Conflict / Issue Resolution with Your GM


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Silver Crusade Contributor

Mikaze wrote:

The Keeper of the Magical Realm

A GM that uses an unwilling or unwitting group to indulge in his or her fetishes without getting their approval. This can result in anything from mild awkwardness to "Oh God we need to get out of here before he shows us his stack of torsos in the basement". Most often it seems to simply be a GM with insufficient social understanding, but it can lead to severe discomfort at the table when certain lines start getting crossed with no discussion beforehand.

Sometimes it takes only a TMI warning to put a stop to it. Sometimes it takes a frank and direct talk about what is and is not appropriate for the group; it needs to be made clear that people are being made to feel uncomfortable or even unsafe. And other times it's just plain unhealthy to keep playing with those that continue to exhibit this behavior.

Named for a Gunshow comic that illustrates this perfectly.

(I'm honestly not sure what number this entry is now)

*cough*

shuffles feet awkwardly

I'm... familiar with this one. I, uh... saw a certain girdle appear in the Advanced Player's Guide. My first thought was, "Oooh, that's back."

Turns out what I really needed came in elixir form instead...

*blushes*

hides

Silver Crusade

Kalindlara wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

The Keeper of the Magical Realm

A GM that uses an unwilling or unwitting group to indulge in his or her fetishes without getting their approval. This can result in anything from mild awkwardness to "Oh God we need to get out of here before he shows us his stack of torsos in the basement". Most often it seems to simply be a GM with insufficient social understanding, but it can lead to severe discomfort at the table when certain lines start getting crossed with no discussion beforehand.

Sometimes it takes only a TMI warning to put a stop to it. Sometimes it takes a frank and direct talk about what is and is not appropriate for the group; it needs to be made clear that people are being made to feel uncomfortable or even unsafe. And other times it's just plain unhealthy to keep playing with those that continue to exhibit this behavior.

Named for a Gunshow comic that illustrates this perfectly.

(I'm honestly not sure what number this entry is now)

*cough*

shuffles feet awkwardly

I'm... familiar with this one. I, uh... saw a certain girdle appear in the Advanced Player's Guide. My first thought was, "Oooh, that's back."

Turns out what I really needed came in elixir form instead...

*blushes*

hides

I'd definitely not qualify that as a fetish in itself. And certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone anyone that potion for their characters. :)


Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/

When do you sleep?

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32

Abraham spalding wrote:

Well my long term goal is to collect the best/most accurate/ over arching types and put together a "guide" like the class guides. Again much in the same lines as what is in the GMG as the intention is to help people find ways to do something constructive to improve their gaming groups rather than just be upset about how things go. Something like that "arm, anvil, hammer" guide that was done.

But yeah I'll see about getting the title changed to something better.

However on the positive side, I feel as a whole the thread has gone really well for as...

Oddly enough, My wife and I were discussing the need for a more extensive guide to game mastering just the other day while driving to a local convention. I was debating starting on it after finishing up one of my other projects, but if you intend to work on it, and would like some assistance, I would be happy to help.

Even if you don't want help, I do hope you work on this project. Your previous guides have all been excellent and I'm certain you'll do a phenomenal job of it.

Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/
When do you sleep?

Who sleeps?


Angry Wiggles wrote:
Who sleeps?

Explains your avatar! ;)


Angry Wiggles wrote:
Abraham spalding wrote:

Well my long term goal is to collect the best/most accurate/ over arching types and put together a "guide" like the class guides. Again much in the same lines as what is in the GMG as the intention is to help people find ways to do something constructive to improve their gaming groups rather than just be upset about how things go. Something like that "arm, anvil, hammer" guide that was done.

But yeah I'll see about getting the title changed to something better.

However on the positive side, I feel as a whole the thread has gone really well for as...

Oddly enough, My wife and I were discussing the need for a more extensive guide to game mastering just the other day while driving to a local convention. I was debating starting on it after finishing up one of my other projects, but if you intend to work on it, and would like some assistance, I would be happy to help.

Even if you don't want help, I do hope you work on this project. Your previous guides have all been excellent and I'm certain you'll do a phenomenal job of it.

Great no pressure!

Also shout out to Paizo technical for getting the thread renamed.

Basically at this point any trick you know that could help lessen the pressure on the GM and help the players support the GM would be a huge boon.

I have my grab bag of tricks but I am sure there are more out there!

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Abraham spalding wrote:
Angry Wiggles wrote:
Abraham spalding wrote:

Well my long term goal is to collect the best/most accurate/ over arching types and put together a "guide" like the class guides. Again much in the same lines as what is in the GMG as the intention is to help people find ways to do something constructive to improve their gaming groups rather than just be upset about how things go. Something like that "arm, anvil, hammer" guide that was done.

But yeah I'll see about getting the title changed to something better.

However on the positive side, I feel as a whole the thread has gone really well for as...

Oddly enough, My wife and I were discussing the need for a more extensive guide to game mastering just the other day while driving to a local convention. I was debating starting on it after finishing up one of my other projects, but if you intend to work on it, and would like some assistance, I would be happy to help.

Even if you don't want help, I do hope you work on this project. Your previous guides have all been excellent and I'm certain you'll do a phenomenal job of it.

Great no pressure!

Also shout out to Paizo technical for getting the thread renamed.

Basically at this point any trick you know that could help lessen the pressure on the GM and help the players support the GM would be a huge boon.

I have my grab bag of tricks but I am sure there are more out there!

Certainly! I'll gather up all of my more mechanical tricks into one location for reducing the actual load of preparing for a game, but those are the easy things to work on.

As for genuine issues running a game, a lot of what I like to talk about is how to avoid the original conflict, or lessen its impact when it occurs. When we did GM 101 and 201 locally, we added a great deal to it and I added a solid half hour about how much the words you choose and the way you phrase your sentences determines what people think of you and your ideas. I've seen a great deal of people who genuinely agreed with each other, at times, including myself, argue pointlessly because they didn't understand the emotional connotations that the other person was applying to the words they were using. When the conversation was paused, and the statement that both people agreed with was restated using synonyms that didn't carry emotional weight for either person, they were able to see each other's respective points of view, and the argument could be resolved.

Granted, being aware of someone's emotional language is neither simple, nor easy, but it is an incredibly useful skill to hone. I had a number of rather pointed examples, but I will have to see if I can find where I wrote them down for you.

I had another list of minor things that I suggested that GMs should do which were specifically designed to create an attitude of trust between the players and the GM. They were all very minor steps, such as removing the GM screen, rolling as far forward as you can without rolling on the map, using more visible dice, announcing the results of the roll, making brief eye contact with every player, gentle smiling, keeping an open stance, and keeping your hands flat when resting. If the players are more trusting of the GM, they will be more at ease, and all aspects of the game can go better.

I put the list together a few years ago after one of my players in a 3.5 game made a comment that I was the competition. I have never in my life viewed myself as an adversarial GM and have always wanted the players to succeed. I felt the need to go out of my way to make that more apparent, but I couldn't just outright say that I intended for them to win. I needed to find a way to make it obvious to him, who was not always the most perceptive, that I was not an enemy. I found that some of them were easier than others, with adjusting body language being the most difficult. Every step had a profoundly visible effect on the party's morale, though. They came to me more readily with questions. There were fewer rules debates, and not just because they accepted my judgement, but because I was prepared to accept their arguments when they were reasonable.

I've not been playing these kinds of games as long as some, although I may have been playing it longer than others. One thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of different attitudes about how different people run games. Some people want to run something hard, while others want to run something easy. Some want to place the players in a world of their own creation and allow them to tell any story they choose, while others may place them along the path to a single story with little opportunity for deviation. Regardless of which variant of Game Master someone may be, there is one seemingly immutable truth. Running games is HARD. Not because knowing the rules is necessarily difficult, or because writing part of a story might be difficult, or because determining what should be allowed or disallowed might be difficult, or because establishing a setting might be difficult, or because acting the role of the NPCs might be difficult, or because designing the statblocks might be difficult. They are difficult, although some of them may be easier for some of us than for others. However, any one and even all of those things can be provided for us these days, with the possible exception of a rudimentary understanding of the rules. No, running games is hard because the GM has to arrive and create spontaneously for and with a group of people who may not like what they have made. The pressure involved in this is the same as with any other method of creation. Writing music, short stories, The players can definitely both increase and lighten this load, often without even realizing that they're doing it. Which brings us right back to the importance of this conversation and this topic.

I'm encouraged by the turn that this thread took towards solutions, because far too often, in other corners of the internet, I've seen it simply dissolve into "Give up", "Stop GMing", "Surrender". It's the same advice given to new artists, new writers, new filmmakers. "Stop creating". Creating was hard enough before they were encouraging everyone to stop. That advice helps nobody. Giving good advice on GMing is hard, though. Running games is something that every person I've ever spoken to does differently. What works for me may not work for everyone, which is why we should discuss not only what I do or you do, but also what all of the other wonderful GMs out there do. This is not a science or a formula, it is an art. As with any art, we only improve when we practice and work at it. To that extent, I have long believed that the most important thing that any GM can get is feedback. If I know what my players wanted, and I know what I gave them, I can refine the game to close the gaps between the two.

That, uh... That post was longer than I expected it to be. I may have rambled a bit as well. I'm a little tired, so I hope it all made sense.

Silver Crusade Contributor

Mikaze wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

The Keeper of the Magical Realm

A GM that uses an unwilling or unwitting group to indulge in his or her fetishes without getting their approval. This can result in anything from mild awkwardness to "Oh God we need to get out of here before he shows us his stack of torsos in the basement". Most often it seems to simply be a GM with insufficient social understanding, but it can lead to severe discomfort at the table when certain lines start getting crossed with no discussion beforehand.

Sometimes it takes only a TMI warning to put a stop to it. Sometimes it takes a frank and direct talk about what is and is not appropriate for the group; it needs to be made clear that people are being made to feel uncomfortable or even unsafe. And other times it's just plain unhealthy to keep playing with those that continue to exhibit this behavior.

Named for a Gunshow comic that illustrates this perfectly.

(I'm honestly not sure what number this entry is now)

*cough*

shuffles feet awkwardly

I'm... familiar with this one. I, uh... saw a certain girdle appear in the Advanced Player's Guide. My first thought was, "Oooh, that's back."

Turns out what I really needed came in elixir form instead...

*blushes*

hides

I'd definitely not qualify that as a fetish in itself. And certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone anyone that potion for their characters. :)

I was a bit closer to your original post's intent, unfortunately. As GM, things like the girdle would always find their way into my adventures. A certain trap in a certain Thassilonian AP held my attention for some time, and when I started running Serpent's Skull, I arranged for something similar to befall the party's fighter. I made sure it served the plot, but still, I feel guilty about it in retrospect... :/

And, um... the elixir wouldn't be for my character. *blushes*

Silver Crusade Contributor

Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/
When do you sleep?

Too much. :)

For those who are curious, the schedule is:

Reign of Winter every other Wednesday (as a player).
Serpent's Skull every other Monday.
Wrath of the Righteous every other Friday.
Carrion Crown every other Saturday, although we try to schedule extra sessions sometimes.
Council of Thieves as a solo campaign over Skype, whenever I can be bothered.
I may be starting a campaign at a local LGBT network/ community center soon. Definitely an AP, not decided yet.

I'm a busy girl. :)


Kalindlara wrote:
Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/
When do you sleep?

Too much. :)

For those who are curious, the schedule is:

Reign of Winter every other Wednesday (as a player).
Serpent's Skull every other Monday.
Wrath of the Righteous every other Friday.
Carrion Crown every other Saturday, although we try to schedule extra sessions sometimes.
Council of Thieves as a solo campaign over Skype, whenever I can be bothered.
I may be starting a campaign at a local LGBT network/ community center soon. Definitely an AP, not decided yet.

I'm a busy girl. :)

And I was complaining the other day about gaming two nights a week. You're making me feel old...


Vincent Takeda wrote:

I was thinking something a little more along the lines of

The counter gm. This gm is attempting to challenge the players by presenting them with an obstacle their go-to solutions will not solve in an attempt to get them to employ different tactics. Your tactic works very well in a lot of situations... When it doesn't work... What's your backup plan? We must go deeper.

The montyhaul gm: this gm is attempting to quickly get the characters past the murders and aquisitions stage of the game and get down to the nitty gritty of 'what are your characters about that isn't about killin and lootin'? He's trying to get players to explore character concepts beyond the slay for pay model. If your characters primary motivation is get rich, what does he do after he's gotten rich? We must go deeper.

The director: this gm is attempting to bring the characters through a very specific narrative. He's challenging his players to be able to voluntarily closely follow and pursue that narrative... Star wars wouldnt be the same if luke skywalker murdered ben kenobi in his sleep and sold all his belongings on the black market. We must go deeper.

The restarter: this gm has a hard time staying interested in any one particular world or theme for long... He's challenging his players to rapidly adapt to wide sweeping changes to narrative and environment at a moments notice and frequently in order to test their versatility... We must go deeeper.

The gold depriver: this gm is interested in running a campaign opposite of the montyhaul gm... He wants the party to define their heroics by their actions, without being able to buy their way out of challenges. If you don't have the necessary tools to get the job done, but still need to get the job done... how would you do it instead? We must go deeper.

Even the unprepared gm can give you a goal... This gm admits its very difficult to know every mechanic and every rule. He challenges his players to be familiar with the rules their characters plan to use, and have handy the...

The problem is that your positive spin on things is not what is going on most of the time.

As an example the restarter would have to challenge the "players" versatility by asking them to choose a different type of class such as a barbarian, and then a social/skill monkey type. However the restarts don't generally have anything mentioning a different character type than the last type that was played.

You could play the exact same build every time, and it would not matter.


I respectfully disagree. Every gm I've ever experienced showing these traits has always had an underlying purpose to their technique. I'd posit that your perception is the exception and not the rule based purely on personal experience.. YMMV

Perhaps I've simply been lucky that all of my gms are purposeful and well meaning. I don't think its in the best interest of the hobby to posit that the largesse of them are intentionally miscreants. If the gm's purpose for his technique is 'screw you hippie'... then 'talk to them about it' is going to be the same conversation every time...

Uh gm.. can you try not to screw us over so much for your own amusement?
What fun would that be?
Uh... I'll be right back... (leaves and never returns)


Vincent Takeda wrote:

I respectfully disagree. Every gm I've ever experienced showing these traits has always had an underlying purpose to their technique. I'd posit that your perception is the exception and not the rule based purely on personal experience.. YMMV

Perhaps I've simply been lucky that all of my gms are purposeful and well meaning. I don't think its in the best interest of the hobby to posit that the largesse of them are intentionally miscreants. If the gm's purpose for his technique is 'screw you hippie'... then 'talk to them about it' is going to be the same conversation every time... Uh gm.. can you try not to screw us over so much for your own amusement?

I am not saying the GM's are trying to screw the players over. Many times they are oblivious to what is going on. As an example the restarter GM's(the one I experienced and others I heard about) don't mind making new characters. They actually enjoy it, and it is that same attraction to something new that makes it hard for them to stay focused on one thing. Since they enjoy the "new thing" they don't see why it would bother someone else.

My perception is based more on conversations with other players than my own experience since I have only had one "restarter" GM. If my one experience was the only time I had heard of it, I would just attribute to that one person.


Joynt Jezebel wrote:
And I have learned that being soft spoken, disliking loud noise and people talking at once

I do not talk very loud when GM'ing, that forces everyone to pay attention.

When multiple people start to talk at the same time I do one of three things:

1) When they are talking to a NPC, reply in character "What? If you all talk at once I can't understand a word of what you're saying!" which is rather effective.
2) In combat I pay attention to the person in initiative / the one who is doing an immediate action and ask / tell the others to keep their mouth shut. What helps is that I announce before starting the session that I expect everyone to have their actions ready in combat for when their time comes and that I reserve the right to put them in delay if it takes too long and that "too long" is by my definition only.
3) In other situations I just ask them if they can talk one at a time. Most of the time I then start with one player and go around the table before reacting to the things they said.

Silver Crusade Contributor

Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/
When do you sleep?

Too much. :)

For those who are curious, the schedule is:

Reign of Winter every other Wednesday (as a player).
Serpent's Skull every other Monday.
Wrath of the Righteous every other Friday.
Carrion Crown every other Saturday, although we try to schedule extra sessions sometimes.
Council of Thieves as a solo campaign over Skype, whenever I can be bothered.
I may be starting a campaign at a local LGBT network/ community center soon. Definitely an AP, not decided yet.

I'm a busy girl. :)

And I was complaining the other day about gaming two nights a week. You're making me feel old...

I'm really too old to be doing so myself. I'm lucky to have someone who'll support me as I work through a difficult time. I don't deserve them. :)


Kalindlara wrote:
I'm really too old to be doing so myself. I'm lucky to have someone who'll support me as I work through a difficult time. I don't deserve them. :)

*suspiciously* Gamer?


Kalindlara wrote:
Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/
When do you sleep?

Too much. :)

For those who are curious, the schedule is:

Reign of Winter every other Wednesday (as a player).
Serpent's Skull every other Monday.
Wrath of the Righteous every other Friday.
Carrion Crown every other Saturday, although we try to schedule extra sessions sometimes.
Council of Thieves as a solo campaign over Skype, whenever I can be bothered.
I may be starting a campaign at a local LGBT network/ community center soon. Definitely an AP, not decided yet.

I'm a busy girl. :)

~laughs~

I did something similar when I was unemployed. I was in eight weekly games. Yes eight. I still wonder how I stayed sane. Although I only GMed one of those. Hmmm... 9 games if you count the "Magic School Bus adventures" I ran for people as spur of the moment things when we were all there and bored.

Lets see if I remember the 8 games: Heroes Unlimited (young heroes), 3.5e D&D (my amazing world campaign), Paladium Fantasy (invasion from another dimension), Cyberpunk (medical emergencies in Night City), Rifts (refugees in Chi-Town's shadow), Ninja's & Superspies (X-files game - one of these days I should actually locate and watch X-Files), 3.5e D&D (Munchkin's Evil Empire game), and Spacemaster (Mr Sexist tries a Lost in Space scenario). "magic School Bus" adventures was just whatever system people felt like and had characters ready to go for, Rifts, D&D, V&V, anything goes...

Silver Crusade Contributor

Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
I'm really too old to be doing so myself. I'm lucky to have someone who'll support me as I work through a difficult time. I don't deserve them. :)
*suspiciously* Gamer?

*giggle* Mother. :) Although we've been introducing her to Pathfinder. She's... learning. She always wants to play magic-users.

Silver Crusade Contributor

Aranna wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/
When do you sleep?

Too much. :)

For those who are curious, the schedule is:

Reign of Winter every other Wednesday (as a player).
Serpent's Skull every other Monday.
Wrath of the Righteous every other Friday.
Carrion Crown every other Saturday, although we try to schedule extra sessions sometimes.
Council of Thieves as a solo campaign over Skype, whenever I can be bothered.
I may be starting a campaign at a local LGBT network/ community center soon. Definitely an AP, not decided yet.

I'm a busy girl. :)

~laughs~

I did something similar when I was unemployed. I was in eight weekly games. Yes eight. I still wonder how I stayed sane. Although I only GMed one of those. Hmmm... 9 games if you count the "Magic School Bus adventures" I ran for people as spur of the moment things when we were all there and bored.

Lets see if I remember the 8 games: Heroes Unlimited (young heroes), 3.5e D&D (my amazing world campaign), Paladium Fantasy (invasion from another dimension), Cyberpunk (medical emergencies in Night City), Rifts (refugees in Chi-Town's shadow), Ninja's & Superspies (X-files game - one of these days I should actually locate and watch X-Files), 3.5e D&D (Munchkin's Evil Empire game), and Spacemaster (Mr Sexist tries a Lost in Space scenario). "magic School Bus" adventures was just whatever system people felt like and had characters ready to go for, Rifts, D&D, V&V, anything goes...

When I was younger, it was seven days a week down at the comic book shop. Most were of the Magic School Bus variety... we'd throw together characters and someone (usually me) would come up with a quick plot. It was sort of freestyle... to this day, I'm still fond of "What do you do?" as a campaign premise.


Kalindlara wrote:
Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
I'm really too old to be doing so myself. I'm lucky to have someone who'll support me as I work through a difficult time. I don't deserve them. :)
*suspiciously* Gamer?
*giggle* Mother. :) Although we've been introducing her to Pathfinder. She's... learning. She always wants to play magic-users.

*nods approvingly* As long as there's no restriction in the gaming... :)

My roommate's mother always wanted to play bloodthirsty hobbits carrying their body weight in daggers. :D


Aranna wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
and I have three other campaigns to prep for. Just make it harder. :/
When do you sleep?

Too much. :)

For those who are curious, the schedule is:

Reign of Winter every other Wednesday (as a player).
Serpent's Skull every other Monday.
Wrath of the Righteous every other Friday.
Carrion Crown every other Saturday, although we try to schedule extra sessions sometimes.
Council of Thieves as a solo campaign over Skype, whenever I can be bothered.
I may be starting a campaign at a local LGBT network/ community center soon. Definitely an AP, not decided yet.

I'm a busy girl. :)

~laughs~

I did something similar when I was unemployed. I was in eight weekly games. Yes eight. I still wonder how I stayed sane. Although I only GMed one of those. Hmmm... 9 games if you count the "Magic School Bus adventures" I ran for people as spur of the moment things when we were all there and bored.

Lets see if I remember the 8 games: Heroes Unlimited (young heroes), 3.5e D&D (my amazing world campaign), Paladium Fantasy (invasion from another dimension), Cyberpunk (medical emergencies in Night City), Rifts (refugees in Chi-Town's shadow), Ninja's & Superspies (X-files game - one of these days I should actually locate and watch X-Files), 3.5e D&D (Munchkin's Evil Empire game), and Spacemaster (Mr Sexist tries a Lost in Space scenario). "magic School Bus" adventures was just whatever system people felt like and had characters ready to go for, Rifts, D&D, V&V, anything goes...

You have excellent taste in systems...

Except maybe Cyberpunk, but I think my negative reaction to it had more to do with a GM who insisted that only evil people live in that reality, rather than the game itself.

Dark Archive

Inlaa wrote:

I'm a roleplayer. I've roleplayed via all sorts of mediums: tabletop games, forums, MMOs, MUDs, e-mails, you name it. However, as important as roleplay is to me, Pathfinder is a dice-oriented system.

You should NEVER discount the influence of the game mechanics. The game involves both dice AND character interaction; that's intentional design. If the designers of D&D (and subsequently Pathfinder) didn't want dice to make important decisions, they wouldn't have included dice in the game. So, while I will make decisions in-game based on what makes the most sense in-character, I will make character design decisions and class decisions and so forth based on what makes sense build-wise, and I actively help other players (if I'm playing and not GMing) build their characters in ways that are useful and have synergy with what the rest of the group has done.

Also...

I find a lot of people that have approached me in the past (as a GM) use the excuse of "It just fits my character" or "It only makes sense that my character would become this" or "It has great flavor!" when in reality they were choosing it for powergamey purposes. When I'm a player, I've had people approach me with questions about what's more powerful, then later word their request to the GM in such a way that makes it sound as if they're choosing it for roleplay purposes.

So... I always make sure that I eye anything I'm presented as a DM for...

((Sorry for not getting back to you before this, but I did feel I should reply to you at some point))

I don't discount the influence of game mechanics, if anything I DEPEND on them to help make sure I can have a game that moves forward with as few problems as possible since I am a DM that prefers the structure and order rules can bring.

What I do seek is more of a balance, since I feel many players discount the roleplaying aspect of a roleplaying game and treat it as a game in which they think they have to win or to 'best' at. I want to see more players who look at their character not exclusively in a mechanical way but by the story that can be told during the campaign by the player and party.

On the other part, you make a good point. I do feel I am... at least decent in telling when a player has an ulterior motive in wanting a certain idea. More I would read through whatever a player presents me though it is possible I miss how powerful a built can be. That and I make it a rule that I reserve the take something away from a player if they abuse it, whether it is an item/artifact or a feat/spell.

The campaign should be fun for all, and if by chance the players are having fun but I am not because they are blowing through any challenges I place before them I would talk to them about this see if we can reach a compromise so that all can have fun.


Jerry Wright 307 wrote:

You have excellent taste in systems...

Except maybe Cyberpunk, but I think my negative reaction to it had more to do with a GM who insisted that only evil people live in that reality, rather than the game itself.

Thanks. There will always be bad GMs for any system no reason to discount a bunch of heroic medical techs who rush into bad situations to save people, and you can tell your GM that. :p


Aranna wrote:
Jerry Wright 307 wrote:

You have excellent taste in systems...

Except maybe Cyberpunk, but I think my negative reaction to it had more to do with a GM who insisted that only evil people live in that reality, rather than the game itself.

Thanks. There will always be bad GMs for any system no reason to discount a bunch of heroic medical techs who rush into bad situations to save people, and you can tell your GM that. :p

I didn't stick out my tongue, but she got an earful after the game. :)


Guide is up now


Ascalaphus wrote:


  • The Realist - some GMs get so wrapped in realism that they ban all kinds of things, or institute all kinds of cumbersome rules. Often the attempt to make one power more realistic actually worsens it in game-balance terms, because some other thing remains untouched. Particularly if the guy is suddenly an expert in one nonmagical thing that your character uses, but completely unconcerned about dragons.

    The solution - have a talk, and explain the difference between "realistic" and "cinematically appropriate". We can see all kinds of unrealistic stuff in a movie without going "no way!", because there's internal consistency. We don't complain that a basilisk's gaze is unrealistic, but we would revolt if it used it through a wall of iron. I think a great example of this is in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The fantasy-ness of the near-flying moves starts out somewhat low key at the beginning of the movie, and gradually increases. And so it gradually extends our suspension of disbelief.

  • Yeah I ran into this gm actually. Not sure how you would solve it. When I tried to talk to him about a character I had created and her background he said no because I said tiefling paladin and he immediately said no tieflings in wrath of the righteous as he explained that since you're fighting tieflings having tiefling pcs makes no sense. When I tried to calmly explained why playing tiefling heroes against evil tieflings he immediately said that he didn't care and said that the first rule of all roleplaying games is that the gm's word is law and that he will kill off or clear your character (whichever he feels like doing).

    Personally I feel like that this guy has the wrong idea about roleplaying games.

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