I posted the Gazebo story elsewhere and also mentioned the 20-something kids that didn't know who Gygax was, so I figured I'd put this thread out there to share any horror stories you may have. Doesn't have to be Shadowrun, but extra Rep points if it is...
I'll start:
Me and the missus (now ex-missus) had moved to Virginia because of my job in 2001. When we got down there, we started looking to join a new gaming group to satisfy the addict- ... er, enjoy the hobby. The first group we went to sounded good. The DM had been running 3.0 for while and he had two other players, but recently lost two players so there was an opening. He told me he was going to run us through
The Sunless Citadel and to be prepared to provide a backstory to our characters. No problem, we'd done that before.
The game was set to start at 3, so we got there about 15 minutes early to get through introductions and get a feel for the game. After everyone was introduced, the DM gave both of us a 'booklet' of pages, asking us to fill it out (not right away, but definitely before the next game). Now, I'm all for detailing the character out a little more than Ork - Axe - Strength, but this was a 20 page questionnaire and form that required you to plan your character from 1st through 20th level and list every feat/spell/skill that you were going to take. That was the first three pages; the rest was just as asinine. 1st warning flag up and waving.
We put that aside for the game. Normally I plan my characters out anyway since I tend to get OCD on character development and my ex used to just so she would understand every part of the rules she needed to. So, the DM then had to step out to make his daughter dinner and we got a chance to talk to the two 'regulars', guys he'd be gaming with for years. Turns out they've been playing
Sunless Citadel for about six months and have gone through about 5 other players. They were just starting to tell us that the DM has very clear distinctions between Character/Player knowledge, when he came back into the room. 2nd warning flag up.
As we started playing, we were at the very beginning of the adventure. Our characters met up with the regulars (who had two brand-spanking new characters - 3rd warning flag) at the camp of an army near the entrance of the citadel. The other characters wanted to purchase some holy water, but the DM refused, (asking them "Why do you need holy water?" with warning look. Regulars began grumbling - 4th warning flag). Neither I nor my ex had created a cleric, nor stocked up with holy water, and the regulars looked dejected. We then went into entrance. Now, if you haven't played Sunless Citadel, the first encounter in the adventure is a room with a Shadow in it. And the shadow drained characters of their Strength, and if he got the Strength to 0, the character died, and rose
the next round as a new Shadow. 5 warning flag.
As we entered the room, the wifey and I discovered that the DM had run the group through this room many, many, MANY times. And because the first adventurers had critically failed and went TPK, there were now over a DOZEN shadows in the room. And, TPK. 6th warning flag.
Even after this, we were pretty sure that the group was disaster, but we stuck around to just feel out what would be next. Well, the 7th and last flag came up because we were sitting there talking about how we needed to roll up new characters, but the DM wouldn't allow any of us to roll a cleric. Because we had no idea there were undead! So, he's forcing his regular guys to roll-up Bob's Cousin characters every time and not allowing them to take any steps to prevent another TPK.
*sigh* We were scheduled to play for another four hours, but ducked out with an excuse that we forgot we were meeting friends for dinner and never went back. As far as I know, those poor bastards are still trying to get through the Shadow room...
