What was the weirdest thing that ever happened in your RPG game?

Dr Zaius

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I've had some pretty strange things happen in the course of adventuring. I remember getting lost in Castle Ravenloft and not being able to find our way out again. That's seems weird to me now, but at the time I thought that place was huge.

I also remember a particularly nasty fight in MERP. I was the DM and the party was fighting a troll in the foothills. In an incredible streak of bad luck, the troll rolled two successive critical hits against two different characters, resulting in a broken leg for each! The troll was eventually slain, but the party had a hell of time making it back to the village with two of its members nursing broken legs.
 

Aries

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I can't think of anything "weird", but I have experienced the "odd" before.

One game, myself playing a Paladin, and another player that had a contrary PC, just ended up really getting into it over some issue. Man we were arguing up a storm something else, then, we realised the other guys were looking at us us, so we asked "what? were just acting the part. They were actually worried about us :)

I've got lots of funny experiences, but not really weird ones.
 

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Playing in a game where I was a Rogue & this one guy who was playing a Mage kept "taking" all the treasure as we still battled the monsters & not helping out. So I asked the DM to tell me when his Mage was "occupied."

When he did I walked up & killed his familiar from behind & set it on fire.
The player (@25 yrs old) just broke down & starting crying... Very weird indeed.
And for some reason I was never invited back!
 
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Palantir

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Not in the game but "pre-game" weird.

A friend and I went to play at night at a "new" guys home, his girlfriend also played. When we got there they had the lights off but candles were burning everywhere & both were dressed & madeup in black: clothes, lipstick, nails etc. and there was some freaky music playing in the background.

After about 10 minutes we left saying we didn't like the "system" he ran.
I remember thinking that there's probably some guy with a knife hiding in the shadows... This was before "goth" became hip- & it was weird!
 

Dr Zaius

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Palantir said:
Not in the game but "pre-game" weird.

A friend and I went to play at night at a "new" guys home, his girlfriend also played. When we got there they had the lights off but candles were burning everywhere & both were dressed & madeup in black: clothes, lipstick, nails etc. and there was some freaky music playing in the background.
I've met some strange people as well, but not quite as bad as all that.

I admit I have been tempted to get up and leave after only a couple minutes of play, but didn't want to appear overly rude about the whole thing. But in the case you describe above, I think I probably would leave.

Roleplaying gamers seem to break down into a couple of distinct groups. The two groups that come to my mind are the "wargamer" type players, and the "weird folks." The wargamer types take the game fairly seriously, but they tend to be generally normal people who just want to have a good time and create an interesting adventure together. On the other hand, the weird folks tend to gravitate toward truly twisted adventures, characters of evil alignment, or characters that just display a variety of unethical or disreputable behaviors. These people seem to insist on making the game some type of strange arena to act out their fetishes, and they also tend to feed off each other's "weirdness." I try to avoid these groups like the plague because I don't enjoy them at all, and I always have the sneaking suspicion the roleplaying session is going to degenerate into a drug party or some other crazy crap that I don't want to be a part of.
 

Palantir

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Another in/out of game weird.

I had a "couple" in my game and the girlfriend who ran a female character with high Charisma (go figure so did she) kept having her character try to seduce all the male PC's & NPC's who "looked good." Her language & attempts were rather... interesting to say the least. She really livened up the game for all the guys without question!

There definitely was something going on interesting "outside" of the game as well. After only a few sessions she didn't show up again, the boyfriend just said she was busy, then he broke up with her. Gee I wonder why?

Like all the old RPG'ers I have a lot of strange, funny & weird stories. But Don hit it right on the head about some players having an agenda for their gaming sessions. I learned quickly after that "Goth" encounter to cut my losses & get out as soon as it felt "weird."
 
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Aries

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Palantir said:
Another in/out of game weird.

I had a "couple" in my game and the girlfriend who ran a female character with high Charisma (go figure so did she) kept having her character try to seduce all the male PC's & NPC's who "looked good." Her language & attempts were rather... interesting to say the least. She really livened up the game for all the guys without question!

There definitely was something going on interesting "outside" of the game as well. After only a few sessions she didn't show up again, the boyfriend just said she was busy, then he broke up with her. Gee I wonder why?

Like all the old RPG'ers I have a lot of strange, funny & weird stories. But Don hit it right on the head about some players having an agenda for their gaming sessions. I learned quickly after that "Goth" encounter to cut my losses & get out as soon as it felt "weird."
Been there seen that. You know you have the wrong female in attendance, when she is "roleplaying" out the sex scenes with another gamer in actuality :)
We had one that was clearly only there for the one guy that was there.
 

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Not a slag on goths, because most goths are not really any more weird than punks, red necks and any other group that dress excessively in one direction.

But, as a lot of the sort, also like being "goth, it is not easy to keep them identifiably separate (from goths that are just into being goth).
I am referring to the Vamp and Were and just about anything Whitewolf brand focused bunch.

Those guys are weird, and I'll just accept whatever flames arise from my saying it I guess.
But people that wish to run evil vampire and or were campaigns, they're too socially and or psychological "damaged" for my needs.
I see no interest in "rolegaming" out "evil" individuals and or groups.

The "evil bad guys" are the "challenge", they're the people you quest to eradicate. I'm no dogooder, but I have enough reason to understand why a society based on evil, simply won't work.

I know someone that is into the LRRP Vamp scene, and sadly, whenever he's around, even though a friendly enough dude, he makes me feel pity for him.
 

Dr Zaius

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I can see running a character that is very greedy, selfish, or perhaps a bit quirky (anybody remember the guy with the mouse from Baldur's Gate 2?). But that's entirely different than running an "Evil" character that goes around murdering and raping the townspeople.

Now I freely admit, I've seen parties of characters do some pretty unethical, slimy things in my time, and even did a few nasty things myself. But this is still very different. The world most RPG characters "live" in is a tough one, thus I can understand how situations go bad from time to time. I don't mind a party that has a thief with sticky fingers, for example.

If you were DM, would you impose limits on the players and make a rule saying no Evil characters?
 

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As a DM I quickly discoverd that an evil group or 1 evil player character just throws the entire game off balance. The "fun" leaves and suspicion prevails. I can have players selfish but not evil.

The closest now to "evil" I let run is CN (chaotic-neutral). Although for short "adventures" I have had players be taken over by evil via curses etc.

A favorite RPG quote I saw somewhere is: "Good does not equal stupidity."
Where a neutral group will try to send the Lawful Good charaters out to buy ice cream as they're all standing around a prisoner waiting to torture him. The "smart" LG's had the prisoner turned over to the authorities, who later just happened to pass along the "information" they needed to continue the quest.

A DM also has to take into account the ages of his players. Youngest I had was 13 I think, I invited his parents over for his first session & showed them around (no beer etc), they met the group and I invited them to stay. Once they saw we were just sitting around a table with paper & miniatures eating pizza & drinking soda and playing a "fantasy" game & there would be no "occult/evil or foul language" they felt fine & left.

Having a group leaning to "good" makes for a better group overall & character roleplaying.
 
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Aries

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For me, it's simple, usually takes a very small dose to make players realise, their "neat idea" is dumb.

First off, evil people don't have "friends" you merely have people you "control".

Friends help you when you need it, people you "control" will not help you, and the second you lose that control, guess what, you're now "CONTROLLED" ie an underling, cannon fodder, or maybe your own previous style of control means, you're now dead.

Evil people ie PCs, they aren't about "saving the world" usually they are the problem.

What this means, is every other evil person would rather they were in charge, not you. So they are all out to get you. But, the forces of "good" still exist, so, now you are not only a target of every form of opportunistic evil, but you have parties of dogooders out to kill you (in the usual way).

You have no allies, allies are what "good" people have. You go into town, you don't just go to the local church and get aid. No one is giving you aid.

And, of course, if the player has made the supremely stupid choice, to think "hey it would be cool to be a vampire" yeah right.
Players seem to forget, all the forces of "good" can distinguish between "lousy scumbags" and pure evil creatures. So, it's just a matter of matching up your not so briliant player's vampire, against paladins, rangers, magic users, holy warriors (not easy to kill nobodies eh).

Any DM that can't kill off an evil PC by the end of a game session, is a slacker or inexperienced, or basically just a social misfit themselves.

I have to be honest, if I was confronted by persons that truely, and honestly expected, and required a game, that used evil, and they planned on doing it from session to session, I'd be quite in the clear, with how I thought they were all somewhat suspect in the grasp of reality, and I had no further interest in hanging out with them.

Weird is funny when weird is the ordinary sort of weird. When you can creep me out though, you're a special kind of weird :)
 

Dr Zaius

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I don't think I would allow the use of Evil characters on a regular basis, either. They would probably just unbalance every situation and end up making deals with the bad guys in the story. Not to mention they would surely end up betraying each other eventually, obviously destroying the party in the process.

I would allow characters that fall into the 'gray area,' though. Conan, for instance, could hardly be considered of Good alignment. His primary profession is as a thief in most novels, not to mention he usually kills first and asks questions later. His more recent books have shown a trend toward morphing him into a 'good' hero of sorts, but that certainly was not how the character was originally envisioned. I wouldn't have any problem with a character like this.

Have you ever ran into problems with a character that was so goody-goody they got on your nerves or caused problems?
 

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Don Maddox said:
Have you ever ran into problems with a character that was so goody-goody they got on your nerves or caused problems?
I've ran into them, but only for one session. As Aries said you quickly weed them out & don't invite them back. Usually your "core" players will hang around after the game and let you know what they thought of this new addition to the group.

What I do now to try and alieviate this is hold a, "roll up your character first" session before the game day even arrives. I get to meet 1 on 1 with the new player and listen to his/her ideas of gaming. I also mention usually true but maybe not that I have another person wanting to play as well & only have 1 slot open so I can only pick 1 player that fits in best with the group.

It's saved me a lot of grief & the trouble of "kicking" someone "weird" out of my group.
 

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Well admittedly, exceesively goody goody characters casn be "nauseating", they don't rate the same sort of scorn.

One of my friend's wife is an exceedingly "bubbly" personality in the real world :)

But an excess, is an excess.

I run my game's almost entirely based on one golden rule. Cause and effect.

And being over the top goody goody, is going to generate a response. It won't likely be lethal, might even be funny, but, the player will naturally realise eventually, that even over the top goody goody has a cause and effect response.

Everything in moderation eh.
 

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Aries said:
Well admittedly, exceesively goody goody characters casn be "nauseating", they don't rate the same sort of scorn.

One of my friend's wife is an exceedingly "bubbly" personality in the real world :)

But an excess, is an excess.

I run my game's almost entirely based on one golden rule. Cause and effect.

And being over the top goody goody, is going to generate a response. It won't likely be lethal, might even be funny, but, the player will naturally realise eventually, that even over the top goody goody has a cause and effect response.

Everything in moderation eh.
In the very last AD&D game I've played in, I made a Paladin who refused to take life - he would defend people, and try to prevent the bad guys from hurting others, but he wouldn't KILL anything.

The other party members executed him, despite their "Chaotic Good" alignment, with no repercussions, simply because of his beliefs.
 

Dr Zaius

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Maedhros said:
The other party members executed him, despite their "Chaotic Good" alignment, with no repercussions, simply because of his beliefs.
They executed him? How did the player respond to that? Did the character attempt to defend himself or escape, or did he quietly accept his fate?
 

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Maedhros said:
In the very last AD&D game I've played in, I made a Paladin who refused to take life - he would defend people, and try to prevent the bad guys from hurting others, but he wouldn't KILL anything.

The other party members executed him, despite their "Chaotic Good" alignment, with no repercussions, simply because of his beliefs.
That's unfortunate, as it shows, the players you play with, have no concept of what alignment means or represents. They play the game, but they don't wish to be bothered dealing with the limitations.

If I was the DM, they would all be dealing with some severe repercussions, alignment shifts, powers that started to fail to perform properly, the usual routine of becoming "tainted".
 

Dr Zaius

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Yeah, but in the real world do people always follow their "alignment?" Most of us have done things in our lifetimes that could be considered evil, and some of us have done things that coud be considered good. Does that mean we're all chaotic neutral or whatever?
 

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Don Maddox said:
They executed him? How did the player respond to that? Did the character attempt to defend himself or escape, or did he quietly accept his fate?
I was the player :crosseye:

After a harrowing battle, in which Pallafox (my Paladin) had fought well and driven off an offending Hobgoblin, a confrontation ensued. Essentially, the other PCs were upset that I let the Hobgoblin escape rather than chase him down and kill him. A heated debate occurred in which Pallafox explained his reasoning to the half-elf ranger who insisted that Pallafox was somehow in the wrong. After failing to change Pallafox' mind, the ranger waited until Pallafox turned to leave and ran him through with his longsword. The other PCs did nothing to help.

To be honest, I'm sort of happy that Pallafox died. Playing that style of game was tiresome.
 
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