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« on: December 03, 2015, 05:04:31 PM »
Those of you who recognize my user name, you already know that I've had absolutely no luck when it comes to finding a group that didn't have a dick DM. I personally was able to come up with 50 different write ups for how you can tell your DM is a complete dick, and all of those were from personal experience. I'm cursed. It's been a while since I last ranted. Mostly because the last time I did it, I was a player, and the GM not only found it and kicked me out of the group, but "shamed" me to the rest of the group, and had each of them turn on me despite the fact that I was right about everything. As such, I'll be a lot more careful about how I describe the situation.
This particular rant is mostly about players. Namely those who do their absolute best to break your game world, or just aren't that into it. Or worse, players who pout because they're not getting their way, and make the game less fun for other players with their complaining, and lethargy.
I quit my usual weekly group that I'd been in for going on seven years. It just wasn't fun anymore. Not for me, not for the majority of the players, but it was for the DM and his best friend from way back. The DM was running a pre-made adventure path that was supposed to award winning. I'm sure it is. I'm just not seeing it because he revised it and made it boring. The player enjoys it because he gets to do and play however he wants without consequence to him, yet the DM houserules on the fly for the rest of us. Heck, I remember playing a LN character who lost all of his class abilities, despite not being a divine class, because I was more "neutral" than "lawful" because I agreed with letting a chaotic character kill an enemy NPC that the DM felt was "redeemable" had I actually tried. Why do I care? I was going to kill him myself. But nope, all my class abilities now. Now I'm no better than a NPC warrior. Yet this player can literally shoot us in the back when the player is throwing a temper tantrum, and just randomly decides to take it out on us, yet he's still able to keep his alignment and powers because "well that's how chaotic works". Yeah, chaotic EVIL maybe. Just, ugh. Then when the DM had an NPC outsider appear and tell the PCs that they had a time limit to finish their mission or they were automatically going to die, I was done. The other players miss me, but I've never felt so relieved.
I'd been in two other games with that troublesome player, that I ran, and he derailed both of them. If he didn't get his way, he crossed his arms, pouted, complain about why even bothering playing or saying anything if I was just going to point out that his ideas were bad ones, and somehow managed to poison a couple of the other players against me. He made it out that I was the dick DM, and that he was perfectly innocent. I actually lost most of my players, twice, because of it, and both games got canceled. Thankfully I had a couple of players that sided with me, and let me know that I was never at fault. When I had to deal with him a third time, but this time I was the player, I thought it'd be different just because I was on the side lines. Nope. It's worse because there's no disciplinary action this time around. Done.
Now I'm running a new game with a completely fresh group. I gathered them all from the local PFS players. I'd ran scenarios with them before, and they all seemed to be fine. Little did I know that two of them were actually personality clones of the troublesome player I had before, and they're dating each other. Also, two others are extremely good friends with those two, and if I kicked out the others, they'd go too. Here's what's going on:
1) The male player is all about optimization. That's fine. I normally don't mind that. But he's the kind of guy that sifts through hours of forums and posts desperately trying to find ways to break every imaginable build out there, and have the proof/references to shove in a GM's face so they can say "It's allowed. See? This random guy on this sketchy forum full of world breakers says it is." You know, despite the fact that RAW and RAI it's not even remotely legal, and no GM in existence would ever actually allow it. Even the game creators themselves have it on the FAQ stating that "No, you can not do this." So of course he tried to get away with everything, and when he gets shut down, he immediately gets defensive to the point of making it awkward (probably in hopes that I'll back down and just let him do whatever), or pout and whine. He's also very obsessive that everyone else in the group must be broken and optimized. No having fun. Crush, kill, destroy only. Make those characters are ridiculous as you can, and here's the forum threads to help. If you're not willing to do that, get out, or let him build your character for you because obviously you don't know what you're doing.
2) The female player is all about doing whatever she wants, even if the mechanics and rules say it's not possible. If she can't immediately do the best and most powerful action that round of combat, she won't do anything at all. Why? Because she can't get there and be powerful right now. And if she moves her character to a location, she'll just be a target that'll get attacked without being able to retaliate. If it's in a book just as an example, she wants it, even if it's just a context example. In the Dragon ball Z RPG, there's a side bar that talks about Superman's power level and how it compares to everyone else in the series. "It references Superman. I want to be Superman. Don't tell me I can't be Superman. See, right there it talks about him. Therefore I can play him." Also, if a character has an animal of some kind, she wants the "improved" version from the start, and have the ability to teleport and have super endurance so it can go running or flying infinitely without a break, but still magically appear at her side even if she left it at home. At level 1.
For now, I'm just seeing where this goes. It's only been two sessions, and I already feel an ulcer develop. It's amazing how quickly someone can change when PFS rules aren't part of the equation.
Does anyone remember when games were supposed to be fun? Where you just sat down at the table with friends, laugh it up, stereotype yourselves with Cheetos and Mountain Dew, roll some dice, and role play instead of roll play? I mean, I've heard of this. Never actually experienced it myself. Or I might have, but all of the bad stuff has just completely wiped all memory of the good stuff. I've been gaming for nearly 25 years. I've played in over a dozen groups, and had so many characters that I can't even try to count. During that time I think I've enjoyed myself a handful of times. At the very least I've been indifferent. I'm honestly debating if gaming is even for me at this point. And I don't play video games. Too broke for that. Haven't touched a game or console since the PS2 came out.
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