Jump on some AP's...
You wont be as emotionally invested either :p
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What suburb of Sydney do you play from Reebo?Geez mate, a good session at Maquarie Con and now you are working on picking up for home games too!
That said, I might sneak out to the next Shadowlodge...
Wha? I've never been to Macquarie Con. LOL. I went to one at Newton High School years ago but they guys running the game were so rude I've never been back to another.
You must be confusing me with another awesome DM. ;-)
Reebo
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You are dictating my character to me.
I assume that you are not. Simply have them do all the work on character backgrounds without any interference from you and them simply omit anything that doesn't fit the setting. that's how i do it when they annoy me.
You are not telling me what my character thinks is interesting, and what plot points I should pay attention too.
It's his character, he should damn well know what is interesing to his character, and he should figure out himself what plot points to follow. To me this is a primo case of a lazy ass player who want everything handed on a platter. Uninvite is the way to go IMO.
You're putting in too much combat and not enough intrigue.
Put more intrigue, and less combat...if they start complaining, tell them that it is what they wanted.
If we're going to do Battletech next, I'd rather have just combat.
Honestly, battletech is kinda a strategy game, unless you are playing a mechwarrior RPG
You don't give enough structure.
I doubt that.
You don't give us enough flex to do what we want to do.
I dread this...they always do the damndest things and i never have fun, i know they do, but isn't it supposed to be different, like all of us having fun?
We don't feel like a team.
That is their fault, not yours. They should work like a team. You are not their mom.
You need to make us feel more like a team.
No you don't...their problem if they can't work together.
Why doesn't everyone just shut up and play the game?
Ask other players that. The GM is not a player mom.
Thought I'd update this.
We had about 2 weeks over the holidays where the game was back on, then today I got an e-mail from one of the players saying they did not want to continue it. This is after multiple e-mails back and forth, so I've officially ended the campaign completely.
Thanks everyone for the advice.
I see the situation got closure, but my suggestion would have been to split the group into two. Play every other time if that's possible. Add in a few new players if you have to. Think long and hard about which player goes in which group, but try to get the combat hounds into one group and the RPers into the other. As for the old campaign, that will either have to evolve to match one of the new ones, or shut down. Or, and this might be a difficult thing to do: Cut out the person calling you aggressive for talking about these things, as harsh as that might sound.
Anyway, it's sad it didn't work out.
Yeah, I'm bummed, but at least I'm sleeping now. :) And my wife is happier, she was getting ticked off at me for not just doing this sooner.
Two of the players have expressed interest in playing in a different game I run, and they were the two whose preferences ran toward my gaming style anyway. No word from the other two. I still like them a lot, and enjoy playing board games and such with them, but I'm not sure if I'm the sort of GM they need. I honestly, now that it's over, think maybe it's a fundamental difference in what we want out of the game. Which if it is, it's better to go ahead and nip it in the bud before we ruin any friendship completely.
I think that's definitely the best way to look at it.
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Yeah, I'm bummed, but at least I'm sleeping now. :) And my wife is happier, she was getting ticked off at me for not just doing this sooner.
Two of the players have expressed interest in playing in a different game I run, and they were the two whose preferences ran toward my gaming style anyway. No word from the other two. I still like them a lot, and enjoy playing board games and such with them, but I'm not sure if I'm the sort of GM they need. I honestly, now that it's over, think maybe it's a fundamental difference in what we want out of the game. Which if it is, it's better to go ahead and nip it in the bud before we ruin any friendship completely.
Yeah that happens, it happened with me and one of my friends. We both like RPG's but like such dramatically different things that we are now in different groups. Mostly because what I like, he doesn't enjoy nad vice versa.
Ok,
I have been a GM for 22 years (give or take a year). I've had about 50 or 60 different players over the years, ranging in age from 12 to mid 50's. I've run GURPS, Shadowrun (1st, 2nd, and 3rd ed), Champions (3rd and 5th), WoD (Were, Vamp, WoD, both editions of each), Star Trek, Star Wars (d6 and d20), BattleTech, and I'm sure a few more I can't remember. I've had groups from 3 to 7 players, and in 3 different states. I've had both male players and female players.I have never had the situation I have with one of my current groups.
Things are going down hill rapidly, although they started off well last year when we started off. Here's a list of complaints I've gotten, all handed to me in the last 2 months :
- You are dictating my character to me.
- You are not telling me what my character thinks is interesting, and what plot points I should pay attention too.
- You're putting in too much combat and not enough intrigue.
- If we're going to do Battletech next, I'd rather have just combat.
- You don't give enough structure.
- You don't give us enough flex to do what we want to do.
- We don't feel like a team.
- You need to make us feel more like a team.
- Why doesn't everyone just shut up and play the game?
That's the hi-lights. When I ask for people to give me their background and character information and some personality information so I can flesh it out to match the world (it's a homebrew nobody really knows a lot about), I get one player saying ok, right on it. Another that says 'whatever, I'm good'. Another who says I'm dictating their character and building it in their place. And one who waits for everyone else including me to respond before they respond. I've literally had someone tell me they don't know what plots to follow because I didn't tell them the plot points to follow. And we never start on time, every single game is 30 to 90 minutes late. *sigh*
I've never, in all my 22 years, had this issue. I have another game that runs on...
Honestly? This sounds pretty doomed. There's always a chance players will come around, but continuing down the current path, this game won't last much longer in it's current state.
Next sessions, tell your players everything you've told us. Tell them your concerns, be completely open and honest. They may not know just how frustrated you are and are taking things for granted.
It really just sounds like an incompatible group. They are all asking for different things that are extremely difficult to include in a single game. Either they need to come together and agree on what it is they want as a group, or some people need to step out.
I've had a few groups similar to this, and it just didn't work out. The game became a constant battle for interest, and no matter what, there was always someone unhappy. I've had to put games like this to rest and start up with different players many times. It's not fun, but if your players are unwilling to budge and work together, they are killing their own game.
I guess I can relate to some of the players, I'm not really a fan of homebrew worlds that create plots around my desires. It gets even more brutal when everyone's desires for the campaign are something different, which sounds like the case here.
I prefer APs, modules, and scenarios, that's the kind of plot structure I think some of your players are looking for. When you play an AP, usually the player know what kind of campaign they're getting ahead of time, and they can participate or not participate in it. So one suggestion is to play a structured campaign (but you probably like homebrew worlds), and if you want to play a homebrew world and some players don't like that structure, maybe it's a bad match.
Hey, maybe even try Pathfinder society with the group. It's low commitment on your end and their end too.
It also sounds like everyone in your group wants different things from the campaign. Some want structure, others want more flexibility, some want combat and others want more intrigue. I suggest to maybe break the group up into either 2 separate sessions, or 1 session (and keep the players or playstyle you like).
I also recommend that you take a break. If things are getting unfun and stressful, I just wouldn't GM. If you take a break and still want to come back to that group, do so. If you don't feel like it, maybe you're better off without. Life is so busy, it's hard to imagine you can't find something else to do.
I probably could have written this entire post. :-)
I realise the situation has been resolved for the moment, but maybe some of those players would be happier having a series of one-shot games rather than a more ambitious long-form campaign.
I probably could have written this entire post. :-)I realise the situation has been resolved for the moment, but maybe some of those players would be happier having a series of one-shot games rather than a more ambitious long-form campaign.
Possibly, but honestly, I have to enjoy the game to, and I hate episodic games. So that's not really a solution either, at least on my end.