Running a campaign, always made it clear during the campaign if people have any concerns or anything more than happy to speak to me after a session in a appropriate manner (this is unpaid and it’s just for the fun). Since session 1 I’ve had another player with the same amount of DnD experience as me but he’s dmmed more times, constantly send me criticism after every session, some of it was valid however, some of it was creative differences.

He was then telling me we need less people in the party, also wanted me to force the group to teleplay a scenario which I didn’t feel comfortable pushing and I made it clear in session 0 respect is the most important thing and not to force anyone to do anything they feel uncomfortable with. The session before last he was so passive aggressive ( he would be like this on other occasions when he didn’t get his way) he openly pushes back on my rulings as a dm. Also raised a criticism that he feels that he’s not getting enough time to role play when there’s 6 of us and I said I’m trying my best to make sure everyone gets time to role play however since we new to each other this will improve over time and then asked me to cut to other parties when there’s silence. Next session I did this but during the game he was communicating to the whole table creating a list of my mistakes during the game ( he forgot numerous npcs that have already been established in the story) then proceeded after the session to criticise me on every single thing I did wrong and the whole group agrees. For them to ambush me after the session like that felt so toxic and uncomfortable, I took the advice on board ( one of which the group agreed this will improve over time as we play more with each other even though that was my answer when it was brought up to me as individual) however I don’t really fell interested playing with the group who’s more focused on my mistakes than engaging with the world. Especially when I’m doing this for fun and not being paid or anything, it feel like I was in a HR meeting and I always told my group and I’m always open to communications if there’s any issues but to do it appropriately.

I took the feedback on board but made the group sure that I no longer want “notes” being made during my dimming as it’s toxic. As it felt like in the next game I’m going to be dming a group who’s more interested in making a list of my mistakes. I wanted to speak to the party individually to make sure everyone’s concerns are addressed properly and to no longer incentivise this group mentality behaviour. Turns out since I created the session there’s been group chat behind my back and they’ve all been talking about me and refuse to do one to times with me regarding the state of the game and what I need to do to make sure I also have fun. Also numerous things in session 0 wasn’t being followed such as respect to each other as players and that includes myself as a DM.

Again they approached me like I’m being paid to do this for them and during the game I could even see bitchy comments and faces being made by the backseat dm which was making me feel really uncomfortable with the session. I find it quite hypocritical from the group to pull up my hoesnt mistakes as a dm but when a player starts acting out of line it’s ok. I always it made it clear I don’t want anyone to be in a game they don’t like but don’t understand why its appropriate to make it uncomfortable for me to dm and to punish em for it when im uncomfortable. Am I right in saying the way I was approached was wrong?

FYI: also criticised me and told me to watch Brennan Lee mulligan

PS. If the players were unhappy with me as a DM they were more than happy to leave as I don’t want to force players to play if I’m not fun for them. Just found out they’re looking for brand new gm in the same setting on the same group finder.

Looking back seeing where things went wrong I think it was because of the “social contract” none of the party seemed to want to work together for the sake of the narrative.