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Based on the numerous and ever-growing list of threads dedicated to laying out in exquisite detail exactly what makes some gamers miserable, I find myself wondering why many of these people play this game.
Threads full of "my GM is an ass" or "I can't get along with player X" or "the new errata breaks my super awesomeness" or "why don't my players appreciate me?" are just a constant source of amazement for me.
I find myself wondering if those folks who are constantly posting messages about how this, that or the other thing ruins their gaming have any other activities they participate in, and if they have the same general reaction to those activities.
I feel like I should give my gaming group some sort of "super awesome gamers" award or something, since we seem to be able to play together for years at a time without altercations breaking out, people tossing their dice or individuals tossed unceremoniously out into the snow.
I would love to hear from other people whose gaming experience is more like mine, instead of the constant whining about how their games are miserable.
How many of you have gamed for months and months without the slightest problem, argument or string of personal insults being flung back and forth across your table?
Fake, I would not have posted this message in response to troubled players legitimately and sincerely seeking help to improve their games.
There are currently three active threads and dozens of inactive ones that seek no help, but instead just rant and rave about how horrible GMs are or how entitled players are. And when people try to provide suggestions or advice, they get steamrolled over with condescension and snark by the ones whining about how terrible it is to game with their group.
Sure, if people are sincerely and legitimately seeking help and advice, I'm fine with that. But this ceaseless need to vent and rant without any desire to actually do anything about it is what I'm talking about.
Raises hand, offers fist bumps.
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*bumps fist*
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I've had the same gaming group for around 18 years now. People have come and gone, I've taken a break before. We've had people get mad at each other, people ragequit, at least one fight that I can recall. But hey, it happens in any group of friends.
I can post dozens of those types of stories. But for every negative story I could easily post a dozen good stories. Otherwise why would this group be together so long?
The good stories are easily shared among friends. The bad, not so much. So some come to the forums to rant/rave/vent in an anonymous (or semi-anonymous) setting.
I've been with my present group for the past 4 years or so and they are some of the most fun well adjusted and nicest players and people that I've ever gamed with.
I love them all to bits.
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I feel like I should give my gaming group some sort of "super awesome gamers" award or something, since we seem to be able to play together for years at a time without altercations breaking out, people tossing their dice or individuals tossed unceremoniously out into the snow.I would love to hear from other people whose gaming experience is more like mine, instead of the constant whining about how their games are miserable.
How many of you have gamed for months and months without the slightest problem, argument or string of personal insults being flung back and forth across your table?
But.. but... but... we have to have problems, otherwise what else is there to worry and post about?
More seriously, the last time I had an actual argument or an issue serious enough to warrant more than a "meh" when playing would have been... uhm... so long ago I can't even place what year it was.
As far as the rules go, I find it hard to imagine an RPG that every group can play as written, we all have our own preferences and the fact the hobby encourages us to change the rules to suit them is one of the best things about it. There's been a grand total of one RPG I've played where it was encouraged by the developers to follow the rulebook precisely, so I ignored that and modified it anyway (in fact the insistence of the developers that it was better if everyone played by the same rules is the very thing that encouraged me to look for things to change. I'm also going to avoid naming it because it'd be a great way to start an argument in such a positive thread.) Maybe it's just because I like developing rules, but I can't imagine any RPG being so broken that a little thing like rules issues would stop me enjoying it.
My current long-term group is fantastic. So is my current short-term group (so much so that I'm probably going to switch the following campaign to one they're more likely to want to stay on for rather than my first choice which many of them aren't interested in.)
I dm and I wanna say my group is awesome. Got some new ones leaening the game, one that's leaening the difference between 3.5 and pf, and a few that were with me when I very first started dming. Sadly lost one of my OGs and his son recently due to work problems and I lost a very great new person because he had to move away, but the remaining and the ones I've lost have been awesome. It says a lot about my group when a dm really wants to play but can't bc no one else can dm or have the right schedule for someone else's game and have a group that's great that I look forward to the day and try my best to entertain them each week.
Been with my group for the last ~16 years or so. Won't comment on the DM because that would be bragging (it's me :) and I actually don't think I'm that good. But I enjoy it and my group seems to be having fun. (We're doing Age of Worms and I though I screwed up prince of Red Hand pretty thoroughly but I've heard them say that was the best part of the campaign so far. Go figure.) My players and I are all friends - I work in the same office with two of them, a third is down the hall. On game day we tend to walk around the office asking "Is it DnD yet?" We're all adults with other priorities so we are pretty tolerant of each other's schedules and if we miss a week or three no body complains.
Couldn't ask for a better group!
Greg
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Usually the happy ones, or ones without any real issues to discuss, tend to not post gloating, sunshiney posts about how great their game is going. People with issues look for help. That is why you tend to see more of those posts.
Maybe we should? That way this place will be less depressing and/or antagonistic!
My various groups over the years have been great and with only minor exceptions everyone has gotten along, no real drama, a few marriages have come out of the various groups. I miss my original group very much in fact.
My RotRL game is going great. I have sessions 3-10 (and 1 solo adventure) on youtube (Backfromthedeadguy).
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I just finished a game with some good friends this afternoon.
My players have characters who are novice pathfinders, (pre 1st level). They are studying under ,
Master of Swords: VC Marcus Farebellus H Fighter 6/ Rogue 4 with VC Aldrim Hestrum H Fighter 9,
Master of Spells VC Arim Zey (arcane magic) H Wizard 11,
Master of Scrolls VC Crieghton Shaine (history) Diviner 7 /Lormaster 3 with VC Eliza Petulengro H Wizard 9,
I felt that the Pathfinder Society was lacking in its curriculum.
I added
Master of Stealth: VC Drendle Dreng H Rogue 8 responsible for teaching the arts of steal and disarming traps.
The Master of Survival VC Osprey H Druid 11- responsible for teaching pathfinders how to navigate, hunt, and survive in the wild.
Master of the Devout VC Fatum Aedituus Venificus H Cleric 3 (Pharasma) / Necromancer 3 / Mystic Theurge 8. My own PFS seeker character, He is responsible for teaching about the various religoins faiths philosophies, and the methods of destroying the undead.
And they just earned their way to 1st level, have taken their oath to serve the Decemverate and to explore report and cooperate. We are having fun.
This afternoon while traveling through the wilderness on a "test" for the Master of Survival, Osprey, had to deal with an owl bear who had nosed its way into one of their tents in search of the blue berries he was hoarding. After an arrow to the rear flank, the owl bear thrashed around, unable to get out of the tent, and then ran over another tent, and right off an embankment into the nearby stream. Once it ripped its way out of the tent, it fled off into the bushes....good times.
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I love my current group and game.
We're on a short break for the GM's sanity after more than 5 uninterrupted years of play with the same campaign - having just finished a two year adventure. The GM is amazing, the plot is interesting, the rules work for us, and every character brings something to the table. What problems we run into we resolve.
So yeah, the system works for me - and shout out to Kain Darkwind as the best GM I've ever had or had the pleasure of seeing in play.
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My GM is awesome and my players are awesome. Definitely one of the best games I've been in!
We've been a consistent group since the late eighties (now split into two different groups, one of which is on hiatus). We've never had any in-game issue turn into anything personal. We disagree from time-to-time about whichever ruleset we happen to be playing but are firmly in the "DM listens to everyone and then makes a call" camp, so it resolves pretty quickly.
Almost all of our group takes turns DMing, which I think is a helpful arrangement (even though one or two of us do the lion's share).
Happy with my group...
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I have been fortunate enough to play with all of my players for over 25 years now. Some folks have come and gone for different reasons, but none having any rancor as the reason. Just real life and what not. We're all friends, and after 25+ years we know each other pretty well and our games aren't "I'm the GM (which is me
90% of the time) and you'll do as I say" but pretty loosely structured with lots of laughs and just good times in general. Everyone is intelligent, creative, and enthusiastic every time we get together (which is only about once a month now, due to be adults and such).
There are several of my former gamers who I miss greatly at the table. All but a couple of us have stayed in touch over the years, and even though they're unable to participate they give me great ideas for games and story lines.
All in all, I couldn't ask for a better bunch of folks to play with. I hope we make it another 25 years.
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I am the GM, my players love my games, and even though we haven't played in a few months due to real-life commitments, it is a great group of imaginative players.
We don't argue about rules, have any issues of imbalance to speak of, and I find the system not only quite up to the task, but actually appreciate and like it a lot.
The rules work just fine for me. No complaints about the game at all.
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I have a great group with one player who's been in a ton of my games (spoiler alert: I'm married to her), one long-time player who joined our group at the start of this campaign, someone with a couple campaigns under her belt, and a brand new player. They're all awesome.
I hear a lot of good things about our GM (spoiler alert: that's me) and I hear a lot of good things about Pathfinder. Everyone's been really enjoying Rise of the Runelords and we're about to hit the final showdown in Sins of the Saviors.
After that, we're planning on doing Shattered Star. We might use the Mythic Rules, but are almost assuredly using the Advanced Class Guide playtest.
But, yeah, we love the game and how it's growing and changing. And what complaints we do have get handled openly and taken care of without drama.
Cheers!
Landon
How many of you have gamed for months and months without the slightest problem, argument or string of personal insults being flung back and forth across your table?
Everything except the personal insults. As a group of close friends, those get thrown around constantly during game nights. :)
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Well, my group's had plenty of problems, but we've also had some good times. Last session we had was our best session yet, as a little error by the GM led to two level 3 PCs (an injured paladin/fighter and a summoner/barbarian) facing a CR 7 encounter where the enemies had surprise. We won.
So yeah, things could be worse.
Meanwhile, my Skype game is going great (despite me missing two sessions in a row on account of oversleeping). Got a great buncha players with plenty of imagination.
I love my current group and game.
We're on a short break for the GM's sanity after more than 5 uninterrupted years of play with the same campaign - having just finished a two year adventure. The GM is amazing, the plot is interesting, the rules work for us, and every character brings something to the table. What problems we run into we resolve.
So yeah, the system works for me - and shout out to Kain Darkwind as the best GM I've ever had or had the pleasure of seeing in play.
I'm also in this group, usually a fellow player, and currently giving Kain a chance to be a PC as I run a quick game. Everything Peter says is true.
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Currently, the AP I'm in is partway through its final book, and it's given me several milestones over its course. This will be the first AP I've ever finished, going without saying that it's also been my first experience with characters at level 15+. It has survived a break-up with one of the other players (we still remain good friends, and no PvP ever happened, despite excuses for it abounding), and I had my very first final character death in it, which I accepted gracefully. I got to continue as my very first cleric; the GM and everyone else were willing to let me look up the cleric spells I never bothered to learn how they worked, and I never thought I'd be good at clerics before.
When it draws to a close with an end-credits photo montage, everyone has agreed on starting another AP later on. I want to try another character type I've never tried before in it. I think I'll be a paladin: a pleasant, polite paladin who'll have ranks in Diplomacy, observe multiple religions and philosophies on goodness, and suggest alternatives to violence when potential foes are in a position to listen to him. The GM has liked this idea.
(Edit) It's much easier to whine than to develop a reasonable critique of something you enjoy, but the latter does need more effort put into it. Hopefully, this thread will help people feel happier.
I've got two groups with completely different people going, one where I am always the GM and one where the GM (and the campaign) shifts from AP module to AP module.
The group where I always GM is good, although there could be improvements in time-per-session (only three hours) and more roleplaying (mostly due to "only three hours". I hope). Most of us have known each other for 15 years now and so we are all well familiar with each others playstyles.
The group where the GM rotates is excellent, we got longer sessions and more time and inclination to RP. The other GM's are doing great in their campaigns and mine is going well, too.
No arguing?! Where would be fun then?!
Seriously, there happen to be some arguments over the rules in my PF/D&D group (usually involving changes between editions and houserules used by past GMs of the rest of the group) but they are simply resolved by checking the facts and GM making his decision.
My group if fine. My other group is fine too. My previous groups were fine too. So did my previous-previous groups.
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As already said, the main reason for seeing negative topics about gaming groups, GMs or players is because when things aren't going so well people want to vent their frustrations.
Most of the positive experiences don't get talked about much, partly because it feels like bragging sometimes and also because I don't think people tend to even think about sharing their good experiences all that much. I often find most of the positive reports of gaming experiences to be in the Campaign Journals forum area.
I don't think I could say I've ever experienced any problems with the various roleplay groups that I've gamed with.
Though I am often fully immersed into the characters and the story when I roleplay, so I could possibly just not be noticing any bad things in the groups...
Been playing with roughly the same group for over 20 years now, without a hitch.
Well, except, obviously, that the GM is an ass. ;)
(but seriously, it's been great.)
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Not a perfect group here, but I certainly don't empathize with the vast majority of the complaints I see from most ranting posters here. I've never been under a railroady, controlling, or hateful GM, and my bad experiences with my fellow players (or my players, since I've been GMing most of it) have been minimal and limited and usually easily explained by out-of-game situations that were eventually - sooner more often than later - resolved and few friendships lost over it.
Of all the people I've ever gamed with I can think of only one guy I'd never invite back.
I get frequent compliments from my players on my GMing so I don't think I'm the bad guy in the otherwise-good group, if that's what one might be suspecting.
What rules we don't like, my group is quick and eager to houserule to something more manageable. We talk suggestions, advice, and pointers over like reasonable people then write it down so it's easily looked up and remembered.
Long story short, very little to complain about.
I'm also in this group, usually a fellow player, and currently giving Kain a chance to be a PC as I run a quick game. Everything Peter says is true.I love my current group and game.
We're on a short break for the GM's sanity after more than 5 uninterrupted years of play with the same campaign - having just finished a two year adventure. The GM is amazing, the plot is interesting, the rules work for us, and every character brings something to the table. What problems we run into we resolve.
So yeah, the system works for me - and shout out to Kain Darkwind as the best GM I've ever had or had the pleasure of seeing in play.
Which is not to say that that line in the OP about never having the slightest problem is true of our game. I think we not infrequently end up on different pages, nor is it entirely unknown to discover that two people weren't even reading from the same metaphorical book.
It is however tradition from of old to continually talk these things through rather than treating differences as irreconcilable.
I'm also in this group, usually a fellow player, and currently giving Kain a chance to be a PC as I run a quick game. Everything Peter says is true.I love my current group and game.
We're on a short break for the GM's sanity after more than 5 uninterrupted years of play with the same campaign - having just finished a two year adventure. The GM is amazing, the plot is interesting, the rules work for us, and every character brings something to the table. What problems we run into we resolve.
So yeah, the system works for me - and shout out to Kain Darkwind as the best GM I've ever had or had the pleasure of seeing in play.
Which is not to say that that line in the OP about never having the slightest problem is true of our game. I think we not infrequently end up on different pages, nor is it entirely unknown to discover that two people weren't even reading from the same metaphorical book.
It is however tradition from of old to continually talk these things through rather than treating differences as irreconcilable.
Hence my line "What problems we run into we resolve."
:)
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My group continues to show up every week with excited giggles and smiles on their faces.
What more do I need to say?
You've drugged them?
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Yay a positive thread! I agree wholeheartely. Most of the time I see a thread and think that's interesting, my group never has that problem. Everything runs smoothly, we get along fine, and have a great time.
Playing in two games at the mo.
one is totally amazing great gm and all the plays are top notch never any problems
The other group is also very good just one player who's character is a bit of a pain but that's the character not the player he's a good friend so i'm quids in as far as gaming goes
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Somehow, my current group has been playing for 3 years straight and shows no signs of slowing. We've gone through three APs and have had immense fun doing so. I'm hoping my good luck with having such a wonderful group continues for another 3 years.. and beyond that.
I've had "bad groups/players/DMs" over the years, but each one was simply an example of either how not to play or a lesson in how not to DM. In all cases, no friendships were lost. I have only played with one person that I would never invite back over the years of gaming. Otherwise, its been really good.
I play primarily in 2 groups - one for about 20 years (albeit with some significant changes in personnel, but pretty stable for the last 10) and another for about the last 12 years. There are occasional hiccups and personality clashes, but they are pretty rare and we're all friends and things always settle down.
We're happy with the rules we play with and aren't afraid to tinker with them. If we play something for a while we aren't happy with (like the GURPS adaptation of Mass Effect and 4e) we shift to something else.
Nobody bucks the GM about special snowflake characters, GMs are empowered to have specialized settings with limited option palettes for PCs, and most player suggestions and desires are given serious consideration and rarely disapproved.
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I master 3 campaigns, play in three (one consistently).
We have a meta-group of about 12 people who feature in parties of 3-6 alternately.
They are all awesome, and while we do have some style-of-play compatibility issues from time to time, we've managed to get each player the GM and campaign of their preference.
I try to share everything I've learned from this on these forums.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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I have two great groups! They spawned when my old group, the core of which I'd been gaming with for around 10 years, reproduced by mitosis due to becoming too large.
One, I GM, and therefore I'm quite happy with the job the GM is doing. The players are my wife, my best friend, one of the core of the old group, and two long-time friends; the least experienced player is my wife, who's been playing PF since beta. I'm running Carrion Crown.
The other group is GM'ed by the guy in the other group who was one of the core members of the original group. The players in that group are my wife, myself, my best friend, and the other two players that were the core of the original group. We're playing Jade Regent.
Everybody's considerate, rules-savvy, shows up every time on time (except for me, and that's because of the Army). Group size is currently, IMO, perfect: 5 players plus GM in each group. Nobody is of that particularly pernicious sort of theorycrafter who likes to build game-breaking characters. We'd much rather play than break the game. We distro loot by consensus, and I've never seen anybody walk away unhappy that they didn't get the widget they really wanted. We either bring our own food or chip in for a big pizza order; nobody mooches, but anybody would feel free to ask for a soda or to cover you for supper if you forgot to bring cash.
Right before the group split we had a little bit of friction between a couple of the players due to out-of-game personality differences. While it wasn't a major factor in the decision to split the group, the split certainly obviated the problem.
We like playing APs. Everybody who wants to gets the chance to GM; no GM gets burned out with no chance to play.
As far as the rules are concerned, I feel about the rules like I feel about my car. On the whole, I like it because it's familiar. It's not a Maserati, but it takes me where I want to go and I'd rather not try to tinker with it too much lest I break something important. I've put in a new stereo and some seat covers, but no major changes. Likewise, I have a small list of house rules and table rules, but no major rules overhauls. PF lets me run the games I want to run (the APs) so it's fine by me.
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My DM is awesome (mostly because I am the DM), my players are awesome (that is, they are awesome people, they're terrible players--we've never gotten above 10th level; TPKs by 6th level are much more typical), and the rules work for us. Mostly because we can never remember what they are and make them up as we go.