s.In the game I am in, our characters just finished doing a service for the local lord, intentionally. Our characters went to a local Dwarven outpost and spoke to the Dwarves there. We were the first Humans to do so. The Dwarves gave us a letter to give to the local lord, that declared that the Dwarves wanted to be allies with the Human settlement, Darapur. We brought the letter to the local lord, who read it, is pleased, and is throwing a feast in our honor. He also asked that, since we did him a great service unintentionally, that we become knights loyal to him, and "work for him".
The thing is, not all of our characters are from Darapur. My own character is from another city on the continent, and another player is a resident from a different continent completely, who was shipwrecked. The other two characters, one is a Dwarf DMPC that we met, one is a Paladin from the city Darapur, and one is a Druid from the local area. My character's goal is, since he was wrongfully exiled from his city, to get enough evidence of his injustice to return. Another character's goal is to get enough funds to eventually be able to book passage on a ship to return her to her place of birth, on another continent.
Now, here is the problem: The DM we have seems to have very linear games. I'm afraid that the DM is going to "force" all of our characters into the service of this lord because that's what he wrote out in his story, whenever he wrote it. My characters goal, and this other characters goal, we've had them for a while, and have made mentions of eventually fulfilling them many times. I think that the DM doesn't really care about what our characters think and want, and just wants to keep his story going. I often feel like a character in a story he is telling, not in a D&D campaign, a criticism I have heard from others before.
So, basically, I am looking for two things:
(A) How can my character and this other character continue with their own personal goals without being "sucked into" service of the local lord, which seems inevitable at this point?
(B) We both like our characters (and the other characters) and parts of the campaign. I know I don't just want to leave, and I dont think the other person wants to either. How can we refuse the local lord without totally disrupting things (as in, the DM had everything hinging on us all becoming knights for this lord) in the game? As I said before, we aren't trying to be idiots, but neither one of us want to be railroaded into doing something that neither one of us or our characters want to do.
So, basically, I am looking for two things:
(A) How can my character and this other character continue with their own personal goals without being "sucked into" service of the local lord, which seems inevitable at this point?
(B) We both like our characters (and the other characters) and parts of the campaign. I know I don't just want to leave, and I dont think the other person wants to either. How can we refuse the local lord without totally disrupting things (as in, the DM had everything hinging on us all becoming knights for this lord) in the game? As I said before, we aren't trying to be idiots, but neither one of us want to be railroaded into doing something that neither one of us or our characters want to do.
I'd start with being up-front with your DM. Warn him straight out, out of character, that your character is not interested in being a knight for a foreign lord.
That said,
A) Being a knight requires an oath of fealty. Make it absolutely clear to the DM, out of character and as soon as possible, that this does not fit your character. Explain why.
B) Talk to the DM a little. Tell him what you just told us, that you like his campaign and you're generally having fun, but you feel like he keeps forcing you to make decisions. Ask him to try to make his plot have room for some character dissent, or if he is going to try to force you to take a path requiring you to do something like swear fealty to a foreign lord, he should consult you in advance.
There are really only three ways to deal with a railroading DM, and only one is open to you.
1) Leave the game
2) Force the game to derail, likely burning bridges with that DM
3) Talk to the DM until he understands that you want to play a role in his game, not have him play your role for you.
4) Your character has an in-character talk with the other PCs where you complain about not wanting to work for this lord, not wanting to swear fealty to him, not caring about the local village/town/country, but allowing them to either convince you to stay, do it as a favor to them so they will help you on your goal later, or having the whole party perform a cost/benefit analysis in-character and decide as a whole to not serve him.
5) Have your character realize that returning to his city as a decorated knight with many chivalric adventures and a letter of recomendation from this leader would be a great way of fulfilling his goal.
6) Have your character realize that his city screwed him over and maybe it would be a better thing to become a decorated hero working for a lord here, than be a disgraced, potentially redeemable outcast where he was.
7) Swear fealty and immediately give a speech to the lord that basically goes "So I'm from this town that would make another great ally for you, and you should send us there on a diplomatic mission" while not mentioning your real reason of clearing you name. Throw in a little "This guy here is from an island that would also love to setup trade, so we should head there next to spread trade throughout the region."
I'm all for you having goals and wanting your character to achieve them. I also understand a DM having a story they want to tell, having some adventures pre-written and wanting to see how they go, and wanting you to give him some time to come up with ideas of how your character goals can work into his story.
This advice may not help you in the here and now but a lot of this in-fighting seems like it came from the players and DM not creating the characters in unison. There should be a reason why you are together, and if he wants you all to be knights and has that prewritten he shouldn't have characters that don't want to become knights.
I think for now your best bet is to just be part of the DM's campaign and not sweat these things right now, and in the future, make character creation much more collaborative between the players.
Don't worry about the DM, play your PC.
If the plot hinges on his making you knights, too bad, he railroaded you, if that is the case, and you don't need to ride that train if you don't want to, as a player.
That being said, accomplishing your goals for your pc will in fact remove the PC from the game. What if the DM as noble gives you your wish?
"Enough funds to return home."
Poof goodbye, out of game.
"A writ of Treaty between our lands, conditional upon restoring your status in the eyes of the laws of your homeland."
Poof you are home, smiling, and happy.. and.. out of game.
Again, i'd play it as "I'm not from here, and the laws of my country forbid fealty to a lord of another demesne, lest i risk loss of citizenship in my homeland."
But I agree with most of the people here. Be up front and honest with your DM, get other players to voice their opinions. If the DM didn't mean to railroad you, then likely you can work everything out. Otherwise, mayhap your DM isn't the best one for your sessions.
-Either way, play your characters as you see them. They are extensions of you, not the DM. If you envision the characters doing something, but the DM doesn't want that/forsee that/whatever, that's too bad for him.