Can I get a judgment? Does this NPC interaction sound too harsh? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Can I get a judgment? Does this NPC interaction sound too harsh?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
aburrage
Sep 23, 2012 0:00:51
Can I get a judgment? Does this NPC interaction sound too harsh?

First let me start by setting the stage so everyone knows what brought on the email and then I’ll post the email. I’ll also post my reaction in the end and hopefully I can get some of you experienced folks to add your comments, thoughts, and ideas to the thread.

I joined a very small gaming group; it consisted of the GM, the GM’s wife, the GM’s boss, my son, and me. The GM enjoyed using very powerful monsters and instead of having the players be gestalt he chose to create and allow the PC to have tag-along cohorts to beef up the parties strength. This was an OK idea but it fell short because he insisted on making every NPC completely, doing all their leveling, and he always had them with huge flaws. In the middle of an encounter he would announce that such-and-such NPC was doing this really dumb act because that was their personality. He also has never seen hardly any TV, except animes, but he has played ever RPG console or computer game out there. Are you starting to get the point?

So his wife has this NPC that is a ‘man-hater’ and every time we get into a fight, after all the figures are placed, he moves her as far away from me as possible and on several occasions it left my flank completely exposed. Being the macho fighter class and this NPC being the dumb barbarian class I informed her the next time I got surrounded because she broke battle plan that I would see to her demise. Remember it is the GM moving the figure not the player…

So the very next session the same thing happens, we are fighting these golems that blow up when you destroy them and she abandoned me. So I back off from the fight to where my NPC was hiding, he was a mage who could only cast healing spells (basically a low HD NPC that only casted cure spells), and I had him heal me. I then moved to the center of the fight and waited a round or so before I ran up to deal the final blow to the last golem and watch it explode and kill this annoying ‘man-hater’.

That night in the after report, the GM post that apparently a divine creature passed over the town we lived in, and this creature did a random meteor swarm killing one of my NPCs. He also posted that his wife had found a new NPC and it was a really good one. I’ll insert his exact post here: DM:

" The group have a lot on there minds, To add some more to that Jackie found an Immortal that is willing to help the group. (She posted a sign looking for a NPC, natural 20 said she found some one, Next three 20s in the row claim she was something to be breath taking. Testing this dice now I can’t get higher then a 5 ….) and Allan card of the Dwarven blacksmith just turn washed out, as how Jackies card for her barbarian card look for her barbarian that just died. "

These rolls were done at home and no one but him and her witnessed them.

I continued in the game but I told him that was crap. This immortal not only was a spellcaster with fighter abilities but could learn both divine and arcane spells and once per month could call upon her powers and do things that made miracles look weak. This NPC never benefitted the group and became a point of contention.

Many sessions later we were asked to create a diversion in a northern territory and I sent the following email to the GM telling him I was going to talk to this highly questionable NPC.

"You've already failed me once and have never shown usefulness since we met. All I see you as is a wish machine for a child and of no use to me. I plan to pluck the wings off your fellow immortals for turning down my offer and I might even start with you. I suggest that you use that great hidden power of yours to insure we have a proper fairgrounds setup by the time folks arrive and that the entire group is gathered and ready. In my studies I have learned that if an immortal dies through no fault of their own they are soon reborn but if you take your own life or die a worthless death then you have to spend 100 years in the underworld before returning. How would you like for me to cut off both your arms and heal the nubs before you die? You will long for death and that 100 years will seem a small price to pay. Your sisters will soon find out the mistake it was to offhandedly reject my offer, do you fools not realize I can sense your souls at a great distance because of their age and power, hunting you down would not be hard... Your kind is already far down on my list of creature I like because of past lies. First I am told you can't breed yet I witnessed it myself; I deserve an immortal off spring. One of your sister stole from me and left without even a thank you. I was also blasted by one of your sisters for no cause so your less than worthless to me. Prove your worth or spend some time as a fly with no wings, it will be really hard to cast with nubs...."

I made up the part about the 100 years. He has them so they come back at full power in a few minutes; they get +20 to all knowledge skills, and are 4 million years old. Believe me it was pretty far out there…

So I sent this in the morning as I am an early riser and as soon as he read it, he called me ranting about how wrong it was and basically things got ugly. We had gone through several rough session over the campaign, his boss had quit, we were forced to change alignments because his wife had issues with how I played Lawful Evil. I thought the letter was just a well written email with a lot of good role playing in it, but anything that might upset his wife always resulted in the group suffering.

I finally told him that the 4 natural 20’s in a row was just plain BS. GM’s don’t let people roll secret rolls and even if they did that was a game changer and in bad taste. They both exhibited all the signs of lying when they told the story (looking up to the right, willing to quickly change topics, too many details). So I just told him that my son and I quit and that this incident had convinced me that I will never again play in a game that a guy is running for his wife or girlfriend. A little favoritism is ok but this was ridiculous. The last session we ever had we were to meet (actually just beg our way in and drop off a message) with this super powerful world dragon. We found the lair and we all rolled to see our response. I rolled a natural 20 and I had a +18 to will due to class, wisdom, a cloak, and a spell in effect. She rolled a natural 1 with a +13 to will save from being a sorcerer and a couple of other things. I was told my conversation was stupid and to drop it while she tried to talk the dragon into giving her a scale. My thoughts were she should have babbled at best or run most likely. My request was to ask where it took a dump because I wanted to fill my bag of holding hoping it would either be great fertilizer or maybe have a trinket in it…

So the game is over.    I wasn’t nearly as cruel as I felt like being but I just wanted to get the opinion of some fellow gamers. By-the-way, this was a D&D3.5 game.
#2
Tiarn
Sep 23, 2012 3:37:40 Only two posts in 5 years of membership? How odd.

Anyway, the GM has no idea how to properly run a game. He is running for his wife and now he has the opportunity to do so without any other players getting in the way. Sounds like you made the right decision to me. I'm surprised you stayed as long as you did.

Also, the whole "NPCs to help the party" thing he did is just pathetic. The PCs should not be forced to have a bunch of tagalongs they don't get along with. Gestalt you or make some actual useful NPCs that are interesting to be around.

Move along and don't let it bother you, there wasn't a loss here for you.
#3
Krusk
Sep 23, 2012 10:08:46 Threatening to kill the other PCs generally always ends poorly and is something you should try to avoid, but this guy sounds awful and I doubt I'd have continued playing as long as you did.

Do you have any attachment to the group? In the future a I'd just send them an email or call them and say something like "This game looks like it won't be for me, I'm not going to come back but I hope you have fun". It helps prevent those heated discussions where you call people out and just makes for an easier withdrawl from the group.
#4
aburrage
Sep 23, 2012 10:48:37 It was actually a henchmen\cohort but I get what you mean.

I would like to remain friends with them because I've known them for quite a long time; I did tell them that it was just too much for me and that I was setting a personal rule to never again play in a game where spouses of the GM are involved.   I am generally the GM and have ran some campaigns that spanned as long as 5 years with 10 continuous players, so I tend to be a bit more critical. I'll probably go back to more running games and only play in games with extremely experienced GMs like I have in the past. I honestly thought that this GM might have a decent game because the idea of mixing a little anime with D&D sounds cool but it looked way better on paper that it did at the gaming table.

I appreciate your advice and I have already politely bowed out of the game. I only posted because he declared my email as a major breach of etiquette and said if I posted it on any website I would get crucified.   After reading the post, he asked that I mention that his wife seldom used this NPC, so I'll add that.   It just became less fun and that is what roleplaying is all about, having fun with friends....

Thanks again for the feedback.
#5
Krusk
Sep 23, 2012 11:01:04
I only posted because he declared my email as a major breach of etiquette and said if I posted it on any website I would get crucified.

Love it.

#6
PestilenceX
Sep 23, 2012 11:25:48 I've read your posts and I have to admit I don't really like the tone of the posts to eachother at all. As you said D&D is supposed to be about having fun together and if I read your posts it's almost as if you and the DM are playing against eachother as adversaries.

Having a difference of opinion sometimes isn't a bad thing, but if you can't talk about it normally without wanting to "crucify" eachother it's time to stop.

Seeing as I don't know the whole situation I can't say what the cause is of the problems. From what I read it could be becuase he is still not very experienced and therefor insecure, easily put on the defensive and combined with the spousefactor that can work out badly but it might also be becuase you are to critical and expect to much right away being an experienced DM yourself with no doubt your own style.

Ofcourse it could also be a combination of the above. Seems to late to fix though so probably best to take a break from that group.
#7
Sir_Joseph_the_Crowe
Sep 27, 2012 17:23:28
Threatening to kill the other PCs generally always ends poorly and is something you should try to avoid, but this guy sounds awful and I doubt I'd have continued playing as long as you did.

Do you have any attachment to the group? In the future a I'd just send them an email or call them and say something like "This game looks like it won't be for me, I'm not going to come back but I hope you have fun". It helps prevent those heated discussions where you call people out and just makes for an easier withdrawl from the group.

OMG - his wife and his boss.... no wonder the DM was distracted. That's a lot of pressure bro.

I killed my boss's favorite character and got fired. I killed my wife's and had to sleep on the couch. You and your son just became whipping boys for them two.

Yeah.. you should have left before requesting to search the dung heaps of the world dragon. Sounds like you were done well before that conversation.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 aburrage Sep 23, 2012 0:00:51	Can I get a judgment? Does this NPC interaction sound too harsh? First let me start by setting the stage so everyone knows what brought on the email and then I’ll post the email. I’ll also post my reaction in the end and hopefully I can get some of you experienced folks to add your comments, thoughts, and ideas to the thread. I joined a very small gaming group; it consisted of the GM, the GM’s wife, the GM’s boss, my son, and me. The GM enjoyed using very powerful monsters and instead of having the players be gestalt he chose to create and allow the PC to have tag-along cohorts to beef up the parties strength. This was an OK idea but it fell short because he insisted on making every NPC completely, doing all their leveling, and he always had them with huge flaws. In the middle of an encounter he would announce that such-and-such NPC was doing this really dumb act because that was their personality. He also has never seen hardly any TV, except animes, but he has played ever RPG console or computer game out there. Are you starting to get the point? So his wife has this NPC that is a ‘man-hater’ and every time we get into a fight, after all the figures are placed, he moves her as far away from me as possible and on several occasions it left my flank completely exposed. Being the macho fighter class and this NPC being the dumb barbarian class I informed her the next time I got surrounded because she broke battle plan that I would see to her demise. Remember it is the GM moving the figure not the player… So the very next session the same thing happens, we are fighting these golems that blow up when you destroy them and she abandoned me. So I back off from the fight to where my NPC was hiding, he was a mage who could only cast healing spells (basically a low HD NPC that only casted cure spells), and I had him heal me. I then moved to the center of the fight and waited a round or so before I ran up to deal the final blow to the last golem and watch it explode and kill this annoying ‘man-hater’. That night in the after report, the GM post that apparently a divine creature passed over the town we lived in, and this creature did a random meteor swarm killing one of my NPCs. He also posted that his wife had found a new NPC and it was a really good one. I’ll insert his exact post here: DM: " The group have a lot on there minds, To add some more to that Jackie found an Immortal that is willing to help the group. (She posted a sign looking for a NPC, natural 20 said she found some one, Next three 20s in the row claim she was something to be breath taking. Testing this dice now I can’t get higher then a 5 ….) and Allan card of the Dwarven blacksmith just turn washed out, as how Jackies card for her barbarian card look for her barbarian that just died. " These rolls were done at home and no one but him and her witnessed them. I continued in the game but I told him that was crap. This immortal not only was a spellcaster with fighter abilities but could learn both divine and arcane spells and once per month could call upon her powers and do things that made miracles look weak. This NPC never benefitted the group and became a point of contention. Many sessions later we were asked to create a diversion in a northern territory and I sent the following email to the GM telling him I was going to talk to this highly questionable NPC. "You've already failed me once and have never shown usefulness since we met. All I see you as is a wish machine for a child and of no use to me. I plan to pluck the wings off your fellow immortals for turning down my offer and I might even start with you. I suggest that you use that great hidden power of yours to insure we have a proper fairgrounds setup by the time folks arrive and that the entire group is gathered and ready. In my studies I have learned that if an immortal dies through no fault of their own they are soon reborn but if you take your own life or die a worthless death then you have to spend 100 years in the underworld before returning. How would you like for me to cut off both your arms and heal the nubs before you die? You will long for death and that 100 years will seem a small price to pay. Your sisters will soon find out the mistake it was to offhandedly reject my offer, do you fools not realize I can sense your souls at a great distance because of their age and power, hunting you down would not be hard... Your kind is already far down on my list of creature I like because of past lies. First I am told you can't breed yet I witnessed it myself; I deserve an immortal off spring. One of your sister stole from me and left without even a thank you. I was also blasted by one of your sisters for no cause so your less than worthless to me. Prove your worth or spend some time as a fly with no wings, it will be really hard to cast with nubs...." I made up the part about the 100 years. He has them so they come back at full power in a few minutes; they get +20 to all knowledge skills, and are 4 million years old. Believe me it was pretty far out there… So I sent this in the morning as I am an early riser and as soon as he read it, he called me ranting about how wrong it was and basically things got ugly. We had gone through several rough session over the campaign, his boss had quit, we were forced to change alignments because his wife had issues with how I played Lawful Evil. I thought the letter was just a well written email with a lot of good role playing in it, but anything that might upset his wife always resulted in the group suffering. I finally told him that the 4 natural 20’s in a row was just plain BS. GM’s don’t let people roll secret rolls and even if they did that was a game changer and in bad taste. They both exhibited all the signs of lying when they told the story (looking up to the right, willing to quickly change topics, too many details). So I just told him that my son and I quit and that this incident had convinced me that I will never again play in a game that a guy is running for his wife or girlfriend. A little favoritism is ok but this was ridiculous. The last session we ever had we were to meet (actually just beg our way in and drop off a message) with this super powerful world dragon. We found the lair and we all rolled to see our response. I rolled a natural 20 and I had a +18 to will due to class, wisdom, a cloak, and a spell in effect. She rolled a natural 1 with a +13 to will save from being a sorcerer and a couple of other things. I was told my conversation was stupid and to drop it while she tried to talk the dragon into giving her a scale. My thoughts were she should have babbled at best or run most likely. My request was to ask where it took a dump because I wanted to fill my bag of holding hoping it would either be great fertilizer or maybe have a trinket in it… So the game is over. I wasn’t nearly as cruel as I felt like being but I just wanted to get the opinion of some fellow gamers. By-the-way, this was a D&D3.5 game.
#2 Tiarn Sep 23, 2012 3:37:40	Only two posts in 5 years of membership? How odd. Anyway, the GM has no idea how to properly run a game. He is running for his wife and now he has the opportunity to do so without any other players getting in the way. Sounds like you made the right decision to me. I'm surprised you stayed as long as you did. Also, the whole "NPCs to help the party" thing he did is just pathetic. The PCs should not be forced to have a bunch of tagalongs they don't get along with. Gestalt you or make some actual useful NPCs that are interesting to be around. Move along and don't let it bother you, there wasn't a loss here for you.
#3 Krusk Sep 23, 2012 10:08:46	Threatening to kill the other PCs generally always ends poorly and is something you should try to avoid, but this guy sounds awful and I doubt I'd have continued playing as long as you did. Do you have any attachment to the group? In the future a I'd just send them an email or call them and say something like "This game looks like it won't be for me, I'm not going to come back but I hope you have fun". It helps prevent those heated discussions where you call people out and just makes for an easier withdrawl from the group.
#4 aburrage Sep 23, 2012 10:48:37	It was actually a henchmen\cohort but I get what you mean. I would like to remain friends with them because I've known them for quite a long time; I did tell them that it was just too much for me and that I was setting a personal rule to never again play in a game where spouses of the GM are involved. I am generally the GM and have ran some campaigns that spanned as long as 5 years with 10 continuous players, so I tend to be a bit more critical. I'll probably go back to more running games and only play in games with extremely experienced GMs like I have in the past. I honestly thought that this GM might have a decent game because the idea of mixing a little anime with D&D sounds cool but it looked way better on paper that it did at the gaming table. I appreciate your advice and I have already politely bowed out of the game. I only posted because he declared my email as a major breach of etiquette and said if I posted it on any website I would get crucified. After reading the post, he asked that I mention that his wife seldom used this NPC, so I'll add that. It just became less fun and that is what roleplaying is all about, having fun with friends.... Thanks again for the feedback.
#5 Krusk Sep 23, 2012 11:01:04	I only posted because he declared my email as a major breach of etiquette and said if I posted it on any website I would get crucified. Love it.
#6 PestilenceX Sep 23, 2012 11:25:48	I've read your posts and I have to admit I don't really like the tone of the posts to eachother at all. As you said D&D is supposed to be about having fun together and if I read your posts it's almost as if you and the DM are playing against eachother as adversaries. Having a difference of opinion sometimes isn't a bad thing, but if you can't talk about it normally without wanting to "crucify" eachother it's time to stop. Seeing as I don't know the whole situation I can't say what the cause is of the problems. From what I read it could be becuase he is still not very experienced and therefor insecure, easily put on the defensive and combined with the spousefactor that can work out badly but it might also be becuase you are to critical and expect to much right away being an experienced DM yourself with no doubt your own style. Ofcourse it could also be a combination of the above. Seems to late to fix though so probably best to take a break from that group.
#7 Sir_Joseph_the_Crowe Sep 27, 2012 17:23:28	Threatening to kill the other PCs generally always ends poorly and is something you should try to avoid, but this guy sounds awful and I doubt I'd have continued playing as long as you did. Do you have any attachment to the group? In the future a I'd just send them an email or call them and say something like "This game looks like it won't be for me, I'm not going to come back but I hope you have fun". It helps prevent those heated discussions where you call people out and just makes for an easier withdrawl from the group. OMG - his wife and his boss.... no wonder the DM was distracted. That's a lot of pressure bro. I killed my boss's favorite character and got fired. I killed my wife's and had to sleep on the couch. You and your son just became whipping boys for them two. Yeah.. you should have left before requesting to search the dung heaps of the world dragon. Sounds like you were done well before that conversation.