I've been playing on and off in a long-lasting solo game. In the beginning the DM said, "make your character anything, any level," so I came up with a munchkin character and for a while we had a blast. We didn't use the rules (2nd Ed. back then) as anything but a stepstone for ideas, and though the plots were cheesy, the DM was really good at NPC characterization and we had a lot of fun.
Within the last few years, though, his tendency to take away the control of my character, have him do something bad, then say something like, "Suddenly you're back in control of your body" and have me deal with whatever s*&$ situation he's come up with has increased to the point where half the time I'm not responsible for anything the character does. On top of being held responsible for it anyway, his NPCs have taken to insulting my character on a regular basis, my character can't deal with anything above a lvl.5 challenge (I either get my ass handed to me by DM fiat or told that my solution flat out won't work - only for his DMPCs to come in and say/do something similar that saves the day), he never gives me enough information to act on without me having to pull it out of him like I'm pulling his teeth (but if I do something wrong because I didn't know what my character should be able to see, LOL SRY TOO BAD), and he's completely screwed over my character's backstory with his current plot. He also penalizes my character for my own lack of charisma/tactical knowledge/whatever.
I'm starting to feel like an unwelcome extra in his DMPC-focused story extravaganza. The problem is that he's really touchy, and any criticism can set off a tantrum where he threatens to take his ball and go home. He views himself as a great DM (and he really used to be one!), though has never actually played IN a game, so I don't think he understands how frustrating this s&*+ is. I offered to de-munchkinize my character in case it was getting too hard to deal with, but I immediately regained all my powers by his doing. He seems willing enough to play the game on the occasions we meet, and I try hard to go with the flow of the story even when it's borking my character up, so the vibe I'm getting is that he thinks it's fun to do this - not for me, but for him.
At this point I'm really attached to the characters and invested in the story, but playing is a gorram frustration. I can't discuss it with him frankly because he'll blow his top, but I don't want to give up on the game. Maybe someone with better charisma than me can explain how to let the DM know he's not being as great a DM as he thinks?
There are probably two problems
1/He can be burned out- years of GMing forced him to use up all of his creativity, so he must do dirty tricks in order to challenge you.
2/ Favourite NPC of GM- well, he don't have a chance to play, so he is "playing" in GM-ed campaign.
Maybe you should swap your places for a while? It could be better than arguing about the world which don't exist;P
Maybe you should swap your places for a while? It could be better than arguing about the world which don't exist;P
Sorry I wasn't clear - he's never played in a game because he refuses to, not because others aren't willing to DM for him.
Maybe you should swap your places for a while? It could be better than arguing about the world which don't exist;PSorry I wasn't clear - he's never played in a game because he refuses to, not because others aren't willing to DM for him.
I'd talk to him about that. I was that way for a while; it wasn't exactly your situation but I was the defacto GM for so long in HS that in college I refused to let anyone run me through anything. 1. I didn't like giving up the control and 2. the couple times I did play it was for a REALLY dark, controling GM (1st level, game 1 of his new 1e campaign I was visited by an extra-powerful sucubus in my dreams and spent the rest of the campaign as her meat puppet).
Anyway, I'm not saying our situations are perfectly similar, but I do know that in my case it took a conversation from my players who noticed I was flaming out. I hope it goes well and if not, I hear the've done wonders with choose-your-own-adventure books these days...
Yeah, maybe talking about him joining a game will be less inflammatory than telling him his game is becoming less fun. I'll try that. Unless I were willing to pull the same moves on him (so he could see what's wrong with them), though, it doesn't seem to help with his game. And I don't think doing the same to him would be a very good idea, especially in his first game as a PC.
My brother and I used to game like this, but diceless. Basically we'd just come up with a character and a scenario, hang out together, and then just roleplay for hours. To resolve conflict we'd just kind of come to a concensus of what could happen and decide on the best course.
The games got stale ironically AFTER we started playing other tabletop RPGs with friends. The more defined sets of rules we had to pick from, the harder it got to stick to pure roleplaying. I don't think we ever tried controlling one another, but we did say stuff like "because you killed your sister, even though she was a zombie, you fall into a dark remorse and start sobbing over her body. You don't notice the zombie master coming up behind you..." which of course would then elicit an argument b/cause my character was a hardcore fighter type and was there specifically to destroy said master, so why WOULDN'T I be on the lookout for him?
When he rotated out to basic we stopped these games altogether. It was a good exercise but we eventually grew to a point where we couldn't agree on stuff anymore. I tried such games with friends but they always degenerated into fights. I DO however think that, b/cause my brother and I played these for years in our youth, we both became stronger RPers in regular games and very able to compromise and ad lib w/our players in games we ran.
I think these qualities led to my becoming the defacto GM for so long...and then to my own downfall. In short: I was terrible at GMing as a kid, got better in my tweens w/my brother's games, got REALLY good in HS, then first year of college bought all my own press and became THE MAN as a GM...which of course no GM ever is, so I failed.
Then came the come-to-jesus with my players. I unclenched, got back to playing, and re-learned that side of the screens. It's been a decade and a half since then, but the lesson still stands and I'm glad to have learned it.
Nowadays I've moved away, formed a new group, and am once again defacto GM; not b/cause I'm the man, but rather b/cause no one else wants the hassle. Still I always try to look at my adventures and think "what are my PLAYERS going to see on their side of the screens?" I've gotten some praise, some criticism, and gotten a lot of advice from these boards. But at the end of the day I've gotten requests to keep my game going, despite some bumps in the road, so I guess I'm doing something right.
I wouldn't waste your time lying or trying to be subtle. Both of those are bound to backfire and leave you more frustraited than you were before. A good friend wouldn't do this anyway. Have the character to stand up for what you want. If he respects you as a person and therefore a player he will come around. However you must approach him with some tact. Respect his story, give him complements on the parts you enjoy, and be his friend. IF he is your friend he will come around, if not then you don't really have a game, and you're both just arguing about how not to be associating.
Take your DM to a public place. This will help him not blow his top, or it should. Take your concerns, WRITE THEM DOWN on a list of bullet points to help you stay on track. Before you begin ask him to hear you out before he retorts. If he interrupts you before you are finished ask him to please wait until you are done. Your first point should be why you are there and should include how much you like the story back when you were having fun. Then once you have finished that point move on to the reason why it has become less fun. Try to stay away from comments that are too harsh or negative. Your last points should be how you guys can work you way out of this. That's when you bring up that you think he should play for a change.
Egos are hard to deal with, remember you have one too.