[VandV] I realize that sometimes in college, I was a bad GM

[Imaginos]

I've thought about some of the opponents I sent my group up against back in college, and I realize that there were times I was a bad GM. Bad as in bastard, really. I would normally customize enemies, but I realize that some of that customization was too much. I typically started off random with the enemies, but would make tweaks and changes to their powers to work an idea out, and I think I overdid it sometimes. I guess 17 year hindsight is nearly 20/20, eh?

As an example, one villain I remember was named Freon. Obviously, ice powers. He also had a mutant power that I worked as an explosion of his ice armor. He could explode however many points of armor he wanted to, and use that as the die type for damage. So if he had a full 100 armor, he could explode it in a radius for 1d100 damage. At least I specified he could not regenerate that turn, so that would leave him totally defenseless. He wasn't built on much more than that, which is why I justified it as okay.

Another character was Death Spectre. Randomly rolled, she ended up with boosted agility and intelligence, plus Intangibility and power blast. She was one I should have toned down because of how dangerous she could be with that combo.

Another was Io - randomly rolled, Absorption (substances), and then Ht str and Ht End. I think he ended up with a couple of Ht Str's and End's, so his physical stats were high. Then tying that into absorbing metal. He was extremely tough, but not unbeatable. And his punch was devastating, but he had a low agility when he absorbed the properties of a metal. It was a bad call on my part to say he had an adamantium ring, cause that was just wrong on so many levels.

I think those were really the worst of anything I threw at the players. And thinking back on them, I know I wouldn't have wanted to fight them.

There really isn't a point to this thread except the catharsis of admitting that I was a bad GM sometimes.

[bishoplogan]

well i would not say i was a baaad GM. but i remember a time when i took over GMing my fellow players. i kind of made it my business to make the wolrd a dark and gritty place.

by first cloning one of the more deadly pc's Capt. Greadal. the clone being called Night Ranger and teaming up with a rich teleporter named Sister Christian(yeah yeah i know lol )

i brought in Rom the spaceknight, dire wraiths.
I made his life superhero and secret id a living hell so bad he had his charactor contemplated suicide.

So looking back 20yrs later i say Wayne if your reading this,SHIT wasn't it FUN
BWAHA BWAHA BWAHA BWAHA

damn that felt good :sawink2: (i miss my flaming devil (no homo lol)

[Mouser]

I think those were really the worst of anything I threw at the players. And thinking back on them, I know I wouldn't have wanted to fight them.

There really isn't a point to this thread except the catharsis of admitting that I was a bad GM sometimes.

We forgive you for being a GM.

Not everyone can be perfect like me and Origen.

[Imaginos]

Not everyone can be perfect like me and Origen.

You two do make a marvelous couple! :smileysex:

[Mouser]

You two do make a marvelous couple! :smileysex:

Thank you.

I've been working out.

<flexes>

[bishoplogan]

We forgive you for being a GM.

Not everyone can be perfect like me and Origen.

BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA
BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA
BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA

OKAY BUT REALLY...:laugh:

BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA
BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA BWAHAHA

[Imaginos]

Thank you.

I've been working out.

<flexes>

:dazed052:

[ Borat ]
Very niiiiiice!
[ /Borat ]

[AnotherSKip]

I think I am a terrible player as well as GM,

hopefully I'll change before i am Lynched by my friendly players.....

[BattleNymph]

Personally, I think it's cool you GM'd at all! A GM who makes mistakes is much better than no GM at all.

[Origen]

I think those were really the worst of anything I threw at the players. And thinking back on them, I know I wouldn't have wanted to fight them.

There really isn't a point to this thread except the catharsis of admitting that I was a bad GM sometimes.

Part of becoming good at anything means being willing to make mistakes, making them and later realizing those mistakes, and correcting them.

The fact that you can learn means you're on the right road.

[Imaginos]

Thanks for the encouragement folks. I haven't GM'd anything except online games since my last face to face group (it's been about 4 years now). I am planning to run some Buffy or Angel for my current group, but I haven't rotated into GM yet.

My last group and I wanted totally different things from the game, which was why that was a no-go. I'm not a big 'storyteller GM', but I do like story and plot. Which was very difficult with them. In fantasy, one player always played an elf archer. His son min-maxed it for him in D&D 3.0. The son always played a stoner-partier, in that case a halfling paladin (I was stupid and told the players they had a lot of leeway on gods and could write their own ethics stuff - should have said no). The uncle played a dwarf party guy. It was really these three that ruined it for me. When another player's character died, they started using the body to set off traps and such.

Not to mention, the son and father always rolled tiny dice in a box lid, so you never knew what they rolled, but they sure did get critical hits an awful lot. In EVERY GAME WE PLAYED (including Battletech). I think we all knew it, but nobody was willing to call them on it. The uncle did buy some big foam d6 for Battletech and tell everyone to roll them on the tabletop. Not surprisingly, the critical hits dropped significantly, as did the successful hits. They got back into their old ways after the 'novelty' of the foam d6 wore off and the uncle didn't push it.

I will say, I made a huge mistake when I started that game. The 3.0 Player's handbook had character creation software in it. Rather than stick people with characters they didn't want, and never being a fan of point buys in D&D, I told them they could roll stats as many times as they wanted, but every time over 20 was a -1 to starting XP (the character sheet printed it out). At least the son was honest when he gave me his. He was at -1800+ XP. I later realized why he was fine with this. He somehow kept getting more XP than anyone else (and it was group XP, so he should have the same as anyone).

That old saying, no gaming is better than bad gaming. It's true.

The fact that you can learn means you're on the right road.

And to show my state of mind tonight, I read that as saying "on the right toad."

[Mouser]

Part of becoming good at anything means being willing to make mistakes, making them and later realizing those mistakes, and correcting them.

You're right.

I'm breaking up with you.

It was a mistake.

I don't need this whipsawing of emotion back and forth, back and forth!!

AAAAAAGH!!

:smileysex:

I wish ah could quit yew!!

:D

[AnotherSKip]

So did ya quit him cold turkey or what?