TOPIC: Minor DM irritation from Origins

So at Origins this year, I encountered a DM who kind of ruined my enjoyment of a room for me.

We get into combat, and of course I tell the DM I'd like to Bardsong and do a Monster Lore check, as is my standard opening strategy.

He then says while sporting a s*it-eating grin, "How many strings are on your instrument?"

I give him a confused look and he says with that same grin, "If you're a Bard, you'd know that!"

I tell him that's not how the Monster Lore skill check works, and that he's supposed to show me a Bard symbol for me to identify.

Still grinning he replies, "My room, my rules!"

I then point out that it isn't his room, it is True Dungeon's room, and repeat my request to do the Bard skill check.

He says, "What if I don't? What are you going to do then?" The grin just is permanently plastered on his face.

I say then I'm going to have to request an adventure coordinator because that is not how the skill check works and I'd rather speak to an adventure coordinator about it to clear it up.

This was all done while people were sliding, so I wasn't taking up anyone's room time but my own arguing with this DM. After the first round of slides were calculated, he then said to me, "The belt that holds all the skill check stuff is too small for me, so that's why I don't have the cards."

I was so discouraged by the whole thing all I did was nod and walk away, not participating at all in the combat for the remainder of that room. I wasn't bothered by the DM refusing to do the skill check properly, it was his attitude, which was disrespectful to me and to TD in general.

The NPC with us initiated some conversation with me afterwards and I let her know how much of a d*ck the DM was to me and how I would have been more engaged had he not done that to me. She was sympathetic but I figured it wasn't a hill worth dying on to bring it up then.

But now it's been a few weeks and the experience is still on my mind, so... yeah.

I'm not looking to cause friction here. Just a humble request for the ACs to make sure their DMs are wearing their belts or have their contents readily accessible. It's part of the DM job IMO.

Sometimes I wish there was a quality assurance survey or something similar at the end of each dungeon so that even if an AC wasn't immediately brought in they could still identify who it was and take steps to fix the problem before the end of the con.

At some airports I've seen a really simple feedback system where the only options are smiley face, blank face, frowny face buttons. Generally for either rest rooms or the security check process.

It doesn't provide details about what is wrong, but I'm guessing it isn't very expensive and gives people a minimal time, low pressure way to feel they are being listened to.

We can't correct issues we're not aware of.

To Hawk and anyone else who has a sub-optimal experience with a volunteer or employee: please, Please, PLEASE, let a coordinator or director know what happened ASAP. If you're not comfortable asking the sub-optimal volunteer to radio for a supervisor (totally understandable), find another volunteer with a radio or a find director yourself as soon as you can.

Trying to track down what person was where weeks after the incident is very difficult. If you can inform us right away, there's a much better chance of us being able to assist that person with doing things the preferred way.

Druegar wrote: We can't correct issues we're not aware of.

To Hawk and anyone else who has a sub-optimal experience with a volunteer or employee: please, Please, PLEASE, let a coordinator or director know what happened ASAP. If you're not comfortable asking the sub-optimal volunteer to radio for a supervisor (totally understandable), find another volunteer with a radio or a find director yourself as soon as you can.

Trying to track down what person was where weeks after the incident is very difficult. If you can inform us right away, there's a much better chance of us being able to assist that person with doing things the preferred way.

I know that, and was prepared to do that at the time, but I figured it wasn't worth it then.

Having been a volunteer NPC for some years now, I know the procedure. But I wasn't interested in calling in a manager just to stick it to the guy. He knew he messed up as soon as I said the words Adventure Coordinator.

At the same time, it has stayed with me, and with my own volunteer schedule at GenCon coming up, I worry about how my own performance will impact the enjoyment of the players. I know that I would never cop that kind of attitude with any player, so it was a bit shocking to encounter a DM who was so... aggressive towards me, when all I was trying to do was play the game as expected.

So while yeah, no one can correct that one play experience I had in one room that happened weeks ago, I would still like to pass it along for preventive purposes at future cons. Maybe there's a volunteer or prospective volunteer DM reading this and can learn something from it. If I see something like that happen during my volunteer time at GenCon, I'll be able to bring it up more readily and perhaps run a little damage control while waiting for an AC to arrive.

There's nothing to be done about it now, and I'm not looking for any kind of remuneration or anything. Just hoping to help future cons.

Hawk Fingle wrote: I wasn't interested in calling in a manager just to stick it to the guy.

I really wish folks didn't see it this way. Unless it was an egregious error, we're not going to "stick it to" any of our volunteers. That's why I said "correction" and not "punishment". In many cases, the vol simply doesn't know their actions are misguided. In nearly all these kinds of cases, it's resolved with a simple, "Hey, that thing ya did? Don't do that. If a similar situation comes up again, try it this way instead." and we all go about our merry business. easy peasy

Druegar wrote:

Hawk Fingle wrote: I wasn't interested in calling in a manager just to stick it to the guy.

I really wish folks didn't see it this way.

In the moment, that's where I was emotionally, and I would have thought lesser of myself if I had insisted on speaking to an AC.

If I had insisted on it, I would have had some choice words to say to the AC, and then the entire run would have been ruined for me because then I would be trying to shake off the emotional investment of the confrontation over the incident and would have had a very hard time refocusing on the game. Plus there are nine other players there whose time I'm neglecting over talking to an AC in the dungeon.

By letting it go and moving on, I was better able to enjoy myself for the rest of the run. Which is a better choice for me personally. After the dungeon was done, I was moving on to other things at the con and wasn't much interested in talking to someone at the front of TD about my experience.

So maybe just pass it up the chain. The DM may be running the room, and maybe they have some leeway to adjust the encounter for the party to make it more enjoyable, but they definitely don't have the power to change how class features work or how a player plays the game. I can understand fudging stats for a monster or dropping clues about a puzzle if the party is having trouble. But that should be the extent of the power a DM should have to make changes. Making sure future DMs understand that is all I ask.

I asked for an AC at Origins (after a run). It took awhile and the epilogue room kept apologizing for the wait. Eventually Lori walked by and I was directed to her. She listen and took me to Jeff. He listened. It worked out pretty well.

Hawk, I’m really sorry to hear that happened. We were made aware that the fancy new DM pouches weren’t as one-size-fits-all as we had hoped, but those materials should still have been immediately at hand.

Please PM me and let me know which DM (or room) - I’m not going to have them drawn and quartered or anything, I’d just like to know so I can make sure they are made aware of the better procedure, like Druegar said.

To echo more of Druegar’s sentiments: If you or anyone else have an issue with a volunteer not holding to the rules (or spirit!) of the game please let us know right away. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make sure players after you have the best experience possible.

Hawk,

Thank you for sharing this with the forum. We appreciate your trust in the community and willingness to share. I suspect you could name 1000 good things that happened too, but hoped to make TD better by presenting a data point for improvement.

If the DM had just stated "I do not have the cards. Here is the lore.." or " I do not have the cards. How many strings are on a 6 string lute?"; this would have been MUCH more successful. Sadly, we are humans and few of us are bards.

I have more issue in the fact that he asked that question, I doubt he was aware of the complexity of the question asked, 4, 7, 19, 24. Which is the wrong answer? And yes, I said which one, and I’m not even sure I can tell you any are wrong. 4 might be.

I’ve been an AC for a long time (taking a break this year with my ankle surgery), and I echo what Mike and Druegar said. In an case like this, please Please PLEASE ask to speak with an AC or a director. If you decide not to ask a DM to radio for one, the epilogue room should have a radio that they can use to summon an AC. Getting feedback like this is the best way to make sure it doesn’t happens again.