playgamecafe

Today was my second game day that I attended at the game cafe. I'd just like to express my complete distaste for their "style" of gaming. Both times the DM's had no grasp of the rules and needed my help to run the games. The first time I went most combats were taking over 3 hours and it wasn't the players that were slowing things down, I ended up spending 7 hours and 30 mins between the two battles. Besides that and the DM cheating on his dice rolls it really wasn't so bad. The second time around was a bit worse. Apparently from what I've been told the DM gains some sort of exp from killing characters, and he activly attempted to single out one character at a time so that they could achieve a kill. The second DM seemed to have no previous knowledge of 4e and had to be told repeatedly that shifting doesn't provoke an attack. He began the battle by singling out the barbarian and attacking him at all cost. After knocking him unconsious he used one complete monster turn to kill him (so that he could gain exp he said). He then set his sights on me and finally knocked me out around 2 hours later (same battle, in fact the entire 4 hours and 20 mins was spent in the first battle). After he got me down he proceeded to take three full monster turns, having everything attacking me so he could kill my character. While this entire time 5 other party members were attacking and killing his monsters. I just don't think this is a good DnD experience, a DM shouldn't be unfair so he can recieve some sort of reward. I expect more out of a game day, I don't want to sit around for 4 hours and 20 mins for one combat encounter. I don't mind my character getting killed in a game day as long as it's a fair kill, i've been to game days where I died that I enjoyed even though my character didn't make it all the way through. If you do something stupid and a DM kills you its one thing but when a DM singles you out and refuses to attack other players (who are active threats to his monsters) Just to get some "Exp" its stupid and death is unavoidable. I think game cafe should look into finding some real DM's that understand rules and can help teach new players the correct way to play the game, instead of rewarding poor DM's. Maybe then I could get some Exp rewards for playing at game days instead of sitting through 4 hours of unfair treatment and getting no reward. I'd also like to point out that apparently exp is issued by kill, so playing any type of support class is out of the question if you want to rack up points on your DCI account. The DM also gets exp if people quit a game, which makes sense why he would single people out in attempt to get them to leave and add new players to his group and also why he would drag the game along so slow (so he could get more people into one game and get more exp).
Now I would like to add that I do like game cafe as far as most of the people that work there, and they do have an awesome assortment of goods. It is just that this type of gaming is going to show new players the wrong way to play the game, and drive away players that already know the way a game should be ran and played. Because this isn't it.

Hi,

This is Tom with Game Cafe. I'm sorry your game wasn't up to what you had hoped. I totally understand as I've had several memorable experiences at Gen Con that I look back at now and can laugh about. It isn't funny though if you were expecting a certain style of play and the DM didn't come through.

D&D Game Days and Dungeon Delves are totally volunteer events and some DMs are really good, and others are still learning or have a different playing style that can be "out there". I'd happily run a "DM education class" at the store, but I haven't met any DMs yet that wanted pointers.

Your comments also sparked some ideas on how we could do things better. Wizards is getting better about supplying the materials farther ahead of the event, so we could have an experienced DM run it for the DMs "to be" the week before the main event. This might encourage our pool of DMs out there to promise their attendance for a time slot so we aren't stuck with no shows or late shows. We can also have players assigned to certain DMs they want and limit the spots for the event. People can still play pick-up games, but this will help the players that want to participate in a more "tournament" feeling event.

If anyone is interested in a Dungeon Delve run by yours truly, or are interested in a "DM training course", please email me or send me a message. Life is too short not to enjoy yourself with the game time you do have. I admire the stamina of players that stick it out through a long game session with a DM that isn't playing right or not playing it so it is fun. Games are supposed to be fun.

So time to email me people!

Game Cafe


Tom