The role of the GM

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by trooper6

I've never encountered that many bad GMs. Sure, I've run into some that weren't to my taste, but not bad.

Why do you think you've run into so many bad GMs? What do you consider bad? What do you consider abusive? What do you consider good? What do you consider to be your entitlement as a player? Could it be possible that the GMs weren't bad, but just incompatible with your tastes.

In your history of bad GMs, did all the players hate this GM? Was there consensus or were you the odd man out?

Have you noticed any patterns in the bad GMs? Is there a pattern in the games the bad GMs tend to run? Is there a pattern in the locations where these games take place? Genre? Age?

I'd like to figure out what is going on here.

The most common evidence for Bad GM is "Oh, I changed that rule; you cant do that," right after you attempted to use said rule in play, and no one else at the table was aware besides the GM.

I've seen GM's who set out intending to make players upset.

I've seen the deus ex-machina used to kill off a PC. I've done it once myself, but it was done to the cheering of the other players. (Player was a total ....)

In most cases, these bad GM's have a very few (1-3) loyal players in a codependent relationship who feel they're being mistreated but can't (for various reasons) walk away from the abusive GM (usually one's the SO, and the others roommates. And the non-game relationship is abusive, too.)

I've encountered far too many GM's telling me how my character feels about some action when the character as I built them could and would not feel that way. (Like the CG character being happy the local robber didn't kill the LE baron.)

GM's openly fudging dice rolls against the players ... like playing D&D, GM rolls a nat 1 and calls it a hit.

GM's openly belittling players for bad choices based upon lack of information. (especially problematic is holding players accountable to know the 20 page (in 9-point arial narrow, single spaced) campaign setting handout, and forbidding use of it in play, while also forbidding using character skill rolls to cover for not knowing the setting to the GM's.

And, while this isn't itself abusive, it's VERY bad GMing: GMs who spend 15 minutes on cutscenes. I fast forward through them in videogames when I can. I sure don't want to listen to 15 minutes of stammering exposition in TT Games.

Another Bad but not abusive GM trick: invincible plot armor on big-bads.

And another: The GM who decides to make the entire session "Laugh at X's PC"...

Most of the time, I've not been the only one complaining, but have been the first one to walk away.