this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 117 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Yeah, this is super annoying. I want to try out roleplaying and get into character and all that, but in some tables you have people like the following:

  • The involved roleplayer who, despite their intent otherwise, takes control of the narrative. They try to involve you, but it always feels like you're a side character in their story.
  • The funny guy, who tries to crack jokes and make the whole game feel light-hearted and silly. I get we're all here for fun, but sometimes I'd like a bit of meat to bite into.
  • The GM's friend, who derails the game into taking about that cool dog that they had when they flat shared last year. No seriously, it's a cool dog. Let me find a picture on my phone.
  • That guy whose character is a reference to that show you don't watch. They keep making references to it, and a few other people get it, but you have to awkwardly nod your head.

... Wow, sorry, kind of went on a rant there. I guess I have a bit of frustration at going to play a game, and most of the session being taken up by not playing said game.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Meanwhile I just want to hit things with my greataxe. I don't care about RP or rules so much. Just let me hit things with my orc barbarian please.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah, I see my husband has made a Lemmy account.

For real though, he is not there for the story or the rp, he's there to rage out and fight. Meanwhile I'm doing shitty voices and putting on a full Oscar worthy performance.

There are such broad dynamics between what players want, and I fucking love how flexible D&D is for that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You know what women in Italy in the renaissance did to their husbands who displeased them? Used aqua tofana to solve that problem.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

“… a strong poison created in Sicily around 1630…”

“It was a colorless, tasteless liquid and therefore easily mixed with water or wine…”

Vizzini never had a chance.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Definitely something to keep in mind the next time he denies me the standing ovation I deserve for my performance. 💅

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago

I wanna hear more about the dog...

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Reading your list makes me better understand why I get kicked out of groups... I never realized that being the jokester actively harmed people's ability to enjoy the game. Thank you for that.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It harms THAT SPECIFIC PERSON'S ability to enjoy the game. Your group probably enjoys you if you guys play together regularly.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

Yeah it's a "read the room" kind of thing.

There's a group that would be annoyed by immersion-breaking 4th wall jokes, and there's another group that would be relieved by the tension and pressure to perform being broken. Everyone's going to have slightly different comfort levels so there's always some compromise on the tone of a campaign.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Gonna say they probably don't if they're consistently getting kicked out of groups

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Nah, depends on the group. And the jokes.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Should have session 0 to set a baseline tone.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Please explain! This sounds fascinating

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A session zero is basically a meeting where the DM and players talk about what kind of campaign they will play, the setting, whether the game will be more combat or RP heavy, whether it will be serious or humorous, topics or themes they'd rather avoid and those they'd like to explore, and maybe a bit about the player characters and how they fit into the story. It's a good chance to get to know the other players and see whether you're a good fit for the group.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd personally want to support making the player characters during session 0 (maybe not the full character sheet, but at least personality/background and class).

I've done campaigns where everyone came into the session 0 with their characters all ready to go and the idea of the characters being adjusted wasn't really brought up but more the rest of the aspects you mentioned. Differences and some antagonism between characters can make things really interesting, but at least in one of them two of the characters fundamentally wouldn't ever be in a party together. One of the players felt some cognitive dissonance in wanting their character to stay in the party, but not being able to find a rational reason they would, and kinda had to retcon their character.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yep, that makes a lot of sense. Making an entire character can take quite long, so I try to do it outside of group sessions especially with new players, but some aspects should be talked through with the group.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

In my experience, having a person who turns the game into a joke makes it less funny than if it was just played straight. The game is naturally funny and absurd in ways that are best highlighted when the narrative is taken somewhat seriously.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

To be clear, it's fine to be light hearted and jokey, perhaps most of the time depending on the group.

Knowing when to turn on and off Serious Mode is a skill that can be hard to develop, and IMO it's perhaps the GMs job to gently say when they want things to be serious.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

This is where setting rules or just finding a group who agree on the tone of a game is important. However, even in that some people will have things they do want to role play like shopping. Well be a good role player and make it interesting for them or even turn that shopping into something more. Ask the shopkeep if there’s anything he’s wanted that’s super rare (relic hunt quest), or straight up leave the store. It’s role playing go to a different part of town, you don’t spend 100% of your time irl with anyone why do that in a game? Cause havoc, or don’t, jump into the sewer, fascinate the locals by setting off fireworks or do spells, go to a bar get drunk and do role play karaoke while the guy shops. Have fun, it’s your role play too

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

You'd hate me. I'm somehow all of those points simultaneously

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I'm so thankful that we have none of these people in my group. We're all about the same, with similar interests, and similar play styles. The only drawback is that we all lean towards resolving situations diplomatically, which means our adventures can lack combat for quite a while, unless we're in a straight-up dungeon. Eventually someone will get bored and go with "I stab him in the fucking face!" Which ends our diplomacy for a while.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I once joined a random pick up game online. Had a session zero, vibe seem alright.

On the day we actually go to play it turns out the DM invited a bunch more people and the group was going to be 8 people. Two of these people show up late, don't even have character sheets ready. Game was advertised as queer friendly, one of them I think makes their character a transphobic joke but the guy was so awkward it was hard to make out what he was doing. Vibe is now fucked. One person quits the group on the spot.

I spend like three hours of the least inspired, boring D&D of my life. There is no hint that's it's wrapping up anytime soon. All we've done is spin our wheels trying to grab on to the quest hook, being strung along to talk to the next random generic NPC to inch us closer to actually starting the adventure and had a single combat encounter with one creature where I'm not sure anyone even took any damage.

I have to stress, I think the DM was a nice guy even if he kind of sucked at it. I liked the original group of people.

But I break when he guides us to start shopping. We haven't even started the adventure and it's about to turn into a shopping episode. I panic, I have to leave this fucking moment because I can't take it anymore. I'm desperate for an excuse to leave that wont hurt the DM's self-esteem and ruin the game for anyone who was having fun. The best thing I can come up with?

I disconnect mid sentence and act as if the internet dropped out like a bad sit-com phone gag. This wasn't even well acted, my brain died when I went to disconnect and I just trailed off awkwardly. It's still so painfully embarrassing to remember. Yet I maintain it was worth it.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I was in a group that were all "officers of the watch". Some idea was proposed that my character would have no reason to go along with, but rather than stop the group engaging in something fun, I say so, and follow up with "my character probably has some paperwork they need to catch up on anyway."

Our chaotic player, who has the attention span of a slightly concussed goldfish goes "wait, we have to do paperwork?" and our GM, the goddamned sadist, gets that evil gleam in his eye.

Long story short, that session we role-played the sheer amount of paperwork our last session of kicking in the door and stopping a cultist ritual (by force in some cases) would have generated.

I admire that GM, but I was almost screaming in frustration by the end.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is hilarious. I bet the DM got out some frustration that day.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sounds like one of the 12 Tasks of Asterix. They have to get a permit or form filled out in a government building known as "the place that drives you mad." Like crazy, not angry. Asterix ends up turning the bureaucracy against itself.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

If you're gonna do RP shopping, you gotta establish before the session that's gonna be what's happening so everyone can come up with ways to interact with the scenario.

You also absolutely have to (looking at you in particular, 5e) establish availabilities and exact prices beforehand. The back and forth of "how much does X cost -> I can't afford that" is the biggest waste of time when shopping.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I like to make little cards for my shops with the items on it so I can just hand them out whenever one person goes to a shop

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You also absolutely have to (looking at you in particular, 5e) establish availabilities and exact prices beforehand.

PF2E's built in tables ftw!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Genuinely love to break up a combat/dungeon-crawl heavy game with some light-hearted day-in-the-life-of gameplay once in a while. Having the DM describe the lazy cat stretched across the alchemist's countertop, while some mischievious pickpocket tries to nick the rogue's enchanted dagger and the knight errant helps an elderly woman cross the street can add a lot of color to a very number-crunchy game. Picking through a flea market of random niche nebulously useful magic items, while a merchant drops hints about the next sidequest, gives you a real adventurer's vibe.

Genuinely hate having long, drawn out arguments over whether the shopkeep would have the principle material component for my most import spells or basic equipment (there's no bat guano, one swayback horse, and only sixteen arrows in a fantasy city of 50,000 people? god damn, dude). Or digging through spreadsheets to figure out how many javelins the local economy can absorb. Or bickering over whether the Charm Person spell gets us in fight with town guards. Genuinely do not want anyone consulting a series of random charts and tables to determine why we can't get a full night's rest in the town's nicest inn.

Please just make this a fun story to enjoy and not a pedantic fight over the future prospective mathematical efficiency of my stat block in the next combat.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Or digging through spreadsheets to figure out how many javelins the local economy can absorb.

I actually love this kind of discussion but generally it sparks up because of some javelin-related scheme someone has.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Meanwhile in my games PCs regularly never buy or upgrade equipment because nobody wants to waste time in session (good!) but also refuse to just do stuff through discord during the rest of the week (bad!).

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

I had a game where done other players tried to pull the "shopping episode" stuff twice before I had to put my foot down.

We hadn't even gone on our first quest yet. We had no Gold to buy anything.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well it's roleplay isn't it?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

If one person is dominating the game that much, that's not a good thing.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Imagine not getting to roleplay shopping because you're a wizard and spent all your money on scribing spells. Imagine thinking that keeps you from roleplaying during anyone else's shopping, assuming that you are also present for the shopping instead of doing something else.

I can't exactly talk though, last session in Curse of Strahd, my character basically turned the session into a heist because he had the best Stealth score and there wasn't enough Invisibility spell for the rest of the party. It's a CoS game, being seen by half the encounters is basically a TPK in and of itself. But he was able to turn what was supposed to be a scouting mission into a successful rescue and robbery, so it was kind of worth it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

All good jazz musicians and role players know, its not about the notes you play, but the ones you don't.

Edit: After watching HBomberguy's plagerism video, I feel compelled to mention that this is a butchered Miles Davis quote. Borrowed from "Biopic Of The Cool: Don Cheadle Channels A Jazz Legend In 'Miles Ahead'" by Amy Nicholson, www.mtv.com. March 30, 2016.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If it's a common item with a listed price, and you're in a city big enough to reasonably have that item in stock, just do your shopping "offline". Sometimes I even include a low-level Forge cleric in small towns so the party could do their sub-100gp item shopping. (In that case the cleric charges an extra 10% donation for the Forgetemple, which they will use to feed orphans, create farming equipment, etc...)

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What's roleplay shopping?``````

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The PCs are in a shop and one of the players is roleplaying the shopping experience for everyone else.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

It’s Buying Dungeon Specific Materials. Just google BDSM

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

By chance I ran across a relevant video earlier today. Shopping should be fun! https://youtu.be/5kRLCKH6bA8?si=4E8KEGQhfJv8f8jZ

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