Post/Author/DateTime	Post
HomebrewedMonster 01-06-05, 01:14 AM	This is about my character Quint Eldar, he is a human ranger. Quick back ground is that he was fostered by elves thinking his father was dead. Then found bracers of archery called "Owen's Mark". So he did research and found out that there was once a ranger named Owen Brightmark. More research found that this was Quint's father. So he did research, hired scribes, and tried to track down some more items. His research found that his father was a bastard. I thought he was going to be a hero that didn't want his enemies to find his son. Turns out he was just a prick that dumped his kid off to someone that cared. Yay. Second my character joined the Harpers, yet never once sent him on a mission. They don't contact him and the only reason why some people think remember I'm a harper is because I have the lesser pin. So I decided that he left the party. Why? Because whatever I try to do with the character seems to just to not matter to the DM. So the other players want their tracker/machine gun to stay in the party. I just couldn't reason why my character would stay. The thing that really gets me is that the other characters always get a nice story arc while I just play tag along. We quested to find the Barbarian's mother, the dwarf found his dragon cohort, become permenantly large, and now has his own demi-plane, and the druid has been the focus of the majority of the campaign. Now I thought maybe it was just my this character, but with my next character a Paladin/Divine Champion of Torm on a quest to stop the taint of Bane on Toril, a deva come to him and said he is to follow the druid. So I probably one of the most powerful servants of Torm on Toril become a bodyguard to a Druid. So from now on I'm just going to make bland characters that are Neutral. That way I will not get frustrated about my character's background having no involvement to the campaign.
ShadowDragon8685 01-06-05, 01:30 AM	Sounds like you need to say "Sit da f*** down" to the DM, and explain to him, in no uncertain terms, how unhappy you are.
Maniacal_Cackle 01-06-05, 01:30 AM	First off, I am not a part of your campaign, so my opinion is not based on a lot of information... Second off, did you actually play out finding out all that information about your father? If so, I would say that is a great deal of attention right there... As for the harpers, for newer DM's it is hard to integrate their players into organizations they didn't plan on having people in. Third, having the campaign centered around one character is a bad idea. Having a representative of your God pop up and tell you to protect that character is quite similar to railroading, another very bad idea. Yet both very common mistakes of a new DM, which by now I suspect your DM is fairly new? If so, the first thing I would do would be sit down and talk to him. If that doesn't work, hopefully we can think of something else. Edit: And try to be quite understanding of his position. Beginning to DM is not an easy thing, and he is bound to make many mistakes. All I (try to) ever expect out of DM's is for them to be open-minded.
Aeromus 01-06-05, 03:01 AM	Sounds like he may resent you for something, or he believes you're the only player to take his "dung." I'd have a heart to heart, and then depending on how he reacts make a formal decision.
Phrennzy 01-06-05, 10:24 AM	It's because he hates you. He told me. But I would still talk to him about it. Show him your post. It's well written.
eudas 01-06-05, 11:24 AM	Sounds to me like your DM sees that you are a good roleplayer, and that you are busy making up story for your character, whereas he has to work harder with the other players to get them to develop their characters' stories. Hence, you don't get as much attention as the others, because he thinks you don't *need* as much attention as the others, because you're already doing a good job with roleplaying. You're already into it. You're there! You just need to remind him that yes, while you can come up with all this background stuff, you still need him to integrate it into the story arcs for you to have a good time. Just have a chat with the guy -- he probably doesn't know you feel this way. eudas
Thorak 01-06-05, 01:23 PM	This is about my character Quint Eldar, he is a human ranger. Quick back ground is that he was fostered by elves thinking his father was dead. Then found bracers of archery called "Owen's Mark". So he did research and found out that there was once a ranger named Owen Brightmark. More research found that this was Quint's father. So he did research, hired scribes, and tried to track down some more items. His research found that his father was a bastard. I thought he was going to be a hero that didn't want his enemies to find his son. Turns out he was just a prick that dumped his kid off to someone that cared. Yay. And? You don't pick your parents. Your character's dad abandoned you because he was a selfish prick. Such is life, plenty of people were abandoned by selfish prick fathers. Bringing a new aspect to the "raised by XXX because parents are dead" bit was actually really cool of the DM, IMHO. You have to remember, you created your character. But you did not create the world and everyone else just to fit what you wanted to have as a backstory. Second my character joined the Harpers, yet never once sent him on a mission. They don't contact him and the only reason why some people think remember I'm a harper is because I have the lesser pin. So I decided that he left the party. Why? Because whatever I try to do with the character seems to just to not matter to the DM. So the other players want their tracker/machine gun to stay in the party. I just couldn't reason why my character would stay. So maybe the Harpers don't need someone with your skills right now. It happens. They may also be involved in high-level stuff they don't feel you're ready for (or low-level stuff they don't want to waste your time with). As for the leaving the party, why? Because the DM isn't doing absolutely everything you want for your character exactly as you want him to do it? Frankly, grow up. Just because you're a Harper doesn't mean you're now their golden boy to be used in every important and interesting missions. You're lucky the DM isn't using your character as a Harper errand-boy for non-crucial information through perfectly safe terrain. The thing that really gets me is that the other characters always get a nice story arc while I just play tag along. We quested to find the Barbarian's mother, the dwarf found his dragon cohort, become permenantly large, and now has his own demi-plane, and the druid has been the focus of the majority of the campaign. And I guess "I was raised thinking my parents were dead, but now I have discovered that not only is my father alive, but he's not a good person like I always thought" doesn't count? Not to mention becoming a Harper. Now I thought maybe it was just my this character, but with my next character a Paladin/Divine Champion of Torm on a quest to stop the taint of Bane on Toril, a deva come to him and said he is to follow the druid. So I probably one of the most powerful servants of Torm on Toril become a bodyguard to a Druid. He's a Deva. He outranks you. If an even more powerful servant says you, as a powerful but lesser servant, have to bodyguard that druid, then maybe, just maybe, the druid's doing something Torm wants to make sure goes down. So from now on I'm just going to make bland characters that are Neutral. That way I will not get frustrated about my character's background having no involvement to the campaign. Ahh. So you're going to whine to the general public that your DM didn't give you the exact story arc you wanted, and then threaten to make boring characters as a form of revenge. Perhaps if you got interested in the hooks your DM is obviously throwing you, you would get interested in the character and the things he doesn't know about his own past. You don't define everything that led up to your character existing. You define your character, and their upbringing. Anything else is DM territory, and when they tweak it to make it more interesting than an overused, humdrum "orphan raised by elves" tagline, you have no reason to be anything but thankful.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 01-06-05, 04:00 PM	And? You don't pick your parents. Your character's dad abandoned you because he was a selfish prick. Such is life, plenty of people were abandoned by selfish prick fathers. Bringing a new aspect to the "raised by XXX because parents are dead" bit was actually really cool of the DM, IMHO. You have to remember, you created your character. But you did not create the world and everyone else just to fit what you wanted to have as a backstory. So maybe the Harpers don't need someone with your skills right now. It happens. They may also be involved in high-level stuff they don't feel you're ready for (or low-level stuff they don't want to waste your time with). As for the leaving the party, why? Because the DM isn't doing absolutely everything you want for your character exactly as you want him to do it? Frankly, grow up. Just because you're a Harper doesn't mean you're now their golden boy to be used in every important and interesting missions. You're lucky the DM isn't using your character as a Harper errand-boy for non-crucial information through perfectly safe terrain. And I guess "I was raised thinking my parents were dead, but now I have discovered that not only is my father alive, but he's not a good person like I always thought" doesn't count? Not to mention becoming a Harper. He's a Deva. He outranks you. If an even more powerful servant says you, as a powerful but lesser servant, have to bodyguard that druid, then maybe, just maybe, the druid's doing something Torm wants to make sure goes down. Ahh. So you're going to whine to the general public that your DM didn't give you the exact story arc you wanted, and then threaten to make boring characters as a form of revenge. Perhaps if you got interested in the hooks your DM is obviously throwing you, you would get interested in the character and the things he doesn't know about his own past. You don't define everything that led up to your character existing. You define your character, and their upbringing. Anything else is DM territory, and when they tweak it to make it more interesting than an overused, humdrum "orphan raised by elves" tagline, you have no reason to be anything but thankful. :dancin: Yaa that about somes it up for this GM. I give you (thorak)a :cookie: :cookie: ! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Aramil_silverwind 01-06-05, 06:55 PM	I agree with Thorak. Don't :censored: about how the DM gives you a story you didn't want. When a character pulls a backround like "Orphan raised by elves" I don't bother trying to make it cool - you obviously didn't put much work into your backround so why should I? Be thankful that your DM has tried to make a mass-produced history into an origional one. And as well, most good DMs have a nice plotline that is taking places behind the scenes. Therefor maybe instead of complaining, you should see what exactly is going on; finding out why Torm wants you to help this druid out would be a good start. Every game works better when the DM and players both take everything in stride. If either party gets mad just because things aren't going the way they wanted, then the entire game stops being cool and origional. Work WITH your DM, and try to cut him some flak. In case you havn't tried it, DMing is NOT an easy job. Give respect to those who do it. A good DM will spend 4 to 5 hours preparing an adventure, and even longer if the campaign has a single underlying storyline. Not to mention the tens of hours per week he probably spends tossing ideas back and forth in his head as he walks to and from his bus stop in the morning.
was_fired 01-06-05, 07:08 PM	To be honest I really like the first story arch. A character questing to find his place in the world only to realise that their background is all too mundane. Hats off to your DM for that one.
Thoronmir 01-07-05, 10:46 AM	Preach on Brother Thorak!! :bow: Personally, I don't tinker much with the PCs' families when I DM, but I see nothing wrong with how you're DM has handled things. EDIT: Sorry, I couldn't resist ... Even your (I’m guessing slanted) version of events indicates that your DM does care. To say otherwise, and follow it up with the threat of making “bland” characters demonstrates a degree of petulance that would not be welcome at my table. The only time I’ve ever considered not devising intricate plot hooks for my PCs was when my DM focused too much on my character’s background … when the spot light shone too brightly and lingered too long on me. I became the focus of the campaign for the simple reason that I provided the DM with most ammunition to use against me. Every adventure turned into a new episode of “This is Your Life” … with everyone ever mentioned in my background appearing to make my life more difficult. I was hoisted on my own literary petard. I wouldn’t care if my DM ignored the 20-40 pages I usually write about a PC. I don’t develop PC backgrounds to feed the DM plot hooks. I do it because it helps me understand and enjoy playing the PC. I do it for me, not the game. If the DM occasionally plucks an idea from what I’ve written, fine. If not, fine.
eudas 01-07-05, 11:13 AM	Yikes. That's kind of a negative reinforcement, isn't it? DM's who do that only make the players want to say "uh, yeah, my whole family died, and i'm an orphan..." even more! eudas
Thoronmir 01-07-05, 11:43 AM	Yikes. That's kind of a negative reinforcement, isn't it? DM's who do that only make the players want to say "uh, yeah, my whole family died, and i'm an orphan..." even more! eudas LOL ... yes I was tempted to adopt that exact approach. When I discussed my concerns with my DM, I warned him that my next Ranger would have no friends, no enemies, no family, no conflict, no strong desires, and would have spent his entire life gleefully tracking gummy bears through the Candy Cane forest in Candyland. After our little heart-to-heart (and the addition of a new player who was just as prolific at authoring backgrounds), my DM gave me a much-welcome respite from his attentions. BTW, one moral to take from my experience is that ... I TALKED TO MY DM about my problems in the game.