Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Greven_Thanatos 08-13-06, 01:51 AM	I have been playing with my group for a few years, I introduced them to the game and up untill this summer I have always DMed the game. This summer though one of my friends said he was ready to take over the DM reins for a while and let my on going campaign rest for the summer. He knows the rules well enough, and is moving in a fairly simple story arc. And so far he has done a great job, epecially concidering its his first time DMing. My problem is this. As a DM, and as a player I am extrodinarily methodical. Almost to a fault. I probably put in about 4 or 5 hours of planning per hour of gameing when we play my game, and my players love me for it. When I DM, I know literally everything in the game world, and almost never have to improv material on the spot. As is my nature this same methodical outlook carries over to my friends game as a player. My character is a very detailed person, with real goals, backstory, history, friends ect. He's like a real person. My problem is that even though I've given my a written out list of goals, Adventure hooks, and other ideas for my character, he completely ignores them and goes with his story line (which is fine, its his game after all). But the real problem came when I knew exactly what the DM wanted me to do to keep "His Story" going, and I knew and could document beforehand exactly how my character would act and the two conflict. Out of game I wanted to go on the adventure in a second, to keep the game moving. In game my character wanted to just up and leave and go home. Ultimately I gave in and went on the adventure, even against what my character would do. My question is, is it more important to role play a character correctly that I have put a lot of time and effort into, and have fun playing him. Or to have less fun and make actions based on out of game factors to keep the DM's story line going. (P.S. Things like this are even affecting game mechanics, I took the leadership feat 5 levels ago, and have made a concerted in game effort to attract cohorts, and followers only to be ignored completely. I feel as if I wasted a feat. With a charisma of 18, and Wisdom of 20 that shouldn't be a problem at all outside of DM laziness)
Bloodtide_the_Red 08-13-06, 02:09 AM	If your into this type of game, you should ask your DM about a solo game. Then the whole game will move around you and you will be the only star. The problems- -Your background and story are likely very bias. Your the son of a king who has the destiny to find the lost artifact or your aunt was a dragon. It will stack the deck in your favor to try to give you free stuff -A game is about all the players, equaly. Not just one player and his story with some other guys there sometimes. -Your characters personality is likely very bias too. And again you sneak stuff in to try to get things out of it. Your character hates gnomes and kills them on sight, or you can't take an insult or you must get money for a job. You'd never have a personality trait that has any bad effect on your character. You won't be bad a math, or clumsy. Now you could be a good person that does not try to sneak things in to your characters story........but what are the chances of that..... BT
stabs 08-13-06, 02:27 AM	"My question is, is it more important to role play a character correctly that I have put a lot of time and effort into, and have fun playing him. Or to have less fun and make actions based on out of game factors to keep the DM's story line going." Wellsir. I too find it fun to stay true to the character, but what's -not- fun is not being in the game. So play your character as much as is reasonable to keep things going. "I go home" isn't reasonable. Of course, you don't have to, but roleplaying your character just sitting around his house won't be much fun.
X-Codes 08-13-06, 02:40 AM	Easy solution: Don't be a control freak. You should not have made your character one that wanted to follow a narrow path to a specific goal. Hell, considering that this is this guy's first time out as a DM if he's doing a good job simply following his own story, he's doing a good job period. Side missions and character development quests are not the things some noob who's only played the game for 15 months and DM'ed 0% of that time does. It's not something he should even consider doing until he's gone through at least one campaign, IMHO.
Rhuxley 08-13-06, 03:01 AM	the only thing to do is follow his campaign, for now. maybe give him some help, and show him how to be a good DM, so that the players feel like they make decisions. its his 1st time, chances are he will WANT some feedback, and some tips from longtime DMs like you.
Darkuwa 08-13-06, 03:11 AM	Well if your character just wants to up and go home then its not an appropriate backstory for a adventurin character. A bard looking for the best story, a fighter looking for glory, a wizard travelling around finding new spells and defeating strange monster, those are appropriate character goals for a character in a first time DM's game.
Dolo 08-13-06, 04:44 AM	I would say talk to the DM and modify the character a bit. You are playing an advanced character, with a DM who is still getting the hang of how to get a mainstory to flow with good pacing and action. That takes a while to develop and grow for any new DM, so anything that would help him out he proably will be very grateful for. Also have a "Aftergame review" session between games((If he is open to it.)) to talk about what was good, bad and what can be improved.
Reversefigure4 08-13-06, 05:15 AM	A few points: - Create characters in tangent with the DM. There's no point making, say, a cleric of Pelor in a world where Pelor doesn't exist. Ask your DM for a basic sketch of the adventure beforehand. If it's about defending the kingdom of Baeyl, make your character passionately devoted to the kingdom. It it's about finding the lost scrolls of Olidmarra, make your character a follower, or a scholar interested in the history, etc. That way, your character will always want to do the quest. - Make an adventurous character. The guy who just wants to go home and be a blacksmith can work for a single adventure, but once he's slain the orcs menacing his town why is he going to go out again? He'd rather just go home. On the flip side, a character who wants to see all four corners of the earth will likely never run out of reasons to adventure. - Character adventure hooks might be well and good for a solo adventure, but what about the rest of the party? The DM needs a reason why they'll go on your "Find my lost father" quest as well. - Finally, if you feel your character wouldn't undertake a certain quest, and you don't want to bend the character... don't. Have him go home or whatever he wants to do, and roll up a new character, one that will be more willing to take the quest on the table in front of him (as long as you don't kill off the old one, you can always eventually return to him).
Mitchell 08-14-06, 05:56 AM	To whatever degree the game is about "roleplaying" as opposed to "going out and killing stuff", yes you have a responsibility to roleplay your character. You also have a responsibility to make a character that will fit into the DMs game. A certain amount of flexibility is always required. It's a "team" game so you have o be a team player. Now a little conflict inside the party can be a good thing, but only a little. Making a character that wants their things done their way is not a bad thing if, when they can't have one or both of the preceeding, they complain a lot. If they pick up their toys and go home, it is a bad thing. If you feel that this character cannot be compromised, then make a new character that's more flexible. Otherwise, consider the campaign to be a growing experience. just because your backstory says they "They are" whatever, doesn't mean that it's not saying "They will become" whatever.
WayneTheGame 08-14-06, 11:50 AM	To quote PHII: You should be a team player, even if your character isn't.
Greven_Thanatos 08-14-06, 07:21 PM	I underdstand what you guys are saying and I really appreiciate it. Thankyou. I guess a larger problem may not be that my character is infelxible, he's very flexable in fact. I guess one of the hard parts about this is that the rest of my party wants to follow some of the story hooks in my back story. It's not a matter of just me wanting just my character to do something. Its the whole group, who wants to see this charcter pursue some of his loose ends for a while. The problem is that even though everyone in the group wants to follow my character (both in game and out) the DM is forcing some hooks on us that we don't really want to follow right now. I've tried being flexible very flexible in fact. But its frustraighting putting all that work in to a character story, and haveing the whole thing ignored in its entireity. Every one in the group except the DM wants to follow my character's story line for a while and it's not happening. I also wantedd to note that although, I did write the backstory for this character, he is by no means a powerplaying character. I purposefully built him to be a real person. as such he has real flaws. For example he's a little clustraphobic, he will only use one sword, even if another sword comes along that is better (I'm useing a masterwork Bastard Swrod, and the rest of the party has like +3 flaming weapons), He's a very careing person and will go out of his way to ensure the safety of his loved ones (the reason he wants to get home, by the way) Its not that I'm trying overly hard to control the game. I'm just trying to do what this "real" person in my mind whould do. I guess to me thats the highest objective of any player. And I'm not trying to dominate the game for one person either. The whole group wants to see this characters story play out, and be a part of it. I make it a point to make sure everyone in the group is doing their part. Everyone plays, not just me. We want to pursue this hook right now, and the DM is forceing his hooks on us.
MerlintheTuna 08-14-06, 08:22 PM	You might consider reading this. (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307KmEm4H9k6efFP.html) It's interesting if nothing else (though I'm not entirely satisfied with all of it), and partially addresses the issue you're discussing towards the end.
Encard 08-15-06, 01:26 AM	You know, it sounds like your DM just isn't doing very well - he's railroading you, plain and simple. That's bad - D&D is a game of group storytelling, roleplaying and action, not of the DM making up a story and everyone else playing their parts; that's what acting is for. Have you and the rest of the players tried directly talking to him about this? If not, it may be that he just doesn't get what you're interested in. As a player, you have a responsibility to make sure the game is good for everyone. However, when all the players want one thing and the DM just doesn't pay attention, he is the one that needs to change things, not you.
Nom 08-15-06, 02:25 AM	I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but in making a too-detailed backstory you're actually trying to write the DM's game world for him. An experienced DM probably wouldn't mind, as he (or she) has the skill and confidence to (1) change your backstory as required and (2) pick and choose the bits he wants to turn into hooks. However, the average new DM isn't nearly so skilled, and generally requires relatively railroad-y plots just to control the amount of stuff that could come up. As it is (and especially with your comments about other players), you've set up a conflict between your in-depth story ideas from years of experience and what the poor newbie can handle. That's not fair on him. For the moment, let him get his feet wet and "play into the story". Once he is more experienced you can try expanding things more.
gamertall 08-15-06, 02:12 PM	I say let the DM railroad through his first experience as DM. It is great experience getting to know the rules on the other side of the screen. I the rest of the players want to follow your character's backstory for a while, it could be because they look up to you for starting them into D&D. Kind of like hero-worship. As an experienced DM, you need to help the spotlight shine on the new DM to give him confidence in his new DMing endeavors. IMHO, put your backsotry on the back-burner. Take a few personality traits and play them instead. It might be a chance for you (if you are an experienced player) to teach some good playing habits to the other players.