Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TarlSS 06-21-06, 05:57 PM	This isn't a D&D specific post, because my DM doesn't play D20 often. He doesn't play fantasy often. He doesn't play ANY particular one thing often. His last campaign was just bad. It featured a very longwinded storyline and used the old Alternity system, slapping onto it completely new races/equipment and changing the world dynamic radically. It was 'post-apocalyptic' but pretty much just a fantasy game that ripped off a map of the United States. Not one, but THIRTEEN DMPCs were needed to be recruited to 'save the world' and we had to cajole and asskiss each one of them to do so, even though most of us just didn't give a damn. Needless to say, that campaign died. Learned his lesson that Alternity and adapting game systems was really not his strong suit. But now he uses GURPS. It's just fugly. We're in a world hopping campaign, so everything is unpredictable. Your character can be great one moment and terrible the next. I built a fairly mundane character, a naval officer from Star Wars. However, he's pretty much useless. You can't diplomacize in combat, and roleplay is basically reduced to figuring out some kind of 'key issue' or 'word puzzle' out of the DM. He's alot better than me at coming up with things on the fly and snappy word play, so my high diplomacy skills pretty much amount to nothing. (He's an actor/filmguy, so he has a professional advantage. It's like rules lawyering against an actual lawyer o_0) Additionally, he's brought in his obnoxious DMPCs again that make us kiss ass, and then throws a few throw away encounters at us to make us feel good. The game is also heavily magic, so my mundane character is often left sitting out uncomprehending of what's really going on. He has focus problems. Often he'll stay with one PC for a very long time, leaving the rest of us sitting doing nothing. This isn't favoritism, often he deals with random PC. The problem is- We're sitting doing nothing while someone essentially goes on a solo adventure or has a bargain. I often found myself programming for work, or doing homework for two hours. I used to watch movies. Eventually the point came where we had to kiss the ass of yet another obnoxious DMPC, and I was just sick of it. I essentially committed suicide by trying to kill him in the midst of his followers, and of course my character was kept alive as breeding stock when I left. A parting insult, if you will. Given. I left on good terms, no yelling, just statements that we weren't at all compatible. We're still friends, but I shudder at the thought of joining his games again. He constantly shifts rules sets so I can't know what to expect, and due to the nature of the setting (World Hopping) the dynamics of the setting change as well as leading to a rather hollow detachment to well, anything. So here it is. Is it just my imagination, or is this guy rail road city? He's a script writer, so that's to be expected. He often complains in games how I restrict his freedoms so I can retain an essence of flavor- often he tries to play poorly balanced random races out of nowhere that fit badly in the setting, setting himself up as the 'golden child' of roleplaying as it were. He often tries to push unplaytested custom rules that sound good on paper, bad in practice. As a result, most of my group has banned house rules. It's a shame. Is it just his style of DMing, or can he eventually improve to something stable where we can both enjoy a game?
DarkNick 06-21-06, 06:14 PM	Some people just are not made to DM. Sounds like he enjoys the creativity side and lording power and does not focus on 'creating an atmosphere of fun for all the players'. He probably sees the game as being all about him and his creations. I would say there is no hope. Start a new group, steal the good players. Chances are they dislike it as much as you.