The worst gaming experience you've had.

[slimykuotoan]

What was it?

[Treebore]

I allowed them to play evil characters. It caused the gaming group to split. Which is why I will never allow playing of evil characters ever again. Its not worth the risk, no matter how small it may be, of the potential ugliness that can follow.

[maximus]

I don't have any really bad experiences, just one where I played really bad. The adventure was Ravenloft II; we absolutely missed every single clue, hacked and slashed, and generally bumbled our way around with reckless abandon. One of my friends was the DM, and I remember him being pissed at us because we jacked everything up.

[Rigon]

This past GaryCon, I was playing in Mark Martin's game (I think it was Mark) on Friday morning. My problem wasn't with the game or the CK (although, I could barely hear him at my end of the table). The problem was with the young man (possibly a teenager) sitting next to me. We were at the end of 2 6 foot long rectangular tables pushed together. Plenty of room for 2 people to sit with room for each of them. This kid spread out all of his stuff and sat as close to me as he could get. He even leaned against me at on point and put his head on my shoulder. When I told him to get off of me, he giggled. I redirected him to get his head off of my shoulder (not politely). He did, but kept moving closer to me, causing me to move away from him. I only had my ipad for books, a character sheet, and some dice. About two hours into the game, I was just using a portion of the table large enough to put my ipad on and was actually sitting out past the table. The kid slid closer to me, again. I finally asked him why he needed the entire end of the table (I wasn't nice about it). The kid huffed and slid all the way over to the other side and then gathered up all of his books and left. By then, I had missed most of what was going on in the game.

R-

[slimykuotoan]

Lol.

[Tadhg]

Was in a PBP 1E game on DF some years ago and it was horrible. The DM was knowledgeable but probably didn't understand the difference between a tabletop game and an online PBP game. It was awful and slow with way too many boring details. I slogged through it for months and finally made up some excuse to get the hell out of the game.

[Go0gleplex]

You hear those stories about that one player that proceeds to argue about every dice roll and encounter with everyone his character deals with including the DM? Yeah...we had one of those while we were going through Wolf Mountain (a departed friend's mega-dungeon) back around 1992 or so. We ended up stopping the game after about two hours of this since no-one was having fun and tempers were running to boiling. A couple of us with the DM took the guy aside and asked him to chill...at which point he went bat-shit psycho on us. My then wife was on the phone to the cops just before he pushed into the house, grabbed his stuff and took off like one flew over the cuckoo's nest. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.

And thus the rule about "if you look to be having emotional issues or otherwise, you will not be allowed to play at this table" came to be in our group.

[Fosco]

Played in a game back in law school (with two people I still game with 25 years later) where the DM allowed one player to play an evil character despite the fact that everyone else was playing "good" characters. Although he was nominally an adult, the player proceeded to run roughshod over the town we started in and the surrounding environs. We were charged with finding the kidnapped daughter of a local merchant. The player so disgusted the DM (and the rest of the players) that when we ultimately found her, she was pinned to the wall of an abandoned outpost with about 20 arrows through her body. Needless to say, we did not invite him back to the next sessions.

[serleran]

Me. Running the game. When I didn't want to. And was sick. So... "Rock falls. New characters? OK. It's an ice world. The sun rises. Ground melts. New characters?"

[pawndream]

Probably my worst gaming experience would have been a 2nd edition AD&D "campaign" that started with our characters waking up, naked on a beach, with a large chest washed up on the shore next to us. There was some basic starting equipment in the chest and none of us knew where we were. It turned out to be Cormyr, in the Forgotten Realms, but we didn't find that out until a few sessions later.

The entire game consisted of the DM drawing cards from a product called the Deck of Random Encounters. We time-hopped from one random encounter to the next, trying to make sense out of the chaos. The DM was a nice guy, but his approach to the game wasn't very inspiring.

On the plus side, I met a couple of great friends in that group and we went on to form our own group after a couple of months of randomness.

[Jyrdan Fairblade]

Yeesh, there are some rough ones here.

One of my worst experiences was my first attempt to get back into the hobby in 97 or 98. A bunch of friends and former gamers got together and the one that DMed did a horrible job. Railroading, uninspired design, character rape, and it ended with a TPK because we didn’t think to dig in the dirt to find the only way to defeat the monster. It’s a small miracle we persevered and kept going (with me as the DM, though).

Litzen's worst gaming experience probably has me beat, though.

[slimykuotoan]

I had a non-fantasy game where the gm spoke in monotone, with encounters taking many sessions to complete, and simple descriptions taking hours. I'm not kidding, and have no idea how he accomplished it. I would literally listen to the drone, veg out for fifteen or so minutes, and when I tuned back in, he would be still droning on about the exact same thing. I went crazy, and lost part of my soul during those months.

[Zudrak]

Rules lawyer. A friend's wife, she would argue everything. It got to the point that my first wife and my sister packed up our books and we left after the 5th or 6th session. My brother had pulled out after session 3 or 4. "Being right" > "Everyone having fun at the table." So, (I guess) "Ruining a game for everyone and the game ending" > "Suspension of disbelief."

[Lurker]

Wow, some bad ones here. I've nothing that bad.

My worst was playing in a group where the DMs wife was a player. They were nice enough and he was a good enough GM. However, EVERYTHING she wanted eventually went her way. The rest of us were back up players to her lead. That would be annoying as it was, but he encouraged all of us to have great back grounds and in depth story hooks (and you all that know me knows what I ended up making) I wasn't the only one with a great back story, there were 2 of us that worked to make our backgrounds fit his world and each other and have a great reason to be adventuring (He was a Cavalier & I was a Paladin. cousins and members of the same Knight order. We each had 2 or 3 individual things to do plus we together had 3 things to do. While there was a war going so we had enemies right out of the box we had to fight against. However, none of those things were ever pursued , for a year and half it was ALL her character, all her background, all her tasks. Oh we did get exp, go up in level, get proper magic items etc etc etc. But, they were always secondary to what she got.

.... This kid spread out all of his stuff and sat as close to me as he could get. He even leaned against me at on point and put his head on my shoulder. When I told him to get off of me, he giggled. I redirected him to get his head off of my shoulder (not politely). He did, but kept moving closer to me, causing me to move away from him. ... The kid slid closer to me, again. ....

R-

Well, that isn't his fault, it is your friendly charming and beguiling personality. Who can be blamed for wanting to be that close to you !!!!

[Go0gleplex]

Lurker...that reminds me of my second wife when she first started playing. She got seriously ticked off at me because I wouldn't treat her any different than the other players. lol Fortunately she got over it since it was only while gaming I didn't pander to her at all. Sounds like your DM there should have grew a bit of a spine and not worried if she was going to take his head off and stop playing after each session.

[narpet]

I have truly never had a bad gaming experience... I guess I've just been lucky, but for 35+ years I've not had a bad game-night/day. The groups I've played with have always gotten along. Bad in-game stuff can happen, but that's part of the game, and it's always been fun.

[T1Hound]

I had a horrible experience that almost made me quit.

I was DMing 2nd Ed for my cousin/best friend, my girlfriend now wife, a guy who got us into gaming, his second wife, his 10 year old stepson, and a friend of their's.

The party had been attacked by some thieves and they had used hit and run tactics on the "knight" (10 year old), paladin (the father), and female fighter (my g/f). My cousin was playing a cleric or bard, the 2nd wife was playing a wizard and so was the friend.

The party had the bandits with their backs to the wall pounding them into the ground. The knight went down to like 5-8 hps. So the kid fearing for his characters life backed up so he wouldn't die. The step father looked at the kid and cold/merciless as could be said, "You retreat from combat and I will cut you down myself." The kid had step-dad worship and had heard tales of his paladin. The kid bust out into tears, I get the look from my girlfriend as in what did you do kind of look, the step dad is staring down the kid like he would eat him, the mother / 2nd wife is giving the step father the evil glare but trying to get to her kid, the step dad starts yelling to send the kid to bed. The mom gets to the kid, the step dad starts telling me that the bandits need to all attack the knight because they would see a weak link.

Horrible gaming moment.

[Fosco]

I had a horrible experience that almost made me quit.

I was DMing 2nd Ed for my cousin/best friend, my girlfriend now wife, a guy who got us into gaming, his second wife, his 10 year old stepson, and a friend of their's.

The party had been attacked by some thieves and they had used hit and run tactics on the "knight" (10 year old), paladin (the father), and female fighter (my g/f). My cousin was playing a cleric or bard, the 2nd wife was playing a wizard and so was the friend.

The party had the bandits with their backs to the wall pounding them into the ground. The knight went down to like 5-8 hps. So the kid fearing for his characters life backed up so he wouldn't die. The step father looked at the kid and cold/merciless as could be said, "You retreat from combat and I will cut you down myself." The kid had step-dad worship and had heard tales of his paladin. The kid bust out into tears, I get the look from my girlfriend as in what did you do kind of look, the step dad is staring down the kid like he would eat him, the mother / 2nd wife is giving the step father the evil glare but trying to get to her kid, the step dad starts yelling to send the kid to bed. The mom gets to the kid, the step dad starts telling me that the bandits need to all attack the knight because they would see a weak link.

Horrible gaming moment.

Good lord! So it's not just sports dad's that lose their shit?

[Jyrdan Fairblade]

Yeah, I think T1Hound might win this round. Or lose, really.

[Zudrak]

Yeah, I think T1Hound might win this round. Or lose, really.

I concur. I yield the unvictory to T1Hound, as well.

[Go0gleplex]

Yeah, I think T1Hound might win this round. Or lose, really.

+1. Just goes to show...you really can't trust the paladin after all...

(I really hope his wife ripped him a new one.)

[Lurker]

Yeah, I think T1Hound might win this round. Or lose, really.

+1. Just goes to show...you really can't trust the paladin after all...

(I really hope his wife ripped him a new one.)

rgr that, on all counts ! Well, not the 'can't trust the paladin' part ...

[GameOgre]

You guys just leave this thread right now. Just go on with your itty bitty bad games! I have hundreds of not thousands of games that are so horrible that to utter ANY of them would make Gygax himself come back down here and slap me in the mouth for letting them strike air.

I will not tell you any of those, I do not have to.

Instead I will tell you of a small minor one that was only slightly distasteful.

It was twenty odd years ago in the eternally remodeled basement of my best friend where we had gathered with out D&D group on Sat morning like we did every Sat morning. I was feeling particularly good because my long time girlfriend and his were once again joining us and frankly it was not all that common for either one of us to have a girlfriend!

We had gathered together with another group of D&Ders who attended the same school and I was going to get a chance to play for once! We were told he had a few house rules but otherwise was a good DM so we were kind of excited!

We knew right away that something was wrong because we found ourselves rolling on tons of house ruled charts for EVERYTHING. I was a pig farmer from a swamp according the DM and was the product of wait for it.....Incest! My father was my mothers Husband/son!. I also had a lisp and a wandering eye.

My best friend was the illegitimate offspring the town drunkard(a woman) and a dying kobold.

We somehow both lacked the backgrounds to become level 1 and so started at 0 level.

Oh! We also had to roll penis size! Though I did roll a 12 on a D12 for that and found it wonderfully refreshing! My best friend rolled a 2 and I spent the rest of the day calling him Stumpy!

All three of the girls playing somehow rolled rather better.

My girlfriend rolled that she was THE Queen of the largest Empire in the world and started the game with over $1,000,000 gold and a army of 5th-12th level soldiers.

My best friends girlfriend rolled that she was the daughter of THE worlds greatest Wizard and so started 1st level with a Staff of the Magus and every spell, EVER.

The DM's girlfriend was also playing and she was a level 1 Wizard who the heir apparent for the King of Hell and had a Balrog familiar that was permanently at her side.

I can't remember too much of the adventure (blocked it out) but I do remember being held against my will and upside down by the Balrog for most of it.

Though the adventure was horrid it did allow me to continue the rest of my gaming career with the (much noted)saying " It's time to piss on the Balrog!".

Later I learned that the penis size only came into play if you rolled VERY horribly on the crit tables and fumble tables.

Oh! Almost forgot! At the end of the adventure I was killed by Eddie Van Halen in a drive by (horse and buggy) with a metal razor Frisbee because" Eddie always kills losers".

All in all really a pretty positive experience compared to most other times I got to play in high school.

[Go0gleplex]

Okay. All I can say to that one is...just say NO to drugs.

[Zudrak]

Okay. All I can say to that one is...just say NO to drugs.

[GameOgre]

The sad thing is that really is not even on my list of worst games.

Heck the other one I almost told isn't on my list of worst games and we all (nine of us)had horrible food poisoning in that one and ended up having our stomachs pumped at the emergency room and had explosive diarrhea!

I consider that one a win after people showed up afterwards to keep playing!