Dm Dictating Actions (Prologue) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Dm Dictating Actions (Prologue) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Save_vs_DM
03-18-04, 12:57 AM Okay, here's the short version:

One of my players decided he wanted to DM. He's a longtime DM, but new to 3.5e. I've never played under him, but another guy has. I'm beginning to have a few worries, which I'll summarize below.

1: He had us roll 3d6 standard for stats. We could roll until we had decent stats (I had to roll 11 times before I had positive modifiers). (This really doesn't concern me too much, though his reasoning does. He stated he did this so he wouldn't feel guilty handing out "nice stat enhancing items."

2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me)

3: He sent out a written account of how we met. In this account, he dicated what my character did. I am playing a dwarven fighter, and he had my character buy drinks for the entire tavern. This is nothing like what my character is like, in my opinion (I pictured him as fairly stereotypical). While this is pretty minor, it has really bothered me. Plus, I would have liked to roleplay the meetings he described.

4: He plans to run old modules. I don't think he has updated them.

What do you all think? Am I overracting to something minor?
Cheers,
Save-vs-DM
bitnine
03-18-04, 01:33 AM Heh. You might just be sensing delicious problems to come. And from the sounds of it they will likely soon arrive.
BW0222
03-18-04, 01:45 AM Save_vs_DM,

1. Stats
Really doesn't matter how you roll them up. It's a personal choice. I like point-buy simply because it is faster and equal.

2. Books
You need the PHB. I'd recommend you and the rest of the group put in a few bucks each and buy him one. I've seen a lot of DMs run games with limited knowledge of the rules which still do a really good job. I've run entire game systems which I've never run.

3. Backgrounds
It's not uncommon for DMs to come up with backgrounds for PCs in a campaign. Typically, you review it with each player prior to playing. He should be careful about dictating actions, but sometimes it is just faster to go with it just to get the game going. You'll have plenty of chances to define your PC over the next few months.

4. Old Modules
That is pretty hard. 3e just isn't something which translates from 1e or 2e modules. In 3e combat is far more time consuming and percise. A 1e dungeon crawl with 20 rooms could take weeks in 3e. Stats different and equally percise.

My recommendation is to have him sit through a few session with you. Next, have him run a few combats himself. Give him some idea how long it takes to do 30 seconds of combat.

Thanks,

Brett
PhaedrusXY
03-18-04, 01:47 AM Originally posted by Save_vs_DM
2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me)That's enough to stop me in my tracks right there. I probably know the rules too well for most of the people I game with, but I try to curb my inner rules-lawyer alot of the time to preserve some kind of continuity in the game and not have to stop every 5 minutes to argue about something. But I definitely couldn't handle this.

He should use a "Co-DM" until he learns the rules better. He could write up the adventures and narrate them, and this Co-DM could offer advice on the rules before and during the game, and make any on the fly interpretations that need to be made. The Co-DM can play a character that is kind of a DMPC/NPC that is somehow important for the group and/or adventure. This NPC could change throughout the campaign, if desired.

I've seen some of the groups I've gamed with use this system, and it works ok if at least one of the DMs knows the rules reasonably well.
fruits and vegetables
03-18-04, 02:29 AM Originally posted by BW0222
2. Books
You need the PHB. I'd recommend you and the rest of the group put in a few bucks each and buy him one. I've seen a lot of DMs run games with limited knowledge of the rules which still do a really good job. I've run entire game systems which I've never run.

I do not recommend this. If you do, only agree to buy him the PHB. This can set a standard of the DM expecting all his books to be bought buy the players. I had a personal situation of a DM not letting material in a game unless he owned the book. He of course did not buy too many books.

My advice on your comments,
1. Not a big problem. Maybe tedious but he lets you get decent stats.
2. Maybe pitch in and buy him a PHB and MM if you want. NO FURTHER THOUGH! A DM has benefits for putting up with planning adventures for players. Like not pitching in for snacks or pizza, best seat, things like that. It does not mean they get all the books for free.

Also, Perhaps DM him until he is knowledgeable enough of the rules to run the game.
3. Not a big problem either. I prefer to have all the characters of a game already met. I hate the whole introduction part of games where you are like..."Hi, i am gulstaf, sorcerer of light! I have green piercing eyes, my hobbies include skiing, sky diving, orc slaughtering, hiking, and adventuring. I am wearing a blue cloak, i have brown hair cut short but spiked, i have at my side a longsword, i am dark and mysterious, i am 6 feet tall, male, human, in my early 20's. I like going out and having a good time but am content to spend an evening snuggled up around a fire place with a cup of hot co-co and a pretty young female at my side.........zzzzzzzzz"
4. Make sure they are 3rd edition at least. Or at least make sure they are translated to 3rd edition.
bitnine
03-18-04, 03:00 AM You know, you might want to have him run a short-term campaign, something designed to be about 10 sessions or so. That's probably a good length to go ahead and have some fun playing out a game, and then having it be over after not too long so that you/he can look at the good and bad parts and make adjustments when setting up the next one.
Brillock of Ithicus
03-18-04, 03:40 AM ha, poor you , you will be level 15 in an wink.... sorry, no character development!

i had a DM like this. don't be surprised if you see tons of anamie stuff or things you seen in movies recently. don't be surprised if the DM actually acts like he knows what he's talking about and he doesn't. and yeah, if your a wizard with lo hit points oh watch out for that ring of MEGA toughness (120 hp) yeah i had a DM like this. if you tried to act your turn out of combat. yeah you seriously got tuned out while his npc's did there thing. needless to say i said his world sucked now he's a pc behind my brothers game. and he just lost paladin hood because he thinks that all paladins act like samuri! ha! sorry for you!
Giarc
03-18-04, 04:15 AM I'm in the poster's group and I'm curious how things will go as well, but I'm not going to take a negative stance before the campaign even starts.

About the dictated actions, tell the DM that is not what your character would do. It was a minor infraction in his attempt to get the story started so we know what is going on an can start playing. If you didn't buy the drinks, then someone else did, he was just telling a little story.

I'm willing to go into this with an open mind and see how it goes. If we don't have fun we will tell him. Heck, we have two other campaigns going as well as this new one.

Plus, our group rotates campaigns every two weeks, so after his two weeks we can use hindsight to see how things went. Worrying about it beforehand may just set your mindset to negative and guarantee you wont have fun.
bahamut_0
03-18-04, 04:26 AM Hmmmm, well.... eh..... have fun with your +17 Vorpal Greatswords! :D
Giarc
03-18-04, 04:29 AM That shouldn't be a problem. I played a little with this guy back in 2E times and he didn't Monty Haul then.
Null Boundry
03-18-04, 05:08 AM Whatever happened to being nice to the DM and teaching/helping him as he goes along? Yes he'll probably make mistakes and do things you wouldn't but at the end of each game make time fot the group to sit down and offer (positive) feedback.
bahamut_0
03-18-04, 05:42 AM Well that's ok then. Eh, I guess all you can really do is help him learn as you guys play.
SureFoot
03-18-04, 09:48 AM Originally posted by Giarc

I'm willing to go into this with an open mind and see how it goes.

Normally I might agree with you. However, I would definitely flat-out refuse to play with a DM who isn't at least *passingly* familiar with the rules in the PHB (preferably *intimately* familiar). You can't build a house without a foundation, there's just no two ways about it. The PHB is the foundation.

Oh, I'd also have a serious problem with my DM dictating even minor actions my character made (unless he was under magical thrall or something). DON'T let that slide; it sets a precedent for far more severe infractions in the future.
MattMart
03-18-04, 11:45 AM unless you want to DM all the time...
deal with it...give him pointers....play the characters he wants you to play....then when he starts next time you'll have more freedom...

Dont let your player concept disrupt his DMing...you are the seasoned veterine, shape your character around his setting this time....you have to be a better role player than he is DM...roll with his punches, jump through the hoops....but dont make things more difficult for him than they allready are...

Heck, most times in someones first DM attempt, I let them tell us what to make for characters, class and race...just makes things easier for them....
Brillock of Ithicus
03-18-04, 01:24 PM Originally posted by MattMart
unless you want to DM all the time...
deal with it...give him pointers....play the characters he wants you to play....then when he starts next time you'll have more freedom...

wow, there is something about playing a character carbon'd to what the dm wants.... ha its like hey you, your a dwarf and you got to use the great ax and you got to take levels in dwaven defender when you get there.

yeah thanks i'll DM looser! (in reference of the situation not to any forum people)

then ill xp burn him for a few sessions then every thing will be back to square zero. the way i see it if you can't play the character you want and develop him or her the way you want, your practically dming yourself. and if you have to do this so its easier on your dm thats crapola. the dm should know that you'll want to play characters the way you want to play them. if they can't respect that they shouldn't let themselves be dm, or give false belief that you get to do that.

thanks, but you guy's are probabbly right... conform!
pres_man
03-18-04, 03:12 PM One of my players decided he wanted to DM. He's a longtime DM, but new to 3.5e. I've never played under him, but another guy has. I'm beginning to have a few worries, which I'll summarize below.

2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me)

So he is playing right now without a PHB? I imagine that is kind of difficult. Why did he buy the DMG before the PHB? Tell him to cough up the money and get a PHB. There is being cheap and then there is just being stupid. If he doesn't want to buy it, then send him to the SRD and have him start printing off pages.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35

1: He had us roll 3d6 standard for stats. We could roll until we had decent stats (I had to roll 11 times before I had positive modifiers). (This really doesn't concern me too much, though his reasoning does. He stated he did this so he wouldn't feel guilty handing out "nice stat enhancing items."

O....k..., why not let you get good stats by rolling or point buy and not handing out "nice stat enhancing items". Who choose when decent stats were gotten? I mean could you keep rolling until you got nothing lower than a 14?

3: He sent out a written account of how we met. In this account, he dicated what my character did. I am playing a dwarven fighter, and he had my character buy drinks for the entire tavern. This is nothing like what my character is like, in my opinion (I pictured him as fairly stereotypical). While this is pretty minor, it has really bothered me. Plus, I would have liked to roleplay the meetings he described.

A little immature but then again there are those players that don't want to get the party together at the start. Maybe your character got really drunk and then decided to buy the entire tavern a round. Then he did something he normally wouldn't because he was drunk.

4: He plans to run old modules. I don't think he has updated them.

If he is using them because he thought the stories were better in them, great. If he keeps talking about THaCo, then there is a big problem. And tell him to get the PHB and the MM, so he is up to date on the stats of the monsters. Believe me, I was running out of my 3rd edition MM for a while and it was a pain in the rump. So much nicer to have 3.5 MM (especially since half the party loves to grapple).
aka Jimmy
03-18-04, 03:42 PM Originally posted by Save_vs_DM
Okay, here's the short version:

One of my players decided he wanted to DM. He's a longtime DM, but new to 3.5e. I've never played under him, but another guy has. I'm beginning to have a few worries, which I'll summarize below.

1: He had us roll 3d6 standard for stats. We could roll until we had decent stats (I had to roll 11 times before I had positive modifiers). (This really doesn't concern me too much, though his reasoning does. He stated he did this so he wouldn't feel guilty handing out "nice stat enhancing items."

2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me)

3: He sent out a written account of how we met. In this account, he dicated what my character did. I am playing a dwarven fighter, and he had my character buy drinks for the entire tavern. This is nothing like what my character is like, in my opinion (I pictured him as fairly stereotypical). While this is pretty minor, it has really bothered me. Plus, I would have liked to roleplay the meetings he described.

4: He plans to run old modules. I don't think he has updated them.

What do you all think? Am I overracting to something minor?
Cheers,
Save-vs-DM

I told you this guy would be trouble :)
1st/2nd Ed. DMs usually are, until they have some real 3rd ed experience under their belt.
fruits and vegetables
03-18-04, 03:51 PM aka Jimmy,
Do you game with him too? Or is that just a generalized comment.

Just curious.:)
KShaver
03-18-04, 04:38 PM 1. Not a problem yet, and will only become one if he uses it as an excuse to overload the party with items. This is one reason I prefer point buy, everyone is equal and the GM knows where they sit.

2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me)

2. Also not a problem yet. My best suggestion is, if he is a responsable person, to lend him those books for a couple of weeks. My next suggestion is to have him buy the books. Lastly if neither of those first two are possible, and sometimes even when they are, to have him download and read the SRD. D&D has too many minor things you won't know if you haven't at least peroused the core books once over.

3. Actually this was a very good idea on his part. Sometimes the initial meeting is simply too problematic to roleplay out, many a game has ended right there with all the PCs all killing each other. Since it was written by the GM players will have to ignore minor inconsistancies that may have occured pre-game. Yes, he could have made some extra effort by asking about character history and personalities ahead of time, but that wouldn't guarantee that there would be no problems.

4. Again not a problem, but they do take some effort to convert to current rules. I know I'm playing in a game that is a bad conversion of an old 1e module and the inconsistancies are pretty glaring (save or die poisons anyone?). As long as he converts everything to current rules and checks CRs and ELs before causing a TPK he should be fine.

What do you all think? Am I overracting to something minor?

I think you'll have to play a game or two with him to find out if you like his style. The biggest problem I see is that he doesn't know the core rules very well, which means he is a lot more likely to make an on the fly game-breaking rules decision than someone who understands how all the rules work together. Delaying the game a month to make sure he has time to read the rules (even the SRD) may not be a bad idea. Aside from that it does look like he is trying to run a good game. See what you can do to help him out.
Giarc
03-19-04, 05:39 AM We played tonight and, just to let you know, things went fine with the new DM. He has bought the three core books (he got the PHB and MM since our last session). We didn't have to rules lawyer him any more than a normal game (ie. not much), and the campaign seems like it will be fun.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Save_vs_DM 03-18-04, 12:57 AM	Okay, here's the short version: One of my players decided he wanted to DM. He's a longtime DM, but new to 3.5e. I've never played under him, but another guy has. I'm beginning to have a few worries, which I'll summarize below. 1: He had us roll 3d6 standard for stats. We could roll until we had decent stats (I had to roll 11 times before I had positive modifiers). (This really doesn't concern me too much, though his reasoning does. He stated he did this so he wouldn't feel guilty handing out "nice stat enhancing items." 2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me) 3: He sent out a written account of how we met. In this account, he dicated what my character did. I am playing a dwarven fighter, and he had my character buy drinks for the entire tavern. This is nothing like what my character is like, in my opinion (I pictured him as fairly stereotypical). While this is pretty minor, it has really bothered me. Plus, I would have liked to roleplay the meetings he described. 4: He plans to run old modules. I don't think he has updated them. What do you all think? Am I overracting to something minor? Cheers, Save-vs-DM
bitnine 03-18-04, 01:33 AM	Heh. You might just be sensing delicious problems to come. And from the sounds of it they will likely soon arrive.
BW0222 03-18-04, 01:45 AM	Save_vs_DM, 1. Stats Really doesn't matter how you roll them up. It's a personal choice. I like point-buy simply because it is faster and equal. 2. Books You need the PHB. I'd recommend you and the rest of the group put in a few bucks each and buy him one. I've seen a lot of DMs run games with limited knowledge of the rules which still do a really good job. I've run entire game systems which I've never run. 3. Backgrounds It's not uncommon for DMs to come up with backgrounds for PCs in a campaign. Typically, you review it with each player prior to playing. He should be careful about dictating actions, but sometimes it is just faster to go with it just to get the game going. You'll have plenty of chances to define your PC over the next few months. 4. Old Modules That is pretty hard. 3e just isn't something which translates from 1e or 2e modules. In 3e combat is far more time consuming and percise. A 1e dungeon crawl with 20 rooms could take weeks in 3e. Stats different and equally percise. My recommendation is to have him sit through a few session with you. Next, have him run a few combats himself. Give him some idea how long it takes to do 30 seconds of combat. Thanks, Brett
PhaedrusXY 03-18-04, 01:47 AM	Originally posted by Save_vs_DM 2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me)That's enough to stop me in my tracks right there. I probably know the rules too well for most of the people I game with, but I try to curb my inner rules-lawyer alot of the time to preserve some kind of continuity in the game and not have to stop every 5 minutes to argue about something. But I definitely couldn't handle this. He should use a "Co-DM" until he learns the rules better. He could write up the adventures and narrate them, and this Co-DM could offer advice on the rules before and during the game, and make any on the fly interpretations that need to be made. The Co-DM can play a character that is kind of a DMPC/NPC that is somehow important for the group and/or adventure. This NPC could change throughout the campaign, if desired. I've seen some of the groups I've gamed with use this system, and it works ok if at least one of the DMs knows the rules reasonably well.
fruits and vegetables 03-18-04, 02:29 AM	Originally posted by BW0222 2. Books You need the PHB. I'd recommend you and the rest of the group put in a few bucks each and buy him one. I've seen a lot of DMs run games with limited knowledge of the rules which still do a really good job. I've run entire game systems which I've never run. I do not recommend this. If you do, only agree to buy him the PHB. This can set a standard of the DM expecting all his books to be bought buy the players. I had a personal situation of a DM not letting material in a game unless he owned the book. He of course did not buy too many books. My advice on your comments, 1. Not a big problem. Maybe tedious but he lets you get decent stats. 2. Maybe pitch in and buy him a PHB and MM if you want. NO FURTHER THOUGH! A DM has benefits for putting up with planning adventures for players. Like not pitching in for snacks or pizza, best seat, things like that. It does not mean they get all the books for free. Also, Perhaps DM him until he is knowledgeable enough of the rules to run the game. 3. Not a big problem either. I prefer to have all the characters of a game already met. I hate the whole introduction part of games where you are like..."Hi, i am gulstaf, sorcerer of light! I have green piercing eyes, my hobbies include skiing, sky diving, orc slaughtering, hiking, and adventuring. I am wearing a blue cloak, i have brown hair cut short but spiked, i have at my side a longsword, i am dark and mysterious, i am 6 feet tall, male, human, in my early 20's. I like going out and having a good time but am content to spend an evening snuggled up around a fire place with a cup of hot co-co and a pretty young female at my side.........zzzzzzzzz" 4. Make sure they are 3rd edition at least. Or at least make sure they are translated to 3rd edition.
bitnine 03-18-04, 03:00 AM	You know, you might want to have him run a short-term campaign, something designed to be about 10 sessions or so. That's probably a good length to go ahead and have some fun playing out a game, and then having it be over after not too long so that you/he can look at the good and bad parts and make adjustments when setting up the next one.
Brillock of Ithicus 03-18-04, 03:40 AM	ha, poor you , you will be level 15 in an wink.... sorry, no character development! i had a DM like this. don't be surprised if you see tons of anamie stuff or things you seen in movies recently. don't be surprised if the DM actually acts like he knows what he's talking about and he doesn't. and yeah, if your a wizard with lo hit points oh watch out for that ring of MEGA toughness (120 hp) yeah i had a DM like this. if you tried to act your turn out of combat. yeah you seriously got tuned out while his npc's did there thing. needless to say i said his world sucked now he's a pc behind my brothers game. and he just lost paladin hood because he thinks that all paladins act like samuri! ha! sorry for you!
Giarc 03-18-04, 04:15 AM	I'm in the poster's group and I'm curious how things will go as well, but I'm not going to take a negative stance before the campaign even starts. About the dictated actions, tell the DM that is not what your character would do. It was a minor infraction in his attempt to get the story started so we know what is going on an can start playing. If you didn't buy the drinks, then someone else did, he was just telling a little story. I'm willing to go into this with an open mind and see how it goes. If we don't have fun we will tell him. Heck, we have two other campaigns going as well as this new one. Plus, our group rotates campaigns every two weeks, so after his two weeks we can use hindsight to see how things went. Worrying about it beforehand may just set your mindset to negative and guarantee you wont have fun.
bahamut_0 03-18-04, 04:26 AM	Hmmmm, well.... eh..... have fun with your +17 Vorpal Greatswords! :D
Giarc 03-18-04, 04:29 AM	That shouldn't be a problem. I played a little with this guy back in 2E times and he didn't Monty Haul then.
Null Boundry 03-18-04, 05:08 AM	Whatever happened to being nice to the DM and teaching/helping him as he goes along? Yes he'll probably make mistakes and do things you wouldn't but at the end of each game make time fot the group to sit down and offer (positive) feedback.
bahamut_0 03-18-04, 05:42 AM	Well that's ok then. Eh, I guess all you can really do is help him learn as you guys play.
SureFoot 03-18-04, 09:48 AM	Originally posted by Giarc I'm willing to go into this with an open mind and see how it goes. Normally I might agree with you. However, I would definitely flat-out refuse to play with a DM who isn't at least passingly familiar with the rules in the PHB (preferably intimately familiar). You can't build a house without a foundation, there's just no two ways about it. The PHB is the foundation. Oh, I'd also have a serious problem with my DM dictating even minor actions my character made (unless he was under magical thrall or something). DON'T let that slide; it sets a precedent for far more severe infractions in the future.
MattMart 03-18-04, 11:45 AM	unless you want to DM all the time... deal with it...give him pointers....play the characters he wants you to play....then when he starts next time you'll have more freedom... Dont let your player concept disrupt his DMing...you are the seasoned veterine, shape your character around his setting this time....you have to be a better role player than he is DM...roll with his punches, jump through the hoops....but dont make things more difficult for him than they allready are... Heck, most times in someones first DM attempt, I let them tell us what to make for characters, class and race...just makes things easier for them....
Brillock of Ithicus 03-18-04, 01:24 PM	Originally posted by MattMart unless you want to DM all the time... deal with it...give him pointers....play the characters he wants you to play....then when he starts next time you'll have more freedom... wow, there is something about playing a character carbon'd to what the dm wants.... ha its like hey you, your a dwarf and you got to use the great ax and you got to take levels in dwaven defender when you get there. yeah thanks i'll DM looser! (in reference of the situation not to any forum people) then ill xp burn him for a few sessions then every thing will be back to square zero. the way i see it if you can't play the character you want and develop him or her the way you want, your practically dming yourself. and if you have to do this so its easier on your dm thats crapola. the dm should know that you'll want to play characters the way you want to play them. if they can't respect that they shouldn't let themselves be dm, or give false belief that you get to do that. thanks, but you guy's are probabbly right... conform!
pres_man 03-18-04, 03:12 PM	One of my players decided he wanted to DM. He's a longtime DM, but new to 3.5e. I've never played under him, but another guy has. I'm beginning to have a few worries, which I'll summarize below. 2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me) So he is playing right now without a PHB? I imagine that is kind of difficult. Why did he buy the DMG before the PHB? Tell him to cough up the money and get a PHB. There is being cheap and then there is just being stupid. If he doesn't want to buy it, then send him to the SRD and have him start printing off pages. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35 1: He had us roll 3d6 standard for stats. We could roll until we had decent stats (I had to roll 11 times before I had positive modifiers). (This really doesn't concern me too much, though his reasoning does. He stated he did this so he wouldn't feel guilty handing out "nice stat enhancing items." O....k..., why not let you get good stats by rolling or point buy and not handing out "nice stat enhancing items". Who choose when decent stats were gotten? I mean could you keep rolling until you got nothing lower than a 14? 3: He sent out a written account of how we met. In this account, he dicated what my character did. I am playing a dwarven fighter, and he had my character buy drinks for the entire tavern. This is nothing like what my character is like, in my opinion (I pictured him as fairly stereotypical). While this is pretty minor, it has really bothered me. Plus, I would have liked to roleplay the meetings he described. A little immature but then again there are those players that don't want to get the party together at the start. Maybe your character got really drunk and then decided to buy the entire tavern a round. Then he did something he normally wouldn't because he was drunk. 4: He plans to run old modules. I don't think he has updated them. If he is using them because he thought the stories were better in them, great. If he keeps talking about THaCo, then there is a big problem. And tell him to get the PHB and the MM, so he is up to date on the stats of the monsters. Believe me, I was running out of my 3rd edition MM for a while and it was a pain in the rump. So much nicer to have 3.5 MM (especially since half the party loves to grapple).
aka Jimmy 03-18-04, 03:42 PM	Originally posted by Save_vs_DM Okay, here's the short version: One of my players decided he wanted to DM. He's a longtime DM, but new to 3.5e. I've never played under him, but another guy has. I'm beginning to have a few worries, which I'll summarize below. 1: He had us roll 3d6 standard for stats. We could roll until we had decent stats (I had to roll 11 times before I had positive modifiers). (This really doesn't concern me too much, though his reasoning does. He stated he did this so he wouldn't feel guilty handing out "nice stat enhancing items." 2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me) 3: He sent out a written account of how we met. In this account, he dicated what my character did. I am playing a dwarven fighter, and he had my character buy drinks for the entire tavern. This is nothing like what my character is like, in my opinion (I pictured him as fairly stereotypical). While this is pretty minor, it has really bothered me. Plus, I would have liked to roleplay the meetings he described. 4: He plans to run old modules. I don't think he has updated them. What do you all think? Am I overracting to something minor? Cheers, Save-vs-DM I told you this guy would be trouble :) 1st/2nd Ed. DMs usually are, until they have some real 3rd ed experience under their belt.
fruits and vegetables 03-18-04, 03:51 PM	aka Jimmy, Do you game with him too? Or is that just a generalized comment. Just curious.:)
KShaver 03-18-04, 04:38 PM	1. Not a problem yet, and will only become one if he uses it as an excuse to overload the party with items. This is one reason I prefer point buy, everyone is equal and the GM knows where they sit. 2: He hasn't even read the MM or PHB yet. He only owns the DMG. Additonally, I still have to remind him about many of the rules when he plays. He said that the rest of us knew the rules well enough to tell him what to do. (This one really, really concerns me) 2. Also not a problem yet. My best suggestion is, if he is a responsable person, to lend him those books for a couple of weeks. My next suggestion is to have him buy the books. Lastly if neither of those first two are possible, and sometimes even when they are, to have him download and read the SRD. D&D has too many minor things you won't know if you haven't at least peroused the core books once over. 3. Actually this was a very good idea on his part. Sometimes the initial meeting is simply too problematic to roleplay out, many a game has ended right there with all the PCs all killing each other. Since it was written by the GM players will have to ignore minor inconsistancies that may have occured pre-game. Yes, he could have made some extra effort by asking about character history and personalities ahead of time, but that wouldn't guarantee that there would be no problems. 4. Again not a problem, but they do take some effort to convert to current rules. I know I'm playing in a game that is a bad conversion of an old 1e module and the inconsistancies are pretty glaring (save or die poisons anyone?). As long as he converts everything to current rules and checks CRs and ELs before causing a TPK he should be fine. What do you all think? Am I overracting to something minor? I think you'll have to play a game or two with him to find out if you like his style. The biggest problem I see is that he doesn't know the core rules very well, which means he is a lot more likely to make an on the fly game-breaking rules decision than someone who understands how all the rules work together. Delaying the game a month to make sure he has time to read the rules (even the SRD) may not be a bad idea. Aside from that it does look like he is trying to run a good game. See what you can do to help him out.
Giarc 03-19-04, 05:39 AM	We played tonight and, just to let you know, things went fine with the new DM. He has bought the three core books (he got the PHB and MM since our last session). We didn't have to rules lawyer him any more than a normal game (ie. not much), and the campaign seems like it will be fun.