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Tonight's PRPG session was something I looked forward to. I had a Tiefling Alchemist 5 that I wanted to retire, to bring in a Human Witch 5 (thank you to all who helped in that thread).
When it came time to play, instead of allowing me to play my new character, I was told to choose an NPC of appropriate level from the GMG and play that.
Then, a long pointless railroad of a journey forced us down a (mostly) empty mausoleum, which lead us to locked puzzle rooms, with no treasure, until we solved 5 of them (which took most of the entire session), only to come out at the end in the city.
And, when we confronted the baron, and essentially told him he sent us on a pointless mission (which it was), requesting some sort of reward (at all), all he could say was that it was for "the glory".
At which point, the entire party got pissed off and essentially assassinated him.
The GM was clearly frustrated that we wouldn't accept what was going on, ended the entire campaign, told us all our characters were caught by guards and summarily hung.
Now, clearly there were bad decisions all around. But the GM could have prevented the whole thing by just allowing the characters to at least "try" things instead of blatantly saying "nothing you try will work" before getting a chance to. Also, instead of forcing the characters down paths they wouldn't otherwise normally choose.
Anyway. I just needed to vent. Thanks to those who read, I appreciate it.
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Indeed. There's nothing wrong with railroading a party, but for heaven's sake don't let them know you're doing it!
Ignorance is bliss, and it's usually possible to give players the illusion of choice while still gently guiding them in the direction you want.
And as long as you're not too obvious about it, most players don't mind being guided about a bit, as long as they still feel in control.
Unfortunately, not all GMs realize this...and you've managed to find one. My condolences.
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Just got off the phone with a fellow player, and friend. He GMed the previous campaign that was put to the side to let this new GM run a new one. It looks like we're going back to the previous game, and continuing where we left off. He's a much better GM and I very much enjoy playing in his games. I think it'll be much better for everyone, as everyone truly enjoyed that (previous) game.
I had a half-orc necromancer in that game, and that GM is going to allow us to essentially rebuild our characters, or bring in new ones if we like. I may stick with my old character, but I'm kinda thinking about switching him to a Bones Oracle. I haven't decided yet.
I just hope tonights GM cools out and learns from mistakes, and puts it all behind him.
Good Luck to you.
We had a slightly similar problem with the DM railroading us into his "grand" story that he one day hopes to write as the next great lord of the rings or have the longevity of beowulf.
Instead it was a rehash of everything dragon this that and the other until we were freakin sick of hearing about dragons, we won't even go into his worlds 100K year history.
We eventually told him to hang up his screen and why. Then when the new guy put us up against his ultra powerful, even the gods quake with fear because of his might, bladesinger(DM Modified to second edition uberness) and nothing we as 3rd and 4th level charecters could do could even begin to touch this guy we warned him about that as well.
Both DM's learned because we as the group talked to them and they listened. They will get their chance to DM again and hopefully the next time they will be better. It could be the same with your guy. Nobody likes being railroaded but no DM can prepare for every possible senario so the players have to accept it a little for story purposes.
The GM was clearly frustrated that we wouldn't accept what was going on, ended the entire campaign, told us all our characters were caught by guards and summarily hung.
Your GM wouldn't happen to be named "Stephen" (and gets really pissy when you call him "Steve") by any chance?