A friend of mine and I have been gaming since we met in college 3.5 years ago (in fact, we were roommates for a year and a half, which is how it started). I've always been the DM in the past, partly because I was the most knowledgeable in the old 3rd ed rules and partly because I was the only one interested in DMing. About 3 months ago or so this friend of mine decided to take a shot at DMing. After getting to know his gaming style, I figured he'd be a at least a decent DM (for a first-timer that is...I know I sucked the first time I DMed ^^; half dragon template before level adjustments were added... fun times).
Anyway, basic criticisms that I still have yet to bring up with him:
Railroading, railroading, railroading. "You're in a town surrounded on all sides by mountains and winter just hit." I can understand the desire to not create the rest of the world yet (it is an original world after all), but when we needed to leave the town for another one the passes were suddenly perfectly clear. It also breaks the game world (in the immersive sense) for it to be warm and sunny in the middle of winter. I'm not too upset about this though. Just about everyone does it on their first try. Is there a way I can bring this up that will be beneficial both to him as a DM and me as a player?
His girlfriend is playing now. Admittedly, I was one of the ones who said she should (she's a good RPer on WoW in an RP server...the kind without mass PVP ganking), but I hadn't considered the ramifications of "DM's girlfriend has scripted immunity and godmodding powers." Recent example: I'm playing a Shifter fighter/druid, and I was shifted in-combat while the party was hacking up a pack of goblins. DM's g/f shoots a magic missile at the goblin i'm squared off against, knocking it unconscious. Not a big deal. Then, I'm mysteriously distracted while DM's g/f runs up and kills the goblin with her dagger, so I can't kill the only goblin that actually hit me in combat. Suspected cause: I got distracted by the other rules lawyer in the group (yes, I'm the other one... >.> at least I admit it!) when he asked me a question, and he was probably just being immature about it all because I was 'ignoring him'. I can't say for sure, but that might be it. Here's how the dialog went after the ninja-kill-steal (me, dm): "No you don't. I kill it after your missile knocks it unconscious before you get there." "You were distracted" "No I wasn't, that goblin hit me! I'd make sure to kill it!" "You got distracted by your interaction with his character." *points at the other rules lawyer* There was no interaction between our characters though...
This one I'm more than a little miffed about. I ended up dropping it so I wouldn't get angry (that's where I was headed >.> ). I think another suspected cause is that I switched characters. I wasn't enjoying my duskblade (we're level 2 with no healer, 4 squishy mages, and 1 tank and a duskblade), partly because the tank never got targeted (he's a new player and the DM never attacks him unless he's the only target) so it was always my duskblade and partly because, after several comments about making characters to work together, everyone decided to play wizards and sorcerers except the tank, who's playing a custom-created Dragoon class (modeled after the Final Fantasy dragoon and with dragon-riding abilities and a bonded dragon pet). Also, I was a little tired of CN alignment (I've played a lot of them recently, and I wanted something new). I decide to switch to a melee oriented druid (healer!) and even find a perfect way to bring the character in seamlessly with the DM's plot. He and his g/f give me crap about it constantly simply at having suggested the idea. "Don't switch characters, nobody else is." Of course, everybody else is enjoying their characters... I get tired of their crap and, to simply end the argument, ripped the duskblade character sheet in half (a little over-reaction, maybe, but it seemed to be the only way to make perfectly clear that I was done with the duskblade and didn't want to play it anymore). Now I have a character that is both a tank and a healer, so the squishy mages don't get squished and the other fighter who never got hit anyway still doesn't need to get hit. The character even has a nice little back-story and personality/appearance profile.
So... how can I resolve this? Are there any specific bits of info I can take with me to try and at least talk it out without going all 'splody? An outside opinion would certainly be helpful.
All of this is because you think you are and probably are a better DM than he is.
if you were a day one, new player what would you think?
I'm still pretty baffled what he was talking about with "being distracted". It sounds like he's just making up excuses to deny you actions for no reason whatsoever. That's one issue I'd want resolved pretty quickly.
So... how can I resolve this? Are there any specific bits of info I can take with me to try and at least talk it out without going all 'splody? An outside opinion would certainly be helpful.
I'm going to play Devil's Advocate for a moment and tell it the way I would read it if I were your DM.
1. "I'm unwilling to let the DM put people onboard a plot train for a while at the beginning of a campaign (the hardest part to get everyone together and heading in the same direction). Instead of off-handedly reminding the DM that he'd already established that it was winter before when he mentions the passes are clear and it's warm and sunny, I snidely snicker at him under my breath and don't consider the possibility that he's taken that into consideration and that winter is ending and spring is approaching."
2. "I got into an OOC rules-lawyer argument with another character so the DM skipped my turn because I was holding up the game. His GF took the next turn and stole my kill. That makes me mad."
3. "I got bored of my character and decided to kill him instead of making him more interesting. I didn't consider the possibility that I could multiclass my duskblade into a healing class so he could be both a tank and a healer at the same time, possibly out of a desire to completely optimize him. When my DM asked me not to, possibly because he'd already written my character into the plot and spent some time building up a future plotline, I forced the issue by tearing my character sheet up and rolling a druid."
So from the DM's perspective, the problem might not be with him, but with you.
How I'd handle this.
1. Gently remind the DM of breaches in the reality and let him solve them. "It's winter, but it's warm and sunny?" "Yes, spring is coming now." "Cool, okay, just checking." Ten minutes later, when he mentions how it's winter now, say, "Isn't it spring?" "Oh yeah, sorry about that. . . let me fix my notes." Ten seconds, done and over. Or you might get the answer of, "Yes, it's still winter, but it's warm and sunny here. . . isn't that weird?"
2. Unless your DM's GF is lording her kill-steal over you, don't make it a big deal. I don't track kills except in one game where the warlock tries to make a big deal OOC about trying to get every single kill in the game (which he can do with that eldritch blast of his: ranged touch attacks being nasty as hell): in that case, I deliberately try to steal his kills just to be a jerk
. Also, save rules arguments for after the game. "Can we just play? Let's argue what should have happened later."3. Ummmmmmmmmmm. . . this is, honestly, kinda bastardly of you. Instead of forcing the issue, why didn't you just try to make your character interesting? For example, there was one game I was in where I suggested to my DM that I might retire my bard and build a sorcerer instead, but was asked not to. I dropped the issue and worked on making my bard more interesting. If the character is totally unworkable, then that's another issue, but right now it just feels like you weren't having fun because he wasn't totally optimal for the party. In which case all I can say is, relax, it's just a game.
Just my thoughts, yours will probably differ.
Thanks for the other side. Ima try to work out something here...
1) Perfect idea. I'll do just that.
2) I think the "rules-lawyer argument" needs to be clarified. He asked me a question; I gave him an answer; he asked for a reference; I gave him a feat name; I turned back to the DM to find the goblin dead. It was about a 1-2 minute out-of-game distraction (yes, rules-lawyers don't always argue constantly lol). Also, if it wasn't for the fact that my character is animalistic in behaviour, the kill steal wouldn't have mattered in the slightest.
3) The biggest reason for the character switch was the personality of the duskblade. I should have thought about it more ahead of time, but the first session was making characters in an hour or two followed by a mad rush into the start of the game, and it was a restart game. I had thought that I'd be able to use my character from the previous game that day, but because a player left we restarted. It was a half-assed character with a half-assed personality, and I hated it. I gave it a few chances and tried to shift its personality towards what I wanted, but it just wasn't working. Retooling its class levels (as he leveled) could have worked for filling the party roles that were needed, but the character just wasn't fun to play. The fighter/druid is not only something that fills roles. It's a character I'll enjoy that has a lot of thought behind it. I think what I want is for the DM to understand why I didn't want to play the duskblade. I know that the ripping of the character sheet was a bit overboard. I was getting all worked up by him and his g/f (nobody else was there yet) not allowing me to explain why I wanted to get rid of the duskblade, and I guess I just wanted to make it perfectly clear.
Personally, I've got no problem with people switching characters in my compaigns, as long as it isn't frequently in the same campaign. I just recently dropped my Whisper Gnome Knight/Fighter and switched out for a Rogue/Wizard (Gestalt characters). Our group doesn't have a Rogue, doesn't have a real arcane, and the Warforged needs an oil change. Thus, I switch characters. Also, my Knight was working towards being a Cavalier. The problem with that is, the primary venue of our game is in a dungeon. Which causes problems (depsite the fact that I'm a small PC and my mount is medium)
themocaw,
Thanks for the other side. Ima try to work out something here...
1) Perfect idea. I'll do just that.
2) I think the "rules-lawyer argument" needs to be clarified. He asked me a question; I gave him an answer; he asked for a reference; I gave him a feat name; I turned back to the DM to find the goblin dead. It was about a 1-2 minute out-of-game distraction (yes, rules-lawyers don't always argue constantly lol). Also, if it wasn't for the fact that my character is animalistic in behaviour, the kill steal wouldn't have mattered in the slightest.
3) The biggest reason for the character switch was the personality of the duskblade. I should have thought about it more ahead of time, but the first session was making characters in an hour or two followed by a mad rush into the start of the game, and it was a restart game. I had thought that I'd be able to use my character from the previous game that day, but because a player left we restarted. It was a half-assed character with a half-assed personality, and I hated it. I gave it a few chances and tried to shift its personality towards what I wanted, but it just wasn't working. Retooling its class levels (as he leveled) could have worked for filling the party roles that were needed, but the character just wasn't fun to play. The fighter/druid is not only something that fills roles. It's a character I'll enjoy that has a lot of thought behind it. I think what I want is for the DM to understand why I didn't want to play the duskblade. I know that the ripping of the character sheet was a bit overboard. I was getting all worked up by him and his g/f (nobody else was there yet) not allowing me to explain why I wanted to get rid of the duskblade, and I guess I just wanted to make it perfectly clear.
Yeah, 1 to 2 minutes is stupid. . . your game can wait that long, and he should have warned you, "Take your turn or I'll skip you." As for changing characters, I'm seeing your point there, although really, a better choice would have been to say, "Hey, hold up, let me explain why. Give me five minutes. FIVE minutes, and if you still don't like it, then I'll go back to the Duskblade."
Anyway, I don't think it's as big a deal as it might sound
I think you just need to vent a bit and talk it over with him over a beer or a cup of tea or something.Yeah, 1 to 2 minutes is stupid. . . your game can wait that long, and he should have warned you, "Take your turn or I'll skip you." As for changing characters, I'm seeing your point there, although really, a better choice would have been to say, "Hey, hold up, let me explain why. Give me five minutes. FIVE minutes, and if you still don't like it, then I'll go back to the Duskblade."
Anyway, I don't think it's as big a deal as it might sound
I like this tea idea... *prepares the scalding... er... warm tea* O:-)
Thanks for the input.
Either could be true but in all likelyhood a bit of each is true.
One thing that is mandatory with a first time dm is that everyone has to have patience. First time dms often fall in to the same pitfalls and you've mentioned the common ones.
Considering its the dms first time it seems that it didn't fair all that badly. A few words of wisdom certainly wouldn't hurt.