I don't think my GM is really capable of sticking to one plot. I guess between his Killer Game Master tendencies and the frequency with which people fail to show up for his games, he just doesn't have any practice.
So here we are playing this D&D campaign and we've just gone through this bit where we defend the elven lands from marauding orcs. We've got a plot hook here where the orcs have been driven out of their homes by something and we want to find out what.
So we head west. Along the way to the orc lands, we end up stopping for a night in Hommlet.
That was the first warning sign.
Well, we meet the Spoony Bard, who tells me about some shit happening at "the Moathouse". And so, of course, we go to have a look.
In the first room, of course, we face a young blue dragon.
That was the second warning sign.
Okay, I don't know this personally, but I've heard from several members of my club that a monster of CR X is theoretically strong enough to have a 50/50 shot of completely wiping out a party of four characters at X level. Young blue dragons are CR 6. Our four-character party was level 4 at the time.
A session or two later, I'm strongly, STRONGLY in favor of leaving. I'm not sure what Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil is like, but I do know what the Temple is like and what Hommlet is like because the original campaign was the first one I played in, and with a Killer Game Master I'm pretty sure this is just a suicide run. On top of that, our motivation for even being here in the first place is incredibly shaky whereas right before we heard about it we were on a quest that at least made some level of sense. I get overruled, though, because the other player is a tool and the GM likes having things his way.
So here I am in the Temple. At fifth level. With an idiot for backup. I don't even know why I'm doing this. It'd help if he could at least PRETEND he has priorities other than killing all the characters messily. I try hard to make characters that are, if nothing else, at least interesting, and I feel that effort is a bit wasted when I have to contend with a Killer Game Master running on the outdated "GM vs. players" philosophy.
I may of course be wrong, but I think that explanation of CR is a little inaccurate. My understanding is that 4 ECL X characters can take on a CR X encounter and use about a quarter of their resources for that day (HP, spell slots, that sort of thing)- a Level X group can usually take a CR X encounter without too much chance of getting killed.
Level 4 vs CR 6, however, is still nasty.
In theory, +2 CR was x2 difficulty (this theory was bunk but it was the theory). Ergo, +4 CR = x4 resources = 50% survival chance.
But the theory behind C Rs really wasn't that good, in my mind-but I haven't tried pathfinder, for instance.
I had a GM years ago that had a hard time understanding that he wasn,t the hero of the story. He would more often than not have a GMPC that was epic-level, ultra-detailed and ultra-sophisticated. This NPC would herd us on Quest and be the most important character in the story. And then he would invite his friends to play villains and we would spend hours watching them act their oh-so-clever banter in front of us.
One day I got fed up and asked if I could try my hand at being the GM. Every game I did with that group for then on, I was the GM. Always. So it didn't turn that abd in the end.
Problems with a Changeling: The Lost LARP I was in a year ago that caused me to leave...
1: Hack & Slash G Ming. Every plot was combat, run by the book. for those of you who don't know, ten rounds of LARP combat can take upwards of FOUR HOURS if enough people are involved and you allow players to rules-lawyer (which they did). Worse, the Rule of Logic was never applied; if the rules said someone could do something, they could do it, no matter how stupid. Thus, ogres charging six guys with assault rifles and living through it, etc.
2: Favoritism. The ST's girlfriend was a player, and anyone she liked got preferential treatment. It got so bad we called her "Queen ____" (not revealing real name) and made snide comments about her all powerful Merit: Boinking the Storyteller.
3: Gauntlet plots. There was one solution, only one solution, and all other ideas would not work. Usually Handwaved as "there's a magic thingie that makes <idea> not work".
4: IC/OOC nonsense. There was a very cute 17-year old girl playing who two of the narrators (Storyteller assistants) wanted to bang (never mind that one of these guys was near MY AGE). Her character was handed powerful Tokens/central plots on a silver platter...until she refused to "date" (read: sleep with) either of them, whereupon her character suddenly died. She quit soon thereafter, and hates game now.
5: Drama, drama, drama and oh yeah, DRAMA. If y'all know anything about LARP, it's an emo magnet. This one was the worst I've seen in 15+ years LAR Ping.
There's more, but you get the idea. Why did I leave? I got run out on a rail for arguing with the ST's girlfriend.
If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~
I have NO idea. I had to snicker. Then again, these were a couple of desperate LARP-tards, sho who knows.
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It would have been more so, if the girl in question had even remotely fallen for it. As it is she's a good friend of mine, and we laugh about it on a regular basis.
edited 28th Oct '10 11:14:25 PM by FarseerLolotea
Those statues were a bit too realistic, and the basilisk got you?
In hindsight, I probably should have linked to the liveblog.
edited 29th Oct '10 1:05:26 AM by FarseerLolotea
"People like being good at STUFF and if I do STUFF to help her in the LARP that'll mean she'll do well so she'll feel GOOD because of ME so she'll LIKE ME. And STUFF."
Basic, excessively simplistic logic. It'd be somewhat duplicitous of me to claim I've never used similar logic, but then again I was about 14 at the time...
I think every LAR Per has used it, and most of the ones who are worth a damn abandon it in their teens. Everyone else should be at the least avoided...and at the worst butt-banged with a chainsaw.
Typical Dogged Nice Guy routine, if you ask me. 'I help her, she will like me'. Seen in pretty much every possible role playing games, and the main reason why it's a very good idea to ban everyone that could possibly form a Love Interest for the DM. Even if the DM is determined to avoid this problem, it is likely that either Love Makes You Stupid, or some of the other will think so every time anything good happens to said love interest.
Which trope? Dogged Nice Guy, or Love Makes You Stupid?
And yes, of course there is a trope for it.
- Rule 586: 'If a certain situation can be put into words, some autistic nutcase will be able summarise it by linking to tropes'.
- Rule 587: 'If a certain situation can be put into words, but not in tropes, then some autistic nutcase will write a new trope page for it.'

I had a Shadowrun GM a few years ago, my first time playing Shadowrun. I know setting a bit, borrowed his book for week so I could skim it, and made a razor girl character. (I'm a guy, but I felt like playing a girl, don't judge me). Anyway we start the game, and we have to steal something from a Blood Mage. We have no mage in our party, so this role is filled by an NPC. Right there, i was under the impression that no matter what characters we had made, he had his story that wouldn't change. So we enter the mage room and tie him on a chair while the we send our mage NPC to check for hidden ennemies. We then get totally mauled by the mage because we left his mind intact. Following conversation:
Me — "okay, so mage doesn't need to speak or gesture or anything in this setting."
GM — "Nope"
Me — "And the only thing that can stop a mage from casting is another mage, there's no other means?"
GM — "Nope"
Me — "It's all our first time playing, you could have told us"
GM — "It's written in the book"
Me — "The book is 500 pages long and I had one week to skim it. Sorry if I looked at the character creations rule first and foremost"
GM — "Well, Shadowrun is a difficult game. You should know the rules and if you don't, don't expect any special treatment."
I left the game soon after that. Fortunately, it didn't turn me off Shadowrun.
edited 27th Oct '10 9:05:45 AM by collex