How did you let this happen to you?
By being the one who introduced every single one of his players to TTRPG ?
>>45984671
the main reason is no good DM to provide me with what I like
also being DM is more interesting - roleplaying lots of characters and thinking their motivations and plots etc
Wish it could be different but im the only one who can. Each time my players attempts at DMing its cringe worthy. I like being important and valuable but i feel like just laying back and enjoy someone elses plot yknow?
The first game we played had the worst DM imaginable. First few session were fun stock fantasy stuff, kill the goblins, go here and fight this giant who is being an asshole, ect. Once he ran out of stock stuff (Which only took 3 sessions) he started making his own awful, magical realmy, cringy, and railroady quests. Naked catfolk, Doc Brown, Barack Obama, Batman, one his his npcs going super saiyan, his whole trove of npcs being the only people who could beat anything up anymore, using his GMPC (who was an epic level bard) as an excuse to spend ten minutes real time playing guitar poorly for us... it just got worse and worse. With barely any gaming experience of my own and therefore barely any understanding of how to DM, I made my own game on the side to save everyone from that shitshow. Out of courtesy I invited our DM to play also, he was still my friend at the time after all. He did. Long story short he was awful and we kicked him. Damn near ten years later and I'm still hosting games for everyone and their mother and never playing in any.
Everyone else I have let run have been boring, npc driven slogs that have us slamming into unbalanced combat after another.
I also can not stand yet another hombrew setting based after current political situations. That shit gets old faster than company bearing fish.
Because I keep running games while people don't invite me to games. It's not hard to imagine.
Joke's on you though, I finally got an invite to a game and am getting to play again.
Apparently I'm the only one from our friend group that wants to keep in conact.
That and I have way too many ideas floating around my head for me to be content.
>>45984763
This right here.
If it weren't for other people being fucking AWFUL at what they do, I wouldn't have to be a forever GM.
But most people carry the same lazy attitude they have as a player into GMing, and use it as an opportunity to jack themselves off.
A mix of:
>Friends with NO imagination or story telling power
I love them, but when they GM, its literally "flavor of the month video game with a railroad straight to GM fap town"
>Online GM's are notoriously tyrannical and extreme
Tried roll20 a few times. Its either HacknSlash, dont give a fuck about back story or front story mode, or VTM: Highschool politics mode. I havent had a good experience with both aspects and a GM who will let cool stuff go. Very GM vs. PC
>People have no idea what they are doing
This is mostly my personal circle. They say they want to run a game, but either: Fudge it beyond acceptable measures (extreme shit like save or die on mundane crap), or they let homebrew shit run rampant and cant spot a cheater. trying to play in a game with a titan (from attack on titan) in the group with +8 to attack and regenerate 4 at level 1 was a bit much.
>Its just easier
Trying to play a fun game has become so depressing that running a game my players love lets me just assume the role of an npc and play it at will.
I enjoy being the GM more than being a player.
No one else cares enough to actually invest enough time to do it properly.
Usually when I try to be a player, it usually lasts a couple sessions and then the GM says they can't be bothered to continue, so I have to take over, or there's no game at all.
>>45984671
By forcing a vote then nominating the current DM to his position. We then made purposely shitty attempts at DMing when it was our turn and unanimously agreed that it was best if J DMed exclusively from now on.
>>45984671
I just want to play in a game. And I still hope that if I gather enough people and make them have fun, eventually someone will make me have fun right back.
>>45984763
>>45984844
Thirding this. My first GM was a fucking retard, I quickly realised I could run a game better if I were sedated and suffering from brain damage.
I've been in games as a player, sure, I'm doing that right now, but I always feel I can do a better job. Sometimes players need to be told no, and sometimes people need to read the fucking rules before deciding to run a game.
What sort of fuckass gives a Space Marine a wound for fucking up lifting a washing machine with a guy hiding in it?
>>45984965
>Original DM: 3 sessions and quit
>Me: 30 more sessions in that campaign, 40 more sessions in another campaign, and 5 sessions into current campaign.
On the bright side, I can finally call myself a non-shit DM. I've probably gone 20-30 hours deep into pure preparation for the current campaign, already.
>>45984671
My ForeverDM is a cunt as a player but is a decent DM, we can't kick him out because we still hang out when not playing D&D, but nobody wants to DM for him, nobody wants to run a game behind his back.
Either nobody else is willing to deal with the responsibility or suck so outlandishly badly that they can't get through a session without everyone wanting to quit.
Because my friends have run some terrible games and I no longer trust them to GM.
>>45984671
If you want something done (right), you have to do it yourself. I introduced all my friends to roleplaying games. Only one other person is willing to lead and she's awful at it. The players like my stories, they trust me with power, I'm good with rules and quick to engineer fun, challenging, and hard-but-not-too-hard encounters.
So I GM.
I enjoy having power over my "friends"
>>45984717
This
On a side note, new question, how many people have you introduced to TTRPG's?
>>45984763
Yup.
It's one of those 'if you want it done right, ya' gotta do it yourself' things.
Unfortunately, we're few and far between.
>Me: Run a game for three years. Take a break. Start running another game after a few months.
>Anyone else: Runs one session. "This is too hard."
Basically. I'd like a break to just play as one guy and enjoy someone else's setting. Then again, I love wordbuilding and thinking up all sorts of awful schemes all my rulers and their families have so it's not so bad. A break once in a while wouldn't hurt though.
>>45986052
This post gave me a papercut.
>>45984858
This right here.
Although I have played PC a few times and actually enjoyed it, finding DMs that match the style Im looking for and are willing to do decent work are just too rare
>>45984671
No one besides me is willing to take the time and effort away from their autism simulators to set up a game. Ergo, guess who is the incapable fuck who runs it? Hell, I'm probably going to run Twilight 2k in the near future even though I can't into /k/.
>>45986076
I'm in the same boat as >>45984717, I think I've introduced around 6/7 people to the hobby who actually still play or have played an entire campaign at least. In total I've introduced around 20 to the hobby I think, but most of them stopped playing soon after they started because they found out is wasn't really for them.
y'all should host GMing workshops in your communities
Not only was I the only one to introduce them, but I’m also the only one willing to read all of the books and understand the rules. Same reason I’m the host and purchaser of all games on board game night.
>>45984671
I actually enjoy DMing more than being a player.
>>45985240
>>45985204
This deficit sort of forces you to GM if you want to continue "playing" (within the context of having fun).
I feel very lucky to have found a little group using my system of choice and a sufficiently organized/interesting GM.
Because I'm the guy who keeps pitching games to the group, so instead of just running the same campaign forever I'm the one going "guys, I just found this neat game, I want to run it, we're playing."
I'm noticing an interesting trend; posters ITT seem to feel a sense of responsibility for the challenging and quintessential work of GM'ing. But I wonder how the PC's feel?
Do you ever ask for feedback from your players? Do any untested players ever express a desire to try their hand at the GM's task? Do you (as the GM) trust their judgement?
>>45988393
I ask every game if everyone had a good time and if thy had any questions about the setting.
I usually do not ask if someone else wants to run, mostly because the other gms in my group are pretty terrible.
>>45988393
I ask for feedback all the time, I like to know what the players want and are looking for.
However, as the poster of >>45984858 it usually ends as a shit show when other people try to take the mantel. Alot of times, new players have a cool fight, a cool scene in mind and once you do that, they are running on empty and it just snuffs out and disappears.
I choose to run because I can help EVERYONE have a good time. It has nothing to do with my stories or ideas or some superiority, its that I can take into account everyones goals and weave them all together so they all like it. Many people have a really hard time with that part.
>>45984671
I've been a GM for so long I forgot how to play games.
>>45984671
I'm actually just really bad at being a PC. Being one character for too long gets to me.
>>45988393
Asking for feedback never works, except when you're running for fellow GMs.
Otherwise, you get:
"Gib game. Feedback? Is no game? Then Ignore. Me like game. Gib more" at best
Otherwise you get: "YOU SHOULD INSERT X THING THAT I LOVE BUT HAS NO PLACE IN A GAME AND NOW THAT I'VE TOLD YOU THAT YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO DO IT"
or "RRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE FUCK YOU GM ITS ALL ABOUT ME ME ME"
>>45988607
>except when you're running for fellow GMs.
If only that was all it required. Having GMed means shit all for how much of a twit you'll be as a player, sadly.
DM for so long and tell myself that it is fun, that it has started to actually become more fun that actually being a player. Or at least that is what I tell myself,
I like playing in games better than running them, but I like running them better than nogame, and nobody else seems to have the time or interest to run them.
>>45984671
>How did you let this happen to you?
Basically https://youtu.be/-LFiZfFyRRs?t=14m45s
>>45988607
Like 95% of all feedback I've ever gotten has been "it was OK, same time next week right?"
That said, I've found two things help improve feedback efficacy. Turns out they're also commonly used in game playtesting, too.
The first is to figure out whether you get better feedback one-on-one (no social pressure to be super positive) or in a group (social pressure to actually give your feedback at all, plus it's right after a session so it's fresher).
The second is to ask about what they liked most and what they liked least. Positive framing ("liked"), subjective opinion/experience (what you like is an opinion, what's good/bad is a fact), balanced positive and negative, and is thinly disguised as a session highlight/lowlight review or discussion.
Also based on playtesting feedback, the absolute worst kind of feedback is usually the person that tells you HOW to change what they don't like. Sometimes they have good ideas, but usually it's not what you're looking for.
>>45988393
I have had people offer to GM for me. Every game that I haven't' GM'd personally has fallen apart. People who were so willing to break the ForeverGM curse have flaked. I'm tired of writing up and getting invested in characters only for it to die three sessions later. Mythic works wonder to solve this ailment. But it doesn't beat an actual group.
>>45984717>>45988607
You just have shit friends it seems
>>45989011
>(no social pressure to be super positive)
Man, I wish. While I have seen the occasional 'How dare you not enjoy yourself, GM-sama can do no wrong!' twit, I can't say I've ever encountered a group where there was social pressure to be super positive before. What I see more often is groups that rarely to never have a positive word to say, and are wiling and eager to leap in at the GM with piles of complaints all at once.
>Like 95% of all feedback I've ever gotten has been "it was OK, same time next week right?"
This is fairly common too. Probably the most common.
>>45989222
>piles of complaints all at once
I think I'd prefer that to what I find more commonly happens with dissatisfied players: passive aggressive "it was fine" and then disappearing into the void never to be heard from again. At least then you know you messed up, yeah?
I ended up as a forever DM because when I was growing up, my father actually had a reputation as being one of the best DMs in the land and a huge This Guy. There was no game system he wouldn't play, and no bad ruling that couldn't be turned on its ear for the players to have a good time. He could rattle the bones and keep everyone interested in the game and invested in the storyline, even for something as tried and true as "Village of Hommet".
When he died when I was just getting into the hobby, everyone expected me to suddenly learn how to be just as good as he used to be. I do alright, but it's hard to live up to that kind of reputation.
>>45984671
I'm the one who brought the group together, a small amount of people, and the only other person who had ever played it before doesn't like making a world and isn't very good at it.
To me, being a DM is creating a sotry as much as it is playing a game with friends. I find real pleasure in creating a world, the quests, the lore and history; and finally playing with my friends. I already write on my own outside of being a DM, but this is something different that I won't trade for anything.
I have played some times as a player, and it was nice too though, but I'm still happy to ForeverDM
Because my group is horrible and I'm the only one who will tell them to shut the fuck up when they start arguing with me.
Seriously, no one has the confidence to DM because they know the other players will argue with them all the time. You'd think they'd learn not to argue rules because of this fact, but they haven't.
>>45984770
sauce on that image?
>>45988393
>Do you ever ask for feedback from your players?
Yes, and they never gave me anything but would bitch about what I prepared for them every week. That's why I stopped.
>Do any untested players ever express a desire to try their hand at the GM's task?
One did.
>Do you (as the GM) trust their judgement?
That one player's game fell apart before we even got to our first pre-game session. So no, absolutely not.
Because I'm the only one capable of keeping a group of people larger than one together.
>>45990144
You serious? Come on, kid, you got to at least pretend like you're old enough to be here.
>>45990268
I'm old enough and I remember reading something in similar artstyle, but I've not bookmarked it so I forgot 'bout it. Don't be an ass and help me out here.
>>45990558
Oglaf. Waiting for a BJ here Anon, don't disapoint me.
>>45990824
Alright, have a ghost one. Thanks for the assist.
>>45990824
>>45990885
This is the exact reason /tg/ sucks now.
>>45990144
is it summer already?
>>45984671
I've done professional game design work and came up with (or at least rebalanced) most of the house rules in our group. As a consequence, even when I'm somehow NOT the GM I still manage to need to inform the GM on random tidbits that they forget and ask for tips on.
It makes for irritating out-of-session interactions sometimes, but at least the sessions themselves are fun enough to make me temporarily remember why I got into games: fun.
Simple.
I'm the best at telling stories in my social group, so I run the games.
I enjoy doing it more than being a player, so it worked out.
>none cares enough to run
>you run to keep the game going
>none cares enough to play
>tfw
>>45984671
my players like me, they think that i'm very creative and they enjoy my sessionsand i love it
It has been 10 years. And I've yet to see a person gming that wouldn't make me internally scream "oh shit nigger, what are doing". When I see all the lost potential, I feel an actual, physical pain.
I don't know.
By now, I tend to forget that being a player is a thing.
Shit. Now I feel like I lost something important
>>45990945
seriously. Today's players have no taste.
>>45984671
My players are all fucking terrible DMs and I'd rather be stuck as forever DM doing it right than sit through another one of their awful attempts.
>>45986052
You sound like my DM
>>45986052
careful might cut yourself on that edge
Not to sound like I'm tooting my own horn but I'm the most experienced and skilled at the job. We all suffered at the hands of a DM who would start games rather fun and interesting then introduced his DMPC. This DMPC ranged from some Half-Dragon Wizard (if it was 3rd edition DnD) to anime clones of characters (A stylized monk who wore white, the kanji for 'Wicked' on his back, and carried a 20ft long sword in LotFR).
These DMPCs would start solving our problems every session, then the games would collapse because it became NPC Theater. So, I said I'd learn how to GM and run a game of my own. This first game lasted over a year and a half, one weekly session at a time. I would find new games, new systems, new settings, digest them with an appetite that could not be satisfied, and introduce them to these games.
It's been 15 years. I've tried and tried to be a player, dealing with bad GMs or cultivating others. I try to encourage and offer advise only when asked, and always took a backseat when playing so I wouldn't seem like I was ever trying to tell them how to run their games.
These games end for some reason, or I'd get fed up playing with some pretty bad ones. I just find myself more comfortable making, running, and teaching everything. The systems and games I want to play most, no one will try or care enough to try.
I kept bitching when other people ran...
This is my punishment.
I wouldn't mind DMing if I could actually be good at it and not autistic enough to do voices
Because there are 2 other people who have the will to. One of them is better than me but doesn't have the time to plan things out as much as he'd prefer to, and the other one is good at coming up with concepts for sessions but has no grasp of jow to gauge difficulty (some encounters we casually roll by accident and others we have no shot at without being twinked out for the specific challenge and having absurd dice luck.)
So basically either I can gm or it's just an unsatisfying experience. Trying to encourage the second one though.
I hope you don't think having three others in your group constantly fighting to DM is better. In the three years I've played, we've successfully leveled up twice. It's a fucking nightmare.
I tried to GM once but I had a stressful breakdown because our actual for-life GM who was a player in that session was such a flippant shit
There's a chance for me to DM again and I know he's just going to be an asshole player, but nobody else is running anything
I wanted to learn to, so that I would always have a place at the table.
>Burnt out on 5e after last DM harassed me out of the group because he thought I was a tranny for running a female cleric instead of a male cleric to fit in with his slightly homoerotic fixation on Conan the Barbarian
>Go to local store to see if they have Adventurer's League.
>Offer services
>Get no response
>Go to next store
>Play AL with fantastic DM.
>Next week, get a call from the first store "We accept. We want you to DM".
>Cool, I'll DM premade stuff, then I'll play with a great group
>Go to second store to play
>Tables are too big, split the tables
>Guy who volunteered to DM is smelly, old, and grouchy.
>Fucks up literally everything
>Look up the adventure he ran
>LITERALLY everything was butchered
>"I'm not letting THAT happen again"
>Next week, we have to split the tables again
>Guy is there
>FUCK NO
>Me: "Uh, actually Mr.-Head-DM-Slash-Store-Owner, I 'accidentally' brought all of my DMing supplies today from DMing yesterday at the other store, and I just HAPPEN to know where the group is and the adventure we're running. M-maybe I could be your DM tonight?"
>"Yeah sure"
>Run for them
>Everyone fucking loves it
>Too much
>I now have almost 0 time as a player because I have a group of puppies that follow me around wide-eyed and bushy tailed, to a point where I essentially doubled both stores player bases as they started following me on different nightsKill me.
>>45996946
Are you having fun or is it just miserable
>>45997204
Depends, honestly. When I'm underprepared and feel like I'm doing shitty, or if one of the players is being a shit head (Adventurer's League can't be picky about its players), then shit can suck real bad.
Usually its pretty fun, now that I've had more experience, but the first couple of times can be mentally exhausting keeping track of everything with ADD riddled players.I was fucking mentally DEAD that one time I generated a complete murder-mystery off the top of my head, with full on misdirection, red herrings, and a plot twist.
My main problem is that I come from more of a /v/ background than a /tg/ background, so I'm more used to being alone. So sometimes, I just get INCREDIBLY sick of seeing people and need time to recharge.
Other than that, as long as I'm playing and people are happy.
>>45984858
>VTM: Highschool politics mode
Elaborate on the meaning of this, please.
>>45999002
Not him, but you haven't really had an authentic WoD experience until you join a game where a thirtysomething year old landwhale woman is playing a 500 year old quirky punk girl who "hates preps"
>>45996946
>DM harassed me out of the group because he thought I was a tranny for running a female cleric instead of a male cleric
Those people really exist? I thought it was all just lazy b8 on /tg/.
>>45999088
Does she also have poorly done existential crisis about being a monster too?
>>45996946
>To a point where I essentially doubled both stores player bases as they started following me on different nights
Sounds like it's time to ask for a job, anon.
>>45999556
yes its quite real, I knew a guy who wanted to give a character I played a penalty in a D20 system for being a female character using a shotgun because recoil and not even taking consideration that my character was trained in shooting guns and some might say, proficient.kicker was he though he was /k/ as fuck yet didn't know nearly enough /k/ shit to properly go full operator.
>>45999829
>shotguns
>recoil
LMAO, literally the weapon in which a 13 year old American girl won a gold medal in the olympics in the Double Trap category, in which recoil compensation is a huge factor.
>>45999759
>paid DM
>>45999556
It was really low key at first.
Basically, he wanted us to go super oldschool Basic/1st edition days, and forced us to roll for all our stats. I rolled a 4 for one of them. Me being me, and wanting to turn this into an interesting opportunity, decided "Where should I put this?"
So, naturally, the best answer was in Constitution, right?
I came up with this elaborate backstory for why this character had a 4 in con and was cleric. That the character got diagnosed with a terminal disease and was looking to religion for solace and answers. And the more I got into this character, the more I started to picture in my head the image of a very fragile person. I thought that a woman fit that image better than a man, so I went with it.
The DM then started being uncharacteristically (only slightly though) hostile towards me. He made it clear AGES ago that he doesn't trust players who play opposite gender characters, and I thought after about a year I had earned his trust that I could maybe play one.
Nope.
He started fighting me on just about EVERY thing. Like one time he thought I had put her age as under 16 and said "Oh man, I was gonna call the cops on you", which I replied "Why? I'm not sexualizing her. Were YOU planning to sexualize her?"
No response to that one.
And then a very shitty argument boiled between us.
Let me ask you something, as a neutral 3rd party. 5e rules. Custom background. Does anything sound strange about this background?
Herbalist:
Proficiency in:
-Nature
-Medicine
Additional Proficiency in:
-Herbalist Kit
-1 Language of player's choice
Background feature:
-Can more easily gather herbs and make medicines for far cheaper than the competition, and often times for free. Extensive knowledge on all plants and fungi.
>>46000059
>Herbalist:
>Proficiency in:
>-Nature
>-Medicine
>Additional Proficiency in:
>-Herbalist Kit
>-1 Language of player's choice
>Background feature:
>-Can more easily gather herbs and make medicines for far cheaper than the competition, and often times for free. Extensive knowledge on all plants and fungi.
Obviously a drug dealer or an abortionist.
>>46000059
I, uh, I feel ashamed for asking this and not knowing off the top of my head, but that sounds to me like one of the actual backgrounds, not a custom one.
>>45984671
because.
>new guy in town making new friends who never played ttrpgs
and
>the rpgs in question are non standard fare (open d6, AGE system, shit like that)
>>46000138
Har har. But seriously, does anything strike you odd about that? If it seems all fine and dory, you can say that too.
>>46000335
Herbalist is actually not a background. The closest one is a Guild Artisan with the Apothocary background, but that's more geared towards selling pharmaceuticals rather than actually making them.
>>46000495
It strikes me as potentially a bit pushed, at least the bit about "can make medicines for far cheaper than the competition, and often times for free." I mean, having a walking healing-potion maker might be a little broken, assuming that would be the level of medicine potency we're talking about here, but that seems like it would be a liberal interpretation of the wording there.
Also, "all plants and fungi" seems like a lot. There would have to be SOME plants you don't know about, but would be able to discern, perhaps, but to be extensively knowledgeable about every plant ever seems a touch unrealistic. But again, that seems nitpicky.
Anyway, what problem did the guy have with your background, then? Get on with the story
>>45990268
>>45990558
>>45990824
>being old\young determined by recognizing a still-updating comedy/porn web comic
Alrighthen \tg\
>>46000716
>>46000708
>Get on with the story
He demanded we have custom backgrounds, and since my Cleric was under that FR god for the plants or whatever, I decided she'd probably be good at herbs and grew a garden. So he gives me that custom background.
At which point, I say "You know, I'm fine with everything, but I don't get the language. Why would an herbalist know a language of their own choice? Wouldn't alchemy make more sense."
"No no, you can't have alchemy too. Alchemy is too complex and has nothing to do with herbalism in general cause it's a totally separate branch of education."
"Okay. But why the language?"
"Because it represents your character's life knowledge that they gained on the way over here."
". . .what part of that explanation can't also be applied to alchemy?"
Queue this huge fucking debate that shouldn't have even happened where he is not-so-passive-aggressively telling me to shut the fuck up and pick a random language, and I'm telling him, and even giving him IDEAS, on why my herbalist would know a language. "Just make up a reason! Tell me that the herbalist books are written in draconic or elvish! Give me a reason!"
After 3 hours of this online, we finally reach a random consensus that learning cooking tools would be fine as well, though I'm not fully happy, I'm just glad to drop this argument.
Two days later, one of the other players in that group who, in retrospective, fallen in love with my character but was super straight "no homo!!!!" kept asking questions and demanding I change the Con on my character so she'll live longer, and then brought up the alchemy kit argument.
The DM, though he had not joined in this topic for quite some time, jumped in out of nowhere, and said "NOT THIS FUCKING SHIT AGAIN, ANON, I TOLD YOU, FUCKING PICK A LANGUAGE! THIS IS LIKE THE BUCKET ARGUMENT ALL OVER AGAIN"
Another 2 hour argument from that, and I finally told them to fuck off and left.
>>46000972
I... jeez, that seems kind of crazy.
Just to at least partially vindicate you, I also thought about asking the thing about the extra language, but I just figured it was because for some hand-wavy reason like the one you gave (herbalist books written in draconic or elvish), so I didn't pay much attention to it.
I can't honestly say, given this context, that any of you were fully in the right on this one. It doesn't seem like you weren't satisfied with the background as given, or you wouldn't have given him ideas for why an herbalist might know an extra language, but you apparently spent 3 hours arguing about why not. That just sounds like a battle that didn't really need to be picked, if that makes sense.
I'm not really clear on anything about this other player you're talking about. You're saying they fell in love with your character, specifically? That seems kind of strange. Was it a female player? That would make the "no homo" stuff make kind of sense, but it's still damn weird. Why did they ask you to change your CON score? Didn't they know you couldn't do that? Why did they bring up the alchemy kit argument again? I don't see a connection between that and your Constitution score at all, much less the part where they're apparently in love with your character.
>>46001171
>but you apparently spent 3 hours arguing about why not. That just sounds like a battle that didn't really need to be picked, if that makes sense.
It felt that way while I was arguing. I told him what my problem with it was from the start, which is that I felt the background was basically your job before adventuring, or how you made your "living", and I didn't see a particular reason why an herbalist would pick up a second language or what it had to do with the job. I told him that I just wanted something that made sense for my character's profession, and would even be willing to take the language had he simply given me a clearly defined reason for it.
Which, he told me to "just open the forgotten realm wiki, look up the area we're playing in, and then come up with a language on your own. Do you need me to hold your hand?" So, even though it was stupid, I wasn't going to drop it and just take that kind of shit from him.
>I'm not really clear on anything about this other player you're talking about
Sorry, I actually deleted a shit ton of details for word space.
He was a DM ass-kisser, also started shit with me constantly. He was also of the same opinion as the DM supposedly. But when I made my female character and described the personality, he went out of his way to ask questions about her, entwine our backstories together, like, WAY more than before, and was acting really odd around me. I think he fell in love with the character, like sexually, but was creeped out because the player was a male.
He got drunk one night, and started asking me details about my character, and told me a SHIT ton of metagamey stuff to try and fix my con, and then brought up how "stubborn and argumentative" I was over the alchemy kit, and the DM just jumped in on that. It wasn't until way later that I realized that he was in love with my character.
Sorry if the details are unrelated. I thought them important, but they might not be.
>>46001532
>It felt that way while I was arguing. I told him what my problem with it was from the start, which is that I felt the background was basically your job before adventuring, or how you made your "living", and I didn't see a particular reason why an herbalist would pick up a second language or what it had to do with the job. I told him that I just wanted something that made sense for my character's profession, and would even be willing to take the language had he simply given me a clearly defined reason for it.
Is it really that big of a deal? I have a human fighter who I fluffed the background as worked in the city guard in Deepwater for a while. Humans get one additional language other than common so I just looked up the population of Deepwater on that FR wiki and decided dwarvish is probably the one my character will run into most often.
The thing is this extra language is potentially a plot hook as well, and since its your character you should be the one thinking about how it came about. If I was the DM I would allow someone to know only common if they insist, but otherwise just go with what the DM say, it's not going to break your character.
>I think he fell in love with the character
It doesn't seem that hard to believe. Stand back a bit and think about the character you've created, you have a sickly teenage girl who's all healer and hebalist-y, it's moe as fuck and you shouldn't be surprised it triggers people's protective instinct.
>>46001831
>Is it really that big of a deal?
Yes. It defines an aspect of my character. If I know Elven, why do I know Elven? Am I good friends with an Elf? Are recipes written in Elvish? What? While I could have created one, I kept giving him just suggestions on why an herbalist would know a language, and he kept brushing me off.
If the language was of choice from just being a character, I would have been fine, but it was related to my background. Of course I need a reason.
>It doesn't seem that hard to believe
Oh, I wasn't saying it was, I was just surprised. He constantly antagonized me while I was playing a male character and would always side with the DM against any of the players, especially when it fucked me over. So I didn't even think that was a possibility until I started wondering why he was so gung ho about finding out about my character.
>>45984671
I read about tabletop online to the point that I just really had to play. Couldn't find a group that wasn't just hack-n-slash pathfinder society so I decided to forge my own with people I just knew.
Took me a solid 3 months to wrangle everybody into it, but still. I'm too used to the creative freedom, I'd probably be a pissbaby player.
>>46001953
> He constantly antagonized me while I was playing a male character and would always side with the DM against any of the players
Well as far as siding with the DM goes, when our group play we never think of it as "us vs the DM", instead it's us vs the forces in this setting and the DM is just an impartial arbiter. On the occasion when the DM gets the rule wrong and someone pipe up and correct him IN HIS FAVOUR we don't consider that as "siding with the DM" but rather following the rules.
After a session we sometimes look up rules that didn't seem so clear during the session and talk about it afterwards like "DM you didn't subtract 2 ac from this monster when he switched to his bow, his stat box assumed he's holding his shield", or "oh I shouldn't have been able to do that during the session, I won't do it again in the future".
>>46002143
>when our group play we never think of it as "us vs the DM"
I don't foster this mentality while I'm playing D&D, and I try to work against it as much as possible.
But my old DM did not do such things, and would actively try to fuck us over every chance he got. I could go on, but this is starting to turn into a blog.
But yes, it felt like he was siding with the DM, and I mean that in the worst sense possible.
Pretty much by virtue of putting forth any effort at all into it. Everyone in the group seems willing to DM, none are really willing to do any planning.... and for pretty technical games like D&D they get really out of hand with totally off the cuff style with my play group. People end up extremely destitute due to the gm not giving out any gold, die quickly because the DM ad libs insanely challenging monsters from their favorite anime or some shit and the stories are so ridiculous they could probably get them committed. It was fun the first go around, but 5 years of that shit from various people makes them pretty much beg me to DM now, which is fine, because I think i'm a shit player.
>>46002198
I know the feeling man. I share GM duties with another guy in our gaming group, and he's got a pretty serious "kill the players mentality". What's more, all the players except for myself are serious munchkins who always build the most inhumanly optimized damage dealers you can imagine. Seriously, in the three years we've been playing together, I've seen two healers, one of which was myself. Every fight is a brutal life or death situation, which I could tolerate if our time in town wasn't entirely stocking up on magic items and heading out to the next murder hallway.
I recently started running Edge of the Empire, and it's like dealing with PTSD patients. They're terrified of doing anything because they think I'm going to kill their characters the first chance I get, which is ridiculous because I'm the exact opposite type of GM.
I'm the only DM in our group of friends that:
1) Understands and has read the rules
2) Doesn't railroad, and wings most of my material, because planning for my group of friends normally ends with most material being thrown out, something two other DMs couldn't deal with
3) Doesn't get caught up in 'DM vs. Players', and instead actually want the players to be big heroes
4) Draws fun from watching a player smile, or watching them have fun. I DM like an entertainer. My fun is secondary to the players.
You'd be surprised how many of my circle of DnD/CoC friends can't hold a group, or end up in arguments. I;ve been delegated to foreverDM by them, simply for the fact that I am the only one that actively makes sure my players have fun. The horror stories I have about the other DMs attempts are too many to count. Everytime one of them gets up the courage to DM, I halt everything I have planned, and instantly jump in. None of them EVER go past 5 sessions. It's awful.
>>45984671
By introducing my friends to rpgs, being the only one who has campaign/setting ideas, and the only one who reads the books. It doesn't bother me too much.
>>45984671
Because being a player is boring at best and suffering at worst.
We rotate. I'm the one who has great ideas, and a great start, and then gets bored by session 3 so everyone ends up going fucking bonkers and then things pick up because I'm better when I'm not working from notes and plans and winging it. It's how we ended up in the hell of Demon Bitches from Planet Tumblr.
Surprisingly entertaining dungeon crawl. Final boss was big red - I just put her picture down on the table and started a youtube video of her screeching in the background. Turned it right up and put actions on a timer to represent the confusion it was causing.
>>46003204
How is it possible for a person to think this?
>>46003228
Experience.
>>45984671
>DM spot switches between my good friend and I for several years
>he's way better than me, but he really likes playing so I suck it up and do my best
>eventually friend moves away down to Florida
>I'm stuck being DM for a few years
>5th edition comes out
>one of the guys that has never DM'd decides he wants to try it out
>super excited to finally fucking play again
>he ends up being way better than me
>his campaign ends with a fucking awesome final battle against a Balor
>...
>Hey, anon, do you want to DM the next campaign
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKMy campaign is going pretty well though
>>45999759
Agreed
>>45999556
Our dm has had 1 female in 6 campaigns.
It was an NPC. We are not allowed to play females.
The NPC turned into a demon after we had to kill it for the plot.
One NPC that doesn't have a penis and we're forced to kill it.
>>45984671
My friends love the game, yet I'm the only one willing to run it because they're lazy. I enjoy playing more than I enjoy running it, yet the time spent with a group of people I know and love is so much more valuable. Creating stories is also a small passion of mine and in that sense I enjoy DMing, but because it's a more social event it feels like torture trying to make something serious.
>>46003212
Go home /v/ no one thinks you're funny
bumpy
>>45992810
This.
I've been DMing for so long I'm a real shitsack as a player too. There is no going back for me.It's why I quit playing altogether. Fuck those ungrateful shitsacks who can't even read a paragraph of rules.
>>45990144
Oglaf, mah dude.
>>46004698
I'm surprised you guys even play with these people. If I ran into a GM that disallowed female characters, I'd just say 'sorry, I don't think this game is for me' and leave.
For me, it's the simple fact that nobody else ever wants to.
They have jobs or school or whatever else and are too busy to begin with and are incapable of managing their time efficiently enough to run a campaign.
So that on top of them just not wanting to do it ensures I'm never a player.
>One friend has lots of ideas but zero capability to actually run a game
>One friend is very busy and uninspired
>One friend is busy and it's very hard for him to do anything
>One friend is just incompetent and boring
>One just doesn't want to
You know what's really awful though?
The feeling that none of your players care about your campaign.
You might spend days working on a session only to get a rather lackluster performance from your players.
I've been running a campaign for a few years now. Everyone seems pretty fatigued at this point.
When I finish the campaign I'm probably going to give this hobby up and focus more time on working.
>>45988607
Only times I've ever actually had a problem with someone's GMing practice as a whole was when we were tossing about GMing between other people than our forever GM (who only runs shitty pathfinder modules.) One of them railroaded us into getting hypnotized or some bullshit and also fudged the hell out of literally everything. The other one was pretty decent except that I played a noble and he decided that, because I was a cheeky cunt to the king once or twice, the entire town instantly hated my guts and even if I passed a check with beyond flying colors the NPCs were begrudgingly cooperative at best.
I tried GMing a little bit and I think I was alright - I still fudged a shit ton because I didn't know all the GURPS rules and thought it'd be fun to stage the first combat in a nightclub (as I'm sure you know, nightclubs are a VERY math-intensive battleground.) Also, one of my players (the second GM I mentioned, where I played a noble) got pissed at me because he got assassinated in said nightclub (because, well, there were like 6 hitmen there) after he caused a huge shitstorm due to like a -12 reaction modifier and also getting way too physical with the bartender, making him call security.
/shitty blog
>>45984671
I'm the only one in my party who has a reasonable grasp of the rules. It's really a sad state of affairs.
>>46011756
>The feeling that none of your players care about your campaign.
>You might spend days working on a session only to get a rather lackluster performance from your players.
I've cancelled campaigns over this.
>b-but I was having fun
Yeah, well you sure did everything in your power to avoid showing it. Gotta love when players barely put in the effort required to show up, let alone doing such things as talking about the game or taking any initiative IC without being explicitly told to.
>>45984671
If I don't do it, no one will.
>>46013121
I... Know that feeling all too well. It's painful.
We should be friends, Anon.
>>46013438
I mean, I'm not asking for much here. Talk about the game once in a while. Maybe take some initiative to do stuff on your own, so that not every session is me delivering you fun on a platter while I push your characters down the plot road.
It's either that or the players who will talk about the game, but who never let a single word pass their lips unless it's negative and critical. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than willing to take suggestions, discuss things you'd like to see in the game, or hear what you'd prefer to see less of. But when I work my ass off week after week to deliver games to you and all you give me in response is rants about what you don't like about them, it really makes me wonder why I bother.
>>46014036
Do you do IRL games or online?
Shot in the dark, but if you feel like talking about tabletop shit we could speak over Skype or something if you have one.
>>46014142
Mostly online, though I had a real life group back in the high school/early university days.
And sure, why not. If you want to post your skype I'll add you.
>>45984671
My reasons are manyfold:
1. I hate Pathfinder, loathe the local favorite Tortured Earth, and generally prefer other games over D&D 5th. If I want something else, I gotta run it.
2. Whenever I do rarely play in a game, I tend to come up with kickass problem solutions (which I'd personally fuckin' love in my own games) that make more railroady / less experienced GMs cry.
3. I'm constantly coming up with new ideas for campaigns. I bounce them off of people because I'm hoping to write a novel eventually (rather than just a novella).
4. I'm 24, but I've been GMing for about 11 years now...
5. I've come to a point at which I exude an aura of GM-ness that makes people assume I'm the GM even when I'm just a player.
6. Excellence is its own reward.
>>46014592splashcooler64 is my account. My display name should be Splash. Shoot me a friend request.
one guy of my group is pretty alright GM but loses interest way to quickly and the two other who are willing SUCK DONKEY BALLS HOLY SHIT.
One of them in particular nearly destroyed our weekly group of 3 years with his shitty rip-off animu and trash-fantasy cliches. He was a shitty railroader on top of that and everytime we moved 1 inch from the railroad everything halted to a grind. His npcs were unloveable douchebags. fuck I still am mad.
Now I have recovered from my GM burn-out, learned more about mastering games in the process and have more fun then ever running a sandbox without involving my own shitty sense of "how a story has to play out."
I just worldbuild and watch the fuckers get into trouble.
being a player sucks so much ass.
>>46010050
No but playing as female characters in games where they play as fighters or soldiers is unrealistic because [something about upper body strength/literally cant be stronger than any man]. Here is a statistic proving my point on thing.
google.com/search/why_are_women_inferior/
reeeee normie white knight
they all talk about "making their own game"
They draw up systems and talk about balancing them
But none of them actually talk about the world or story they want to tell. Im the only one who creates this aspect, so i always dm.
>>45984671
When I came to find out I hated playing games that my friends ran.
Plus I don't want to play D&D right now.
>>45984671
but i like being forever GM
playing tabletop rpgs is fucking boring as fuck,
I don't have a group currently, but I used to to be ForeverDM for two reasons
>Only one other guy was willing to run anything
>He was an unimaginative faggot who turned every game into FetchQuest and Dragons and no one enjoyed his games
Most of the forever players took my hosting for granted and became min/maxing faggots just there to measure their dicks with the numbers on their character sheets. The group fell apart when I left.
I almost always prefer to DM, but to be fair the only other guy that tried recently isn't good at it and I haven't had another DM in years. But going off of recent playing I tend to get bored and start doing extreme shit just to entertain myself.
I feel obligated to be funny or else people won't like me so there's that.
DMing is much more interesting and fun for me
