Describe your experience with tabletop roleplaying with one image.
>>44170721
I don't get into many good games
Pretty much.
>>44170721
At first I was like...
Then I started to GM...
Then I became Forever GM...
>>44170809
GMing is awesome if you can ad lib most of it.
You're constantly playing, and you can abuse your status as GM to get free smokes and whatnot.
>>44170874
>>44170874
GMing stops being awesome when you're expected to wayyyy more work into the game than everyone else... only to have their characters want to do something completely different. I get that you're not supposed to script everything out or railroad... but players man... fukken players. Sometimes it feels like all your effort is a big fucking waste and your players would be better off downloading some Skyrim mods or something instead of expecting you to be their plot-writing slave when they're not even interested in plot to begin with it.
(I know none of that is true... but fuck, it FEELS that that way sometimes.)
And then you REALLY wana be a player and everyone else in the group refuses to GM because "Oh Anon, you're so much better at it than we are."
It feels bad man, it feels bad.
>>44170721
>>44170721
Me trying to get my group together. We've had 8 sessions (out of a planned 9) since about May. Every weekend, we set a time, I prep, I'm raring to go... then someone says, at 9:30 the night before, "Oh I can' I have stuff to do."
>>44171032
Warhammer 40K, right?
>>44170721
A pretty accurate description of our GM's world
>>44170971
I know your pain. It's like, "There's a big party where the villain is, I literally had an NPC hand-deliver tickets to the party, you know the campaign is coming to a close... Oh, you're going to fart around the entire session breaking into buildings looking for information you just had a 20-minute conversation about, discussing how the info was not going to be there? OK."
>>44170721
We completely fuck up but end up having fun as we fail.
>Joining a game on roll20 for the first time.
>Running a game on roll20 for the first time.
Sometimes, you just want more.
DMing for my group
>>44171249
s-source
p-please
>>44170721
>>44171535
http://hentai2read.com/love_hate_letter/1/1/
>>44171249
>ready an action to silence
Shit edit, always THERE'S NO ACTION TO SILENCE
>>44170778
eclipse, nice !
>>44171283
....Sauce.
>>44171561
>The GM put alot of work into a setting and a storyline for us. I know! Let's try to assassinate the King!
You're the kind of person who make GMs hate the hobby and then try to play it off like it's their own fault, not yours.
Have fun with WTFRANDUMB campaigns forever I guess. Whatever you enjoy, Anon.
>my players every time i try to schedule a session
>>44170721
>>44171641
As a GM, I don't understand your opinion at all.
When I make a campaign setting, I take these things into consideration. I am not the controller of the players. I'm the arbiter of the rules, and I operate the NPCs according to how the NPCs behave. If my players so decide that they want to try and assassinate the king, so be it. I'm not going to huff like a child and pack up my toys and leave, or get mad at them.
Instead, I accommodate this and play it out based on how their plan would work or NOT work in the setting. If they come up with a reasonable plan, then it'll succeed, and they'll assassinate the king, and the fallout of this action will play out. If they fail, they'll likely be killed, or imprisoned for life/used for some other purpose.
I NEVER understand DMs that get completely asschapped because their players aren't following what they expected them to do to the letter and swallow all the hooks. That's just a forced VN with mathematics in your expected and accommodated range - That's not a game at all.
>>44171710
Well, >>44170971 hasn't yet come to the realization that he's an awful GM. Hopefully his players beat that into him before moving on to a better one.
>>44171626
Actually haven't pulled it off the shelf in a year or so, TI3 and Exodus are just so much more fun in every department but ship customization, and aren't much, if any, longer as long as your group can keep things moving.
>>44171710
I expect the player characters to act like rational people.
Trying to kill the most important and powerful person in the kingdom for no reason at all is not a rational thing to do at all. Its downright retarded.
Im fine with stuff I don't expect, like going to the local wizard for help in a fight. But stuff that only serves to derail the game to such a large extent I don't allow, because i've got other things to do in my life that don't involve having to write up, in the King example, what happens to the kingdom, lines of succession, infinitely more combat scenarios when I have a perfectly fine campaign written up already.
Every time
>>44170721
>>44171641
>>44171710
>When I make a campaign setting, I take these things into consideration. I am not the controller of the players. I'm the arbiter of the rules, and I operate the NPCs according to how the NPCs behave. If my players so decide that they want to try and assassinate the king, so be it. I'm not going to huff like a child and pack up my toys and leave, or get mad at them.
This man gets it. Most of the fun is just seeing where your campaign goes. I've been GMing for a while, sometimes you get a group that plays nice and does everything you expect them to do. Other times you get something completely different. One of my favorite games had the PCs go completely against the settlement they just moved into. I planned on using it as a hub of sorts where they could rest up between adventures and being big goddamn heroes. They took the whole thing over by hiring bandits and made it their base of operations, spending the whole game dodging lawmen and robbing traders blind. When I first started anything that went against what I wanted/expected would've annoyed me, but I grew out of it. A good GM has got to learn to let the PCs dictate where the story goes, not the other way around. If you're actively driving the plot where you, the GM, want it to go then you might as well invite your group over for a book reading.
>>44170721
This image sums it up perfectly for me.
>>44171801
So all of the cases in real life history of people assassinating kings is downright retarded? If anything, targeting the most important and powerful person makes the most sense for someone hungry for power or with personal ambitions.
Also, consider that if your players would rather do this, than play your "perfectly fine campaign" that you wrote up, that there may be a problem with you and your campaign, and not the players. People just want to have fun. If they're not having fun with your settings and you're an inflexible shit that ONLY wants to run your settings as you've wrote them, you are simply incompatible with a large majority of the players, and you'll have to find a very specific group to meet your needs.
I don't think there's anything irrational about an assassination, depending on their justification for it. Most medieval rulers got to power and kept their power in the exact same way.
>>44171882
>King gets assassinated for political reasons = not retarded
>King gets assassinated by a bunch schlubs with no affiliation or motivation to do so = pants on head retarded
>>44171882
If they wanted to assassinate the king, that sounds like something that would come up in character creation. I can build the campaign around that if the other players are up for it.
But it doesn't make sense for a random group of adventurers to suddenly decide this is the best course of action when ive had no indication of this at all from them.
>>44171758
I don't even GM bro, but I respect my GMs enough to not be an asshat and deliberately try to see how much of a trainwreck I can turn their game into.Also, don't reply to your own posts, it's really pathetic.
>>44171710
>>44171641
>>44171856
This is why you always discuss what kind of campaign you wanna play with the players all in the same room. If we want a sandbox, i can gm a sandbox. If we want a serious campaign, I will GM a serious campaign. If we want a plot heavy game, i Can GM a plot heavy game.
Almost all problems in role playing stems from the fact that people have problems communicating and different ideas of what the campaign is about.
>>44171938
Not all kings have been assassinated for political reasons though, unless you're a hardcore conspiracy theorist.
Sometimes it's just a poor guy or an assmad retard - both make great adventurers!
>>44171943
You sound like way too much of a control freak.
>IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO DO ANYTHING NOT BUILT TO RIDE MY RAILS PLEASE LET ME KNOW BEFORE YOU THINK ABOUT DOING IT
>>44170721
Everything beautiful I create dies.
>>44172009
I never know if he's holding/kissing his head or if he's like a monster and biting his head.
>>44171990
Have to say i've never heard of a completely unmotivated assassination.
Burden of proof is on the one making the claim.
>>44171990
>assmad retard killing a king for no reason isnt retarded.
>retards aren't retarded
>mfw
>>44171801
> for no reason at all
You'd be pissed off even if they had a reason.
The issue isn't whether their characters have good reasons to do things, it's that they're doing things you didn't expect.
> But stuff that only serves to derail the game to such a large extent I don't allow
There's no reason to pull rank. Just talk to them about it "are you sure you really want to do this? This is going to change the course of the game you're playing."
And if they want to do that then fucking let them, because that's what their characters decided to do.
If you want to write your perfect story where you decide everything that happens with no input from anyone else, you're welcome to write a novel; i fucking double dog dare you that nobody's gonna stop you.
And once the players do something that has a bunch of consequences, you don't have to " write up" jack shit. You play it scene by scene and improvise the consequences as best you can.
You don't write lines of succession and shit out in full; the reason people are impressed with that sort of bullshit is because it's an unbelievable expenditure of time and effort for no fucking reason.
What you do is you gloss that shit over and talk about what the heir then does.
You don't simulate air resistance when a fighter swings his sword.
There are things that are simply too much of a waste of time to do.
If you're running a game that results in your players wanting to derail it, that's probably because you're being a fucking princess bitch who needs to be taught a fucking lesson.
Your players have agency, and if you don't let them have it you're a shit GM. Stop sandbagging around the fact that you're GMing wrong by overprepping content your players will never use.
We've all been there; it's the first crutch everyone ever uses and you need to stop compulsively connecting every single dot and instead get better at providing your players with an interesting, believable, and responsive game world.
>>44171990
>You sound like way too much of a control freak
Not him, but it seems perfectly reasonable to discuss what kind of game your players want before you begin playing. I just run stuff in the exact same world over and over letting groups I had ruin/better it as they do their thing, but I can see why that doesn't work for some people.
>>44172072
I think the point to take away is that different people have different expectations for campaigns.
You're making it seem like GMs are the players personal game slave, but I think its fair to think they should have fun too. And if their idea of fun is setting up an urban political intrigue campaign and they make that clear to the players and the players agree, and then in the first session they fuck off into the wilderness to fist-fight bears, I think it's fair the GM gets pissed off.
Basically, make it clear what you want and find common ground before you start playing.
>>44171706
That strip might as well just be text.
>>44172024
With those desperate, sad and grieving eyes I'm sure he's kissing his son.
>''May I be damned! I've killed my son! I've killed my son!''
>For the next few days, the elder Ivan prayed incessantly for a miracle, but to no avail
My players are filthy murderhobos, all they care for is killing and looting. This is something a lot of people on /tg/ look down upon, but as a GM I appreciate their simple tastes.
I make my dungeon as complete as I can, then they start the session on their way there. A little bit of railroading during the pre-session timeskip, sure, but it all works out. Once they arrive they are free to do as they please.
While there isn't much story to it all, I did get them invested in sticking with my plans and not going too far off the rails. They encountered a higher level NPC early on who beat them up and stole the valuable McGuffin they picked up early on. Now they're out for blood, loot and revenge and every session brings them closer to getting what they want.
>>44172072
Yes but what the other guys is describing might also ruin the game for other players. If i was invited to play a serious and plot heavy campaign I would flip my shit if the other players just suddenly decided to kill the king of some country.
Shit, >>44172184 was meant for >>44171118
>>44172139
I completely agree that this is absolutely fundamental.
...But it didn't really sound to me like that's what that other dude was wrestling with.
Might be, I suppose. Hard to tell, really; it's not like his players are here to give their side of the story.
>>44171614
You motherfucker. This is the fourth time I've seen you post some variation of this, modifying it each time to maximize your ability to argue semantics. Here's your damn reply, now don't do it again or I'll be moderately upset with you, you little shit.
>At your option, you can prevent a pinned opponent from speaking.
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Grapple#Pin_Your_Opponent
>>44172467
Using tabletop groups as a dating service is always a bad idea.
>>44170721
>>44172445
Please at lease use http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#grapple if you're going to cite evidence. D&D Wiki is fucking garbage and makes no attempt to distinguish its homebrew trash from actual rules.
And to play devil's advocate further, you can't just pin. She'd need to grapple first, win the grapple, bring him prone, PIN HIM, and then silence him, rather than "ready an action to silence".
Anyways, let's give her benefit of the doubt.
She's got Improved Grapple, so she doesn't trigger an AoO.
She needs to first make a melee touch attack and succeed. This is a standard action.
Assuming it succeeded, now we make opposed grapple checks. Assuming this succeeds, now you can finally pin.
She skips too many steps. You can't just pin and silence on the same turn.
SHIT EDIT
H
I
T I D E
>>44172604
Are we talking about your RP group, or this topic's argument about DM'ing?
>>44172488
The picture isn't that literal, don't worry - I'm just playing Shadowrun for the first time, and I decided to be a decker. I still don't really know fully what I can do - I only just recently learned how to use programs properly.
When I gm
This goes for most of my life, so...
>>44172667
Well, I mean, I was talking about my RPing experience, but if the glove fits...
>>44172678
To be fair, a nastygram sounds like a good name for some malware.
>>44170721
Every player character is secretly from Florida I've decided.
>>44172051
You're claiming all assassinations have been motivated by rational motives- get proving!
Surely jfk was done by a murderhobo?
![[Mazui]_Denpa_Onna_to_Seishun_Otoko_-_03_[5937CC22].mkv_snapshot_15.10_[2011.05.05_22.21.06].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/z6Nh28y.jpg "[Mazui]_Denpa_Onna_to_Seishun_Otoko_-_03_[5937CC22].mkv_snapshot_15.10_[2011.05.05_22.21.06].jpg")
>>44170721
This
>>44170721
>Any 40k RPG
>>44170971
GMing is only suffering when you have players that don't understand that having fun in an RPG is a collaborative effort.
>>44173488
This can't be real. The screen image has to be fake at least, he can't be browsing some blue board.
>>44173962
it's super obviously a shoop
Nobody to play with anymore.
>>44172967
I like to joke that my decker has hackarisma.
>>44174015
Ever think about actually doing something solo? Might go well, might not. Sometimes I do it just for fun, to see if a bunch of my old characters could make an okay party together.
Especially the bad at math part
>>44173352
you just want to find the fastest way to break anything anyone does. fuck you and every single lolrandom CN dickass thief that wants to make sure everyone has the worst time possible. I feel sorry for any DM that's in a situation where they have to include anyone like you in a game. also, learn what assassinate means.
as·sas·si·nate
verb
murder (an important person) in a surprise attack for political or religious reasons.
I'm mad and I don't even care.
>>44170721
>>44170721
>>44170978
That picture fills me with more sadness than I can communicate.
>>44174121
The actual program being in Spanish makes it all the better.
>!Mama! !Quiero jugar D y D con mis amigos!
>!Jorge! !Voy a dirte para la ultima vez! No puede jugar con esos gringos.
>!Pero mama, quiero estar 'hardcore' como ellos!
>!Callate! ?Que es esto, 'hardcore'? Debes ayudar su primo, Julio. El cartel necessito otros manos hoy.
>>44174121
It wouldn't work. I like party conflict and players reacting to each other as well as some surprising solutions they can come up with. Solo would just be me talking to myself with no twists or challenges.
>>44172594
Just enjoy the comic
>>44171990
I look forward to your inevitable tears over railroaded when the level 10 royal guard one shots your level 3 CN rogue.
>>44174249
This has, sadly, actually happened to me once. Was at a bus stop, so it was slowing down, but it still hurt like a motherfucker.
However, pic related to thread.It's been a mixed bag.
>>44172703
lol'd
>>44171474
>NOT
>AY
>>44171474
>>44174550
One winter a couple years ago I was about to step onto the bus, the snow caked on the sidewalk broke under my foot sending me partway underneath it. It had come to a full stop already so that wasn't a problem, but when I slipped my other leg went flying up and kicked the underside of the doorway with my shin. It caused a small bleeding just over the bone that took almost a whole fucking year to heal. The first week it was so sensitive to touch that sleep was almost impossible as the weight of my bedcovers was enough to hurt.
>>44170778
Ready, prepped but alone and with no game?
>>44171881
That is sad...
>>44174629
REMOVE LMAO
>>44170721
Honestly? Even at its worst, it's been pretty great.
>>44170879
Most recent shadowrun could've used that picture a lot.
>>44173026
Every time I see this posted I get the urge to run an Unknown Armies one-shot where the players have to stop Florida Man's rampage.
Like this but half the tracks aren't finished yet and the other half are on fire.
>>44171474
just let it go,
let it go
>>44171950
This, absolutely this. I might go so far ad to say that this is the most important thing forDMs and players alike to consider.
>>44172072
>If you're running a game that results in your players wanting to derail it, that's probably because you're being a fucking princess bitch who needs to be taught a fucking lesson
I'm not the guy you're replying to, but it seems to me you have an unreasonably favorable opinion of the majority of players. As someone who's never GMed, I've run into plenty of players who don't care about the integrity of the game and hust decide to fuck the campaign up because they think it'll be funny.
>When you're in college.
>After you get a job and move.
>>44175823
;_;
>>44170721
What's with all the depressed people?
It's a hobby, it's supposed to be fun for heaven's sake! If you don't like it, why don't you go collect stamps or something?
>>44175849
>;_;
what the hell is wrong with you?
>>44175883
>Expecting happy, well adjusted gamers that actually play to post on /tg/
Also, see
>>44175823
It works as my image too.
>tfw posting on /tg/ is the closest you can get to actually playing
>>44175883
Campaigns can be sad as much as happy sometimes. Sort of like how movies or plays can be tragedies instead of comedies.
Or the campaign could just be kind of meh, or you're not fully happy with it, but you want to stick with it and see where it goes, or you like the friends you have in it.
>>44175210
This makes me irrationally furious
>>44176000 >>44175980
It's as if you guys don't know what enjoyment is.
Even horror films can be entertaining and fun to watch, or so I've heard. Something about making your heart go faster and adrenaline and all of that. I really don't understand why people would put themselves in a situation they dislike, when they don't have to.
I get work, I get why you would do that for your job: but why would you use your free time to feel miserable? That's what blows my mind.
>>44176079
I am >>44175980
My point was that some of the sad posts are explicitly about no longer being able to play, being alone, or never playing with that awesome group again.
The other guy made good points too.
Games that have sad feels will be sad.
Groups that are floundering but not yet so bad they are worth abandoning happen too.
Like when the GM has irl issues and Timmy takes a turn at it.
>>44176162
Point taken
>>44171706
I hate this so much
>rolls d8
That's a d8, anon. You're using a greataxe
>oh, uh....
>points finger about pool of dice, pretending to try to identify a d10
This one, anon (picks up one of the 7 d10s under their nose)
>oh ok
>rolls
>8 plus.... Uh....
Your strength b-
>plus 8
How?!
>4 from strength, 4 from attack bonus
No, that's attack roll. This is damage. Just your strength this time.
> okay, 8 plus 4 total then.
Which iiiiis...
>tapping
>uhmmm... 14
> no wait
>12
Good fucking God
Every single time
>>44176079
>implying we do it on purpose
It's not our fault that our hobby is full of flakes, retards and That Guys
>>44176238
True, but the option to walk away is still there.
Honestly, >>44176162 raised better points.
>>44171550
Can I join one of your games?
Roughly half of my current group has too much edge and a downright annoying obsession with "playing gray morality games".
No, you don't want to be an antihero. You don't want ambiguous morals.
You want to be an asshole and act like anyone who doesn't like you in or out of character is a white knight trying to ruin your fun.
>>44175823
>>44174121
I've done this sort of thing before.
One time I took way too many stimulants and stayed up for three days meticulously documenting the adventures of a Deathwatch squad by pretending I was servitor.
>>44170721
>>44176365
Same
Here I am
Sitting in bed
Creating a language for an ancient race in my campaign setting
>tfw enjoyed being foreverdm
>tfw player B "needs to DM" because he "can't be a player in the same game as player C"
>tfw player B runs weebshit railroad campaigns and restarts every few weeks
>>44172009
When i saw a replica of this for the first time and heard to story behind it for some reason it made me very, very depressed
>TFW i always end up playing with psychopaths and i have started embracing it
>>44170721
That picture is really sad.
I love the banter my group has sometimes.
>>44170721
in a nutshell:
>>44176217
My group was pretty liable to do this for a long time. When I started a game with a new system, I spent a session or two going over stuff with them as we played. I'd point out the dice they'd roll, when their turn was, all that stuff.
After that, if anyone had a question I'd ask the group, "anyone know this?". If nobody did, I told them. If someone knew the answer, I awarded them an XP (we're playing a game where XP awards can be garnered through stuff like that).
Suddenly, everyone knows the rules. I've yet to see if this'll transfer back when we start up our old game again, but I'm pretty pleased with it.
>>44170721
Pretty much this
>>44170721
Pretty much this. We should not be allowed to plan anything.
>me as a gm when players want to do something stupid but I want to see what might happen next.
>I am a weak gm
Shitty DMs, shitty teammates, shitty playing conditions. Hey, I still try to have fun.
>>44172967All those terms are, or were, real things.
I don't think I have a picture that properly conveys the degree of disappointment and nerves that comes with being a DM as shitty as I am. I barely ever prepare anything and when I do my players make me throw it out because they do something I didn't prepare for and I end up having to ad lib it anyway.
>>44177294
My players absolute refusal to pursue plot hooks resulted in a pit fiend and a balor duking it out in the middle of a port city while an avatar of Tiamat rained destruction from the skies with a cackling wizard dancing around on her back.
Though to be fair that last part was actually due to the rogue successfully completing a side-quest, pocketing the gold and then pretending she knew nothing about it.
>>44177615
Oh, and I guess this is the image that goes with that.
>>44177570
>and I end up having to ad lib
This is one of the primary parts of DMing
Everyone sucks at first. Some people even suck at second and third. The important thing is you keep trying.
This is what happens when you run low-fantasy anglo-saxon campaigns.
>goblins
>use fire
>undead
>more fire
>Britons
>all the fire
I have a friend I play with, as we're both kind of new to tabletop RPGs (like less than a year each.)
He has terrible RNG and scheduling problems.
>>44177806
That's just such a fantastic way to start a book.
>>44177806
This is how most shadowrun games start.
>>44177696
I'm just sad because I try to put some effort into things but it hasn't worked out so far. And while the characters are pretty fun and my players great, it kinda hurts to hear one player talking about how they barely even need me to play the game and none of the NPCs are interesting.
Which is a fair criticism but so far I haven't really had much chance to change that because the campaign moves so slowly sometimes.
This doesn't describe me, but I know this fits someone out there.
>>44170971
>"hey anon, we want a more social campaign"
>they've ran around killing everyone and everything that moves
>neutral good said he's going to establish "an Empire of Evil"
>other character doesn't trust anyone OOC and it's leaked into his character. tries to fuck the party over at every turn
>ex-GM shows no interest unless it's his turn in combat and hasn't show up for over a month
Fuck it, I give up.
>>44175387
Holy shit this.
>>44171710
While I mostly agree with you, I have to say that I feel for the other guy. I love to run with whatever ridiculous shit the players are doing and spin stuff out of it, but as a new GM it gets exhausting, and there's a limited amount of stuff I can make up on the fly.
I think it's always a problem of degrees. When the players just blandly follow your hints and never go beyond a strategy of "I roll to attack", it's dull. But when players are doing their very best to send your campaign crashing and burning, it's even worse.
>GM has been too busy being stuck in an absolute shithole of a country to game for close to three years now
>>44170971
1: Stop planning specific events, and instead spend your planning time fleshing out your notes about the setting.
2: Stop writing specific encounters, think about what encounters might happen based on what you know about your setting and wing it when it happens, doesn't matter if it's social stuff or monsters.
3: use your prep time to think about what might be going on with the places and people you fleshed out, keep it alive even when the players aren't there.
If you do this, you'll never feel unprepared and you'll never feel railroaded.
>Oh, you guys are heading over to the next city? Or the forest? Or across the border? That's cool, because I spent time figuring out some vague ideas what might be going on there instead of trying to drag you by the ear to this specific quest I wrote.
If you spend too much time trying to wrangle your players into your story hooks or being grumpy when they go off the reservation you really shouldn't be DMing, you should just be writing forgotten realms fanfiction or whatever.
>>44171561
>>44171758
These guys might be dicks about it, but they know what's up. The characters aren't there to experience the story you wrote, you're all there to experience the story that happens to the characters.
>>44171706
When I introduced my new players to dungeons and dragons, they started using me as a crutch and never actually learned any of the rules.
I had to ask them to help one another figuring things out. I just pointed out when something was wrong, but wouldn't tell them why. Of course, none of them knew, so they had to collectively learn together. A few sessions in they did figure it out, so I consider that a win.
>>44178042
>every campaign must be a sandbox, or else it's railroading and you're a shit GM
>>44170978
THE FUCK IS THAT NEAR THE FAN
>>44177841
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A
>>44178093
A plastic spider Halloween decoration.
>>44178093
It's a "Break out the Fireball spells", anon. You know what to do.I think it's a plastic spider on the wall behind it
>>44178093
Spider.
>>44170809
I love DMing, and I have no problem being a ForeverDM.
My problem is, I just want to DM for a group that GIVES A FUCK.
Like, in all the groups I've played, even the one that I've been running for almost 2 years now, I just don't feel any excitement from the players. The never remember people's names, even after spending nearly 25 sessions around these people, every time I try and end on a really tense note or cliffhanger, I get no sense that anyone really cares, and everything is just so blase. Players never get excited about the world or during a tough combat or anything.
They play, sure. They do everything they need to, they talk through things and they win the encounters, and they follow the plot, but I have never gotten the kind of players who have any kind of enthusiasm for the whole thing.
That's all I've ever wanted, was a player who just mirrors the enthusiasm that I put into games. When all you get out of players is "Eh", it kills any desire to put that much work in.
I'm the strategist.
>>44177841
Overburdened and attempting to cross Lake Superior during a storm but failing to make it to the safe haven of Whitefish Bay and sinking in Canadian waters?
>>44178128
>>44178133
>>44178134
And then I noticed the fake ass Spider-web decoration and found out it's a lackluster halloween party
Nevermind then, carry on.
>>44178058
>When I introduced my new players to dungeons and dragons...
>new players
>dungeons and dragons
That's like teaching kids to swim by throwing them in the sewer, even the ones who get the hang of it and manage to stay above the surface are still neck deep in shit.
>>44178071
That's /tg/'s religion, though. "ALL SANDBOX OR IT'S SHIT".
>>44178169
I don't see how you could really focus things without railroading. You'd need a good GM who isn't going to abuse this power and make sure he uses this focus over the story to the group's benefit, and players willing to be lead a bit and just go along with things that are happening.
>>44178169
Well yeah. Because /tg/ wants to control the campaign and be the universal center of attention (at everybody else's expense), without actually doing the work of GMing. I call it "storytime syndrome".
>>44178071
I'm sorry that I don't think DMing boils down to inviting 4 people to watch me jerk off over my writing.
I'm there to provide them with a world that reacts to them and where interesting things happen. Even if I throw a big event at them they know I'll still make the session worthwhile even if they all just leg it out of there and says "fuck the princess, lets go sailing".
I'll call you if I want to sit around and listen to someone going
>Uhm, look guys, I didn't really prepare anything for outside the village...
though.
>>44178193
>that pic
>image search brings up nothing
what is this anon
>>44178218
A dumb broad.
>>44178193
It helps when the player are the types who notice genre conventions and when they're being nudged a certain direction, and thentake it as a cue to actually go that direction, because they know it'll be funner for everybody if they don't try to specifically shit on the DM.
>>44178193
>I don't see how you could really focus things without railroading.
Why do you say "railroading" like it's a dirty word? Nigga, you're playing through a fucking story. That means you're given a plot, and you work through it. If the DM wants to keep you playing that story, instead of fucking off to Who-gives-a-fuck-land just to be contrarian because "lol obviously the plot is over here imma intentionally ignore it and do everything I can to derail the game!", then the DM will make your investigations lead in that specific direction to keep you paying attention tot he plot BECAUSE THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT OF THE GAME.
>GM who isn't going to abuse this power
Yeah, you have no business at a gaming table.
>>44178162
That's nice. It's the most popular game for a reason.
>>44178217
>the GM should have no say in anything, or no ability to compile any notes ahead of time, because it offends my fragile sense of control and I need to force everybody around to acknowledge me, even if that means ruining games
I've played with your type before. No thanks.
>>44178193
>that pic
>>44178217
>I'm sorry that I don't think DMing boils down to inviting 4 people to watch me jerk off over my writing.
You seem to think that DMing boils down to inviting 4 people to jerk off over you instead.
>if they all just leg it out of there and says "fuck the princess, lets go sailing".
This means you're a shit DM because you can't keep players engaged enough in your plot to actually want to see it through, because clearly they don't give a single fuck about it.
>Uhm, look guys, I didn't really prepare anything for outside the village...
I love how inbred you sandboxfags are.
>Literally playing an Urban game that takes place inside a city
>All the players live in the city, have friends and family in the city, and a reason to care about the city
>There is no desire for them to just fuck off somewhere else because there's actually shit threatening their home and they want to save it instead of "Who cares we just wanna go into a dungeon today".
But no. Clearly you are the DM we should ask for tips here.
>>44178265
I'm not a fan of the "quantum ogre" approach. I prefer the "Undead Gay Marriage" approach. if they want to ignore the story fine, but the longer they do the harder the game gets and the closer they get to "Bad End"
I work a night job and haven't the time/social ability to engage in any tabletops, even though I think I might want to
>>44178358
>if they want to ignore the story fine, but the longer they do the harder the game gets and the closer they get to "Bad End"
I love how you think that letting players run amok and fuck around for 20 levels without giving a fuck about your campaign is mitigated by the "punishment" of having it end with "Oh well, you ignored the Lich and he took over the world" right at the end.
Nigga they didn't care to begin with. Why would they care about a "bad end"?
>>44178193
What the fuck happened to the windshield wipers on that SUV?
>>44178358
A lot of fantasy games follow a Call to Adventure pattern at the beginning, and there's totally ways that they can refuse the call and the story goes on, but the issue is that it's usually not "Shit, I'm not the kind of person they're looking for, get somebody else", it's "Lol sorry GM we don't want your game, time for ork luchadores or some shit". There's ignoring the plot ICly, and ignoring it OOCly, and they're different monsters.
Everyone's pissed at me for finally saying fuck it and kicking the ball over the fence after blowing me off for autism simulators and trying to pass it off as 'reworking their schedules.' They are not even talking to me anymore. It's to the point where I'm not even bothering to look for another group, I'm just spent. I can't even play vidya or watch shitty anime to forget about it because my headphones are busted. This is the worse I've felt in a long time and the anti-depressants aren't helping anymore.
I know I overreacted, but what am I supposed to do? Grimace and let it slide for the nth time? Fuck it, I'm not their goddamn wife I don't need to wait up for their asses.
>>44175387
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_-OTZHBIuE
>>44178419
Have you never lived in a place that has snow?
You lift them up so they don't get buried under snow and frozen to the glass.
>>44178442
We have a lot of snow here and I've never seen anyone ever do that.
>>44178320
I'm the DM.
>>44178218
Just girls being strange.
I think that a lot of the time on /tg/ there's this adversarial relationship between the GM and the players. Like, each group has rights, and the other group shouldn't be allowed to contravene those rights, and everyone on both sides is very worried about the person or people on the other side getting in the way of their fun, and I think people kind of lose track of the fact that they're all people playing at a table together.
Like, when I GM, I will absolutely throw arbitrary shit at my players and they will have to deal with it. And they do. And it's fun. And, in return, they will often decide on a course of action that is completely out of left field and unexpected by me, and I will have to deal with it. And I will, and it's fun. I don't try to force them to do things my way, except when I do. And they don't try to wreck my ideas, except when they do.
I railroad them. They thwart me. But if I can see they really care about something, I try not to ruin it (or at least not unless I can do it in an exciting way and make it important). And if they can see I really care about something, they do the same. They follow my tracks, except for the times when they'd rather not. And I herd them back to them, except for the times where I like where they're going. If I'm going to continue the railroad tracks analogy for an unreasonably long time, my campaigns usually end up looking like a bunch of half-finished lengths of track laid down all crazily next to each-other and connected by the hurried footprints of the players as they abandon one to start building another before wrecking it and going back to the first one, only to burn it down and hop onto a third.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that at bottom, everyone at every table is on the same team. They want to make a nifty story together. Players and GMs can both get away with a lot of the shit people in this thread hate as long as they do it with the understanding that they're all there to have fun.
>>44178559
>And if they can see I really care about something, they do the same.
You are describing players that do not exist. Players exist to ruin things for their own amusement.
You will tell me you're describing your awesome, perfect group, but we know you're lying, and you're just as shit as they are.
>>44171277
now the themesong is stuck in my head. thanks.
>>44178042
I appreciate your post
>>44178624
Anon, you were a person before you were a player. There isn't some shift in your DNA that turns you into an asshole when you pick up a polyhedral die (as much as I joke about that kind of thing).
Sit down with a bunch of cool people and you can play these games without hating yourself afterwards.
>>44178773
None of that makes sense. RPG's aren't rocket science.
>>44178218
>what is this anon
a Japanese highschoolgirl in the snow.
>>44177829
The best part is it was totally his fault, I mean he didn't DIRECTLY start THIS fire, but he's an instigator.
You don't steal a box of tasty puppies from demonic apes that throw flaming feces without accepting that there will be consequences.
![[SallySubs] Date a Live Director's Cut - 04 [BD 720p AAC] [2D20DBED].mkv_snapshot_10.36_[2015.11.26_21.12.14].png](https://i.imgur.com/FPqqUnQ.jpg "[SallySubs] Date a Live Director's Cut - 04 [BD 720p AAC] [2D20DBED].mkv_snapshot_10.36_[2015.11.26_21.12.14].png")
>>44178892
>Rocket-propelled grenades
>not rocket science
>>44178135
I feel exactly the same way
Struggle is real
>>44179134
Don't be dumb, senpai.
>>44179082
>that pic
Yep, time to go to hell.
On the actual subject of railroading or not, I find it annoying that it seems to go between two extremes - either the game is a sandbox and the players will just ruin everything, or it's a straight line the players will not stray off of or face death as punishment. The middle of the road is the scenario you want, but the GM should be willing to react to what the group seems to want - if it turns out they aren't into diplomacy or searching for clues, give them a lot of combat. If the players notice that the DM keeps wanting them to go to ScaryDarkTown, maybe they should give it a visit.
Well, I was in a long running party for a couple of years in a party ran by what I'd later learn was a That DM, a pariah in the city's /tg/ community and possibly a sex offender. He'd play blatant favorites, punished any perceived ambiguity or 'failing', railroaded like crazy, and percieved my requests for more difficulty as 'be unfair.' He was also kind of an idiot, combined with egotism, and as such couldn't be convinced he was ever wrong. This was a man who thought 'madam' meant 'brothel madame' and any time we tried being polite we'd just piss off any female character we'd encounter.
I left, and would later run my own campaign with /tg/ vowing to always do the opposite of what my old GM did, and it worked out ok. There were disagreements, and currently on extended hiatus due to life hitting us all like a truck, but I'm mostly glad how it turned out.
>>44178892
It's Tom Preston, you expected sense?
>>44179275
>this gif
She has a dick, doesn't she?
>>44179293
God I hope so.
>>44178439
>autism simulators
What are we talking about here? Fallout or other vidya? Or something else?
>>44179293
>>44179311
as long as they are cute, it doesn't matter!
>>44178400
You don't know how story progression works do you? No option works against players who are being intentional assholes jumping the rails simply for the joy of pissing on the game. These players are not good players and should be booted from the game unless they plan to actually play. So assuming you have players and not dicks then you aply simple story progression elements to the main plot. you let the game grow organically around your players actions while building to primary plot benchmarks.
Lets break it down.
>Plot hook - Strange happenings in the west, you have been asked to check it out
Party decides "fuck the mayor I want to be a merchant prince, lets start a caravan instead!"
>Party travels south with a load of furs that they sell and then buy a load of rum and head east.
Party comes across a group of [Western nation] refugees. and learns about an Orchish horde forming and pillaging in the west "If only someone had investigated the rumors we might have been ready!"
If they keep ignoring the main antagonizing thread they will find them selves neck deep in Orcs riding demons lead by an undead tarrasque-lich before to long. It would also get harder to avoid the main plot as even side missions and seemingly minor factional disputes will tie into the primary threat.
This is where you tap into your players, The party face can try and work out deals and agreements toward mutual defense treaties between factions. The Rogue can help root out the criminal elements to free up resources or reorganize said element into a shadow force attacking behind enemy lines. The Mage can call in favors and set up traps to hinder the enemies abyssal connections(ie. Demon prince A isn't going to be to happy Demon prince B is making a play for the Prime plane behind his back).
If your game is fun then it will be fun, if they are still dodging the main plot, dont be afraid to sit your players down and ask them why. Communication is rule number 1
>>44179363
Fallout isn't exactly autism. You know the type of game. Long tedious process to do other long tedious processes. Advanced timesinks.
>>44179275
>time to go to hell
Not really. That girl's skirt is approx 1/3rd of the assigned length. She's being a whore. You objectifying her is nothing bad or unwanted.
>>44179293
>She has a dick
>she
>dick
The joke is old and tired, and has been replaced with mentally deranged people who honestly believe it.
>>44179551
>meme sexism
>>44179551
She could have a feminine dick.
>>44179710
I'm pretty sure the post that coined that term was satire. It's gay.Not that it's a bad thing.....
Near the end of my first year of college, most of our Pathfinder group just stop showing up. They got busy, they left, they constantly came late, whatever. A particularly low point was at the side-adventure that spawned when the GM decided to have a little fun on his 21st birthday and DM while drunk, and only about half of the group showed up.
One day I was sitting in the room we usually met at, the GM's just a little late it seems, and he just texts me and says that the game's over.
>>44179734
pretty sure the post you're replying to was satire m8
>>44170721
>>44179710
Poe's law, everybody.
>>44179624
What's sexist about it? Girl has made the decision to show off her bare ass. She obviously doesn't mind people looking; if she does, why the fuck is she wearing a 5 inch skirt?
