Similar to "The Clique", there's
The In Joke
Some of the group have history, and they've had some funny moments. So many, in fact, that nearly any word, or deed inspires memories of "that time when". At best, this means they have a good laugh while sharing a knowing look, at worst the game is constantly sidetracked by long winded recounting of past hilarity. Being the newcomer in this game means you're probably not going to get the joke, or that you'll feel like a comedy historian hearing tales of silliness past. Either way it might not be as funny for you as it is for them.Suggestion: Either create your own funny moments, or leave them to their ghosts.
My group is like that to me, but it's mostly references I don't get because I live under a rock.
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The Minimum Viable Adventure
This adventure has only the bare essentials it needs to qualify as a night of gaming. An NPC arrives and spits out some exposition. The players take turns rolling perception until one of them gets a high enough result for the DM to tell the party where they have to travel. A basic combat ensues consisting of several identical creatures - an hour of BAB versus AC rolls. More perception checks to find out what just happened and why. Maybe a conversation with another NPC where no social skill rolls matter - he's just there to tell the party where to go next. Finally, we get a "boss" battle consisting of more identical creatures, one of which has 10x the hit points of the rest. Victorious, the party splits up some randomly-rolled, level-appropriate loot.
Alternate title: No One Else Wanted To Be GM This Weekend. Pretty much my go-to style of running games.
Roller Coaster
Silly, then grim. These games lack consistent tone. Without a solid tone, the game becomes impossible to plan for. Being told it would be light hearted and silly, you made Sir Augustus Stickybuns, then three games in, you're cradling the remains of orphans and puppies who were trapped in a Cloudkill by the ruthless psychotic villain. Ha? Maybe the DM wanted a gut punch, or maybe the DM is a big fan of Cerberus. The result is a sudden change in tone that can be quite unpleasant.
A friend of mine specializes in these. The game starts out serious, then goes into total clown shoes territory for a few sessions, then gets super dark. Every. Damn. Time.
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A specific variant of the Railroad:
The Unchosen Ones
The world is a sad and desolate place. The people live in fear, and hope lies crushed beneath the weight of despair. Enter our heroes, who through their brave efforts will change... absolutely nothing. No matter what the characters do, nothing in the world ever improves. At best the status quo of misery is maintained, at worst, their actions make things worse. "Okay, you saved the princess, but she had already been exposed to the Enrathi blood plague, and now not only is the capital city a pestilant wasteland, but the death of the royal family has thrown the land into turmoil, leaving only the Demon God Cult with the authority to create order." Maybe the DM thinks Nietzsche was right, or maybe they are going through some things. The result is a steady grind to destroy all hopes the players have of accomplishing anything.
Suggestion: Reach into the grimdark era of 90's comics for inspiration, and start calling your character "Deathwulf Bloodmetal". Become the broodiest anti-hero ever.
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Yaaaaay, that sounds like a REALLY AWESOME campaign!!! I mean, it's like Warhammer 40K, only better!!! Deathwulf Bloodmetal is an awesome name!
That does have a certain appeal to it but it would require a very skilled GM for sure. I know I don't have the GM chops to pull it off.
Now as for the topic. The railroaders are terrible. I had one DM that made every in game decision for us.I had a DM in OD&D who not only rolled every roll for us, he kept our character sheets. All we had was an equipment list of what we were carrying, and a sheet to write information on. If we went into our mulepacks, he'd hand us that sheet to make changes on, and then took it back. We didn't even know how many hit points we had.
I only played in three sessions with that guy. They were fun, but I can't imagine that same sort of thing flying these days.
Amber Diceless Roleplaying. (Or the successor, Lords of Gossamer and Shadow.)
No dice. The GM decides success, based on your stats and other relevant factors. You buy your stats at the start of the game, but increases from experience are handled by the GM. You tell him what you're working on and you generally find out if and when you've gotten better, but no more actual numbers.
Great game. Some of the best roleplaying I've ever had. Needs the right GM and I'm sure it's not for everyone, but when it works it's golden.
As I said above, it's a lot easier in more rules-lite games. Let's you focus on roleplaying the characters and on trying to be both impartial and keeping things fun, rather than on modifiers.
It probably doesn't help that in the default Amber setting, the characters are vastly powerful, can go anywhere on a whim, and don't work together in a party, except for the most climactic threats.
Yikes, Amber.
In many ways, Amber and other diceless games went in one of two directions- collaborative storytelling with a mic being passed around, or super pedantic arguing where the person who knows the most about the setting is the one who "wins". Sometimes both simultaneously. And yes, in games like that, NOONE works together...
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Yaaaaay, that sounds like a REALLY AWESOME campaign!!! I mean, it's like Warhammer 40K, only better!!! Deathwulf Bloodmetal is an awesome name!
You can use it then, I'll be Darkfyre Painblade. :P
As with the other thread, this one seems to be more about the types of players posting in it than the types of DMs running the game.
As with the other thread, this one seems to be more about the types of players posting in it than the types of DMs running the game.
I was kind of worried that it was too focused on the DMs running these games. Almost all of these examples are about problematic decisions from the top down.
Maybe it's more because the DMs in question aren't here, but the players are, and some of the less erudite ones are less are not really complaining about the games they could do without and are instead passive aggressively expounding upon the type of games they like.
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Maybe it's more because the DMs in question aren't here, but the players are, and some of the less erudite ones are less are not really complaining about the games they could do without and are instead passive aggressively expounding upon the type of games they like.
Some of mine were games that I ran. I'm willing to admit my mistakes.
As for complaints, so long as they aren't personal attacks, I don't think they're so bad. They can serve as a gallery of pitfalls to learn from for aspiring DMs, or at the very least a chance to vent.
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The world is a sad and desolate place. The people live in fear, and hope lies crushed beneath the weight of despair. Enter our heroes, who through their brave efforts will change... absolutely nothing.
I love Fantasy Flight Games' Midnight setting! It was awesome... Though, it wouldn't make a great "go-to" campaign setting IMO, as it is really dark and bleak, but I think it is a perfectly valid setting.
A GM would need the players to be on board for this kind of game of course...
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The Pathetic Peasant Torturer
This GM is usually a good GM storywise and makes a good setting. But the PCs are pathetic, useless wretches, with either no equipment or basic, almost useless stuff.
And no matter how long they play, they will never get any better, or acquire equipment that works properly. And they will fail a lot.
In Frodo's Footsteps...
The DM has the players evolve in his favourite literary universe in the wake of the the book's main protagonists. Obviously, the players can never meet the book's protagonists, because "it didn't happened in the book". Their actions can never outshine those of the book's protagonists, otherwise the book would have been about the players and not the protagonists. PCs' actions can't change anything that will happen to the book's protagonists either, affect the outcome of the story or meet anyone that the protagonists will eventually meet cause that could alter the story as written in the book. In all other respect the game is just like the book, swears the DM, except that the players know that the real story happens offstage and that their story is doomed to be secondary.
Solution: Roll with it or rebel. Either the DM does it well and the PCs don't feel cheated, or try to derail the game as mush as possible and watch the DM's struggle to keep his precious story intact!
Variant of In Frodo's Footstep - No You Can't Play Jedi
The DM has the PCs evolve in his favourite literary universe, except that the player can't play anything close to what the universe is known for, visit known places and meet known characters. Just like Star Wars, but no Jedi. And no Spaceships. And no Empire or Rebels. And no Wookies or Rodians. And robots aren't called droids around here. But otherwise its just like Star Wars!
Solution: Just admit to yourself that you are not playing Star Wars, and hope for the best...
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In Frodo's Footsteps...
The DM has the players evolve in his favourite literary universe in the wake of the the book's main protagonists. Obviously, the players can never meet the book's protagonists, because "it didn't happened in the book". Their actions can never outshine those of the book's protagonists, otherwise the book would have been about the players and not the protagonists. PCs' actions can't change anything that will happen to the book's protagonists either, affect the outcome of the story or meet anyone that the protagonists will eventually meet cause that could alter the story as written in the book. In all other respect the game is just like the book, swears the DM, except that the players know that the real story happens offstage and that their story is doomed to be secondary.Solution: Roll with it or rebel. Either the DM does it well and the PCs don't feel cheated, or try to derail the game as mush as possible and watch the DM's struggle to keep his precious story intact!
I started a game like this once, and in an amusing nod to your following post, it was the Star Wars d20. It was set in the Rebellion era, and the team was hired to transport "medical supplies" no questions asked to Alderaan. Sure enough, they arrived after the destruction, and were tractor beamed into the Death Star.
That's where things jumped the rails. The party "saved" Leia (who instead of being scheduled for execution, had been recognized by Vader as having Force potential, and he'd used the destruction to awaken her towards the Dark side), and desperate to escape, they took off in the ship they found in the first hanger they came to... the Falcon. So, they basically took over as the primary protagonists. I stuck to a similar plotline, but had their choices change the story. It was fun to take something familiar, and then have us make it our own.
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The Pathetic Peasant Torturer
This GM is usually a good GM storywise and makes a good setting. But the PCs are pathetic, useless wretches, with either no equipment or basic, almost useless stuff.
And no matter how long they play, they will never get any better, or acquire equipment that works properly. And they will fail a lot.
Warhammer RPG? :D
It's ok in Warhammer FRP. Not when I want to play a heroic game of Pathfinder.
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Adventures of the DMPC
The DM has an amazing story planned out. Unfortunately, this story is about one person, the NPC the DM forces the group to adventure with. The DMPC will have stats equivalent to a 40 point buy, be 3 levels higher than the party, and be the best equipped to handle any given situation. You party will inevitably end up sitting on the sidelines while the DMPC cleans up during combat, or be stuck fighting minions while the DMPC handles the Balor alone.
How to fix: Explain to the DM that no one enjoys listening to him narrate battles between himself. Failing that, run. In character or not, your choice.
An alternate version of this: Adventures of the DMPC Bodyguard Squad
The DM has a character he really wants to play. This character isn't powerful, or even really useful. The character never changes, learns, or improves in any noticeable way. The character constantly gets into trouble, forcing the PCs to go on rescue missions in almost every adventure. But this character is also invulnerable, immortal, and impossible to get rid of. If the PCs try to leave the character behind, the DMPC always finds a way to catch up with the party. If the PCs are cruel and indifferent toward the DMPC, the character (and the DM) never catch on and the DMPC just keeps hanging around no matter how badly he/she is treated by the PCs.How to fix: Find a DM who actually gets enough satisfaction out of running the game (or enough other opportunities to play) that he doesn't need a DMPC.
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In Frodo's Footsteps...
The DM has the players evolve in his favourite literary universe in the wake of the the book's main protagonists. Obviously, the players can never meet the book's protagonists, because "it didn't happened in the book". Their actions can never outshine those of the book's protagonists, otherwise the book would have been about the players and not the protagonists. PCs' actions can't change anything that will happen to the book's protagonists either, affect the outcome of the story or meet anyone that the protagonists will eventually meet cause that could alter the story as written in the book. In all other respect the game is just like the book, swears the DM, except that the players know that the real story happens offstage and that their story is doomed to be secondary.Solution: Roll with it or rebel. Either the DM does it well and the PCs don't feel cheated, or try to derail the game as mush as possible and watch the DM's struggle to keep his precious story intact!
I've had some arguments with a friend of mine about this. A campaign set in a known fictional world can work. It can even work while other characters in the setting do things - even more important things. You can have a game set in the modern day world where the PCs aren't the President. The important thing is making the players feel like the center of their own story. I've run Rebellion era Star Wars games where the PCs were valuable members of the Alliance, and much of the movie stuff was in the background. Occasionally the PCs would interact with a feature that the players would recognize had other consequences, but the plotline was definitely about the PCs with the larger war as the setting. The key was not to make the players feel like they were rewatching the films through their character's eyes, but instead like they were starring in their own spin-off.
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In Frodo's Footsteps...
The DM has the players evolve in his favourite literary universe in the wake of the the book's main protagonists. Obviously, the players can never meet the book's protagonists, because "it didn't happened in the book". Their actions can never outshine those of the book's protagonists, otherwise the book would have been about the players and not the protagonists. PCs' actions can't change anything that will happen to the book's protagonists either, affect the outcome of the story or meet anyone that the protagonists will eventually meet cause that could alter the story as written in the book. In all other respect the game is just like the book, swears the DM, except that the players know that the real story happens offstage and that their story is doomed to be secondary.Solution: Roll with it or rebel. Either the DM does it well and the PCs don't feel cheated, or try to derail the game as mush as possible and watch the DM's struggle to keep his precious story intact!
I started a game like this once, and in an amusing nod to your following post, it was the Star Wars d20. It was set in the Rebellion era, and the team was hired to transport "medical supplies" no questions asked to Alderaan. Sure enough, they arrived after the destruction, and were tractor beamed into the Death Star.
That's where things jumped the rails. The party "saved" Leia (who instead of being scheduled for execution, had been recognized by Vader as having Force potential, and he'd used the destruction to awaken her towards the Dark side), and desperate to escape, they took off in the ship they found in the first hanger they came to... the Falcon. So, they basically took over as the primary protagonists. I stuck to a similar plotline, but had their choices change the story. It was fun to take something familiar, and then have us make it our own.
A friend of mine is running a Star Wars campaign with a very similar concept right now. It started with Han Solo arriving at Mos Eisley too late to get the job transporting Luke and Obi-Wan to Alderaan, and instead the PCs take them. Sort of a "Butterfly Effect" of the Star Wars universe.
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Someone's mention of Dragonlance reminded me of another one:
Centuries of peace - then apocalypse every twenty minutes
This tends to pop up in published settings more than in homebrew games IME. This setting has a rich detailed backstory where the status quo has ruled for centuries or even millennia. No changes or major upheavals have taken place in all that time. But now is the Destined Time, the Apocalypse, or Other Big Plot Time. All well and good; that sort of thing makes for great epic adventures. But then the world is saved, but we want to keep using the setting, so next year A New Threat appears, and is stopped. Then again a year later. And again. Until you end up with a world with this huge history of nothing major happening that has had a major upheaval pretty much continuously since. It's like no one wants to just jump ahead a century or two for the next crisis - because that would change the setting too much - but after a while you begin to wonder if there are any non-adventurers left alive after all these rapid fire apocalyptic threats.
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Dragonlancewhat?In Frodo's Footsteps...
The DM has the players evolve in his favourite literary universe in the wake of the the book's main protagonists. Obviously, the players can never meet the book's protagonists, because "it didn't happened in the book". Their actions can never outshine those of the book's protagonists, otherwise the book would have been about the players and not the protagonists. PCs' actions can't change anything that will happen to the book's protagonists either, affect the outcome of the story or meet anyone that the protagonists will eventually meet cause that could alter the story as written in the book. In all other respect the game is just like the book, swears the DM, except that the players know that the real story happens offstage and that their story is doomed to be secondary.
That's actually not Dragonlance at all. Between the ability to time travel and the various Alternate Time Lines and What If _______ Happened A Different Way, DragonLance is probably the least like this of all published settings.
Its known for having an Epic story, and the novels sold very well, but there is actually a lot of room for PCs to do things in spite of those stories. And the main characters where just pregens in the original modules.
I've had some arguments with a friend of mine about this. A campaign set in a known fictional world can work. It can even work while other characters in the setting do things - even more important things (...) The key was not to make the players feel like they were rewatching the films through their character's eyes, but instead like they were starring in their own spin-off.In Frodo's Footsteps...
The DM has the players evolve in his favourite literary universe in the wake of the the book's main protagonists (...)
Indeed, when you make the story about the PCs, everything can work to great effect - even the worst of the game styles described above (most of which are bad because the game isn't focus around the PCs in the first place)
Star Wars seems to have been a fertile ground for what you describe (especially before episode I, II, III and the Clone Wars series). In a classic D6 Star Wars game, I had my players start aboard the Tantive IV as it was boarded by Darth Vader and Imperial troops, followed by our own escape-from-death-star session while the tractor beams were disabled by Obi-Wan. The point of game being that the players knew what would happen; it was about figuring out how their characters would make it through.
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Evil is Misunderstood, Now Feel Bad: Relativism Special...
Demihumans have been really harming the common folk of a region, murdering those on the road, burning down houses and places, putting skulls on sticks, eating those they have slain and growing in number (those calories).
But they are actually the victims here, why are you killing so many of them? You should feel bad.
You killed the parents, now you find the brood - all left without parents, all alone in the world. You should feel bad adventurer. Do you realise how bad you should feel yet?
"No". *Prepares to annihilate the whole nest and salvage some sense of enjoyment, and accomplishment at ending the threat*
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This RPG is for porn...
Encounters with NPCs invariably turn sexual, with emphasis on the scandalous and explicit details. The "maturity" of the scenes tends to be inversely proportional to the maturity of the players.
Solution: This usually corrects itself with the players' acquisition of a real-world sex life.
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Who Needs a Writers' Circle When I've Got a Gaming Group?
The campaign is set in the world of the GM's unpublished/incomplete novel, and the events are the plot of same. The GM reacts very badly to any player action that deviates from the preconceived storyline.
Similarly, a PC might be the protagonist of a player's novel, and refuses to bite on plot hooks that could besmirch the purity/nobility/ruthlessness/etc of the novel version of the character.
Solution: Have an out-of-game chat with the offenders to gently remind them of the difference between a story and a game.
This RPG is for porn...
Encounters with NPCs invariably turn sexual, with emphasis on the scandalous and explicit details. The "maturity" of the scenes tends to be inversely proportional to the maturity of the players.
Solution: This usually corrects itself with the players' acquisition of a real-world sex life.
hey!!
This is my Girlfriend, My Girlfriends Amazing
That made my whole day.
This RPG is for porn!
This RPG is for porn!
Why you think the game was born?
Porn, porn, porn!
And shouldn't he be "Nookie Monster?"
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"Ooooh, you're BREATHING. I LIKE that..."
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Who Needs a Writers' Circle When I've Got a Gaming Group?
The campaign is set in the world of the GM's unpublished/incomplete novel, and the events are the plot of same. The GM reacts very badly to any player action that deviates from the preconceived storyline.
Similarly, a PC might be the protagonist of a player's novel, and refuses to bite on plot hooks that could besmirch the purity/nobility/ruthlessness/etc of the novel version of the character.
Solution: Have an out-of-game chat with the offenders to gently remind them of the difference between a story and a game.
I guess I'm trying to figure out why this is a problem if a player does it? I mean, it's a problem if a player makes a PC who has trouble with the theme of the campaign - that can be an issue - but I don't see a problem with a player sticking to a pre-defined personality. My LG character isn't going to want to help slavers deliver their cargo safely no matter where I got the inspiration from.
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Are you kidding? Join the slavers and go deep undercover. Find every link of the slaver ring you can... and murder them all in their sleep or when the opportunity presents itself.
LG doesn't have to be short-sighted!
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The Teachable Campaign
or
The Campaign for Social Justice
The DM has deemed their players to be hideous hate-filled neanderthal troglodytes who need the DM's glorious and inspired guidance to become better human beings. Instead of focusing on adventure, you learn how your character is intrinsically oppressing the orcs who have been forced into their position because of intrinsic unfairness. That one cannot judge the man-eating morlocks because that would be ethnocentric. That alignment represents objective morality which is intrinsically and objectively bad. Sometimes including the DM outright lecturing players in and out of character.
The History of Suffering
or
What's this 'Fantasy' You Keep Talking About?
The DM loves medieval history. Realistic medieval history. You aren't going to see piles of glittering loot. Roll against ergot poisoning from the bread! Sumptuary laws will get you locked up for wearing the wrong pants, peasant! And oh yeah, your max level is four. What happens? Well mostly you get to deal with bandits and die of the plague. You don't encounter orcs or kobolds. You might get to deal with saracens. Mindset actually doesn't work too bad in an Ars Magica game, but in Pathfinder/DND? Whoo boy.
Repent Sinner and Make Your Saving Throw!
or
We don't use 3d6 for stat generation, as it might result in the number of the beast!
Similar to the Teachable Campaign above, this campaign is where the DM belongs to a certain religious group and instead of just having certain themes, actually requires your every player and character action to conform to his particular denomination's beliefs or else . Your elf bard sleeps with a comely made out of wedlock? Lightning. Your half-orc uses rough language? His tongue rots. Your wizard swills coffee? The demon caffienatus claims your soul for his coffee bean mines in Hell. It differs because instead of trying to batter your head, you instead suffer strange inexplicable (to you anyway) punishments for violating someone else's moral code.
The Wheel Of Fish
or
You So Stupiiiiid!
The campaign makes absolutely no sense. You cannot determine what form of bizarre troll logic the DM operates on, but he acts as if the solutions are entirely obvious. You didn't bow to the princess and salute her by kissing her feet? Well, you just ruined the whole adventure. You attacked the orc with a /sword/? Well, everyone knows swords make orcs split into 1d20 other orcs! Expect every 'mistake' you make to result in the DM looking flabbergasted at your obvious incompetence at not knowing these 'common facts.'
Sniff sniff is that the beginning of an alignment arguement I smell. FEED ME MORE!!!!
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Are you kidding? Join the slavers and go deep undercover. Find every link of the slaver ring you can... and murder them all in their sleep or when the opportunity presents itself.
LG doesn't have to be short-sighted!
I don't disagree. But the player should be able to play a short-sighted character if they desire.
Are you kidding? Join the slavers and go deep undercover. Find every link of the slaver ring you can... and murder them all in their sleep or when the opportunity presents itself.
LG doesn't have to be short-sighted!
The funny thing is that my Lawful Good inquisitor of Abadar is planning to do exactly this is a PBP I'm in.
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Sniff sniff is that the beginning of an alignment arguement I smell. FEED ME MORE!!!!
You cast me? Okay, no problem. Let's see, off the top of my head...
Alignment is societally subjective, usually evil races should be slaughtered on sight, and white necromancers are a thing.
For bonus points: Rogues are awesome! Optimizing is for people who can't role play. Summoners are OP. Dex to damage should be easier to obtain.
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The Puppet Master
The story revolves around the players so much that the GM forces them to take actions they otherwise would not do. There are also situations in which absent players are taken over by the GM to move the story along. This can evolve into railroading should a player have all of their actions taken away from them on trying to derail.
Ex.
Player: I'm sorry for missing last session. What happened?
DM: Well your character got lost in a bottle of whisky and started a fight with the guards. He is now in a jail cell with nothing but a poorly made loincloth to keep him warm. They are holding you for execution.
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The Puppet Master
The story revolves around the players so much that the GM forces them to take actions they otherwise would not do. There are also situations in which absent players are taken over by the GM to move the story along. This can evolve into railroading should a player have all of their actions taken away from them on trying to derail.
Ex.
Player: I'm sorry for missing last session. What happened?
DM: Well your character got lost in a bottle of whisky and started a fight with the guards. He is now in a jail cell with nothing but a poorly made loincloth to keep him warm. They are holding you for execution.
Man this is like an explanation for the story of Hercules. Every time things settle down for him, he goes bugnuts and kills people he shouldn't.
Session 19:
Herc-Player: Ah, my barbarian hero has a family now. Time to put his feet up!
Session 21:
DM: You went into a sudden rage and killed your wife and children and burned your own house down and the gods themselves are demanding you return to adventuring.
HP: Sonova...
DM: You're playing a /barbarian/ improperly!
I guess I'm trying to figure out why this is a problem if a player does it? I mean, it's a problem if a player makes a PC who has trouble with the theme of the campaign - that can be an issue - but I don't see a problem with a player sticking to a pre-defined personality. My LG character isn't going to want to help slavers deliver their cargo safely no matter where I got the inspiration from.Who Needs a Writers' Circle When I've Got a Gaming Group?
The campaign is set in the world of the GM's unpublished/incomplete novel, and the events are the plot of same. The GM reacts very badly to any player action that deviates from the preconceived storyline.
Similarly, a PC might be the protagonist of a player's novel, and refuses to bite on plot hooks that could besmirch the purity/nobility/ruthlessness/etc of the novel version of the character.
Solution: Have an out-of-game chat with the offenders to gently remind them of the difference between a story and a game.
It's kind of the same thing, actually. In this case, the player has decided that his PC is the same character as the protagonist of his unfinished novel, and is playing the character to try to flesh out the character's personality. The problem arises if the player assumes background elements not appropriate to the GM's campaign world, or (worse) if the character just isn't an appropriate choice for the campaign itself.
This can be a problem if the character is not a good fit to the campaign. It's especially annoying to the GM if the players had been supposed to read the Players' Guide and create appropriate characters, and that player obviously didn't do that.
This happened to me once with a player who wanted to run a knight errant in a low-magic Iron Heroes inspired D&D game I ran about 15 years ago. I had advertised the campaign as an urban-based intrigue and infiltration game, set in a city-state. I even wrote a Players Guide with character creation tips and an outline of the main themes.
The player showed up for the first session as a level 1 paladin with full plate armor and a heavy warhorse. He also wanted to assume that his character was the crown prince of the Realm. He was very upset with me when I said, "Um, did you read the Player's Guide? The characters are supposed to be from the poor district of the city, and have minimum starting wealth for their class!"
He had not.
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This happened to me once with a player who wanted to run a knight errant in a low-magic Iron Heroes inspired D&D game I ran about 15 years ago. I had advertised the campaign as an urban-based intrigue and infiltration game, set in a city-state. I even wrote a Players Guide with character...
The problem there isn't the player wanting to run his character from a story he came up with, per se, it's the player was a lazy bastard who couldn't be bothered to do the modicum of homework you tasked him with.
Pet peeve of mine is players who don't do their homework. Whether it's researching their class abilities, or prepping summon spells details if you're a summon heavy caster, or so much as reading background information supplied to you by the GM, it really annoys me. Because when you consider all the work a GM has to do to prep a game, it's phenomenonally insulting for a player to not bother to take 10% of that time to get ready for their role.