Important point here: did the GM e-mailed everybody else with complains, or just you? The night sucked, he sucked and yeah, you were something of an arse, but it could be important to know whether he's doing this because of you particularly or because he's honestly trying to save the game. Maybe he realised it all sucked as well, and is trying to do things better. And to the second question, no, you shouldn't feel insulted by the e-mail, unless he actually does the stuff he claims not to. It sounds as a valid complaint after your story.

QuoteI'm curious of what everyone here would think.

OK.

QuoteThe setup: A GM who constantly fails to actually know the rules of the systems he runs

Most bad games come about because of GMs who don't know the rules of the game they're running and/or insist on improvising everything.  This is ALWAYS a warning flag.

QuoteAs is most games' wont, the first 90 minutes are mostly eating and talking. There are 10 people in the room, 2 not playing, 8 playing. The start is a combat I am not involved in since I am not there yet. (Ive spent most of the previous 90 rewriting my character since I now know Changeling better than I did when I made the character with help for a Con LARP that I kept playing in that group's Chronicle.)

Uhm...

I am a believer in the idea that RPGs are 30 minutes of fun packed into 4 hours of time, but the first 90 minutes of the game session was just everyone bullshitting?  WTF???

I could understand it if everyone was having to make up a character, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Even you seem to only be rewriting your character out of boredom.  This excessive amount of dead time along with 2 spectators is another telltale sign of a game which shouldn't be bothered with.

QuoteOne of the not playing people wants to go for coffee and doesn't know the area so I offer to drive since I am not involved in what little has gone on yet, and its 10 minutes away or so.

Serious question.  Why did you bother returning?  I would have been out of there.

QuoteWe come back and they have just finished the fight. I settle in, and start working on the model kit I brought as to not be an attention whore character, plus while I knew everyone there, I was joining this group. I can comfortably listen and build at the same time. There are 7 other PCs.

I think the entire idea of bringing a model kit to the game is questionable.  You seem to have foreknowledge that you're not going to be involved in this game.  From everything so far, you're absolutely right.  You're probably 2 hours into the game and you haven't even been included yet, and you seemed to realize this was coming.

Next serious question.  Why did you bother showing up for this game to begin with?

QuoteMy character obviously doesn't know WTF is going on and is wondering why the pickpocketer (who mostly wanted to know who my character was as opposed to trying to steal from me) claims to know me, while 2 other PCs are trying to RP to each other across the table while everyone else is yammering away, mostly on things that have squat to do with the game.

Telltale signs that everyone is bored to tears and the game is a directionless waste of time.

Most of the time when I've seen this situation, all the PCs are naked in a 10x10 cell and have been waiting for an hour for the GMPC to show up and break them out.

I'm left to conclude one of two things:  1) Most of the players are completely uninvolved with the game.  OR  2) They know the GM is not going to let them do anything on their own, so they're just waiting in the party clubhouse until the GM gives them something to do.  Either option is a textbook sign of a game not worth playing.

QuoteThe GM comes back in with some Werewolf style card game and immediately hands out cards. I (and others) are kind of wondering WTF is going on. After the second game we start asking and he goes into his usual "I don't know the rules" spiel that usually proceeds his ending every other campaign, plus adding he expected me to do more and how he didn't want to tell everyone to SHUT UP which is what I said he should be doing as everyone OT talking amongst themselves is rude. (I hate it when I GM, and while a little of this happens in almost every group, it was really out of control.)

Well, it's all your fault.  The GM expected you to come into an existing campaign and drive the action.

What a cocksmock. (him.  not you. just to be clear.)

This guy doesn't know the rules of the game.  He has done no preparation.  He doesn't just expect the players to drive events, he expects the brand new player to the game to drive ALL the events.  It's also clear this is recurring stuff with him, not just an off night.

QuoteSo we convince him to try to keep going

Why?

For the One True Pink Unicorn's sake, WHY?

Why are you so desperate to play that you're willing to submit yourself to this idiot?

Quoteothers have had plenty of wine and are quite tipsy,

Another bad sign.  When people are boozing up during a game, it's a sign that no one is interested in the game.  They're interested in boozing.

QuoteWell it sucked but maybe it'll be better next time.

Where is that picture of Captain Picard with the Facepalm caption?

It won't be better.  The game is garbage and a waste of time.  You know it, and you've explained why to all the rest of us.  Why do you insist on ignoring your own evidence?

QuoteHere is the biggest part of it:
> Anyway, the reason for this email is because I was
> abit bothered by your lack of full attention to the game. I
> was expecting you to contribute a large part of the rp as
> you have done in previous rpg's. When I come to your
> place to game, I dont bring other gaming related stuff
> or other hobby stuff (generally. I realize I have brought
> Star Wars when I was really trying to get a grasp on things
> regarding it).
> I feel that if you really want to participate you
> should come here as I go to your place when we are seriesly
> gaming and that's prepared to spend the few hours we are
> together involved in that game.
> If you bring other stuff to X when you go
> there, that's fine, but my place isnt X.
> By no means do you have to come back, but I would like
> it if you did. I think if you come into it prepared fully
> and taking it seriously for what it is, you will see that it
> can be alot of fun.

I'll give the guy this: I do think it was slightly wrong of you to bring a model if you were truly expecting to be engaged in the game.  The fact that you brought extra activities says to me that you knew things were going to go down exactly the way they went.

But...

The idea that he's blaming YOU for the failure of the game is total crap.  The fact that he's trying to drive it home a second time is definitely insulting.  I could understand him being angry the game disintegrated (even though it was his fault), and blaming it on you in a fit.  His time window for a hissy fit is done.  This email is exactly the kind of passive aggressive blame shifting I'd expect to see from the kind of person you're describing.

QuoteWas it wrong of me to be making a model kit while playing?

Taking you at face value and assuming you brought the model to have something to do in the huge amount of downtime you expected, then I don't think it was completely out of line for you to bring a model kit.

On the other hand, you were pretty passive.  From your description, your character came into the clubhouse, sat down, and avoided getting involved in the game.  I'm not saying there was anything to get involved with.  However, at least the pickpocket player was making some kind of effort (as feeble as it may have been).  I don't feel the impetus of the campaign rests on your shoulders, but I think you had the responsibility to do Something.

On the third hand, any GM with an ounce of sense would have seen that model kit and said to themselves, "I need to try and be engaging."  The model kit was passive aggressive on your part.  It was saying, "If you don't shape up and provide some entertainment, I've brought an alternative."  The fact that the GM saw that and didn't do anything, especially when he's allegedly relying on you to drive the game, speaks fucking volumes of his absolute ineptitude.

Another thing, if I were relying on a specific player to drive the action, I would include their character in the game immediately.  I wouldn't make them sit there waiting.  

On the fourth hand (lots of hands), There are SEVEN OTHER PLAYERS and they're not doing anything.  Even with a GM of the naked 10x10 cell scenario, the seven other players would have started burning villages and raping peasants if there was something, ANYTHING possible to be done.  The fact none of them were driving the game really does tell me there was nothing to do at that juncture.

QuoteHelp me out here folks.

You already know the answer.  No gaming is better than bad gaming.

Quote from: Warthur;309316But the fact that you deliberately brought along a modelling kit in order to distract you from the game because you were afraid of dominating it is pretty incredible to me.

Have you not read his previous posts?

Seanchai

I feel sorry for the GM. Yes, he is not a good GM but, but he doesn't seem obnoxious, and would probably appreciate some support and advice on how to improve things. As it is, I can imagine him feeling things going down the tubes without quite knowing what he is doing wrong.

Quote from: The_Shadow;309423I feel sorry for the GM. [...] I can imagine him feeling things going down the tubes without quite knowing what he is doing wrong.

Remember what we know about this GM,

Quote from: Captain RufusA GM who constantly fails to actually know the rules of the systems he runs and gives up 1-4 sessions in to any campaign he runs

So this is a person who has fucked things up several times. Everyone has bad campaigns that fizzle, but you learn from your mistakes and don't make the same ones again (you make different mistakes, yay!) But this guy is obviously pretty oblivious.

You get that. I mean, some people just have zero talent, and put zero effort into improving themselves, and will thus always be useless at that thing. Have you ever watched So You Think You Can Dance or one of those shows? You get people who come on and are hopeless, and when the judges say, "thanks for your time, we don't think you're suitable," the people storm off, "Oh my god! They don't recognise my brilliant talent, I work so hard, and I'm so good, and..." they sob and wail.

Some people are just clueless, so incompetent they don't even know they're incompetent. This GM of Rufus's needs to be a player instead. Rufus should take the 3-4 most interesting people from that group, plus the GM, and show everyone how it's done.

Gming would fuck up his model building time.

Quote from: Seanchai;309387Have you not read his previous posts?

I've taken a bit of a break from the RPGSite and I'm only just easing back into things; could you give me the short version of what I'm missing?

I think everybody involved was at fault in some way. The GM should have been more of an engine and captured people's attention better, but, frankly, the players as a whole (you included) sound as if they couldn't be arsed playing and were just there to stave off boredom. The polite thing to do on the part of the players would have been to try their hardest to make the game work, rather than chat OT, make models, play on laptops etc.

Sorry, I only got as far as changeling larp, and understood.

I had a bad game a few weeks ago. We were playing Exalted.

You guys make me feel better about my gaming. For us, a "bad game" is when its a little dull, or someone gets upset because something didn't go their way, or they felt that dude x got slightly more playtime than they did. But nothing on this kind of level of dysfunctionality.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;309424Remember what we know about this GM...

And from whom we know it...

Seanchai

Quote from: Warthur;309428I've taken a bit of a break from the RPGSite and I'm only just easing back into things; could you give me the short version of what I'm missing?

Not much. He's just a...rabid poster. It's not surprising that he'd do something like this in real life.

Seanchai

As a GM, a player bringing a model kit or other distraction to my table would really annoy me.

As a player, the GM off doing other stuff with the players while I wait and wait for an intro would annoy me and probably result in me wandering off, unless I had been notified and agreed to the wait beforehand.

Quote from: S'mon;309544As a GM, a player bringing a model kit or other distraction to my table would really annoy me.

Doing so without asking and explaining why would annoy the hell out of me.

If he's severely Adult ADD/ADHD, that's a good explanation, but the modeling involved had better not involve cyanoacrylate....