Worst 3.5 session I've ever had

[Caiphon]

Wow. It's 02:07 AM were I live and I just got home from the police station. I really need to talk to someone about this, so I hope I don't bore you with the story of the worst D&D night I've ever had.

It all started with the new player.
His name is Tom. He got kicked out of his last group and a friend of mine who knows him asked our Dm if he could join us in our next session. Our Dm, Nick, agreed without a single problem because he thought that we needed another Pc to balance a little more our group.
Nick is a wonderful Dm, he hosts the game in his house and even brings the food. In our Campaing, he likes customization and roleplaying, so he allows us to have some power or special quality (along with it's penalties) just to fluff the Pc's. For example, my human warlock can turn incorporeal twice a day at will for two rounds, but he gets a -2 penalty on charisma checks and tends to turn incorporeal when he doesn't want to, like when crossing a bridge


Tonight we were introduced to the fellow player, talked for a while and started playing. We found out that he was kicked out of his last group because he got a little bit angry when things didn't went as he wanted.
Little we expected about what it was yet to come.

A couple of hours later, while we enjoyed pizzas, our Characters were battling a Minotaur tribe in the catacombs under a city. Tom's Druid went deep into a chamber when The battle started. We were scattered and tried to drive the minotaur's away from the casters. Tom's Druid fell helpless to a Minotaur chief, but the Dm didn't killed him. At the moment, just my warlock or the paladin could help him, but the wizard was in trouble, so we agreed with the paladin that he would save the wizard and I would save Tom's Druid. Unluckily, I was intercepted by the Minotaur chief and had to engage with it. At this point Tom panicked and started to yell at us, calling us bad friends and bad players. When I killed the chief I got the druid to positive hit points again, and we went to save the others. When the fight ended, we were all on single-digit HP and the paladin was helpless. The cleric was going to cure him when Tom started to argue that he shouldn't be saved because he didn't care to save him, and attempted to coup de grace him. I told the Dm that I wouldn't allow him, so he told us to roll for initiative. I won and send him flying through the air helpless again with my eldritch blast.

He went crazy.
He Started to shout at us and to the Dm, telling him the adventure sucked and he was an ******. Tom threw away the table where the minis and the pizzas were and tried to punch Nick. We managed to tackle him and while my friends kept him down I called 911 from my cellphone.
Fifteen minutes later the cops showed up. I told them what had happened and they told us that he will be taken into custody. Tom, when he heard this, struggled and Kicked one of the officers in the leg before being taken to the patrol car. We were told to go to the police station and to sign some papers where we testified that he resisted arrest and assaulted an officer.

Right now I'm tired, sad because the session was horrible and ended terribly bad. I already talked to my friends, and we are never going to allow this psycho again in our group. What do you guys think? Have you ever been through something like this?

Caiphon.

[Seerow]

Look at it this way, it may have been a ****ty session, but at least you got an entertaining story you can tell out of it. And that's what really matters.

[Welknair]

Wow. No, I cannot say that sort of thing has ever happened to me. No wonder he was kicked out of his last group.

And Bardic D&D stories FTW.

[Shadowknight12]

"Wow. It's 02:07 AM were I live and I just got home from the police station."

I foresaw what the thread would entail when I read those words. I wish I had been mistaken.

Firstly: That sucks. A lot. Terribly sorry that happened to you, hopefully that will make you guys appreciate how awesome you all are from now on. And hopefully you'll be more careful in the future, too.

Secondly: Hope you guys never cross paths with that guy again.

Thirdly: I hope that guy gets the professional help he desperately needs.

Finally: Nope, never happened anything remotely like it to me. And it's a good thing it didn't, because I'm more of a "punch back" type, rather than a "restrain" type.

[Douglas]

That's pretty bad, worse than I've ever had to deal with. I hope you never have to handle something like that again.

I have never personally been through anything like that - no violence, and certainly no arrests - but I've seen stories like it or worse. For comparison, the Lanky Bugger Saga. Read, and be glad that however bad your session may have been at least you didn't have to deal with this:
I think I just dealt with the worst gaming session
In which the worst session comes back to haunt me. Sort of.
New Worst Session: How Lanky got hisself stabbed!

[Caiphon]

Thanks guys, you cheered up my mood

Edit: I've never read lanky's stories, poor guy! He's been through much worse than I did!

[Douglas]

Edit: I've never read lanky's stories, poor guy! He's been through much worse than I did!

There are a few updates from Lanky after the first post in each of the threads that are worth reading to get a bit more of the story, and there's no way you read all of it that fast. Anyway, they are pretty much the crown jewel of D&D session horror stories.

The second one seems more funny than horrible to me, though - it's not that the session was bad, but that

Spoiler

Show

someone was stealing the first story and through bizarre coincidence got exposed by telling said story in a group where the real originator was part of his audience without either of them realizing it ahead of time.

[Caiphon]

and there's no way you read all of it that fast.

Hahaha, I haven't read all, just the first one and now onto the second one, though the spoiler spoiled me

[Serpentine]

IIRC though, the stabbing story appears to have been someone else making crap up. Worth keeping in mind.

[Douglas]

IIRC though, the stabbing story appears to have been someone else making crap up. Worth keeping in mind.

What makes you say that? I don't recall any evidence that it wasn't genuine, and he did post pretty solid evidence of being the same person as the first story despite using a different account.

[Flame of Anor]

Wow, that's terrible! I agree with Seerow about getting an entertaining story out of it, though. And to be quite frank, I think you're much better off than the people with players in their groups who are constantly disruptive, but they can't get rid of them. I hope your minis are okay.

[Draz74]

Edit: I've never read lanky's stories, poor guy! He's been through much worse than I did!

Yeah, but you came a lot closer to his experience than most people who post "worst session EVER!" stories on the forums. Congrats?

[Xiander]

That is a pretty awful story to live through.

The closest i have is the problem player who threatened to commit suicide when we finally kicked him out.

[Serpentine]

What makes you say that? I don't recall any evidence that it wasn't genuine, and he did post pretty solid evidence of being the same person as the first story despite using a different account.

From memory, because someone claiming to be the true Lanky came out and said so. I'll see if I can find the thread/post/s in question, but it was ages ago so I dunno.

edit: There's some discussion of the questions raised by that story here. Conclusion: inconclusive. However, it does seem odd that Lanky would start a whole new account, then continue to use his old account for some time afterwards.

[Flame of Anor]

The closest i have is the problem player who threatened to commit suicide when we finally kicked him out.

Life imitates Jack Chick...

[MickJay]

And this is why folks in the society I'm in don't tend to invite new players into house games without getting to know them at least a little beforehand.

My sympathies, and hopefully that Tom person won't bother you again.

[DarkEternal]

I wonder what the cops' reaction was when they heard that things went to crap and turned hostile to the point it needed their intervention during a game of DnD. Serious business.

Still, yeah, you all acted like gentlemen in the end that you didn't gang up and beat the crap out of that douchebag and threw him out on the street. You're a better person then I am.

[Xiander]

Life imitates Jack Chick...

Not really, this guy was just shouting in an attempt to be heard. Our GM was real cool about it and talked him down, explaining that even if he wanted to come back to the group, threatening suicide was really the worst possible way to go about it.

I also know the person did not commit suicide, since i have had a couple of less than joyful encounters with him at later points in time.

[Iceforge]

From memory, because someone claiming to be the true Lanky came out and said so. I'll see if I can find the thread/post/s in question, but it was ages ago so I dunno.

edit: There's some discussion of the questions raised by that story here. Conclusion: inconclusive. However, it does seem odd that Lanky would start a whole new account, then continue to use his old account for some time afterwards.

Oh?

Last post by "That Lanky Bugger" was 04-02-2007 as far as I can see and "Return of Lanky" has a join date 09-23-2008 meaning a good one and a half years went by from "That Lanky Bugger" stopped posting until "Return of Lanky" even joined.

And the story would see more like a fake if "Return of Lanky" had jumped immediately to posting that story, but he had a lot of other activities before that.

I don't know either way tho, could be a faker

[TheCountAlucard]

His name is Tom.

Our Dm, Nick, agreed...

Nick

Tom's Druid...

Tom's Druid...

Tom's Druid...

At this point Tom panicked...

Tom threw away the table where the minis and the pizzas were and tried to punch Nick.

Tom, when he heard this, struggled...

Not a bad story, but I'm hoping you're using fake names here. Just saying, I generally prefer not to use a person's IRL name, even if I have reason to utterly detest them.

[KillianHawkeye]

Not a bad story, but I'm hoping you're using fake names here. Just saying, I generally prefer not to use a person's IRL name, even if I have reason to utterly detest them.

What difference does it make? It's just a first name, not first and last names and also their address. Real or not real, there's nothing you could use the information for.

[Mastikator]

...Damn

Note to self; when inviting a new player who was kicked out of his last group, find out why he was kicked out.

[TheCountAlucard]

What difference does it make? It's just a first name, not first and last names and also their address. Real or not real, there's nothing you could use the information for.

Politeness, for one. Discretion, for another.

I imagine if I was in your gaming group, and I posted something to the effect of, "[KillianHawkeye] was doing [x] and [y], and this means he's a bad player," I'd expect you to be upset, regardless of whether or not your whole name is being given.

[Lord Loss]

I almost had my arm broken by a player at a D&D session. Because I forgot my copy "Tome of Magic" and (I was DMing) refused to let a player deal 10d6 damage with Killing Shadow. Whereupon another player grabbed by arm and threatened to break.

We're still friends though, as he had been going through rough times and stuff (and it's been a few years, over the course of which he's changed a lot).

[Jay R]

What difference does it make? It's just a first name, not first and last names and also their address. Real or not real, there's nothing you could use the information for.

... and Tom is so good about being rational and not over-reacting when he thinks he's been mistreated.

[TriForce]

whoa, i hope you wont think badly of me, since i realize this must have been a shocking experience, but that tom guy was such a idiot that it was actually funny.

i can only imagine him sitting in his cell thinking "wow i ****ed up"

[Fiery Diamond]

Politeness, for one. Discretion, for another.

I imagine if I was in your gaming group, and I posted something to the effect of, "[KillianHawkeye] was doing [x] and [y], and this means he's a bad player," I'd expect you to be upset, regardless of whether or not your whole name is being given.

Well, that assumes that both 1 and 2 are the case, and lacking 3 lessens the chance also: 1)He is on these boards (KillianHawkeye is, but these people may not be), 2a) His name is sufficiently uncommon or 2b) His offense stands out as an identifying feature ("Tom's" does, but whatever you hypothetically might post about a player might not be) or 2c) The person being talked about is very suspicious and will jump to conclusions that he is being referenced, and 3) he knows that the person posting it is on the boards and knows their user name.

If the person doesn't visit the boards, they won't know to be able to get upset about it, so as long as you don't provide info with which you could track someone down, I fail to see a problem.

If the person doesn't have a distinctive name, didn't do something that would immediately identify as unique enough to describe just that person's behavior, and is also not a suspicious slightly-paranoid offense-taker, they are unlikely to be certain that they themselves are being discussed and thus get really upset; I fail to see a problem.

[Doktor Per]

Try to find a way to feel thankful to Tom. Sure he ruined an evening of DnD and you never want to meet the crazy guy again. But he gave you a more important thing, a story about DnD that won't bore mundanes out of their brain, when you had to call the police because a guy lost his ship over a board game.

[hangedman1984]

Life imitates Jack Chick...

pfft, i've never been able to mind-control my parents with dnd spells

[Giggling Ghast]

Oof. That's pretty bad. My condolences.