One of the most boring and unimaginative GMs I ever had to deal with could not allow an adventure to exist that wasn't a railroad. If your PC went somewhere that he shouldn't have and you asked what was there, the GM would say that all the PC saw was "a grey fog" or "raw holodeck panels". Talk to a NPC that wasn't part of the plot and they would answer with, "Why are you talking to me? I'm just an extra." Killed immersion dead. Didn't feel like a living world at all.

I could see this as being cool if you were doing a The Matrix rip-off, but it never was. This was just him keeping us in a tiny box that he could manage. I left after two games and the rest of the Players dropped out soon afterwards.

Anyone else ever encounter this level of unimaginative bullshit?

Quote from: jeff37923;756606One of the most boring and unimaginative GMs I ever had to deal with could not allow an adventure to exist that wasn't a railroad. If your PC went somewhere that he shouldn't have and you asked what was there, the GM would say that all the PC saw was "a grey fog" or "raw holodeck panels". Talk to a NPC that wasn't part of the plot and they would answer with, "Why are you talking to me? I'm just an extra." Killed immersion dead. Didn't feel like a living world at all.

I could see this as being cool if you were doing a The Matrix rip-off, but it never was. This was just him keeping us in a tiny box that he could manage. I left after two games and the rest of the Players dropped out soon afterwards.

Anyone else ever encounter this level of unimaginative bullshit?

Yes. In a RIFTS game his mistake was letting everything in and he literally reacted in the same way as your experience. We even said to him before the game please consider limiting the game to only certain books or the corebook only because we have all the books and you have no idea what you're getting yourself into.

He wouldn't even use some of the cool setting books like Vampire Kingdoms or whatever he just had us wandering around in some kind of featureless desert/Southwest US thing that had AM/PM stores in the middle of nothing. It made no sense and had no direction.

The game lasted 3-4 sessions before my Neo-Human broke the game on purpose so that we could go play another game.

One time at band camp, we were playing and the DM had our characters learn that an orc had stolen a pie from our village. Our ranger tracked it to his lair and we killed him and his brothers. We then ate the pie.

I played in a game at the FLGS for shits and giggles one night. We sneak into the castle via the dungeon, only to find we're trapped in a corridor with three exits. We first lost 3 PCs to each door covered by a disintegration shield. We then attempted to look at every square to find a switch or something. We had no dispel magic. We found no way out. We eventually killed ourselves out of boredom.

The DM tells us as we wrap up. "you were not supposed to go that way as a group. You we're supposed to split up and then someone could save you later by pulling this lever at the castle-side beginning of the dungeon".

Oooh, fun.

Railroading can be a sign of an inexperienced GM. Maybe take them aside and talk to about it.

It's funny. Long ago back in the 80's as a first time GM, I was running a module as at the time I didn't think I had the chops to do my own adventure. Anyway the PC's had to enter a specific building to find a secret entrance. In reality it didn't matter what building they used but I kept trying to steer them to the "right" one and they just weren't going for it. Then it hit me. It just didn't matter. It could be any of the houses.

It was ridiculously liberating. Never ran a module since.

I also used to run a postmortem on the sessions once we finished for the night. It was very helpful. Mostly.

Quote from: jeff37923;756606Anyone else ever encounter this level of unimaginative bullshit?

I've told this story before...
I once joined a traveller game with a friend of mine... the GM was a guy my friend had met in a game shop.
Right from the start it was obvious the GM was uncomfortable with high-tech, there were no scifi trappings at all.
He started us on an investigation (lost pet) that let to a tunnel, that caved in forcing us to an underground river... to a boat on the river... and a loooong chain of computer printer paper where he'd drawn out the river and its narrow banks. We were on a boat... on a river... going downstream...  because that was the only option. NOTHING happened for a long time till we pulled the boat to one side and started walking... met some guys... the guys wanted to force us back in the boat... my PC refused... the NPCs pointed guns at him... I was sick of the game and wanted my PC dead so I would have an excuse to leave. So my PC continued to refuse, hoping for a bullet (the GM was also chain smoking the whole time... cough cough).
THAT was when the GM pulled out an actual revolver (he was a security guard) and pointed it at me... telling me that 'THAT is how it feels to have a gun pointed at you and isn't it obvious your PC would NOT refuse to get in the boat!'
So yeah, very unimaginative up until that final bit of creativity. And then I left.

Quote from: Simlasa;756622THAT was when the GM pulled out an actual revolver (he was a security guard) and pointed it at me... telling me that THAT is how it feels to have a gun pointed at you and isn't it obvious your PC would NOT refuse to get in the boat.
So yeah, very unimaginative up until that final bit of creativity. And then I left.

I may have called the cops on him as soon as I was out of the building! That's serious crazytown stuff there.

Quote from: Simlasa;756622THAT was when the GM pulled out an actual revolver (he was a security guard) and pointed it at me...

OK, now that is beyond acceptable. Jebus....

Holy Jebus.  No, you got me there, Jeff; plainly I have to revise my standard for "suck-ass GM."  I've known some bad GMs in my day, but I've only rarely heard of a GM on the "Why are you talking to me? I'm just an extra" level, never mind seen one with my own eyes.

My condolences.

EDIT: And my amazement at your fortitude.  I don't think I could've gotten past the point where I realized I wasn't in The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari In Space and that the GM really was calling everything not already written in his notes a "grey fog" without snarling.

Quote from: jeff37923;756624OK, now that is beyond acceptable. Jebus....

Yeah, it's practically fucking LARPing, and that shit's just not on.

I'm not a fan... of... games... being... drawn... out... long past the point of interest. It doesn't always make things more exciting to do a situation in minute detail; it just makes it take longer.

Only real problem I had was in the infamous Dragon Storm session with the Stormriders Guilds head and his right hand flunkie in on it.

Id had minor problems with these two all year and it came to a head at Gencon. I had one of the older characters in the game as Id been around since the start. So Im playtesting a new character race which I was footing the bill for and working with BDP to get right. AND payed extra to make expressly sure it was Guild ok.

So we are going through the adventure, trekking across country to deliver something. And while we are going along all of a sudden my character is lagging far behind the group and ambushed by a pack of pumped up drakkels with the rest of the group conveiniently out of sight or earshot. I saw what was being pulled and fought like hell. But the GM kept throwing more in. Luckily one of the players baulked at being told they could do nothing and charged back with a few others following suit. By the time they got there I was down and my body being ripped to shreds. They fought off the remaining monsters and administered healing spells and one of my better recovery potions.

The GM and his buddy were plenty pissed that I'd lived. But couldnt do anything about it directly as the other players were now watching him. But at the end  of the session he refused to sign the record for my exp and gains.

So I calculated what Id have gotten and donated it all to the other players who had been helpful through that.

Reported it to BDP and their response was that they had no control over the Guild. You know, the company and designers that officially sanction, support, and created that Guild?

And not long after they ban the use of playtest and personal characters. Among many other things.

So I pulled funding for any more product and talked with backers Id lined up who were interested in helping too.

Wasnt the only one having issues though. But that was the most costly ventures.

Up till that incident and the fallout after, working with BDP had been great. DS was a fun RPG. Especially when they phased out the CCG part.

Stop talking about my nine year old daughter GM like that, you pedo

So doing a smash and grab, my PC goes ahead and grabs a server after another PC fails their comp skill hacking roll. My PC has high strength and succeeds in a "feat of strength" roll, the server is originally only 15kg, but suddenly the GM changes in mid-stroke, it is 50kg, and I can't run with it. I get another PC to help carry it, and we try to run with it, nope, we can barely move; then combat erupts, the rent a cops guarding the place never moral check vs a much heavier armed party. This is a pbp as well, so I wind up carrying this server for about six weeks real time.

Quote from: Simlasa;756622I've told this story before...
I once joined a traveller game with a friend of mine... the GM was a guy my friend had met in a game shop.
Right from the start it was obvious the GM was uncomfortable with high-tech, there were no scifi trappings at all.
He started us on an investigation (lost pet) that let to a tunnel, that caved in forcing us to an underground river... to a boat on the river... and a loooong chain of computer printer paper where he'd drawn out the river and its narrow banks. We were on a boat... on a river... going downstream...  because that was the only option. NOTHING happened for a long time till we pulled the boat to one side and started walking... met some guys... the guys wanted to force us back in the boat... my PC refused... the NPCs pointed guns at him... I was sick of the game and wanted my PC dead so I would have an excuse to leave. So my PC continued to refuse, hoping for a bullet (the GM was also chain smoking the whole time... cough cough).
THAT was when the GM pulled out an actual revolver (he was a security guard) and pointed it at me... telling me that 'THAT is how it feels to have a gun pointed at you and isn't it obvious your PC would NOT refuse to get in the boat!'
So yeah, very unimaginative up until that final bit of creativity. And then I left.

Course that is the point when you and you mate pulled out machetes and taught he why he should never invite weirdos he met in game shops into his house

any idea why he used Traveller

Quote from: Ladybird;756632Yeah, it's practically fucking LARPing, and that shit's just not on.

I've been a long-term participant in several LARPs.  In not a single one of them was there so much as a single incident where someone drew a real weapon on another participant who wasn't banned for life, and a couple of those incidents had the eventholders call the cops.  Over fourteen years, and quite literally hundreds of events with thousands of participants, to the best of my recollection, there were four such.