The Red Dragon Inn - home of the Audalis campaign setting.  Online D&D gaming, art, poerty, stories, advice, chat, and more

Support the Inn! If you are doing holiday shopping online, please use this affiliate link for Amazon.
You pay the exact same prices, but the Inn earns a small referral fee. Thanks!

We currently have 4066 registered users. Our newest member is vibechecker628.
Online members:
Username Password Remember me
Not a member? Join today! | Forgot your password?
Latest Updated Forum Topics  [more...]
Q&A Threads - Shadows of the Empire Q&A (posted by Eol Fefalas)Shadows of the Empire Q&A
Dungeons and Dragons - Shadows of the Empire (posted by Octavia)Shadows of the Empire
Entertainment - Neva (posted by breebles)Neva
Common Room - Cringeworthy players... (posted by Eol Fefalas)Cringeworthy players...
Spamvertize - Twitch Links (posted by breebles)Twitch!
Latest Blog Entries
Revenge of the Drunken Dice
Latest Webcomics
Loaded Dice #80: Priorities
RPG MB #15: Master of the Blade
Floyd Hobart #19: High School Reunion IV
There are currently 6 users logged into DragonChat.
Is the site menu broken for you? Click here for the fix!

You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> General Forum --> Common Room --> Cringeworthy players...
Jump to:    1   
    Messages in Cringeworthy players...
RDI T-shirts!

Crap
Price: $17.00



RDI T-shirts!

NPC
Price: $14.00

t_catt11
Fun is Mandatory
RDI Staff
Karma: 378/54
7133 Posts


Cringeworthy players...

I was thinking we ight start a thread where we share some cringeworthy players and stories.  Here's a start.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I recently lost a player in my biweekly face to face game due to health issues, so I ran an ad on some local facebook groups for a replacement player.
 
One of the guys who applied claims to have played a lot of 2e D&D, so he was confident that he'd be a perfect fit.  While I don't mind teaching the system to those who have never played 2e (or even D&D of any version), it never hurts to have someone who is comfortable with things.  When I told him that the rest of the party were fourth level characters, so he could bring in a character of the same level, he immediately offered me his 1st level fighter/3rd level cleric of Thor; I explained that we play in my homebrew world and he'd need to make a character that fit in it.
 
We did a little chatting where I went over the basics - that my world is a low magic world, the idea being a "realistic fantasy" world - magic is special, clerics are using actual divine miracles, etc.  That I would send him a spreadsheet with my pantheon and a summary of their powers and such, that I had a website with details for each deity and loads of info on the setting.  And I would email him a basic primer on how I DM, information on the world, a quick list of what I needed from him - but please reach out with any questions at all.  He agreed, so I sent the content and told him to let me know when he had a character concept.
 
Usually, players are excited in this stage.  They ask questions, even though the emails I send are pretty thorough... and I don't mind.  That's great, actually!
 
He asked if I had stat increases.  2e doesn't do that feature, so I replied no, only racial modifiers (things like +1 DEX and -1 CON for elves).  He asked me about how different religions get different powers and spell lists.  I told him to check the website for the granted powers per deity, and that yes, spell lists varied slightly depending on the given deity's sphere of influence - the healing and health goddess doesn't grant much in the way of combat spells, only the nature-related gods grant the full range of "woodsy" spells, the war gods tend to grant fewer utility spells, that sort of thing.  
 
He then demanded full spell lists for each deity.  I let him know that I don't keep every single spell list for every deity; if another player has run a cleric of that deity, I can easily share the list, but if not, I go through and assign based off of the tenets of the religion.  That wasn't good enough for him, he insisted that he needed the complete spell list to pick a deity.
 
By now, I was growing frustrated and began to think that we were not going to be a match, and I basically told him as much, that if he couldn't come up with a concept without an exact spell list, that my table might not be what he was looking for.  He backed off and said he would send me a character concept.
 
In the meantime, I decided to check his facebook profile.  His email address says that he's a lawyer, his facebook shows that he likes to post photos of his so-called "mansion" (nice-ish house, hardly a mansion) and car.  Every pic of him is a selfie with him mean mugging the camera, usually with his special forces trucker hat on - apparently, he's ex-army and very proud of that.  He had pic after pic after pic of him in the same hat, looking like he was ready to eat a baby.  
 
Except for two identical posts a couple days apart - featuring an attractive woman in cutoff tee shirt, holding a nerf gun in each hand, and his caption about how this was the last woman to break his heart and he was posting this as a warning to all women.  Double you tee eff, my dude?
 
That evening, he sent me his character concept.  For my low magic, "realistic fantasy" world, if you forgot.
 
Behold: "Nomadic Baron Elric Savage".
 
His special skill is that he is a "Mattoo artist" (aka magical tattoos).  
 
He nominally worships one of the gods from my world.  But this character is from another world, and in his culture, their warriors travel through magical portals to other worlds for adventure, plunder, etc - then return home after every level up to revel in their glory.  Naturally, having these "mattoos" replaces all need for material or somatic components, as the magic is permanently inscribed on his skin (how convenient).
 
At this point, I informed him that we were definitely not the table he was looking for.  I explained that he had taken a concept from another world, using another magic system, and ignored everything about my world.  I applauded his creativity, but pointed out that he clearly wasn't interested in what we were looking for, and wished him luck.
 
He argued that he had given me something that I could plug into my world, since he knows nothing about my world.  Mind you, one of the emails gives a high level intro to the world, to how I do religion, to the various races and nations, etc - and he had access to probably three hundred pages of reasonably well-organized content about the setting on the website itself.  
 
I told him that he could have read the blurb on the religion he picked, picked a nation off the map and given me a generic enough backstory to work in any fantasy medieval setting, but instead, he had instead chosen a dimension traveling wizard/warrior/priest with magical tattoos.  
 
I again told him that his idea was cool (I actually think that it's stupid as f***, but I tried to be nice) and that it might fly well in, say, Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms - but not in a low magic world where again his spells are granted miracles from his god.  I didn't even bother addressing the ability to plane shift pretty much anytime he wants (plane shift is not available to priests until 9th level, and would have to be homebrewed to work like he wanted).  
 
I told him that I was looking to tell a collaborative story, that if he wasn't interested in doing twenty minutes of skimming to come up with a concept that fit in the world, that we weren't going to be what he was looking for.  
 
I told him that in my experience, players who last and have a good time make an effort to be part of the world, they want to flesh it out through their play.  I told him that some of them go on to become recurring or powerful NPCs that they and other players get to interact with.
 
I explained that in my experience, players who bring radical things from other games pretty clearly want to play that game instead.  That's fine, but that's not the game we are playing.  That doesn't make the player bad, it just makes them a bad fit.  I once again stated that he just wasn't looking for what we were offering, but I wished him well.
 
So of course, he clapped back telling me that this obviously an ego game, just about me and my ego.  That he hadn't picked any countries from the setting because I "scream of ego" and would have been offended.  That he was no longer interested in playing with me, didn't want to serve my ego, and this was not fun.
 
As much as it might have been fun to stoop to his level, I stayed high road.  I told him that I went to great length to support my players 
and to help them develop their stories.  I pointed out that I had been nothing but respectful (again, keeping it silent that I had never ridiculed his stupid munchkin character), but that since he was now throwing insults, he had proven that my intuition about him was correct.  I wished him luck.
 
And that was that. 
 
Mattoos. Lol.
 
 


Posted on 2024-11-07 at 10:23:59.
Edited on 2024-11-07 at 10:26:47 by t_catt11

Eol Fefalas
Lord of the Possums
RDI Staff
Karma: 475/28
8840 Posts


Mattoos! *snork*

That's gotta be one of the better stupid ideas that I've heard in a while...  ...and I'm currently playing in a game where my character's sister is not only a fiece Spiderguard but, also, an amateur cosmetologist with a penchant for keeping my bushy eyebrows "on fleek!"



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 10:34:40.

Octavia
Occasional Visitor
Karma: 6/0
32 Posts


uuuuuuuuh...

I'm not on this list, am I?

 



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 12:32:11.

t_catt11
Fun is Mandatory
RDI Staff
Karma: 378/54
7133 Posts




lol, you are not.



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 12:41:41.

Eol Fefalas
Lord of the Possums
RDI Staff
Karma: 475/28
8840 Posts


From what I've heard...

...you play one awesome Kazari! 

Kw’a uw’ndaji na damu kw’a Rrowl!!!



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 14:41:48.

alovet
Occasional Visitor
Karma: 11/0
46 Posts


Mattoos sounds like something Gladd would be into...

for real tho, ol' dude sounds like a real sarigrien ontaro-n'ner 



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 15:20:53.

breebles
#1 Kibibi
Karma: 58/1
1801 Posts


On Fleek!

Eol saying he was in a game where his sister spiderguard kept his eyebrows on fleek sounded SO familiar to me... took me way too long to connect those dots lol that's why I'll never be a wazerd.

And yeah Olan, that's wild. Mans is going to be hard-pressed to find any table that would let him cast planeshift at-will. I can see how he might have been excited to play this character--who wouldn't be excited to play a weird ass Tattoo Wizard Priest (gonna name my next anime that)? But to totally disregard the setting your DM set in lieu of your own silly idea is pretty... egocentric.



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 16:01:45.
Edited on 2024-11-09 at 02:11:38 by breebles

Eol Fefalas
Lord of the Possums
RDI Staff
Karma: 475/28
8840 Posts


Speaking of "cringeworthy players..."

...and not to speak ill of those who have passed beyond the veil, we've had a LOT of munchkins on this very site over the years... They've been hysterical and annoying all at once.

 



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 17:17:43.

breebles
#1 Kibibi
Karma: 58/1
1801 Posts


Don't Even Get Me Started

Back when I was a fresh, newer DM, I asked one of my good friends to hop into a one shot I was running once. It was going to be a fairly large group of new players, so I just sort of wanted him to sit in and play a fun guy, while also helping out those near him find things on their character sheets, discuss abilities, etc while I took care of the rest of the large n00by group.

Since there would be a bunch of new people, I asked him to just make a simple, straight from the book character so I could focus on all the weird s*** the n00bs wanted to do and not worry about any funky extra mechanics unnecessarily. Again, I was also fairly new to the game and was already stressing about the other people.

He then came back in the public group we were all in and said he decided to run this random homebrewed fire bird character that was very clearly broken from the start and had all of these random abilities. I vetoed the concept, the DM part of me saying that while that thing is clearly sick af, it wasn't going to work for this one shot, and the friend side of me saying, "please man, help me out here".

He lost it in the chat, saying I was unfair, ruining the fun of the game etc. Just had a meltdown and berating me in front of the group.

I of course kicked him out and told him he could talk to me once he had chilled. He later apologized, mans was going through s*** to be fair, but that didn't turn me into a punching bag. He's worked through a bunch of things in his life since then, we all go through bad times, and we're still friends, but that was ridiculous behavior and I refuse to ever DM for him again.



Posted on 2024-11-07 at 18:01:03.
Edited on 2024-11-07 at 18:02:16 by breebles

Chessicfayth
Cheshire Cad
Karma: 107/3
1204 Posts


Can't really relate....

Not having had the guts to DM before. But man, some of these players make me wonder how y'all keep the energy up!



Posted on 2024-11-08 at 10:09:38.

t_catt11
Fun is Mandatory
RDI Staff
Karma: 378/54
7133 Posts


how?

Because you also get amazing players to make up for it.

In this current game I'm backfilling - literally the next one I talked to after this douchenozzle -  I have a lady who is dying to play a cidal cleric of Valdorn.  She has read the information for both and put together a great little concept of thins tiny little wise woman halfling who roams the world seeking inspiration for dreams, getting her room and board at random farmhouses and blessing them with good dreams, etc.  Such a fun little concept.

I mean, look at the recruitment thread for the game you guys are in.  Creativity, fun, respect... it's worth wading through a little crap to get to that.



Posted on 2024-11-08 at 10:27:50.

breebles
#1 Kibibi
Karma: 58/1
1801 Posts


Exactly

The excitement from the rest of your players, the look in their eyes when new players start to "get it", the smugness and comradarie your players feel when they've bested your baddies or overcome a crazy difficult obstacle (I'm always rooting for my players), not to mention any fun or intense RP... that all VASTLY overshadows the one or two weirdos that cross your path every now and again.



Posted on 2024-11-08 at 11:20:48.
Edited on 2024-11-08 at 11:21:01 by breebles

t_catt11
Fun is Mandatory
RDI Staff
Karma: 378/54
7133 Posts


yep

I will never understand people that want to play D&D like it's "players vs DM".  Yes, I am creating antagonists.  Yes, the obstacles are dangerous, and yes - characters sometimes die.  If there's no risk, how satisfying is the victory?

I always, always want my players to win.  I have made mistakes before and misjudged how tough something might be, or had crappy dice rolls make things suck.  But I have never tried to ruin the fun, even in the worst moments for the players.  

I love the crazy schemes and out of the box ideas that I'd have never thought of.  I love when they come up with great plans, even if they totally deflate some big encounter I had planned.  Awesome, let's move on to the next challenge.



Posted on 2024-11-08 at 12:04:39.

breebles
#1 Kibibi
Karma: 58/1
1801 Posts


Tooting Horns

At the end of the day 1. it's a game and we should be enjoying games, and 2. we're creating a story together.

I have a theory that that is one of the reasons people become so drawn to games like d&d once they give it a shot: storytelling. Telling stories, interactive stories, communal stories we all share - that's something we dusty ol' humans have been doing since before written language. That's been a form of our entertainment since the ancestors of our ancestors started grunting at each other as a form of communication. It's in our booooones.

So yeah, if you wanna tell a story where you as a DM create unwinnable stories - there are games like 10 Candles and such where you've all entered into an agreement by playing that game that that is how it's going to go, go play those. If you wanna be ALL POWER DM who has a path all must follow and only follow, go write your novel bud.

But if you want to tell stories where there is an antagonist that needs to be overcome (alignments aside lol), with players who want to overcome it in random ass ways our tiny DM brain couldn't anticipate or fathom, man that's a blast. 



Posted on 2024-11-08 at 12:14:54.

Eol Fefalas
Lord of the Possums
RDI Staff
Karma: 475/28
8840 Posts


Fo sho!!!

That's always been the biggest draw for me since the first time I opened that red box waaaaaaaay back in the mid to late 1900's. Interactive and collaborative story telling!!! The mechanics of it all help add flavor, of course - skills, limitations, quirks, etc - but, in the end, it's all about sitting down with a bunch (or even just a couple) of other folks and weaving an epic tapestry of fun!



Posted on 2024-11-08 at 13:08:54.

   
Jump to:    1   


  Partners:       Dungeons and Dragons resources, from 2nd to 4th Edition gamegrene.com | for the gamer who's sick of the typical Dungeons and Dragons Adventures, #1 resource for D&D Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition  
View/Edit Your Profile | Staff List | Contact Us
Use of the RDINN forums or chatrooms constitutes agreement with our Terms of Service.
You must enable cookies and javascript to use all features of this site.




Page loaded in 0.086059 seconds