I started headdesking hard as soon as I heard the words "why would a cartographer make a map?"

@davidtherwhanger6795

Жыл бұрын

Yeah. There is no explanation for that one. Hell it would be cool if the players did make their own map of the area they traveled as it was described to them. Most maps back in the medieval period were more representational anyway. So about anyone could do it.

@DrTimeSCPPsych

Жыл бұрын

"Why would a cartographer make a map?" ...because its what they do! Thats like asking why a painter would painr

@jamison85

Жыл бұрын

@@DrTimeSCPPsych Oh come on, next you'll tell me a writer *writes* - who else would I hire to paint my fence?

@GM-lr1kw

Жыл бұрын

Please DnD Doge we need that phrase on shirts lol

@randallgpreston

Жыл бұрын

​@davidtherwhanger6795 in a non d&d game I had a character that was into making maps of the places he explored. I would even make a physical map while we played. It ended up saving the party once when the building we were in started to collapse. Using my map I led the party out to safety and the dm didn't have anyone roll any checks since i had a physical map.

How dare you roleplay in my role playing game. Saving innocent victims of a burning house instead of fighting the imaginary dragon. For real though that whole group must have some crazy horror stories if "It's what my character would do" causes that much trouble.

The OP in the last story dodged a bullet. The group probably had a "That Guy" hence the DMs warning and the DM was an inflexible pillock who got annoyed at a slight deviation from 'His Story!'. I hope OP finds a good group to play with.

@DanaOtken

Жыл бұрын

I'm not sure. It's entirely possible the DM wanted a murderhoboing campaign, the other players were on board with this, and it was understood everything that isn't combat is meaningless flavour. I would not like this, but I wouldn't immediately realize it either from that session zero.

@mikec780

Жыл бұрын

I feel like bad DMs/players is just someone not stable enough to actually socialize/play with others. Involves being a decent person and communication and being at least a stable person. I feel like most people can play DnD, it's just so popular that we find many bad apples.

Story number three, both the DM and the rest of the party were beyond useless on the matter. Calling Op a coward for abandoning a fight they weren't able to contribute to because of the dice going against them, and the DM saying innocents in mortal danger was for "flavor" and "ambience" is just a load of shit.

@TheMightyBattleSquid

Жыл бұрын

For real, any time I've EVER seen a DM bring up stuff like innocents getting caught in the crossfire, it was precisely so that it would pull away one or more PCs. It spices up the encounter so that the enemy is more threatening, both because it's now a tangible threat (you'll be fine but these people won't!) and because it drags the encounter out long enough for the opponent to do more damage while busting out more of its moves.

@marybdrake1472

Жыл бұрын

@@TheMightyBattleSquid Yup, that is what I was talking about alright.

"It's what my character would do" is almost always reasonable, we only notice it when is not. I would never thrown fireballs, hit anyone with an axe, or go to fight the BBEG, that's all things my characters would do.

@AutumnWoodham

Жыл бұрын

"I would never thrown fireballs" I mean... if you could, wouldn't you?

@pedroarjona6996

Жыл бұрын

@@AutumnWoodham Probably, I always have problems firing up the grill.

@informitas0117

Жыл бұрын

If it's not what you character would do is it what you personally would do? It's called role-playing, movies would be pretty bad of batman and the joker would stay home and do coke all day.

@pedroarjona6996

Жыл бұрын

@@informitas0117 All my characters are far more adventurous and brave than me, if I have magical powers, I probably would set up a shop in the mall closest to my house, and walk home every night.

@fred_derf

7 ай бұрын

@@informitas0117, writes _"movies would be pretty bad of batman and the joker would stay home and do coke all day."_ I don't know, it worked for _Scarface!_

"Why would a cartographer make a map?" THAT'S LITERALLY THEIR JOB

When it came to the rogue in the first story he only became a "That Guy" because he was doing it mainly to get the DM to stop what they were doing and if the plan DID go through where the Rogue went and corrupted the paladin, I could see that the DM would be FURIOUS about it but in that case the DM would probably do something that would force it to not work

For the DM in story one, wow, i dont know where to begin with DM, he basically committed almost every cardinal sin a DM could commit, forcing a player to play a certain way and even outright taking over said character. Nah, I'd go so far as to never let this guy around another table again, for the other reasons as well

@ShyBiiteVT

Жыл бұрын

I'm surprised the guy didn't just make a paladin dmpc. It would still be bad considering what kind of person they are, but it's at least better than forcing a player into the role and then take away that player's agency.

sounds like she should invite that rouge as he seems like an actual good guy

@williek08472

Жыл бұрын

Especially since he was just being a jerk to sabotage the awful DM

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, the rogue and the other play in kahoots with him.

"Why would you use environmental spells to affect a battle?" BECAUSE SPELLS DON'T NEED TO DIRECTLY TARGET A FOE IN ORDER TO AFFECT THEM. I got to be pretty creative with spells back when I was playing my Kitsune Cleric. Spells that can alter the environment immediately around a foe can still impact them in other ways that (for example) could cause them to gain Disadvantage in a given melee round, or cause them to lose concentration if they're maintaining a spell. Environmental spells require creativity, but they CAN give a clever caster additional options.

We were playing a cooking competition campaign, so i made my character hyper-competitive But one off session, the dm put us against eachother, pvp. Meant to run into the woods and get ingredients by killing monsters, and stopping other players from getting ingredients I figured out i could stay out of range and just knock out the two other players Dm: okay thats not really cool Me: my character is competitive, this is the most sure fire way to win Dm: u suck and we hate you Me: but did i win Dm: yes u won the friendly competition by almost killing ur friends Me: great success

For once, "It's what my character would do" was reasonable.

@iank472

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately the phrase "It's what my character would do!" has been co-opted by terrible players to excuse bad behaviour. There are plenty of times as both a player and DM I have used and heard some variation of "It's what my character would do." used just fine to help explain a PC or NPCs actions.

@davidtherwhanger6795

Жыл бұрын

It's a perfectly fine excuse when there is sound reasoning. It's just that most use it as a justification when no sound reasoning is anywhere within 20 miles of the act. Had a party once that had a jerk player join and start being the chaotic butt hole alignment. He screwed over the party once too often. He said "It's what my character would do." Our characters then killed his and dumped the body as "That's what our characters would do about it."

@iank472

Жыл бұрын

@@davidtherwhanger6795 that's honestly the best response in most situations involving a terrible player using the "It's what my character would do!" excuse. It's perfectly reasonable in my eyes for a group of travellers who rely upon one another to shank the butthole who stole from them or put them all in danger and dump the corpse in the nearest deep ditch! What's good for the goose is good for the gander as the old saying goes.

GM: Sheryl, you're up. Me: Per your instructions, I'm not allowed to tell you what my character is doing.

"It's what my character would do" isn't a bad thing, in fact it's the basis of role playing. The problem is it's so often used (and only voiced) to justify either role playing a really s***ty character, or justifying OOC attitudes (e.g. being bored, being disruptive, being a "main character", being a murder hobo, etc.)

Wow. The "That guy." was actually a good person.

For that last one, OP was not in the least bit wrong - any genuinely Good-aligned character would at least CONSIDER his course of action. At Least. If the party was having a tough time of it and he was basically their last hope, I might question what he chose but I wouldn't hold it against him. As a longtime gamer, I've witnessed plenty of 'Just Role-Playing My Character" moments and, when Refereeing, have a very low tolerance for it, usually. But for an instance like this, I would give a pass.

I recently started my 1st DM campaign and with little experience, so far I seem to be doing better then all the horror stories that I come across. I take the warning and lessons from all of these. I'm starting to think being a good DM is 10% experience and 90% being socially aware/decent person.

The DM couldn't live without their smokes for a mere 5 hours!? My good bitch, you're not quitting cold turkey, the cigs will still be there after the session! And even if you HAD to smoke, taking 5 minutes to open a window and get an ashtray isn't going to kill you, trust me the lung cancer is doing that just fine.

@AmaryInkawult

Жыл бұрын

By the Gods I had a similar experience with dickish smokers like this. This one player was booted because she kept putting her cigarettes out on the lining inside the DM's car since we used to carpool back in Louisiana. The ONE rule was no food, drink, or smokes in the car and she always broke that by bringing her fucking camels in and lighting them up. Her stank breath was not missed but the damage was done to the car. But hey, DM traded up for a good jeep in the end and got into off roading. Those trips were fun~

@davidtherwhanger6795

Жыл бұрын

@-hole's gonna be an @ about it. But I would put down a hundred bucks that says the DM would have a conniption fit the moment some one broke the rules at his place.

@AmaryInkawult

Жыл бұрын

@@davidtherwhanger6795 def sounded like a "Rules for Thee, None for Me" kinda Shitlet.

It sucks that your experience with a paladin was so bad. It's such a good class, especially for roleplay, and the DM stripped roleplay agency from your character.

I think the last two stories were the same but told from different points of view. The last OP leaving the fight to RP saving nameless npc's is basically them slowing down a fight to steal the spot light, same as the second to last OP trying to one finish the dungeon alone. They both set them up to have a captive audience with the rest of the party unable to play for large sections of the game. Last one: the op starts the story by saying they went last and did not hit due to dice. It sounds like they were making a decision out of character to sit out the combat; how well or poorly they did in combat is not a factor if they are truly making a decision to save civilians. OP brings it up twice in the story, so it makes me think they are thinking about what would be fun for them more so than what would be fun for everyone.

I'd probably be a bad player in the first story for the wrong reasons: those books feel like they're supposed to be a convenient way to give players "appropriate" class levels, but they read to me like giving your character subjective years of complete isolation - and while I've written characters who wouldn't be affected by that I'm pretty sure none of them would be allowed in this person's campaign. So I'd probably roleplay the change, which probably would be expressed as some "that guy" like behaviour. From hearing more of the story, I'd likely get worse later.

One of the house rules of DM did not like was to use an ashtray? Wtf that is so disrespectful

@pLanetstarBerry

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, you'd be surprised what house rules some folks would find unreasonable. My FIL's fiance threw a fit every time we (spouse and I) asked her not to smoke weed in the house. When she told us, "bhut it's illeghaaaal" we had to remind her that the state we lived in legalized recreational use, and what few neighbors we had didn’t care as long as you don’t bother them, so she was in the clear to smoke outside.

Being forced to play a certain class or whatever ain't a big deal, sometimes it's part of the package. But holy crap, the way DM did it and everything else including the harassment... It's sort of a shame that they never managed to make their conspiracy come true, but on the other hand at least they didn't waste any more time with a shitty DM. Also: where tf was husband when DM was hitting on his wife? Jesus... The problem player from the second story sounds like she quit over being ashamed of what she did, like she couldn't "face" the players afterwards. Maybe it was bad past experiences that led to that behavior, maybe she just had misconceptions about the game. Either way, the fact that she felt ashamed and apologized seems good enough. Last story OP: you're not an a-hole, you're a precious player that must be treasured. If it was my campaign I would be damn proud of you for what you did. Actually, I'm already proud anyway. Don't change your ways, don't let they make you feel like you're in the wrong here. Sometimes everyone else are the a-holes, as evidenced by how the whole group turned against you despite not needing your help.

Is it just me or have horror stories begun to stigmatize the legit quote of "It's what my character would do"? On one hand, the time it pisses people off when it's said is because they're playing with a joke character who is uncooperative, unhelpful, obnoxious, crude, rude, and maybe some form sexual harasser or elf racist (maybe all of them) to continue to interfere with group cohesion (making the party function) and preventing everyone from moving forward with the plot. What that op said in the last story was perfectly valid. If you play a character who's good, and good people want to help others, of course they'll leave their well armed pals to tank a fight while they rescues someone who is presumably helpless. And a GM who flips out on the player for a character choice clearly doesn't know how to separate difference between IC and OOC if that quote triggers them so badly.

the last story. op was improvising since i heard him say that he had "cold dice" so im assuming he meant that he was rolling badly. for the dm to throw out "flavor" for there to be "screams of children in a burning building" would of been a que for op to act as his character would of done since he cannot do anything against the dragon due to bad dice rolls. for the rest of the group to jump op along with the dm to there being a screaming fit from the dm telling him to gtfo. op could of explained to everyone he couldn't do anything cause of bad dice rolls so he acted on what the dm threw out to help save some "flavored" npcs. everyone but OP here is an asshole.

In the third story, the DM is definitely not a good DM. People being caught in a burning building is a great way to present the players with a moral dilemma -- kill the dragon or save the innocents. Then letting them make their own decisions and living with the consequences allows for great role playing possibilities. "I only mentioned children dying in the fire for flavour" is the DM equivalent to a player justify being an a**hole by saying "it's what my character would do".

The "it's what my character would do" is only ever bad when you make a character that is ment to go against the party. There's nothing wrong with a character, who's been shown to hate demons with a kill on sight, to fight the party who's working with a demon. It does become a problem when the character shows that they're willing to do anything for personal gain fight the party because they're working with a demon for personal gain.

Hey Doge, you make Tuesday remind me how closer we are to the weekend. Also - Ziggy, sweet/handsome/sage-like Ziggy. Yep very wise.

That's an _extremely_ fitting thumbnail...

Last story, was afraid it was going to be some horror child torture, but no it was much worse. DM being a dumb nuthead expecting people to be okay with children burning, even if it's fictional.

Sometimes I don’t get the ‘It’s what my character would do’ hate. Dnd is a ROLEPLAYING game, it should be fine when you aren’t using the phrase to justify out-of-game spiteful behavior.

@WaveShock007

Жыл бұрын

I keep pitching the "iT's WhAt My ChArAcTeR wOuLd DeW!" As a distinction

@firstnamelastname7244

10 ай бұрын

A lot of people use it as an excuse to get away with blatantly disruptive behavior, as if they're trying to shift the blame onto their character and don't control who their character is and what they do.

>"It's what my character would do" Literally what not metagaming in a roleplaying game is.

Oh I was forced to play a paladin in the second campaign this one party did cause they knew I already knew how to play one (I was still relatively new) and "we need one for party composition"

I had a gm who forced my character to become a cleric. Thats not even the worst thing he did. At the time i was a hardcore antithiest (not my proudest moment), and was very against playing religious characters, let alone characters whos religion is their whole thing. That plus i was playing a woman in a mudcore campaign where the churches were objectifying women HEAVILY. So i was suddenly forced to go from badass dual wielding barbarian to "not just not a front line combatant, but a good servant to my husband and the looooord"

The last story is 69% the DM's fault, 30% the other players' fault, and like 1% the OP's fault. Was leaving in the middle of an intense fight a dick move? I mean maybe but the party won without a scratch on them so who cares? I get why the other players were mad but they didn't have to get that angry. And like the OP said: the DM could've said at any time that they didn't actually need to run into the burning building, and throwing a tantrum at the mere use of the words "it" "is" "what" "my" "character" "would" "have" and "done" in the same sentence is incredibly childish. The entire group was a horror story in the making and OP is lucky to have gotten out early.

@DnDDoge

Жыл бұрын

Nice

Plot Armor: +50 to AC :3

"That's what my character would do" is actually completely legitimate, you're playing as that character so you do what your character would do... right? It's just that it's been completely ruined by jackasses who make jackass characters, who steal from the party, kill allies for no good reason, and murderhobo innocent NPC's, that might be what their character would do, but they made the characters. As for the player, he was roleplaying really well, the DM and other players were just being ridiculous.

Last story, you should have been a LG character that acted like a CE murder hobo, because "it's not what my character would do"

The first story probably would have been best to just talk things out and seen about solving it in a peaceful way. Buuuut, that DM seems like a straight up douche. Why not just tell the party you wanted good alignment? No, that requires actually caring to discuss things. Good on OP for having better experiences now. I hope paladin loses its ick factor for OP. They can be super fun, after all. Second story seems like the player was trying to be in character, made a mistake, and didn't want to own up to it. I can sympathize. It's hard to admit when ya made a mistake and easy to run away. Still, gotta learn to be able to just apologize and move on. Though Doge does have a point. DM could have solved the issue in a different way. But don't think DM did anything wrong. Last story just has DM being a douche. Honestly in that situation I woulda had that player get rewarded for aiding a group of innocents and maybe even find something in the house that could help the encounter. The other players were just as bad, too. "It's what my character would do" isn't a bad thing innately. It's the basis of the game. Just tends to be misused.

Doge and kitties, it's gonna be a good day

If we take the last story at complete face value, and things went down like they did, the DM is a massive moron. If the DM wants to create just pure combat, then he should not try to add any "ambiance and flavor" that could potentially affect what characters would do, or better yet, maybe go play wargames instead.

Let's keep this going I need to keep this alive lol Game Of The Day: Persona 5 Been replaying it recently, forgot how much I love the persona franchise

Since I only play 3.5 and pathfinder since my DM hates 5th I always hated paladin, I just never can be legal good, the goodest allignement I played is chaotic good, but damn being forced to play a class you don't wanna feels like all against dnd is for

IWMCWD is how you are ment to play the game but you shouldn't make a character that would do anything that cause any problems with the party

Okay, so that last story was BS. OP was genuinely not at fault. They were using the trope as a way to escape bad rolls. The DM could easily just have played around it.

Last story, op shouldn't feel bad but it was obviously not the right game for her. If it was pointed out explicitly session zero that you shouldn't utter the words "It's what my character would do", she shouldn't have said it. Good or bad, rules are rules and she agreed to them. (Not excusing the DM from being a AHole though)

Is the rogue from the first game the player of Old Man Henderson reappearing?

If I was forced to be a paladin I would say that I can be a artificer because I like the class whether the dm likes it or not.

Haha. What language does Kitty use? lol Almost sounded like Gua'uld

Ah ds2 easily my favorite souls game

Eh, that last story... They did tell him to not pull any "it's what my character would do" moments. Do I think that's a stupid expectation? Yes, but at the end of the day if the group says it's not allowed then you only really have yourself to blame if you get banned for it.

@mikec780

Жыл бұрын

I'm thinking the best line would be "Sorry for roleplaying in a role play game?" Then follow up with "If u can't say something before a fit, I'll happily see my self out"

@ChuckPalomo

Жыл бұрын

Kicking somebody out of the house for a minor breach of etiquette is a pretty nasty thing to do no matter how you paint it.

pog dog time

How does a DM of a *roleplaying* game not know what roleplaying is? At least do the bare minimum of research _before_ deciding to lead a game.

no D&D is always the right Choice

The negative stereotype on 'its what my character would do' really needs to stop. Because duh it's a role playing game of course it's what your character would do.

"I played a half-orc with a heart of gold" Sigh.