When you join a new group have you ever felt pressured to change your game to fit in with there style of play.
Just wondering
Yes.
I've only been in two IRL groups. I didn't want to fit in with the first one because the GM was awful so were half the players. The second was more my style so I didn't have to change.
With PbP, I do feel like I have to change my formatting. My current group does bold for talking and regular text for description. Other groups did quotes for talking and italics for thinking.
Then there's the issue of tense. So players like the present tense and others use the past tense only. Eventually the group has to agree on something or else things get confusing fast.
RP-wise I've had no problems but I can admit I've been lucky in that regard. I think it's because I can shop around and find a group that meets my standards and style of RP easier with PbP. With IRL groups, you're often stuck with whoever wants to play. It's especially bad if you and the GM don't click because no one wants to GM.
I think there is something to said for branching out and experiencing a different play style. Consider yourself fortunate to be able change style if needed. Some people can't. If you find that you don't enjoy it, then look elsewhere.
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Sure, thats part of the structure of any social group. Established group has some form of dynamic in place, your experience will likely differ. Eventually you meld in adopting some of their neuances and adding some of yours. This isnt really a gaming issue, its just a social one.
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Pressured? No. But, if a group has a dynamic you either need to adapt to it, or kindly see your way out. You're unlikely to change the dynamic of a long established group, and it's doubtful they will enjoy any attempt to rock the boat.
Easier just to walk away and find a group that fits you.
That being said, you may alter the dynamic some, but large scale change is unlikely. If a group focuses mostly on combat, and you want to focus mostly on RP you're probably not going to get what you want.
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Pressured? No, not really. When I play PFS I know i'm getting into a crapshoot and will need to be flexible or the group wont succeed and possibly not have fun. I think thats just price of admission of PFS and if it was too high I wouldnt play.
I screen players through one shots and meetups for playstyle so when I start a long term campaign there wont be any issues with playstyles. This way pressure to change style is as light as possible on everyone and there wont be any issues.
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When you join a new group have you ever felt pressured to change your game to fit in with there style of play.
Just wondering
I would say I bend, but not break. There comes that line where you just go 'this ain't workin', I'm out'. F'rex, no force in the universe will get me to play an evil character.
Yes. I grew up in a very theatrical gaming group. Short of full-on LARPing we really got into character. Later in college we played with some guys more old-skool than us and they just used the games as an excuse to hack n slash while listening to old metal.
Together we found a hybrid of mayhem and roleplay and a lot of 3x rules were just tossed out to make room for epic fight scenes and one liners. Then I moved states and met up with some hardcore mechanics. EVERY rule was sacred and 3x/Pathfinder combats were giant chess matches with no character.
For a time I played a boardgame version of Pathfinder with almost no roleplay. Its taken nearly a decade to get back to that hybrid version I used to play in college and I doubt I'll ever see the all-storytelling method I grew up with.
One thing though - it works both ways. One of the mechanics I met 10 years ago has stuck by me through 3 iterations of our gaming group. A bit of my hybrid style has rubbed off on him and I'm proud to say this guy has had some truly epic roleplay moments.
When you join a new group have you ever felt pressured to change your game to fit in with there style of play.
Just wondering
I am fairly flexible. All I really ask for is consistency. Playing with different groups has allowed me to learn a lot about how people play.
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I adapt somewhat...but am not inclined to join games where there's nothing but combat. I'm perfectly happy to tone down (or up) how powerful/optimized my characters are or similar things, though. Or adapt my style of speech, or not worry about minor rules errors/changes. But if the game has ceased to be about the characters and become simply about the stats, I'm out. I have board games for that, and they're less effort to prep for.
Now, I'm cool with people who play RPGs as some sort of tactical war game. I just have no personal desire to participate, since that's not the part of RPGs I enjoy in and of itself (I enjoy winning combats, and even doing so cleverly...but only while playing characters I'm invested in the success of).
Though do recognize there are times when you need to know when to bow out. Like, in college, where the group I joined decided it would be hilarious to poison the character of the guy who couldn't make it to game that session, and leave him for dead. I knew I'd never find a rough consensus with that group, so I told the GM, after the session, that this wasn't the game for me, and I left.
Though do recognize there are times when you need to know when to bow out. Like, in college, where the group I joined decided it would be hilarious to poison the character of the guy who couldn't make it to game that session, and leave him for dead. I knew I'd never find a rough consensus with that group, so I told the GM, after the session, that this wasn't the game for me, and I left.
Heh, this made me chuckle. I missed a session once with a guy I'd gamed with for 5 years at the time. He (as GM mind you) thought it'd be great to rule that a demon had suddenly paralyzed me, and not tell the players. They get to the game, my guy (known to be a target of said demon) is rigid and unresponsive and this is way back in 1e so no Heal skill check. They figure I'm dead... and bury me.
I come back to the next session, I awaken in a pine box 6' under. I showed my GM my spells and I honestly had animal messenger memorized, so he grudgingly agreed to let me use some roaches deliver the message I was still alive. My party dug me out and for multiple sessions thought I was undead.
By the end of the campaign I was fed up as a player so I quit. My character was turned into a vampire and played by the GM as a villain. He and a couple other players thought it was clever and funny. I didn't.
I've recently begun DMing for a group of early 20 somethings. The generation gap in movies, music, television shows, video games, and gaming styles has caused me to change the way I do things. They don't get my references to most of the things I know, and vice versa. I've had to sit down with my son and nephew to be made hip again... LOL
I guess I'm fortunate for living in the same area all my life. When I was at the center part of the state at College I found a group, but that was a learning experience for everyone. I do remember one time I was in some game up there and I was just taking to this black guy whose name I don't remember now. I started talking about my 'boom-box' only I was always told to call it a 'getto-blaster'. When the words left my mouth I immediately thought I had said the wrong thing but he was just fine with it. We went back to the game. College had plenty of awkward moments, but that is really the only one that stands out for me.
When I got out of college I got a job at a department store and learned about a local gaming group at a nearby college and that is where I met my current friends, from the 90's onward.