronger.

[Inu]

A NINE VOLT BATTERY?!?!?!:nonp:

I knew about fish jokes, but an eletric eel?

My world just became wronger.
There's definitely a coppery/tangy quality to it!

[Drhoz]

"If girls are made from sugar and spice and all things nice, why do they taste like sardines?"

[Hugh Neilson]

"If girls are made from sugar and spice and all things nice, why do they taste like sardines?"

Given your avatar, I'm not sure why you would be complaining...

How do we label this thread "Parental Discretion Advised"?

[Karmakaze]

Given your avatar, I'm not sure why you would be complaining...

How do we label this thread "Parental Discretion Advised"?

Dude, I *labeled* the link NSFW...

*sigh* Sorry. I should have known better.

[Cancer]

I'm glad I haven't chased any of the links in this thread. I still get ample chuckles out of "800 Things Mr. Welch Can't Do", or whatever number it's up to now.

[Hugh Neilson]

Dude, I *labeled* the link NSFW...

*sigh* Sorry. I should have known better.

The link is labelled. We need to label the thread...

[Rapier]

EIW EIW EIW.





You can guess which portions that refers to.

[Vondy]

The Worst Dungeon Master Ever Part One (http://thingsihate.org/article/123/the_worst_dungeon_master_ever_part_one)

Ah, good times...good times.

I remember my early gaming career when I was even more socially inept that I am now. I had, somehow, convinced my own mother to play a game with me since we had just moved and I did not have any friends to game with. I was running some faceless dungeon crawl where her character wandered into a room full of orcs and loudly asked where the treasure was. I told her they raped her.

Yeah. I've been that llama.

You were running Fatal?