What a day.
I won't bore you with those details, but let me bore you with a gaming conversation I had. To preface this I work in a place that helps people with, let's just call them extreme personalities. Two of my newbs from my former newb group have found a new game. The new GM came up me today and said "I got a bone to pick with you."
I know this guy for a while. And to give you snapshot of his thinking, if he reads one paragraph about a race car he is now the world's best race car driver and mechanic. "I heard you wouldn't let your players kill any prisoners. That's wrong." [Goob]
To me arguing about gaming is like arguing religion and politics. Everyone gets louder, no one listens and at the end no one has changed their mind. I love having discussions and philosophize about gaming, arguing got no interest. I do not like letting my hobby cross over into my work. And as far as I was concerned he started pissing in my soup.
"Other party members kept them from killing the prisoners. And it was one prisoner. And that's the one they needed to keep alive to get paid. How's you're game going?" [Me]
"I still don't think you know what you're doing." [Goob]
"Cool. How many sessions are you into?" [Me]
"Two. You should have let them kill the prisoners." [Goob]
"Tell you what, why don't you have them capture someone in your game and let your players hack'm to bits. Now this is where I am ending this conversation. I'm working. And arguing to you about how I GM would be like arguing with a 6 year old about how to drive a car." [me]
"I've been playing longer than you have. I was there in the beginning." [Goob]
"Ah, well tell Gary and Dave I said hi." [me]
After that I was able to get him to talk about the adventure he's running. He is using 2.5 edition. *shrug* The adventure itself sounded okay. But he plays a very confrontational GM. He's a kinda me vs. you kinda guy. He laughed about how many times he'd killed them already. "I want to kill ten of each their characters." [goob]
Later I had an appointment with one of my former newb players that was now in the goob's game.
"So how's the game been going?" [me]
"Not bad. But he won't let me use my dice you got me." [newb]
"What? Why not?" [me]
"We're only allowed to use his dice." [newb]
"Okay. First I've heard of that. Why?" [me]
"He said that way no ones gets an advantage rolling different dice. The dice you gave me might be weighted down." [newb]
"Apparently he wasn't at our last game when you couldn't hit shit in a pig farm." [me]
So there you go. My poor newbs have been gobbled up by a goob GM. But I still think they are having fun. I told the goob if he needed help to let me know. I would still be happy to help out if I could. Just not during work.
What a day.
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You are doing it wrong. You should have stabbed him and saved the poor players. :)
ReplyDeleteYou handled it far better than I would have. Nicely done. Sad for the players though. Obviously he never read squat that any of the DnD luminaries have said about DM and players working together in a communal way to get the most enjoyment out of the game.
ReplyDeleteThis should go down as one of those advice to newbs. If this happens to your. RUN!
ReplyDeleteDickwads are in all environments unfortunately. One of the reason I don't do much public gaming anymore.
ReplyDeleteTwo of them showed up where I used to play 40k (same personality types), so my poor Orks and Genestealer Cult army are now gathering dust in the bottom of a shelf :(
I refuse to game with anyone I wouldn't invite over to my house for dinner, because minus rolling dice that is what gaming is for me usually.
Maybe let him know he owes you 1,000gp for training before he gets to the next level. See where that takes you.
ReplyDeleteyikes
ReplyDeleteif it's any consolation, Tim, your package should arrive on thursday ;)
ReplyDeleteMatt > Stab him? Hmm, he probably would have told me how I was holding the knife wrong as I did it.
ReplyDeleteDienekes > I deal with these extreme persons all day. He's a cupcake compared to most of them.
Chuck > hehe, well unfortunately where I live the selection of games is very slim. But I will be giving the two players their GM starter kits.
Zzarchov > haha dickwads. Yeah it is the main reason why I stopped gaming for a stretch and refused to go to cons. I have an amazing ability it attract 'dickwads'.
Erin > Hmm, I think I'd have to charge him double.
Matt > Not to bad. Just felt bad for my newb. But I hope he'll run his own game soon.
Erik > Woo hoo. I'm still lysoling the package when it comes.
Yeah, that sucks.
ReplyDeleteI have a general policy about never saying anything negative about anybody online. Ever.
But that guy's a dick.
Maybe a dick, but definitely a nutter.
ReplyDeleteDamn for decades I heard of the mythical DM that only lets players use his own dice. This is the first time I seen one confirmed in the wild. What a piece of work gamingwise.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult sometimes. I am a person who is generally polite to a fault, who attempts to see things from the other person's perspective, to be the bigger person etc. But my gaming situation is interesting because I run games in a university games society and have to give EVERYONE a chance. If you can hold to your own integrity and remain unfazeable, the pointless machinations and fernanglings of borderline types can sometimes be rendered irrelevant. There is no pay off for them if you don't blow your cool. Good job. :)
ReplyDeleteHuh. I wonder what he thought he'd get out of that conversation. Probably a feeling of superiority through denigration. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteLike Rob, I don't think that I've ever actually seen a Referee^H^H^H^H^H^H^HDM who actually refused to allow players to use their own dice, though I had heard of such behavior. Well, I may have a dim recollection of a Referee^H^H^H^H^H^H^HDM who tried to do that, but not one who ever got away with it.
Wow, I guess the consolation is that you aren't gaming with him any longer. Life is way too short to get into confrontations over a game.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for your new players. At least they know that things can be different and may be inspired to run their own games.
'Tell Gary and Dave I said Hi' CLASSIC!! Thanx for the laugh Tim.. and if its any consolation this new GM sounds like a real peach...
ReplyDeleteThe dice thing is hilarious. Dice myths and superstitious are a hobby of mine, but I've never heard of anything like that.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for the players, but oh well, they'll get out if it doesn't suit them.I just hope they'll find better GMs before they are getting frustrated by the hobby.