Beej, are you part of the DC area browncoats group? I heard stories of an awful kerfuffle over their recent RPG.

That would be me.

One guy bent a shelf in my fridge and left it for me to clean up (though he may not have realized it)

Someone else took food not meant for the event

But the WORST was the friend of one of the players showing up after the thing was over...looking me in the eye and saying, "Do you have any other food? I expected food." I was FLOORED. Plus? The event was over. I needed people to leave and they. just. wouldn't.

The person whose friend it was got v. defensive...when in fact I don't think anyone even realized it was her friend until she took her agita to the public forum.

At any rate, the organizer of the group sent out a general, rules while playing at Beej's house message and it was ON. Blown terrifically out of proportion.

Are you connected to the group somehow Tamara?

cereal:

You wait, but see nothing out of the ordinary" and moved on to the rest of the group

This happened a lot. And made perfect sense once the whole story came together. The process really is fascinating. And the GM did a great job.

Beej, I'm good friends with Claudia. She vented to me in an email. I'm sorry you had to put up with such bad behavior.

OMG. I could not believe the things this woman was saying about Claudia who so graciously keeps us organized and on track...spends her own money...just like I do. It was craxy with a capital X, I tell you.

Since I'm the professional, deal-with-difficult-people gal, I told her to just forward all the vitriolic messages and I'd take care of them. She takes that sutff way too to heart, bless her.

The perp kept trying to get C to apologize. I nearly died. AND was peeved that C characterized her own, perfectly right behavior as less than such...giving fuel to a fire that she just did not deserve to be burned by.

C is a dear kind soul, and she does take these things to heart. I gave her some extreme passive aggressive tactics to use in the future.

One guy bent a shelf in my fridge and left it for me to clean up (though he may not have realized it)

Someone else took food not meant for the event

But the WORST was the friend of one of the players showing up after the thing was over...looking me in the eye and saying, "Do you have any other food? I expected food." I was FLOORED. Plus? The event was over. I needed people to leave and they. just. wouldn't.

WTF? Okay, if people showed up at my house and acted like that, I would be bemoaning the fact I didn't have an airlock to shove their asses out of.

There is such a thing as being accomodating to the group and whatnot, but the general rule is whoever's home you're playing in makes the rules. If people have a problem with that, they can either provide another location to play, or find another game to play.

I just wish that wasn't necessary!

but the general rule is whoever's home you're playing in makes the rules.

And yet, because I have 3 rules (no wet on wood, don't leave your food on the floor for my dog, and leave at 6pm) I am painted as intolerent.

The problem person said that rpgs are generally played in bachelor pads...where people don't care about the environment. Okay. But mine is a mid-level, nice place...you can't adjust?

The problem person said that rpgs are generally played in bachelor pads...where people don't care about the environment. Okay. But mine is a mid-level, nice place...you can't adjust?

No kidding. I've gamed in bachelor pads, basements, garages, and people's living rooms. You adjust based on the circumstances. Game or not, you're still entering another person's home.

Use a coaster, don't make my dog sick and go home when it's over are hardly unreasonable rules.

I know a lot of gamers like to talk about the session once it's over, which could be part of the wanting to leave problem. Is there anywhere nearby the group could go afterwards to socialize that you could recommend to them?

Running a game that's going well can be as big of a high as when you're writing and the words are just flying on to the page, and can be just as exhausting when you're done.

Heh. My longest single turn as a GM was a pulp-themed TORG game I ran in one marathon 11-hour session to avoid the problem of never being able to get all the people back in one place at the same time again (there were 10 players, some from other towns). Everyone seemed pretty enthused and wrapped up in it during, but when it ended at 4 am it was as if someone cut the strings of a whole room full of marionettes.