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lunasariel Or rather, I am half sick of dungeons. Seriously, it's been almost nothing but delves, delves, and more delves, not only since this campaign started, but in previous campaigns as well. I'd estimate that, out of my entire D&D experience, the ratio of delves to RP sessions is about three to one. And at my friend's birthday party next Saturday, he's hinted that he wants to do another one! I'm seriously considering refusing to play, out of protest that we never do anything but dungeon-crawl, and because the DM (Dungeon Master, for the uninitiated) terms these "practice sessions," we don't get any experience or treasure, or even any RP (roleplay). I'm done practicing, I've got everything down; I'm ready for the real world! Take of the gloves!
*sigh* All this results from last night's, which became this morning's, D&D session. It was our DM's first time DMing anything but a straight delve (although the delve was his own design), and it was a little bumpy. Vessaron (I use the character's name in place of the person's) does not suffer fools (or plot-holes) gladly, as it turns out. He and Zarra nearly came to blows on several occasions (they both seem to think that RP consists mainly of sniping at each other and doing their level best to piss off everyone around them, PC and NPC alike).
It certainly didn't help matters that our DM admitted freely to flying by the seat of his pants, metagamed like no tomorrow, and towards the end, became downright petty. Dude, being the DM is all about poise and control! If you shatter the illusion of power, your player's won't respect you, they'll end up doubting and challenging your every decision, and that just won't be fun for anyone.
The way I see it, Vasseron makes a much better DM than a player, and our DM makes a much better player than a DM. Vasseron has the experience and moxie to run either a delve or an RP session, or ideally, some combination thereof, and usually does so judiciously and knowledgeably. On the other hand, as a player, he is prone to backseat DMing, arrogance, not a small amount of petulance when he doesn't get his way, and that hallmark of an inexperienced and/or untalanted RPer, a tight-lipped and antisocial character whose mission in life seems to be to piss everyone else off as much as humanely possible. Our DM, conversely, makes a querelous and indicisive leader, but as a player...wait, he playes an antisocial asshole, too. Even so, I'd rather have Vasseron DM and our current DM play than the other way around.
Once again, I have to say thank Pelor for Valderran. He's always been the level head of our group, the one who remains calm and in control when everyone about him loses their heads. He is almost preternaturally friendly and patient, and almost never loses his temper. On top of that, he's an excellent RPer, and the glue that hold our merry little band together, both in-game and out. Really, we all probably would have killed and/or abandoned each other by now (Vessaron and Zarra especially) if it weren't for him. Sometimes, like when Vasseron and Zarra are squabbling, Ame is just following Zarra's lead, and I'm too shy to break them up, I wonder if he isn't just humoring us, or likes feeling (rightly) superior, but I honestly think he's too nice of a person for that. He's an RPer's dream, anyway: he takes it seriously, but keeps it in-game. He moves the story along and has fun, without sacrificing one for the other. He's not self-centered, resentful, or especially antisocial. He keeps it light, making sure that everyone has fun, while also making sure that players are called on OOC, deliberately story-blocking, or just generally not cool behavior. He's starting to put together a campaign of his own, which I am greatly looking forward too.
Speaking of which, we seem to be having problems with the group dynamic, beyond what I've already discussed. During that first delve, we were coming together very well, as tends to happen in life-threatening situations. This was especially noticeable during our last encounter, when we came up against an Adult White Dragon and 12(?) animated skeletons, nine of the latter of which I personally dispatched. Not too shabby for a healer, if I do say so myself. But back to the point, we worked together fabulously, and dispatched the foes quite handily. Of course, just as we're about sit back and clap each other on the back for a job well done, the DM fills the entire dungeon with poison gas, which would kill us if we didn't race back, across four rooms and various traps, to our starting point. DM Rule No. 1: Never, ever do anything that will overtly kill your party on their first delve. I mean, I certainly don't want him to nerf any of the encounters, and if we do something stupid and get killed all on our own, then that's our own damn fault, but when it is explicitly stated that there is no way out, and only an Author (or, in this case, DM) Ex Machina can save the party, things are going to get ugly. That was the problem: I don't know whether he set it up like that because he likes the feeling of power he doesn't get when we have a concievable escape not entirely dependant upon his beneficience, or he had some inscrutiable purpose in mind, but really, it served no purpose. It only made us mad at him, and at each other, as our group fragmented precisely at the moment it was supposed to come together. My conclusion: he was yanking our chain, so to speak, for reasons of his own. But if he ever pulls shit like that again, I'm done. D&D is supposed to be about everybody having fun together, not the DM going on power trips and the PCs suffering for it.
*sigh* All this results from last night's, which became this morning's, D&D session. It was our DM's first time DMing anything but a straight delve (although the delve was his own design), and it was a little bumpy. Vessaron (I use the character's name in place of the person's) does not suffer fools (or plot-holes) gladly, as it turns out. He and Zarra nearly came to blows on several occasions (they both seem to think that RP consists mainly of sniping at each other and doing their level best to piss off everyone around them, PC and NPC alike).
It certainly didn't help matters that our DM admitted freely to flying by the seat of his pants, metagamed like no tomorrow, and towards the end, became downright petty. Dude, being the DM is all about poise and control! If you shatter the illusion of power, your player's won't respect you, they'll end up doubting and challenging your every decision, and that just won't be fun for anyone.
The way I see it, Vasseron makes a much better DM than a player, and our DM makes a much better player than a DM. Vasseron has the experience and moxie to run either a delve or an RP session, or ideally, some combination thereof, and usually does so judiciously and knowledgeably. On the other hand, as a player, he is prone to backseat DMing, arrogance, not a small amount of petulance when he doesn't get his way, and that hallmark of an inexperienced and/or untalanted RPer, a tight-lipped and antisocial character whose mission in life seems to be to piss everyone else off as much as humanely possible. Our DM, conversely, makes a querelous and indicisive leader, but as a player...wait, he playes an antisocial asshole, too. Even so, I'd rather have Vasseron DM and our current DM play than the other way around.
Once again, I have to say thank Pelor for Valderran. He's always been the level head of our group, the one who remains calm and in control when everyone about him loses their heads. He is almost preternaturally friendly and patient, and almost never loses his temper. On top of that, he's an excellent RPer, and the glue that hold our merry little band together, both in-game and out. Really, we all probably would have killed and/or abandoned each other by now (Vessaron and Zarra especially) if it weren't for him. Sometimes, like when Vasseron and Zarra are squabbling, Ame is just following Zarra's lead, and I'm too shy to break them up, I wonder if he isn't just humoring us, or likes feeling (rightly) superior, but I honestly think he's too nice of a person for that. He's an RPer's dream, anyway: he takes it seriously, but keeps it in-game. He moves the story along and has fun, without sacrificing one for the other. He's not self-centered, resentful, or especially antisocial. He keeps it light, making sure that everyone has fun, while also making sure that players are called on OOC, deliberately story-blocking, or just generally not cool behavior. He's starting to put together a campaign of his own, which I am greatly looking forward too.
Speaking of which, we seem to be having problems with the group dynamic, beyond what I've already discussed. During that first delve, we were coming together very well, as tends to happen in life-threatening situations. This was especially noticeable during our last encounter, when we came up against an Adult White Dragon and 12(?) animated skeletons, nine of the latter of which I personally dispatched. Not too shabby for a healer, if I do say so myself. But back to the point, we worked together fabulously, and dispatched the foes quite handily. Of course, just as we're about sit back and clap each other on the back for a job well done, the DM fills the entire dungeon with poison gas, which would kill us if we didn't race back, across four rooms and various traps, to our starting point. DM Rule No. 1: Never, ever do anything that will overtly kill your party on their first delve. I mean, I certainly don't want him to nerf any of the encounters, and if we do something stupid and get killed all on our own, then that's our own damn fault, but when it is explicitly stated that there is no way out, and only an Author (or, in this case, DM) Ex Machina can save the party, things are going to get ugly. That was the problem: I don't know whether he set it up like that because he likes the feeling of power he doesn't get when we have a concievable escape not entirely dependant upon his beneficience, or he had some inscrutiable purpose in mind, but really, it served no purpose. It only made us mad at him, and at each other, as our group fragmented precisely at the moment it was supposed to come together. My conclusion: he was yanking our chain, so to speak, for reasons of his own. But if he ever pulls shit like that again, I'm done. D&D is supposed to be about everybody having fun together, not the DM going on power trips and the PCs suffering for it.
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Date: 2010-01-11 05:22 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm hoping that our DM will grow out of his power trip thing, as he really is a good person. The problem is that he's significantly younger than everyone else in our party, so I'm afraid he might feel a bit threatened. Ah, the psychology of Dungeons and Dragons. XD