"So you're just going to railroad me into doing what you want? If that's the case I'd rather not play." Yes, the character you made clearly showed that you'd rather not play. "I have to join the party?" ...yes, that's the game. Does this guy also tell his boss that he's railroading him to work alongside his coworkers?

@Creshosk

Жыл бұрын

"You're going to railroad me into not having main character syndrome?"

@PaladinGear15

Жыл бұрын

I once played with a guy who said "well I'm always gonna come back to the starting town, I live there, why would I go anywhere else?" after I already explained that he does NOT live there, as the party is a group of wanderlust fuelled nomads who've been travelling together for 5 years and haven't been back to their homes since, as was agreed upon in session 0, he said "well he's still gonna stay there, you're gonna have to have a dragon burn the village down or something to get me to leave".

@mrosskne

7 ай бұрын

@@PaladinGear15 "No I'm not going to have fun"

@PaladinGear15

7 ай бұрын

@@mrosskne I think he just wanted to see how far I'd go to keep him with the party. Why else would he go straight to "you'll just have to have a red dragon burn the place down to get me to leave"? xD Instead I just ended up telling him "well okay, if you choose to live the rest of your life in this random village and abandon your nomadic lifestyle and the party... roll up a new character because that's the end of this character's story then. He kept the character but he kinda sulked for half the session, then perked up when combat started xD

Rule "Character must fit into the world" is somewhat funny - 'cuz it should be obvious and given... and yet we all know that there are players that need to hear it

@rdmrdm2659

9 ай бұрын

There are plenty who want the world to fit the character instead. Everything must change so they don’t have to.

Last story: That doesn't "have the makings of an RPG horror story", it already *is* an RPG horror story.

My response to someone saying "My character wouldn't join a party" would be a rather simple but pointed question. "Then how do you expect to play the game?". Most of the time it seems these people either want to be the Kirito of the group, an edgy loner "party leader" that everyone just loves and gravitates towards just because... Or they actually expect the dm to essentially run a separate, more epic adventure just for them while the party does something else. That question would either make them clam up or confess. It makes it clear that playing d&d IS playing with a party, so if you don't want to be in the party, how can you play?

@BlueTressym

Жыл бұрын

I like that; it seems a sensible way to get to the bottom of whatever they are thinking.

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

Well, "Playing D&D is playing with a party" IF you are playing with a group. But, if the DM agrees to running a solo adventure, that's fine. IF the DM agrees. That's a lot of effort for just one player. SOME DMs would refuse, outright, because of the time committment involved. "I'll only invest that much time for ONE PERSON, if I am MARRIED to that person." SOME DMs, who are new and feeling unconfident, on the other hand, might say, "A solo adventure? That sounds SO MUCH SIMPLER than a regular game with a whoel party, and lots of people to handle." It is fine to want to play a solo game. BUT, this guy KNEW he was JOINING A GROUP, that was feeling like it needed one more player, to fill a need, or cover some uncovered skill set, or something. It was NOT a "Hey, man! You play D&D? Do you DM? COOOL! Would you please DM a solo adventure for ME?" situation. And That Guy (TM) KNEW it, going in. And yet, he insisted that "Making me play with a group is railroading me," and "I'll just take my ball and go home," because HE decided that "The entire established group has to quit, so that *I* can use that time to play solo. That's fair." No. No, it's not. "My character won't join a party." "Well, then, how do you expect to play in this game, WHERE WE ALREADY HAVE AN ESTABLISHED PARTY, WHO IS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO JOIN THEM?" That's the question to ask. If his answer is, "I can't. Because my character won't join a party," then the answer is, "Please find a DM to run a solo adventure for your character. He seems like a really great character. But I have an established party, and they are looking for someone to fill an empty slot. I need to find someone to fill the slot IN THE PARTY, so that's nor your character, unless you can come up with SOME WAY for him to join the party, even if it's against his will. A geas, perhaps? Who would be forcing him to work with a party? Why? Is this a geas put upon him as punishment for some wrongdoing, or is some evil person looking to make him miserable, by forcing this loner to associate with others? Is it just a cruel prank by a powerful baby brother, who is too big for his britches, but you can't kill him, because that will make your Mommy cry? Come on, give me SOMETHING. If you don't, then I cannot put you in the party. You'll HATE it, and it just won't work." Or, the way the OP handled it, basically saying, "This group is not for you. It's just not a good fit."

That first story reminds me of another story I heard before about an edgy character sitting in a corner refusing to interact with the party and when a fight broke out waited for the party he ignore to ask for help but when they didn’t need him he got mad that they didn’t ask the guy who refused to talk to them for help. And got even more angry when it turned out the party didn’t need him to win the fight.

@siobhannoble8545

Жыл бұрын

Was his player a literal six year old? That is the only acceptable excuse for having a character act that way.

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

Stories like that are plentiful, and the entire reason I designed "The Pretty Princess," a tavern for parties to meet, get quests, and possibly solve the mystery about why the shell of the building is square, like all the other buildings, but when you come inside, it's a smaller, round room, with "Employee Only" signs on the doors that would go outside, but aren't visible from the outside. Yeah, fairly obvious. It's a front for some illegal shenanigans. The boss's baby girl always wanted to be a perfomer, and what his Pretty Princess wants, she gets. SO, she has a circular stage in the middle of the round tap room, and ALL THE CHAIRS ARE BOLTED TO THE FLOOR, so that you can't turn them away from the stage. As for decor, it is pink, white, and sparkly, as if a unicorn had barfed up a bunch of glitter. It serves Shirley Temples, and the band is actually pretty good, but play softly, so they don't overpower the lead singer, and they CANNOT QUIT, no matter how much they want to get away from her. They all owe some hefty debts to Daddy, you see. It doesn't have a single corner, dark or otherwise, but it DOES have a jobs board. It also has "Fans," who are people that Daddy has HIRED to come and attend each and every show his Pretty Princess puts on, and cheer mightily, so that she knows she's a GOOD singer, and "People love me!" Her Charisma is 3, tops. And she has disadvantage on performance checks. And when she gets onto the stage, the lights are dimmed, and the DOORS ARE LOCKED, so you HAVE to stay for the whole show. Heheheheeee. I haven't had to use it, yet, but I'm kind of looking forward to someone proposing an Edgelord character, JUST so I can use this for Session 1. Or, maybe I'll just pull it as a one-shot, or even plug it into my regular game. It wouldn't quite fit in Barovia, but... I don't know. Maybe? IF I changed the pink to purple? That's darker, after all. Hehehehee. I actually WANT to find a place to stick this into Barovia, now.

@mrosskne

7 ай бұрын

@@siobhannoble8545 Most RPG players stopped maturing in first grade

First guy should have went with the Batman/Nico Robin archetype character. Untrusting, but willing to work with a group to further their goals, and absolutely has a contingency plan for potential betrayals. A slow burn of trust and respect built upon countless life and death scenarios, and the eventual acceptance of the group after they risk it all for the character.

@openmindedgamer8923

Жыл бұрын

That is actually a great idea for a character concept (BTW one piece and batman fan too). Sadly, I get the feeling the guy just wanted to be a solo act rather than actually work with the party.

@kaylawoodbury2308

Жыл бұрын

I've been rewatching One Piece since I stopped watching years ago and wanted to get back into it. I JUST got to the point where Robin opened up about her past and finally said she wanted to live and stay with the Straw Hats. I cried so much 😆 such a good character and ark.

@GarkKahn

Жыл бұрын

I'm trying to play a game as "rambo", a dude able to solo every fight with the necessary ammount of intelligence and "he lost so many people close to him" as a backstory reason. But i won't use him for parties unless i adapt him for it

Both the "I don't want to join a party" person and the "I just want to stay home and chat" person are definitely playing the wrong game. What did they think D&D was even about?

@GarkKahn

Жыл бұрын

That's not even main character syndrome Why the hell did they accepted to join a game to begin with?

@mrroboshadow

Жыл бұрын

for the first one i guess the dude just plays a lot of video games and equates that to D&D

"I'm not going to join the party" BYE, FELICIA!

@paulman34340

Жыл бұрын

Honestly if I was the DM, I'd have done what a DM from a previous story on this did when he was dealing with a young idiot murderhobo troll who did this nice gem Young Idiot: "I want to make A GOD!" Experienced DM: "Congratulations, You won D&D, Now roll a new character" (said in a deadpan "I'm tired of this shit" tone LOL) I would have said the idiot's character was "Now a worthless generic NPC, Roll a new character or leave the game!" and to add insult to injury, his character is now my new chew toy to use for humilation for the party and mine's amusement! Seriously idiots are going to be idiots! I might as well undercut their ability to be annoyances by annoying them WORSE in return! I'm petty like that! Player feels like he wanted to cause issues and troll! DM made the mistake of seeing him looking SERIOUS as believing he wasn't a troll player! Or it's likely he was a socially akward idiot (I get that as I'm socially akward myself! What I mean by idiot is when you do everything in your power to be as unhelpful as possible and expect people to read your mind and get upset when they don't) who responded to OP NOT READING HIS MIND as OP being a "Douchebag" likely ready to run for it the moment OP did anything that was "flee worthy!" Hence the "guess your going to railroad me huh!" making me think he wanted OP on his own without clearing it with him first to do a seperate one on one with him and the idiot part comes in that OP "failed a test he wasn't aware he was taking" when he didn't do that and dismissed him! I'm sure at work in his mind he's demonizing OP and whining about his own "Horror story" likely somewhere where he keeps out the details out of fear other will condemn him and "won't understand" how he railroaded himself out of a possibly good campaign being a passive moron who seems to love playing the victim! OP's better off anyway. No need to be friendly with an idiot who's too much of a coward to speak up (I've known the quiet type to at least make a squick! The ones you can't feel sorry for are the ones who get upset you didn't have the power to read their mind and guess what they want and fufill it without being asked! Those types can go look for that telepath somewhere else)

I hate it when I'm embroidered in a war. Almost as bad as when I'm embroiled. Great video, doge.

With the first story I do understand the method to the madness. They hear 'free to make whatever character you like' in regards to the concept of tabletop games, and take that forever to mean 'D&D should be my own personal fantasy GTA5 and anyone who says otherwise is unjustly trying to limit me and ruin my fun'

I have a friend that used to live in an small city in Mexico, in the 1980's and early 1990's, he began playing DnD with only one friend, who was the DM, and both of them enjoyed immensely. You can have loner characters in DnD, but in very specific circumstances.

@HierophanticRose

Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of the 1on1 sessions I used to have with my dad

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

Yep. Solo sessions are great! But you don't join a GROUP, where the DM clearly states that your character needs a reason to join the party. Or even without that. If it's a GROUP, and you want SOLO, don't join the GROUP. Find a DM for solo play! Heck, newbie DMs might PREFER solo play, because it's A WHOLE LOT LESS WORK. And most DMs don't bother to say, "OK, GROUP. Since this is a GROUP, and you WILL be working together as a party, please all of you come up with reasons to join up together." Most DMs either come up with reasons where the world sort of pushes them together, or they do like what happened in my world. "You guys meet, standing in front of the jobs board, and you all see the same post, at the same time. Now, ROLE-PLAY IT!" It took about half a heartbeat for someone to say, "Let's work together. Safety in numbers." "YEAH!" "Right-on!" "You bet. "Yup." And a party was formed. Tadaaaa! That's the advantage of playing with a GROUP, who don't know much about fancy-schmancy backstories, but DO know that they are playing TOGETHER, and have heard the phrase "adventuring party." Or just the word "party." Who goes to a party with nobody else there? I am SO glad that I play with my family. But, my niece has asked me to consider DMing for her friends, and so I have to plan out for possibilities of what to do with problem players, since I don't KNOW these people.

@pedroarjona6996

Жыл бұрын

@@AuntLoopy123 Yes, you are of course right.

@GarkKahn

Жыл бұрын

I have plans for that kind of game, but that's for going SOLO, not a party

Edgy characters are great, if done right. Look at Liam O'Brien. I LOVED how he handled that in Series 2 of Critical Role, where he actually role-played with Sam Riegle about "We NEED to be with these people, now, ja? We are too weak to do what we need to do, without them. But stay on your guard. When we are ready, we will go off on our own." And then later, "Eh, forget what I said about leaving them. It's better to stay with them. We need them." He HAD a reason for the character to join the party (and to join up with Sam's character, in the first place), and a reason for continuing with them, and he ACTED IT OUT. I LOVED his role-playing. He really seems to like the edgelord characters, and that's fine, because he gave them GROWTH, and REASON to travel with, and stay with, the party. It was a JOY to watch him open up to the party, at large, and let them into his heart. It was a JOY to watch him learning to trust, and having that trust rewarded. And when he did things, and made big decisions on his own (the dodecahedron, guys?), it was SO COOL, not because "I'm a dark edgy edgelord, who edges darkly, and you wish you could be me," but because you could TELL that, even though he was making this big decision without consulting the others, he did it IN CONSIDERATION OF THE OTHERS. He was thinking about himself, yeah, and always had his own character's goals foremost in his mind, but he ALSO considered his "found family," and not JUST because they were useful and he needed them. Although, they still were, and he still did. I haven't watched CR in ages (I'm a fan, but not a super-fan), but now I really want to watch some season 2. I'm so far behind. They're still in that house in that city, and the fun-fun-silly-willy blue girl has only recently heard about the coming convention. I know there is some COOL stuff yet to come. But Liam also played a cool edgelord in series 1, who had a reason to be with his sister, because she was his twin sister. Even then, they didn't spend every moment together, but when she wanted/needed to actually GO somewhere, he went with her. He'd do his city thing, while she did her country thing, but when it came time to leave the neighborhood, they would be going TOGETHER. All it took was for HER to find a friend to join, and he WOULD BE GOING ALONG, whether he wanted to, or not, because SISTER. Watching him grow to trust and love his party was AWESOME. I just wish I could have seen it all from session 1. Ah, well.

Every player character needs two things; A motivation to get involved in the plot, and a motivation to join the party. They don't need to be complex motives, a lot of the time covering one base will lead naturally to the other. A character joins the party because they're all following the same plot thread, or a character has reasons to stay with the party and develops shared goals from there.

Paul missed a great opportunity to both reward creative players and give himself a chance to practice improv (a needed skill as a DM). Off my head you let the bard player try their counter song, if it fails you roll to see if the enemies figure out what was attenpted, if they don't the omayer gets to warn the others and they can attempt to take steps to avoid the musical attack or attack the musicians and interrupt the spell. If the player succeeds or they realize the player tried to counter song they attack the party or try to flee allowing the party to chase then for answers. Now your party is interrupting the plot to frame then for the crime and worst case they get lead to the crime scene where the guards are super fast to respond and arrest them on site. Plot moves ahead as usual, or you modify it so they are now trying to decipher the plot while avoiding it. Bad DM is bad.

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

Yep. Or even simpler, "You foil the spell, but suddenly find yourself woozy, anyway. As your vision fades to black, you take one last look at your wine glass, and wonder..." See? Improv.

I remember I once made a character to deliberately play off this trope. When my fellow players first encounter my character he is standoffis and doesn't join them, but then as they leave the city they see him running behind them yelling "Wait!" and then my character proceeds to beg to join them.

I thought that last DM was going to channel Consententacle, the Eldritch God of No, in order to demonstrate to the guys why subjecting the NPC to human trafficking is not a fun roleplay experience. But no, he just brought in his DMPC to do equally creepy things.

Honestly when players are like this, I'm just like "whyyy did you bother showing up?" it's like giving your character Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) so they absolutely refuse to leave their house, or making a character who refuses to travel, or has no drive at all to be an adventurer, so refuses to take any quests and just tries to just live a normal life in town. Makes me wonder what on earth the player wanted from the DM, to spend half the session with the party, and the other half a session playing with him? Dude would be freakin' dead the moment a fight begun cause he'd have no backup, 7 turns for the enemies vs 1 turn for your dumbass self isn't gonna work xD

@paulman34340

Жыл бұрын

Feels like they were suffering "It seemed like a good idea at the time" syndrome and what follows afterwards with idiots like this guy is double down on "Never my fault" where they refuse to see how any of their actions were in anyway a mistake on their end! Nope it's YOU who are the reason I did something stupid to myself! Just don't bother with idiots like this! You'll hurt your head trying to understand their weird thinking! Truth be told they suffer from being scared to admit they made a mistake and work to fix it with everyone! Instead their scared of being mocked so they get hostile and dig their own grave at breakneck speed!

HAHAHAHAAA! That's a hilarious auto-correct. "We found ourselves embroidered in a small war." I am now picturing the party and all the soldiers on both sides, wielding tiny needles in their main hands, and embroidery hoops in the others. HAHAHAHAHA! I know it's embroiled, but that was just TOO good. I love "Damn you, autocorrect" moments, so much! Almost as good as the apology letter I got from a business that ended with, "Sorry for incontinence." "Oh? Did someone pee themselves? I never noticed. I DID notice the triple billing, but as for losing bodily control? Naw. Not a problem." I actually called up the person to say, "I got your letter and a great laugh! Thank you for making my day!" "Huh? What?" "The auto-correct! The AUTO-CORRECT! It was wonderful! Thanks. Oh, and apology accepted, by the way. I get that it was a simple glitch in the system. It's all fixed now, and nobody's any the worse for wear. Seriously, though, read that last line. HILARIOUS! Well, gotta go. Work to do. BYE! We'll use your business again."

1st Story: It's probably for the best that this player decided to leave when he did. Seriously, a PC being able/willing to work with the rest of the party is like the bare minimum requirement that a PC should have, whether it's because they need more bodies to help them achieve their goal or because they have a more emotional bond between one or more members of the party, whether it's friendship, romance, etc. If you can't do that, it says more about you than it does about any GM that "forces you" to come up with a reason before joining their table. 2nd Story: OP is not the asshole. When you're involved in a cooperative ttrpg with multiple players being involved in what's going on, you kinda gotta accept that the narrative is not going to be able to focus on you 100%, 50%, or even 10% of the time. Granted, I'd ask the GM if they'd be willing to do a side-session if your character hanging out with their family was a massive deal that needed to happen for your character's story to grow, but if the GM says no, you should either find a way to integrate your character's family into the main plot, accept that your character's family isn't the main story of the campaign as a whole, or leave if their exclusion is that much of a deal-breaker for you. 3rd Story: I remember this story and honestly, Paul was just a bad DM. He's certainly more honest than most bad DM's talked about on the channel, but he's still nowhere close to a good DM, especially when he's willing to overrule or overwrite mechanics to railroad the party into unwinnable situations. 4th Story: The fact that the dudes in this party wanted to sell a random NPC into prostitution is already pretty bad. The fact that the GM decided to use an overpowered NPC to wipe out the party and kill off the NPC just to end an argument, the fact that the GM made someone a main character with a platoon that could enforce the player's authority, the creepy s*x dungeon (and the fact that he apparently did weird s*xual crap to dudes "because it's funny rather than creepy" (it's still creepy people)...this entire campaign is a forest of red flags.

@darkrazor6981

Жыл бұрын

Groups are people with a common goal. Yes, they might be more to it like friendship and romance, but they are all working together for something. Not every group is going to have that same goal or like-minded people, so doing some, not a lot, convincing might be necessary. Has there ever been a group where there wasn't one reluctant or unwilling person to join?

First story easy main character syndrome. The dude didn't even think about the party, or the other players when he was making his PC. And his comment about being 'railroaded' by the DM to join the party also states that he thought it was just going to be HIM and the DM. And nobody else.

"Playing house," is a valid way to RP, for sure. And if you want to "play fantasy house," why not use D&D for it? In fact, I seem to remember someone coming up with an entire rulebook for "How to play house in D&D." Something about home time, or family values, or domestic stuff? Anyway, it is a fan-based creation, but I remember seeing something about it from Ginny D on her channel, and it looked like a lot of fun! So, yeah, the problem is NOT that the player wanted to play that way. It's that she DEMANDED that EVERYONE ELSE give up THEIR game goals to satisfy HERS. I agree - give the PC a magical item that lets them check in with the family every day for five minutes or so, with maybe a means of charging up the item, magically, to give extra time, IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY and WITH A COST, which HER PC, and ONLY HER PC would have to pay. Like hit points, or something, and it can only come from HER pool of HP, because it is keyed to HER. And when her PC dies, the item will NOT WORK. Maybe give her family one, so that they can call HER, in case of an emergency, but they all know that she will call them, daily. If she seems reluctant to look into the fact that entire cities are being sucked into the Abyss? Have her family use their emergency contact ability (which they will have to spend THEIR HP to recharge, and they don't have much to do, so they'll have to do a little at a time, over the course of a few days), to alert HER PC that "Your sister has been taken! We fear she went the way of the others, and now she's trapped in the Abyss, with the rest of Fantasyville! I KNEW she shouldn't have gone there to visit her boyfriend that day, but she was just SO HORNY, she would not listen to me and stay home! Oh, no! Please, save her!" Also, talk to her. She may be a wonderful player, but a bad fit for this group. If she likes you as a DM, and you like her as a player, but she doesn't fit the GROUP and THEIR goals for ACTUAL ADVENTURE, you might consider offering her some solo playing, instead. Maybe just drop her from the group, and give her her very own "play house campaign," with the odd brief adventure thrown in. maybe that's how her PC raises money to pay the home bills. OR, maybe you can give her an extra solo "play house side adventure," between regular group sessions. Not every time, but every now and then, if the five minutes per day doesn't scratch her itch enough. I mean, she's your FRIEND, so you want her to be happy, right? But surely, she wants the rest of her FRIENDS to be happy, too, right? So, TALK TO HER, COMMUNICATE with her. Get the others to communicate with her, too, but NOT in a "Ganging up on her" way. Just GENTLY point out that "We all came here for adventure, and you're here for chatting and playing an instrument. That's fine. It's fun. It's a nice rest between adventures. But you can't make it stop us from even having time to HAVE adventures. Not just because it will REALLY bother our characters, who are INVESTED in the other stuff, and don't have time to delay rescuing the kidnapped children, because you want to play your instrument with your brother, but also because 'WE ONLY HAVE THREE HOURS each session, and you want to take two of those hours FOR ONLY YOURSELF, and that's not fair. It's not respectful. It's not kind. It is, frankly, HURTFUL to the rest of us, and makes us feel like you don't value us, at all, and we don't like it. We don't want this to break our friendship! So, PLEASE, work with us, here, to find a balance that will scratch your "Chat and play" itch, while also giving US sufficient time to actually ACCOMPLISH THINGS." You NEED to communicate this, and you NEED to do it soon, because this is the sort of unaware, clueless selfishness that WILL break a friendship group. And you don't want that. Are you willing to give her more SOLO time? Or maybe the odd session where "You invite your friends to join your family for (insert holiday here) this year"? It's OK to focus an entire session on role-play, now and again. But rarely, and that has to be the sort of thing she earns with good behavior and SHARING the time with others, over the course of a few months. How often do you meet? If it's weekly, then maybe have one session devoted to her, once every month, or two, depending on how many are in her party? So, if it's a four-person party, then every four weeks (approximately, because you never know when you'll leave off in a cliff-hanger, stuck in a dungeon), then the whole session, or most of it, is dedicated to her playing house. But not MORE than that. She gets her fair share, and not more. In fact, you can poll your group, and ask each player, "If you had a session JUST FOR YOU, but with the party attending along with you, what would you want? Adventure? Combat? Investigation? Puzzles? Role-playing?" Write down the answers, then and there, in front of everyone. Then, whip out your handy-dandy calendar, and start writing down, "First week of the month - focus on Combat for Fred. Second week of the month, focus on Investigation for Ethel. Third week of the month, focus on Role-Playing, for Lucy. Fourth month of January, focus on puzzles for Ricky. Any months with an extra play-day in them, we will do just general adventuring, with a focus on what *I* like best, as I have the right to enjoy my time, here, too. As for what my favorite is, I'll let you guys figure that out, over the course of our games on the fifth session of the month." Like I said, there's nothing wrong with her playstyle. It's just that she is a part of a group, and can't keep getting away with monopolizing the time with HER wishes, to the detriment of the entire rest of the group. It will break the friendship, if it is allowed to continue. Be gentle with her, but be FIRM. Set some clear boundaries, and COMMUNICATE.

If that guy doesn't want to RP with a party, then he is best left to solo campaigns. But the most ironic thing about solo campaigns... They tend to be more railroading than most.

I'll never understand why people want to make characters in a communal RPG that refuse to join with a group. I've had enough players make up characters that don't want to be adventurers and have to be pandered to, bullied and forced to go on an adventure enough that I've made it a rule that any character in my games have to have a reason why they are adventuring. But never someone who just flat won't join the group. Main Character Syndrome is one thing, but how can you be a main character if you won't even be part of the adventure? I get that the reluctant hero and edgy loner are popular archetypes in all kinds of fiction. But even those characters in stories succumb pretty quickly to the Call To Action. Some players just seem to get stuck on that first part and never move on.

@darkrazor6981

Жыл бұрын

Call to action, not call to be grouped up.

I was in a 5e game a couple years ago, a long running campaign where I was the super late newbie, but using a character that had canonically been through other campaigns, and he was older, often a loner... but had valid reasons for sticking around, if even to essentially keep busy while lost in this group's world. A few of the PCs were from a big wealthy family, mostly adopted, and one player in particular really wanted to live rp a whole reunion. And she basically did so, as 2 of 6 players spent about an hour just nonstop talking to the DM doing voices. The DM that she had also guilted and pestered into make her character an NPC boyfriend for some romance... and he really didn't want to, let alone any NSFW content with her. She was so dead set to have her happy romance and family though, she completely ignored the fact half of us were sitting bored out of our minds every time she had the spotlight.

for the second story theres a very good saying from a wise alien "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one"

I feel like one of the best and simple reasons for joining a party is what I call Remora syndrome where basically someone is only joining the part because they lack something and the party provides it and the party accepts them in.

Second one: if the player is invested in the npc family, have the npc's invested in the other events. Does not make sense if major events are happening down the street and the npc family is not concerned about the Demon cult or it is not directly threatening their security. Sounds like the dm is just not sure how to tie it in. Maybe the beholder kidnaps the family or a family member gets kidnapped by the Demon cult for sacrifice?

Story 1: DM dodged a bullet there. This saw why you have a session zero, people. Story 2: Sounds like a stone of sending works in this scenario. The void awakens! Story 3: Hostile DM! Story 4: Abort! Abort! Abort! Bail out! Good god, DM.

If your take on a table top gaming group is "I'll never join a party," you should be taught the shape of Italy.

WTF was wrong with that guy want to join your group playing, but makes someone that wouldn't join them. the why the hell would you even be here?

The Paul story makes my Dungeon Master blood boil, especially the part about the bard song. Fam, I would have been over the damn moon with excitement if one of my players managed to counter a situation like that. "Holy shit, well done my friend." and then I'd have improvised something where they would still be framed for the crime, but the party had an alibi due to the bard's cunning counter, and the party would be allowed to talk their way out of being imprisoned by the guards and there'd be officials who'd want their help in finding the real culprits since they could prove it wasn't them.

1st story, 100% my main rule, -give me a motivation why your pc wants, needs a party.

The first story was kind of funny - I have a character that I adore but is hard to put into campaigns due to his loner nature, as well as being a selective mute. However, in his first campaign, he literally made a "anti-social" club with a few NPCs due to common ground they all had - ranging from also being mute or liking the s p a r k l y r o c k s. All it takes is a few happenstances and special circumstances, and you got yourself a way to add even the loneliest of loners to a group. But having a character whose player is adamant that he wouldn't join the party what so ever? What did he plan to do, stalk the party or go off on a solo campaign? That simply can't be done in a group setting, not without tiring out the DM and rest of the party.

Yeah man I ask those people “why in the F*** are you playing DnD then?” Go play a video game, being a DM is hard enough let alone running two campaigns because someone wants to be an all star loner. DM dodged a huge bullet.

I don't know how anyone could act they should be introduced into an ongoing game as solo player. I'm also wondering if that first story's player was trying to treat D&D like bloody Skyrim. That happens distressingly often if that it happens at all.

It must be Christmas time if we get Lucky two times in one week! Unlucky - the players who got Paul as their DM - what a tool! No, I take that back, at least tools are useful.

Unwanted sexual encounters are never funny even if it happens to men. If it’s creepy for one gender then it’s always creepy

@mrosskne

7 ай бұрын

Men will never be considered fully human. Just give up. We lost.

Player experience: had the loner problem with a fellow player on a lesser level.... No Ill will irl... But both of our lack interactions did result in the town being destroyed 2 months later.

That first one sounds like a lone wolf type. People really gotta understand a lone wolf, IS LITERALLY DESTINED TO DIE!!! A wolf needs it's pact in order to survive.

Story #1 - Oh, brother. "Don't Let The Door Hit You In The @$$ On The Way Out." Story #2 - Not the AH. If this Player's backstory doesn't engage the rest pf the Party in any way, there is no reason for it to get more than an occasional passing mention. Story #3 -It was totally Paul. Story #4 - Yeah, that isn't normal. Maybe not full-blown horror story just yet, but I can certainly see it coming.

Ahh this fox loves you luck and the other 5 cats that your blessed with doggie. You adorable little dog.

F Paul man. I had no idea bards had that bard song ability and it sounds really cool. I would have totally let them have used it to.

@paulman34340

Жыл бұрын

It's clear Paul's "it just doesn't" is because it ruins his badly veiled railroad attempt (Like another Bad DM who ignored a player's Elf Character's immunity to sleep to force a railroad and threw a tantrum when the table refused to let that be ignored because if I remember this one was a VERY TERRIBLE railroader! The worst railroaders are the ones who magically duct tape their overpowered DMNPC to the party to make them sidekicks and then act surprised when the party doesn't come back! They can play with themselves the damn "book readers!") and it shows his lack of going with the flow! A good DM would take into mind something like the Bard moment to find a way to get similar results instead of instant failing when it makes no logical sense (I had a run in with a terrible DM that no joke changed how a poison worked when he realized too late that are Cleric could purge the poison easily as the issue was it was a quest and he was obsessed with Poison status for some reason that our Cleric ended up taking Antidote duty as a response! So when he wanted an important character to pass away from the poison, he was shocked the cleric could still cure poison. So pulled some crap out of his ass about "different poisons" after establishing what the poison was! Sort of "well I'm wearing armor that bounces bullets back at you" type of Bullshit! It took the table refusing to play as we all gave him the silent treatment and refused to budge for HALF AN HOUR before he caved! We all collectively dropped him as DM when he tried to get revenge on us later which failed so badly we were surprised he thought it was a good idea or that it would work! He calmed down as a player, so we figured he was just not taking being DM well, panicked and went full on douchebag out of fear or something like that! Suffice to say, he never wants to DM again)

First story: Just make the character a bounty who the party drag along, his incentive, when they get into the shit, he's gotta get through for his own survival. Second story: The player wants to play Wanderhome.

That first player just needs to get into solo RPGs.

Dont worry guys if you get in my dragons tower ill protect you, if any passing knights come through ill tell em we’re busy

@TheMightyBattleSquid

Жыл бұрын

I second that.

Thanks 4 all the hard work.

Dude...tf? How the devil is it railroading to join a group campaign in a game specifically designed to have people work together on and as such, be expected to participate as a part of the group in group events and group encounters? That's not railroading dingus. That's doing the bare minimum of expectations in a group game. Did I mention that it's a group gsme?

@starofjustice1

Жыл бұрын

I mean, if it was clearly established it was going to be 1-on-1 gaming, that might be one thing? I know I used to own a few modules for the DC heroes game that were meant to be played that way. But like, you're totally right. If you're playing D&D, you'd have to just be hearing about it for the first time to think it isn't about a *group* of characters. If you want to play an RPG that's just about your character, that's fine, but that's what Elder Scrolls video games are for.

I love the idea of an edgy loner character who has to keep trying to socialize with the party to make some quick cash because they're the only ones that tolerate them lol

9:08 That Zero house is so cute!

You don't just make a character that is bigger than the group or the story overall. If that is the case, go write a book lol. The backstory and ambitions of the character will always have to be subordinate to what is necessary for the game to actually happen. Surely he didn't expect the DM to give him an exclusive one-on-one game? Some people play that way, but it's not something you should expect joining a random D&D game.

@darkrazor6981

Жыл бұрын

Doom, Assassin's creed, and the Witcher are just 3 games where the mc's were basically doing things by themselves and everyone loved them and can't remember anyone else in those games. Plus, games have scripted events. Things just don't happen at will.

Commenting to support you ♥

Really, the reason can be as simple 'our pads crossed each other's'. Unless you're the only person in existence, that is bound to happen

If you don't want to join a party, don't join a D&D GROUP. Look for a DM who wants SOLO play. Geez! It's not that hard!

5:55 My edgy characters are always the type that want others around. My “lone wolf” characters tend to be that way out of being socially awkward…or in one case very introverted and just wanting to go back to his tower and do his research.

Dunno, with the bard interrupt ability, I gotta side with the DM. Sometimes as a player you HAVE TO surrender agency for the sake of story, given the DM should have just bullshat a reason for it not to work, but the point is, the DM built the session around this event, if you can veto a whole session with one die roll.....what do you plan to do?

I exist only to make lucky happy

Wow when you don’t even make it past ground zero then why claim interest at all.

Heyoooo

Imagine showing up to a soccer game and then saying you don't want to play soccer. Ok so like fuck off then? Why do people do this in tabletop games but not in other hobbies?

The 'Me me me!' story hits one of the rules I put on character building recently - No plot phobic characters. If your character runs away from the plot seeds REPEATEDLY, its not a good character.

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

My family bought D&D 5e for my birthday, and started playing. Our group managed to miss the same plot hook three times (Yes, the DM set it up again and again. It is now a running joke). That, however, was not us being crummy people who just refuse to join the plot, so we can "play house" elsewhere. We were just THAT DUMB. We got the hang of it, though. "Oooooooh! That's an ambush, because we're supposed to LOOK FOR CLUES and FIND THE PEOPLE who are RUNNING the recurring ambush that happens behind the same bushes every single time. My PC burned down the bushes, in frustration. Later on, there were potted plants in the forest, and an ambush! Like I said, it finally became a running gag.

Four stories about "main Characters". First one wanted to play "Skyrim". Second one wanted to play "Sims". The last two were "Storyteller-DM:s". A lot of people who only played "video game RPG:s" think a TTRPG is the same and insert themselves as a "main Character". People who do not know TTRPG:s should be fun for EVERYONE, should stay away from TTRPG:s.

Paul, that's cheating. Get the hell out of the game

"Why would you're character join/stay?" For the lol's..... But seriously, why the hell would you create an anti-social character if you want to play D&D?

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

For the lols is a valid reason, if it works.

You dont want to be in the party? Please make a character that will work with the other players or find a different game

Oh no. I liked the video and it's the 666th like!

Op your not the ash hole.

Why is this dude playing dnd then? Don't go around asking to join games if you're gonna have a character like that, it's not railroading if you're gonna join a game you're gonna be doing it with a party.