Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Keiichi_m Feb 04, 2009 22:58:56	For those of you not having fun in your current campaign, having an issue with other players or the DM, or just in a crappy situation with the group, I have an anecdote for you that will hopefully help you make a decision. I used to have what could be termed the poster child for a bad D&D group. we had all the archetypes of crap in that group, a rules lawyers who thought that if it wasn't in the book it could not happen "period" or the DM was being an *******, he got pissy about the smallest thing (using the wrong skill for appraising the worth of a gem even though both skills had the same modifier and really there isn't a 4th ed appraise skill), A rules leper who not only knew nothing about the rules and made no effort to learn, like has honestly played D&D for 6 years and asked me 4 months ago when we still played together what you could do in a standard action... and also couldn't roleplay, but got upset if someone else was roleplaying because they were "hogging the spotlight" but if attention was focused on them they just stammered for a minute before getting angry and saying "I DON'T KNOW." She also cried and got angry when her character died and threatened to leave if I didn't bring her character back (I didn't and she didn't leave it was an empty threat to get her way). The ADD kid who fell asleep between turns or drew on the map got up and walked away from the table mid combat (he's the only person I still game with from that group because he's better about it now). The "will he show this week?" player. Finally one who was kind of a combination with bad math skills on top... like 6+4 was a count on your fingers equation for this man. On top of all of this they were never, ever, ever, ever, ever (one more for effect) EVER on time, game originally was supposed to start at 4, it was moved up to 5 because people were having issues making that and after that they were still always between 30 minutes to an hour late, and the thought of a back story or character growth was a distant dream that I only thought about when I was feeling particularly unrealistic or had drank too much. Those of you who read my player rebellion post about 2 months ago know how this turned out. (if you don't a couple of them lied to me for months about enjoying the game when I asked and then just stopped showing up without warning all at once) So, discouraged, I went to the find players section of the website and advertised for players. Jesus Christ the responses, 11 of them! For a game held on Thursdays! I had enough for 2 GROUPS! I invited all of them to come and talk and hang out one Thursday to see if they'd mesh well together and 7 of them showed up. of those 7, 1 said he didn't feel the group was right for him, plus my old player who stayed with the group I had 7 players I actually had to find a way to drop one. So I told them all that we were 1 person too many and I would need to drop one, told them I'd play 3 sessions and then drop the one that worked the least, so I played a couple sessions with everyone, saw how they worked together and let them become accustom to each other, then after a couple sessions dropped one player who really fit the least. I now have a party of 6, 6 of them roleplay, 6 of them show up on time, 5 of them have a really solid understanding on the rules, (one is kinda slow on them but she loves roleplay and gets really into it so we let it slide and just help her in combat) 6 of them are cool are relaxed and there to have fun, I have 4 back stories in my possession with one more, late, but coming, they play well they think about their actions and there are now 7 people (me included) that didn't know each other before hand that suddenly have 6 new friends a piece. I haven't had this much fun with D&D in years! So for all of you having issues in your group, if you've tried, it's not getting better, if you're just not having fun anymore, hit up the looking for players looking for DM forums for your area, if you're in a major city you should be pleasantly surprised to what you might find.
#2 etarnon Feb 05, 2009 2:04:00	Thus my philosophy, you got jerks, ask 'em to leave, kick em out. Find someone who wants to sit in the chair, and will participate and play. Life is too short.
#3 pigknight Feb 05, 2009 17:45:07	I should advertise for more people...