Forever GM Suffering Thread

>>47239502
>decent idea for a game
>hard time trying to hit the sweet spot between TMI for players and too vague a description of what's going on
>no system seems to satisfy my aims
I dunno, maybe I'm just fried from finals.

>>47239502
>Game falls apart
>Spend several months building content
>Finally pull game together
>Get through half or less
>Everyone remembers that they have lives, no game
>Cue whining for six months
>"Anon, I miss gaming"

>>47239502
My players are never willing to go along with the theme of the games I make. If I make a serious game they'll act like wacky social retards. Next time I make a silly, lighthearted game, so now they want to be serious.
Make a game where they're supposed to play the heroes, and instead they'll want to play random murderhobos. Make a game where they're supposed to be murderhobos and now they want to play the heroes.
For Christ's sake, guys, just go along with what I write or tell me point blank you don't want me to GM anymore.

Combat is so fucking boring in my games, in part because i'm not spicing it up, but also because my players refuse to do anything other than make attacks or cast damaging cantrips.

I'm just going to throw deadly encounters at them from now on to try to inspire some desperate creativity, while also working on my own flaws as a DM.

>>47239502
I would always recommend having 1 session dedicated to making characters. I've only ever played DnD with my highschool buddies so its easy for us to chill and drink/smoke and make characters. a lot of you guys on here actually play this shit with random people so I can't fathom how annoying that must be.

>>47239645
This kind of contrarianism pisses me off. These are grown-ass adults acting like children and doing the opposite of what you tell them to. I shouldn't have to use reverse psychology on goddamn grown-ups just to keep a game's tone consistent.

I had this problem the last two times I ran Star Wars games, with two different groups. First group I said "This is a Rebellion-era game and there aren't many Jedi" so what did they all make, completely independent of each other? Motherfucking Jedi. One of them wanted to play a Sith, but I said no. The next time, I said "This is going to be a game centering around the mysteries of the Force and various Force-using traditions, with the Sith as the main badguys." So naturally, everyone made smugglers, slicers, combat droids, and soldiers, and only one of them made a Jedi.

I'm adaptable enough that I can change up a campaign as I need to, but fuck is it ever annoying when they do that. Contrarian fucking shitheads.

>>47239689

Change games.

Gripes? None
Tuesdays gane. Smoke a blunt with everyone before hand and let my players do some great shit while making it fucking kethal so they don't pull some retarded stuff.

Thursdays game. Crack open a few beers with the wife and our two roommates. Play a very sexual game with 3 cuties with at least 2 winners a week, but little do they know I win regardless.

>>47239751
I will eventually, but at least one player is adamant that we stay in DnD so he doesn't have to learn a new system.

>>47239502
>spend hours making important NPCs to whatever plot line they're going towards.
>PCs immediately kill them.
>Players quit because they get bored of not having character interaction.
I was a player most of my life. I'm a very new DM and now I can see why a lot of DMs are assholes.

>>47239763

Change player(s).

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>>47239763
>one player is adamant that we stay in DnD so he doesn't have to learn a new system.

Beat that player to within an inch of his life with a baseball bat.

>>47239502

My players do all character gen at home. Stat Rolls can be done in person if necessary. All character sheets and a 4 paragraph backstory is due before the first session. I offer bonus exp or gear for things like character art, heraldry, expanded back story or short stories, family trees, maps etc.

>>47239502

>Forever GM of group
>Don't want to be
>Every so often, someone else tries to sit behind the screen
>Inevitably, they are terrible at it, making a dull railroad boring world, and the rest of the group clamors for me to run things again.
>This is probably not helped by the fact that terminal stupidity seems to crop up roughly every 10 sessions, when they become fixated on a plan that will almost certainly lead to their demises, and I have to sit back and work out whether or not it would be better to protect them from themselves this time.

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>>47239502
>Implying being a GM is bad
get over yourself if you dont want to do any work just get a GMPC and play a premade campaign asshole

>>47239809
>>47239814
b-b-but he's one of my best friends from high school.

>Be running first campaign ever
>Really excited, because I really like the setting
>Everyone makes characters
>Only one person actually has backstory
>They have absolutely no bond with each other, only sticking together because meta, refuse to try and bond
>Walk around every single setpiece I put in front of them
>Too distracted with their FUCKING PHONES DURING COMBAT
>Too distracted with IRL bullshit outside, and would rather talk about that
>Only wind up playing once or twice every eight/ten weeks

If you fucks don't actually like my game or want to play it, FUCKING TELL ME. Three weeks ago they went into an irradiated dungeon. We won't be playing again until at least June.

>>47239760
How do you win? Is there points??

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I had a few friends tell me they were interested in doing a game, but none of them really seem to be putting that much effort in. Getting people to make roll20 accounts, talk about the rules, get me their schedules so I can organize the sessions - it's like herding cats.

I have a sinking feeling that I'm going to put a decent amount of work into this and a couple of the players are just going to flake out until the whole group loses interest.

I just wish they would be a little more proactive. Obviously as the GM I'll usually end up with more time invested and responsibility, but it shouldn't be such a pain in the ass if they're truly interested in playing.

The easy answer is 'just replace them' but they're great players when things work out. I'm just getting to the point where it isn't worth the effort anymore.

>>47239853
Spoken like a true newbie to GMing.

>>47239937
Not the poster but I've been dming for 8 years with a single game exception. I fucking love it.

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>>47239502

Have you considered having the first session being "make characters, talk about what you're getting into?" I find that having the very first session be about what you're getting into helps out a LOT. Not only do you get a feel for what the party wants, you also give your players the opportunity to offer input.

Also, allows the characters more time to determine why they're adventuring together and flesh out their characters.

>Two of my friends have problems with my game
>I improvise too much, and force the party to do things
>They decide to Co-DM
>They get pissed when we're not far ahead enough in their 'story'
>They each have a GMPC that's levels ahead of the party
>The bosses are extremely difficult, either due to having, and I quote 'level 17 shit' or having a solution that was very hard, if not impossible to find.
>This weekend, those two DMs have told me that they miss their characters, and that they want to go back to my game.
>How do I respond?

>>47240003
I'm going to kill you and eat your heart to gain your power

>>47239645
>>47239738
This is why I wait until my players make their characters to start finalizing the plot, tone, and setting. And I always make their characters with them. The only downside is that it takes a while for the game to take off.

>>47240027
Last time I played I felt so fucking restricted, the freedom to let rocks fall and kill people spoiled me.

>>47239874
That's a good idea, I'll start calling it points. Thanks bro.

>>47239502
What system are you playing? If it's 3.X then no wonder. (And to an extent the same is true of 4e).

>>47240007
>session zero
That's a great idea I see a lot, but I can guarantee you that literally only one of my players would be willing to do that

>>47239863
KILL HIM

>>47239866
Wow, that sucks

>>47240023
Tell them that they dug their own graves. About 90% of my campaign, aside from maps, is improvised on the spot and the players seem to love it.

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>>47239863
Murder is the only solution

>>47240023
If you want to GM, you say sure, if you don't want to, you say no.

>>47239763
Depending on what edition and what levels and classes they're playing, you could scale enemy damage up, hp down, give enemies better or more save or dies, or some combination.

>>47240023
How about you tell them to have a final 'climactic' battle that finished the game off in the most satisfying way if they really want to go back to your game. You might be tempted to be passive aggressive and say 'I told you so,' but they have probably now realized how hard you worked to make the game fun for them.

That is, if you actually want to DM again. I certainly have more respect for following my DM's shit since I started DMing as well

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>>47240140

Throw in a small adventure on top, just to drive it home to the players you're missing out on the story. It doesn't have to be too connected to the story (A run-down inn needing investigating, a bar-fight, you're fishing and you catch a land shark, roll initiative). That's exactly what the adventures at the back of the book are for.

>>47240130

And yeah, if it's something like 3.5, those 6 pages of feats can be intimidating for anyone. Just pick a dozen the party would like and give those as an option. If they had a particular feat in mind, then give it to them.

Seriously, character creation should only take about an hour and a half at most (And that's if you have only 1 rules-book to go off of). That leaves about 1-3 hours of Adventure Time.

>>47239502
>or having a special "let's make characters" session
This is what I do, I'd recommend itl. Gives me time to tailor the campaign to the stupid fucking characters they made too before we start for real the next week.

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>>47240355
Character creation takes 1 hour or more?

I can make 4e and AD&D 1/2 characters in below 10 min.

Maybe you should get to know the system a little better

>>47239760
That's call a swingers party anon

>>47240550

Not him, but when I do session zero, chargen itself doesn't take hours, what takes forever is

>Well, I want to be a rogue
>But I wanted to be a rogue too
>We can't have a party with 2 rogues and 2 fighter types
>Well, how do you want to decide who plays the healer?
>Some stupid competition
>Loser goes off to sulk
>Help winner make a rogue
>Loser comes and makes a plea as to why he should have the rogue because the winner really would make the better something else.
>Remind someone uninvolved with this that this is going to be a desert based adventure, remember, your pirate themed fighter with a high swim skill isn't appropriate for the setting, and you'll probably never use that skill set.

It's not generating the characters that takes a long time, it's keeping them focused that does.

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>>47240550

I could. My players can't. And I'm not going to make characters for all of them. My estimation was based off of 5 players who never pathfinder, having 1 PHB, and most of the time we were goofing off playing Love Letter. Then We played for 2 hours.

>>47239645
This. My group complained about never getting to play in a Good Guy campaign, then built a bunch of murderhobos.

>>47239866
Also having this issue.

Every single campaign without fail 75% of my players have made lolsorandumb characters and refused to engage with the setting at all. None of them are nearly as funny as they think they are. I'm going to try one more time to GM a short, 5 week serious campaign for them.

If they can't even make it through that I'm done trying to GM for them.

>>47240645
What I always did was have everyone send me an email with their top three and after I got their emails, I would email back who got to play what based on that and who played what last time. Worked every time.

>>47239502
>Have game going, it's starting out great
>It progresses and gets considerably darker/more serious.
>Try to warn other people that this was supposed to be a lighter-hearted adventure and if they keep fucking their own characters over they're going to ruin them.
>They ignore me and keep it up.
>End of the game they're upset "That wasn't much fun towards the end. It got too dark."

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>>47242030
This.

>lighthearted Shadowrun campaign - fifth element style
>is enjoyed by everyone the first few sessions, great laughs, lots of fun
>"But Anon, we can't take the BBEG seriously!"
>Ramp up BBEG - let him capture contacts, blackmail and turn friends on the runners
>instant complains about how this is unfair

I like them all, they're my friends, but sometimes they are little spoiled children.

I want a break.

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>>47239502
>player's don't keep cellphones on or check them
>so trying to find out if they can do something is a nightmare and a half
>player almost flips table because their actions were stupid
>pollen is giving me a headachd
>I used to be passionately angry about this, but more or less, I've become tired and drained
>feel like I'm in an actual horrible nightmare where everything is bad
>DMing isn't fun anymore, it's just a small part of brain that involves me acting like a retarded storyteller for 4 hours while my friends laugh and maybe have fun
>the escapism of it is that I can't feel bad, so I feel nothing

>>47239502
Have you tried not playing 3.PF?

>>47240553
I call it enthusiastic gaming

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>>47239502
Jesus fucking Christ my group.
Meathead A
>One of my founding players, decent guy.
>Closet furry
>Needs to be super edgy in everything.
>Samurai, Barbarians, Ninjas, Dragonborn or Half-Orcs
>Tries to roll half-dragon races
>General Edgelord
>Plays Hearthstone DURING OUR FUCKING SESSIONS and claims "he's totally paying attention"
>Thinks he's good at Hearthstone and Magic
>Isn't
Meathead B
>Also founding member
>Loveable idiot
>He's a retarded puppy that shits on the carpet
>Joke player, min on the min-max scale
>Rolled a bard that literally did nothing so he could come up with slam poetry on the spot
>8/10 would allow again
Meathead C
>Absolute fucking cretin
>Thinks he's funny and he's not
>watches way too much fucking youtube and mlg montage videos
>Also thinks he's good at card games and isn't
>needs to get his fucking life together
>Also rolls joke characters but not funny, it's just pathetic
>Currently a cavalier based around shitty food jokes in PF and a Tac Marine in Deathwwatch
>Way too many fucking GameGrumps jokes in every session.
Meathead D
>Joined the group shortly after it formed
>Girlfriend tries to play but is more of a liability than anything
>Good guy, pretty bro
>Tries to be the support character in a party where everyone wants to be a support character
Girl A
>Ex, weeaboo to the max
>Acts completely useless and helpless
>Whether its incidental or not we will never know
>Decent player, tumblr trash irl
Dudebro
>Newest member
>Min-maxing to the extreme
>Kind of a nuisance but otherwise cool dude
>Typically takes every other session off because he's divorced with joint custody of his kids but that's my only complaint.
Dudebro B
>Narcissistic fuckwit
>Thinks he's better than everyone and has fully admitted it
>Also min-maxer
>Black Templar in our Deathwatch game
>Good player, shit person
Girl B
>Weeaboo but tolerable
>Shit player
>Too much Undertale
>Meathead Bs gf
And this is a current lineup. Still plenty of horror stories older players.

>>47242637
Story time ?

>>47242690
Who about?

>>47242705
Dunno, do you have a favorite ? If not, I think the edgy guy can be a good start.

>>47242637
>8 players
Horror story in and of itself, anything above 3 starts going downhill.

>first time DMing
>use previously established original world forged from pure autism
>get a general idea of campaign, not too much railroading
>start game
>lead the players to quest giver's cave
>player proceeds to murder ambiguously evil questgiver, destroy his life's work, all his notes, and collapse his cave
>"now what"
>"I don't fucking know, you murdered the questgiver and collapsed the storyline, give me a sec"
>"dude I thought he was evil and gonna kill me"
>"he litterally offered you a quest in exchange for rewards"

Ended up coming up with shit on the spot and campaign turned into
>kill BBEG
>take his place
>rule the city
Still had gun though

>>47240550
Low-level or core 4e char creation is easy as pie. Clusterfuck systems like 3.X, MnM, or White Wolf faggortry takes a shit-ton longer.

>>47239853
Dexter is such a little asshole.
Instead of hiding behind your screen, roll in the open like a fucking man.

>>47239502
>Forever GM
>Can't say "no more games unless someone GMs"

>>47239760
How does this work?

>>47242791
It sounds like he's got 2 games running and not all the players are in each game. But I agree, 3 is my ideal player number

>>47242862
>Still had gun though
I hope you didn't use it

>>47243314
38 is my ideal player number. I like getting really intimate gameplay.

>>47243025
>White Wolf
To be fair, the hardest part about it is finding what the fuck you're looking for in the rulebook

>>47243339
wat

>>47243360
Does anyone know why their books are laid out so badly and why the tables of contents are so goddamn useless? Why do they do that? Has anyone who worked for them ever been asked about that? I want to know what their stupid fucking excuse is so I can laugh in their stupid fucking faces.

>>47243279
I just run it like a typical game, but adventurers like bar wenches and brothels. Roomies like to get in character for shit like that, soon my wife picked it up as well and they started to want to roleplay it out. A few sessions later they are giving examples of what they're doing in characters to other players and thanking the DM. Shits pretty bunk desu.

>>47242791
>>47243314
I'll be lucky to have 4 or 5 on game days, due to shit. A couple live in different cities and someone's always missing for some reason.

>>47243516
Not sure, but eventually you learn to use the wiki for most of your character creation. The worst part is that all they would need to do is expand the ToC and fix fucking everything. fucking disgusting

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>>47243849
Is it just laziness? Jesus Christ.

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>>47242788
if I had to have a favorite, it'd probably be a former member of our group. She (now Xie/Xe/Xir or whatever the fuck the pronouns are) was an SJW of immensely faggotrocious proportion.
>four-ish years ago
>New quest
>I had just quit WoW and was new to DMing
>Small hamlet that Westfall inhabitants would find eerily familiar
>Goblins raid the city for supplies
>Noblebright PC's here to save the day!
>Go to farmer, get basic rundown
>Dank and dark cave, people come in, few come out
>Wife offers supplies that I had noticed PC's were lacking like candles, torches, rope
>"Well, why does he need a wife? Why can't he just have a domestic partner?"
>waitwat
>Goes on a tirade about how weddings were so heteronormative and by not having a gay couple present the quest I was oppressing the community
>I bullshit something about gays being uncommon but not frowned upon because I just want to move on
>Continues to go on about how patriarchal my world is and that I need to check my privilege
>Call a break, go outside, start laughing
>Come back and she's got this smug look like she had just gotten me
>Continue on, never bring it up again
>She always had to bring up things like gay marriage, transgender rights, and matriarchal societies
>One day tell her I don't care about all that in fantasy because none of it is real except on paper
>Loses shit, tumblrages at me
>Doesn't show up for a month
>Comes back and expects me to apologize and grovel for her not being there
>Fucking bard
>Agree to disagree in that a fictional world shouldn't need a social commentary
>Basically tell her to believe whatever she wants and I won't confirm or deny it
Yeah, don't miss her. After high school she went off to feminist school to study how to be a barista before coming back due to PTSD.

>>47239815
>I offer bonus exp or gear for things like character art, heraldry, expanded back story or short stories, family trees, maps etc.

I'm totally stealing this idea for my upcoming Shadowrun game.

>>47243992
That month she didn't show up must have been bliss.

>>47244717
You have no idea. I now get to read my lines without being interrupted about how the nobility should all be hung for being rich white men and heterosexuality is ruining the world.

I covered this in /5eg/ but, my players still don't know how to determine the save DC for their spells and what he can and can't turn into seems to elude the druid.
Also I tried to make some more modern fitting classes for my campaign and eventually gave up updating them because my players expected them to be the exact same as the classic classes.
>>47244785
Wow, all those things that never happened.

>>47243172
I'm not leaning around the screen to read my rolls.

>>47244837
Nah that type of shit is real. I have a friend who was super chill, and "one of the guys" (but hot and with tits), and then she found Tumblr. Now she constantly tells us not to even use the word bitch around her, even when not used to refer to a woman, even though she used to all the time. Claims she had internalized misogyny. Yeah. She also goes full sjw tirades as well. Shit's crazy.

>>47244923
>she constantly tells us not to even use the word bitch around her,
Start talking about female dogs.

>>47244934
We have done that. Several times actually. Dick move, but getting a rise out of her is hilarious.

>>47244837
Sweet zombie Jesus I wish I was making that up. She could have a whole thread dedicated to her but that'd be giving her attention.

>>47244923
I feel you bro. Bitch, whore, and cunt were on our restricted words list. Her and her friend were absolute heresy.

>>47244923
That just makes me glad I never had to deal with people like that in my games. All the women I know and have gamed with (save a wall flower) have been cool.

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How do you handle players dicking around with their phones and not paying attention to the game?

>>47245147
I dick around on my phone when they are talking to each other in character.
and I make fun of them extensively when we are just sitting around the table talking shit and going over what characters did between sessions.

>>47245147
I call the session for the night as soon as any player touches their phone. They learned quick.

>>47239502
Hey guys, I have a group of old friends, who all like roleplaying.

They want me to GM a game.
Sadly, due to circumstance, we will only be able to gather every month, perhaps skipping a month once in while. This leaves us with rare game time.

Is there a system where this sort of gaming is more tolerable? Could I 'easen' the downtime by giving the players small tasks, like managing a faction / some npcs, solving mysteries etc ?

Work 3pm to 11 pm and have weird days off. Used to be forever gm, now I can't even GM a game online because my off time sucks even though I have a few good campaign ideas to do.

>>47240007
It's a good idea in theory - and in practice, it can sometimes be a great idea - but in my experience usually that means 'stats first, backstories later.'

What would really work best is figuring out backstories and such together, getting a sense of the campaign, and then telling everyone to make their stats over the next week and approving them before the beginning of the game.

>>47244934
>>47244948
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjklfGi6aC0

only the best

>Give players all the good reasons to work together
>Without fail one of their characters ALWAYS ends up hating the rest of the party
>This always leads to them failing at some quest
>This leads to more failure because they're not on the same page
>This leads to even more failure as they start splintering

It hurts. I'm not even playing them against each other.

>>47245486
Truly wonderful.

>>47242862
>"dude I thought he was evil and gonna kill me"
Better rationale than my recently started group.
>First action the ranger takes is to take a shot at the nearby neutral shopkeeper's head
>"I got a 19 does that hit?"
>Reasonable pieces of the group exploding at him
>His justification is he's "Chaotic" Good and "Needs information" so it's fine.

>>47243992
>expects me to apologize and grovel for her not being there
>Fucking bard

Too true. She sounds like the type to act before thinking.

>>47243263
Never let anyone else DM ever they are shit at it

>>47243992
>fucking bard
I lost it there

>>47245147
My players don't have time to look at their phones. Last time someone looked at their phone another player managed to sabotage their plans without them noticing.

Nor do I stop for people needing to refill their drinks or go to the loo. I do stop for pizza though, I'm not inhumane.

>>47239896
>The easy answer is 'just replace them' but they're great players when things work out.

Find new players. You sound like a bitch in an abusive relationship.

There will ALWAYS be more players, anon.

>>47245147
Dragon fire is magically attracted to cell waves

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>>47239815
>giving individual exp
I just can't see the point.
But isn't it so sad that people willingly getting involved in a hobby can't be bothered to do anthing out of line without luring them with instant gratification? That kinda sickens me.

> entire group bar one player have a laugh and joke around
>as a GM I'll let anything fly, you're level 7 pcs now, if you want to make something happen it'll be able to happen, no matter how ridiculous.
>final player annoyed that the game isn't serious enough

We're playing pathfinder, everyone's having fun with it not being too serious, this isn't VtM

>>47239853
>21

>>47241694
Just tell them that they were probably the reason the Nazis started the Holocaust.

>>47248376

Some times you have to incentivize good behaviors. I don't hand out fat loot or much exp. just something a little extra. I.e I had a player write about how his dwarf character was cut off and separated from his fellow miners and had to sneak/fight his way back to friendly territory vs goblins. So I gave him +1 vs goblins. Nothing campaign shattering. As forever DM I'll do what it takes to keep attendance up and the game going. If that means having my wife prepare tasty dishes for game night feasts or making sure all players have painted minis so be it!

>>47249292
Why don't you just do the opposite?
>Oh you just killed a random NPC
>The town is actually filled with mercenaries and town militia and they all rush you to make you pay for your crime.

>>47249735

I do that as well. A good DM uses carrot & stick to incentivize and punish. I was specifically referring to rewarding players for good good character creation behaviors like writing a back story.

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>>47245329
Bump.

>Could I 'easen' the downtime by giving the players small tasks, like managing a faction / some npcs, solving mysteries etc ?

I was thinking about similiar things too and i wasnt able to figure anything more than giving them coded letter to crack in between sessions.
Maybe with invisible ink message between the lines.

If you're playing in real world-ish setting, you could also use immense well of inspiration called history and let them do some research.

The Secret World (pic related)- lovecraftian modern days MMORPG i was playing have few quest that relied on just that at one point or another.
At one you needed to read barcode on employee badge. Badge was damaged and only barcode remained relatively intact - and you needed information about that guy.

You know what I fucking hate as a dm/gm?

A player having a character in mind before we even have what we hashed out to play.

I have two players who do this.

First throws a damn fit when whatever game we are running wont let him be a "human bad ass knife wielder".

Other will come up with some marry sue shit and try and get me to agree to some hidden princes, gods chosen or last of X in every game. He then pouts when I shoot it down or point out it really does not make sense in our game.

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>Characters are level 5
>I want to get into the meat of the story
>Really don't want to fuck up by BBEG reveal
>Spend days agonizing over it, trying to make every detail perfect
>Hate every fucking draft I write
>Can't seem to get it right

Am I doomed to have a shitty story forever?

>Run a game on Sunday for some people. I just wanted a fun group into roleplaying so I could test a campaign I've been writing.
>They tell me they really want to livestream it.
>Ok, whatever.
>Cut to a few months later. I've put shit tons of work into it, I've given them a great campaign, I've somehow managed to get people to tune in to watch it, I've kept the game going, all things that would not have happened were it any other DM.
>They one by one realize that they can't actually commit to a game because they have real life things.
>No "Sorry for wasting your time", it's just every week at the last minute "Yeah I can't make it", and then we don't play because the remaining players REFUSE to play any sort of one-shot or any other game system that isn't the characters they made.

I can't do it. Just kill me, I don't want this anymore.

All I want, all I've ever wanted, was to run a game for people who actually went out of their way to show up and play.

If you're going to miss sessions, if there's even the POSSIBILITY of it, please just don't waste my time. Find someone who has the patience for that shit.

>>47251398
Maybe a BBEG doesn't really fit the game you've played up until now and you need to find another narrative trope to make your game satisfying.

Or maybe you just suck

>>47251405
If your group truely doesn't respect you, even after you try to get their shit together and fail, then you should probably take a break from them. It might be your fault as well, but if you don't know by now, then none of the players will show you what you're doing wrong.

Taking a break from my old highschool group was good, because when I got back, they sorta had their shit a bit more together

>>47239760
Then get out of the fucking thread, you smug asshole.

>>47243314
I'm running a game with 9 players and 3 spectators tonight lmao

>>47252067
My game definitely needs a core villain for the players to focus on.

I do almost definitely suck, though. Life is hard.

>>47243385
38 IS MY IDEAL PLAYER NUMBER. I LIKE GETTING REALLY INTIMATE GAMEPLAY.

>>47239502

> For weeks plan out an adventure that isn't a combat grind, and includes puzzles and encounters that allow all players to shine, and come up with rewards that are unique and memorable
> Players refuse the adventuring hook

Why play DnD?

>>47253745
Don't hate the game, man. hate the player.

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>"HEY ANON, DM A GAME OF DND FOR US! WE WANT TO PLAY"
Sure ok
>tell them to get together at this time on this day to make characters with me to learn the basics
>"LOL SORRY ANON, WE ARE ALL BUSY, MAYBE ANOTHER DAY"
>5 weeks later
>"NO COMMENT LOLZ"
Then why did you all ask?

Conversely:
>FINALLY find another DM so I can stop being forever DM
>once a week game maybe
>sometimes 3-5 weeks go by
>moons have to align for us to play more than 4 hours
>really like the game, only thing to look forward to all week
>character dies in surprise round of combat in non-epic way
Sure ok.
>combat takes 3 more hours to wrap up
>"SORRY ANON, YOU DIED SO YOU WON'T BE GETTING EXP, ALSO YOU'LL BE BACK TO HALF EXP AT THE PREVIOUS LEVEL."
So...what you are telling me is this night didn't even count and I had to do nothing for 3 hours while I watched you guys play and get set back even farther?
>"YEAH LOL"

I get that death happens but holy shit please don't waste my time like that.

>>47251285
>tfw have a few pre made templates where all I have to do is make final tweaks/edits and fill in a backstory to have a character
>tfw have over 30 of these templates, mostly fantasy/magic setting, atleast 16 futuristic
>there are DMs right now who hate me for being better prepared than they are

>>47253167
Godspeed sir

>>47253657
Well, I tend to lean toward organizations as villains. to each their own

>>47251398
Maybe you just fear too much?

>>47253905
The death probably wouldn't have been so bad if you didn't have mountains of salt already build up. Hang in there dude, it gets better eventually

>>47254068
You do not get the high ground if you bring the same character to every game or want to play your current version of a half fey cat boy that month.

Let's make a char - sessions are not that bad.
If you think about it, half of "that guy" stories on this board are either made up or generated from zero understanding of the basic needs of the campaign, at least in terms of characters.
Taking a few hours before the start to talk shit all together is actually a good way to balance the party and get truly ready.

>>47239502
Rookie mistake.

Start every campaign with a Session 0.
On session 0, everyone makes characters and talks about their expectations and hopes about the campaign.
Players making characters together always end up making less retarded characters than if they coop up with all the books and make one on their own. It curbs the excesses of the players who would have shown up with a multi racial custom class and it inspires the ones who make no effort to up their game a bit.
Talking about expectations helps everyone understand the tone and mood that the GM is going for, and lets the GM adjust to what the players want a bit.

Making characters together also lets you make themed parties or characters that know each other or fit together/have a shared past, so you don't need to cram them all into a tavern next to a guy with a golden exclamation mark over his head every single time.

This eliminates like 99% of the causes for GM whining threads.

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I'm DMing an Iron Kingdoms campaign that's been successful so far, but I think that's owed to a couple things. Providing them here to try and help other DMs.

-No Session 0. I start a Facebook chat and invite all players (or GroupMe) and ask what they're looking for in the game. I tell them to publicly workshop their characters in the group so we can take whatever time we need to work everything out.

-I lay down ground rules of things I'll end a session for. Disruptive phone use, trying to be funny through racism, etc.

-I tell them things I'll reward extra XP for upfront. Painted mini, short stories, character lore, etc.

-I keep myself open to improv but try to keep a DMPC in play that's not combat oriented (tracker, librarian, etc) who has a vested interest in keeping the team on point.

-Pretty selective about who gets invited into the group, make sure they're all clear that I out my family before gaming.

Dispute as many of these points as you like, ignore what doesn't work, but my games have been running super smooth.

I was hurting for players, and one of my only two players was getting on my nerves with being SO random and "Check out this funny video."

So I asked on Facebook out of the blue if anyone would want to play a game.

Three really awesome people answered that I thought would be great to play with, but was always afraid to ask because they always seemed busy.

I set up a facebook group to coordinate things, and keep asking for backstories and writing setting details and posting stuff and asking people to finalize things so we can start.

It's been almost a week, and nothing has happened since they enthusiastically said yes to joining... but I can see "read by 3..." on a post in a group with 6 people.

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>>47257499
>trying to be funny through racism

>>47239763
This shit is the worst. The main reason I dislike D&D is because most players that start with it get stuck thinking that since D&D is the most well known RPG around it must be the easiest to learn to play.

I'd suggest playing Everyone is John or some other game where the "rulebook" is a page or two long to start easing him into the idea that not every game is a huge pain in the ass to learn the basics of.

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>Want to run a modern campaign mostly focused on investigation and roleplay as opposed to the usual casual one shot
>Players are a friend, another friend and his gf
>Friends and I have played together for years, gf is completely new to RPGs
>Start the game, PCs get a list of names and addresses to check out for suspicious activity
>Two friends go about investigating in the most unsubtle and ineffective ways imaginable. Kicking in doors, threatening every NPC they come across, burning bridges at every turn
>Admittedly it's entertaining but they're getting absolutely nowhere and the gf is either on her phone or taking a backseat to the other's antics but seems overall unengaged in the game
>bf notices and tells her to do the talking for one of the interviews
>She's a fucking champ, plays it cool and gets a bunch of useful leads out of the NPC she talked to quickly and without unnecessary complication
>In that moment I felt peace
>Two friends proceed to bury her for the rest of the session, following the new leads with the same aggression that got them nowhere minutes before until I call the game off due to them burning every resource available to them

>>47240023
>improvise
>force players to do things

yeah that's stupid. yes you could improvise a railroad plot but that just sounds silly and counter intuitive.

>>47243025
I can make a nWoD or OWoD character in 5 minutes. It's a point buy system. The powers are all pretty descriptive and easy to remember too.

>>47239760
tell us more about these Thursday games

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>>47239645
I'm having this problem but I'm a player. The GM is doing a really good job with a pretty serious story but people keep trying to fuck it up for wacky evil plots. It's a shame because the guy put shit tons of work into the campaign.

>>47239502
I have a total of 10 people who all agreed to set time aside on 1 day a week to play D&D. Today was that day.
Only 3 showed. None of the other 7 offered any kind of excuse. The number of players is so high because no one plays. Who the fuck do these people think they are, wasting their friends time every week and lying constantly. Just say you don't want to play and end it. Fuck. Me and those three were fucking sitting around twiddling our thumbs for two hours.

>>47260384
Three players is enough for a good game, though. Better than 10 people, that's for sure.

>>47260422
I am aware. They refused to play even though I offered to continue with just them and they said no.

Then about 3 hours in we see our players on steam, or playing some other video game. Makes me want to tear out my hair. It's 1 fucking day and they can't manage it.

>>47260489
Dang. That's rough.

>>47260489
The thing is, the people I play with are people who I just hang out with every Friday regardless, before the whole Role-Playing we played Magic, board games, or did random shit like explore real life abandoned factories or parks at night. And to be honest, they aren't the best at the whole game, and I'm not where near the greatest GM, as we're not very experienced, but fuck man they make it fun. For the past 3 months or so, we've played every Friday expect last week for me and 2 other people had obligations. And they were known well ahead of time. And again, I'd rather take high quality friends who you can hang out with often than random people who are just better at the game, and might be flaky.

>>47258250
That's such a bummer, you should have punished in-game your two friends for how they were playing and rewarded the gf

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>>47239763
>Try to get old group back together for a short game. New system, new characters.
>Get all of them except one, who is totally adamant against playing the System (Dark Heresy)
>"Did you at least read the system"
>"No, but I don't like what I've seen of it."
>Okay.
>Game is only going to go for 4 session so I decide to run anyway and not switch systems just to appease one player.
>He shows up to game day anyway. Weird, he didn't tell me he was coming nor did he send me his sheet like I asked him to.
>"Hey where's your sheet man."
>"I'm still not playing, I'm just going to watch."
>Rest of the players play, have a blast all through out the first 2 sessions. It's like nothing changed.
>Except that one stubborn motherfucker is still sitting there unwilling to play even though the entire group. Just sits in silence while everyone laughs and has a good time.
I never understood this. Especially since I said it was a short game. It's also sort of killing the fun for me because I have to watch this faggot sit there awkwardly and occasionally try to start OOC conversations with the players only to get shut down.

>>47260553
Get yourself four good friends who want to game, and tell them "I need a commitment for this night o the week because my time is important, and I realize yours is too." Don't cast out a net for gaming friends and hope people show up. I've learned the hard way that's now how people arrange their social lives now.

And a 10 person game isn't going to be much fun. I've done those too. Each individual player gets too little attention, and a group that large can divide into unhealthy factions. Too much work for the GM.

Our group is 5-6 of us, we're all friends from school days plus one guys gf.
>>almost impossible to get a set time routine, as Guy 1 and his gf both work shifts so their timetable changes almost every week.
>>Guy 1 refuses to play anything other than Dnd/fantasy genre. We've tried all sorts of games: Dnd (5th and 2nd ed) pathfinder, burning wheel, stars without number, etc. but he'll only take it semi seriously if it's Dnd.
Then we get to them actually playing
>> Guy 1 always plays some variation of Chaotic Neutral/Evil who will kill/ignore anything not related to quests.
>> Guy 1s gf is actually pretty cool if she tries to RP, but that's a very big IF. Is always on phone.
>> Guy 2 co DMs with me (we switch when we die/TPK), makes interesting characters but doesn't talk much, also dislikes dnd
>> Guys 3 and 4 both consistently make "lol so randumb" characters (we're talking Elves named Fag, or literally retarded orcs/dwarves), but they do really get involved in everything. They're also the least reliable in terms of trying to find a time to play.
I'm willing to look past the character idiosyncrasies, they can even be fun sometimes, but trying to find more than 1-2 times a month to meet up when they achieve very little each session apart from Guy 1 + 3/4 trying to murder their way out of every problem
>> just find another group
But these guys are my friends, plus we sometimes just catch up with other guys for drinks/play games if not everyone is there.

>>47261353
Are you the faggot in question, Anon?
I think you are.
Please, tell me.

>>47254513
Nigger, that's 3 hours of jack fucking shit.

Let alone the after penalties. Go fuck yourself.

>>47264262
Stop being entitled cunt and dont die then.

>>47264323
Kill yourself, faggot. I say that with all sincerity.

>>47261353

notes_from_underground.pdf

What do you do when the setting of an RPG system is enormous magical realm bait? I'm trying so hard but I don't know how much longer I can rein in my urges.

>>47261470
Useful advice, here

Player-gathering with attrition in mind is undesirably unpredictable and prevents any kind of appointment-style obligation. I'm very glad my current GM is being picky about the last prospective new player.

>>47264544
become proficient

>>47264262
This isn't fucking World of Warcraft. Stop playing tabletop games, for the sakes of everyone involved with your salty sob story.

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>>47264992
At what? Not being trash?

My players are all a bunch of /d/egenerates who won't care at all, but I'd like to at least maintain the illusion of being a legitimate, self-respecting GM.

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>>47245486
I think I just shed a tear.

>>47264544
>>47265164
What's the setting? WoD?

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>>47265164
Wait, so you're baiting yourself by playing in a lewd settingu?

>>47265285
>>47265371
Digimon RPG

I feel all you guys. I have been parma dm for many years now and I just wish that players showed 1/10 of the initiative, enthusiasm or work that I have to bring to each session.
I try to make it so each of the players I play with run at least 1 session so they know how much work it is to plan each session or to make things up when they try to do something retarded. Usually then it makes them realize the thankless job it is sometimes. Although some friends with only a part time job 3 times a week can't find time to learn the rules, while I am here working 6 times a week full time and they are asking me to run multiple campaigns for them. I love Dm'ing much more then being a player it is definitely a different kind of fun! But it drains on you. You just have to sometimes disappear from your regular group and pick up a random one or roll 20. I have been pretty lucky with groups I have gotten there.

>player rolls 3 20s on his character
>two weapon-fighting ranger
>incredibly fucking OP, kills a dragon far above his CR in three rounds with minimal help from the party
>monsters I throw at them is either a challenge for him and impossible for the rest or a such a cakewalk for him that the everyone else is basically a spectator
>he's basically the pivotal character of the campaign, and killing him off will probably make it suck

>>47257499
>trying to be funny through racism
This describes half the interactions at my table.
The only black guy in the club, playing a half-orc barbarian thug, calls the effeminate asian dude, playing a dark elf sorceress, a knife eared nigger all the time. The asian responds with, "better than being an actual nigger!" constantly.
This only ends when I tell that mongolian motherfucker to shut it before I kick both of their subhuman asses out of my game.
Foul language and racist jokes are part of a healthy table. Cutting that out is like banning fighting in hockey.

>tfw I rarely make original ideas for my campaigns, 80% of it is retooled plots from tv shows and books so my players will never find out

My next session is literally a fucking Columbo plot with some combat thrown in and not nearly as complex so my players can actually solve it.

>>47239502
I like being GM. I've actually grown to like it more than playing.

As for the character-creation, just have a collaborative character-building session, where everyone discusses the sort of game they're interested in playing: if you haven't already painted yourself into a wall before the game even starts with overplanning, this should be helpful in more ways than one.

>>47245147
Phones should be away and on silent. Unless it's an emergency call or I'm texting them IC information that only they are privy to, I ask my players not to use them during the game.

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>>47239502
Pitch your campaign:
'It's a steampunk world with dinosaurs!'
"Nah."
'A mystery campaign with undead!'
"Already did that."
'An inquisition is forcing you to believe in their evil deity!'
"That sounds cool, Anon! Can I play my crossbow wielding Fighter Bounty Hunter?"

Yes, yes he can make his Fighter, but you want them to do 4d6 drop lowest and not pick any kind of evil or chaotic neutral. You tell them and negotiate this and see if someone is left out of their wants and needs of the campaign. Perhaps someone did want the steampunk bits. Then just work with everyone in making characters. If someone doesn't have anything you could suggest stuff that blends in with the campaign setting before it's even fleshed out.

So you don't need to make their characters for them, you need to negotiate with them. And if they refuse, go to roll20 and pick a better group.

>>47260051
See
>>47242494

>>47265661
Not advocating against rolled stats, but I guess this is one example of why point-buy might be more effective in some cases?

>>47265661
>>47269509

>3 20's
>CR

You can't get that with point buy or 3d6, 4d6 stat systems. Either you didn't do your math or he cheated.

>>47265661
>Not sure if Anon is R.A. Salvatore or if party member is not!Drizzt.

>>47248207
Stealing this, even though I'm a player.

>>47265661
How the hell did he roll three 20's? Even with rolled stats the difference between highly rolled and moderately rolled is a +1 to one or two of the abilities that matter. An extra HP, attack bonus or AC doesn't break a party.

>>47239502
Got a GM, who has bouts of blatant favoritism. He gives his two better friends and their characters way more attention, whether he does it in his meta-role as GM or as his in-game roles as the NPCs we deal with.

He instigates interactions, good or bad, with these two players and neglects the rest of the group. He is an arrogant/self-important person and treats me with slight disdain, which makes it worse.

Half of the problem is, that he isn't a (completely) horrible person and that he can actually make an interesting campaign. The other half of that problem is that he is a package deal with his very good GM-friend. And this GM-guy is awesome.

At least I manage to stay relevant in his campaigns, even if it feels more as if I constantly need to fight him rather than cooperate with him to make a great game.

I would at least thank the Norns for weaving me a fate bereft of spergs.

>>47260902
I tried in that when the gf participated she actually advanced the plot, though it became clear that my two friends didn't see their methods getting anything but a few laughs as an issue. In addition to how they handled the investigation my usual players are the type that take "never split the party" as gospel and refuse to have their characters do anything separately from each other so by the time I called the game off the whole party was in a position that boiled down to either "die in a shootout with the cops" or "go to jail for a very long time". I ended up talking to them about it and explained that I'm not particularly interested in writing scenarios or campaigns if I have to figure out ways for the PCs to not end up dead or in jail at the end of every session and that if they just want to fuck around there are games suited for that kind of thing. I want to run something that we can all enjoy but at the same time I feel like we all have very different ideas of what having fun with RPGs is.

I just don't know, man.

>Players want me to run CoC
>say theyd like it to be investigation focused
>fine with me, get all my shit done, they send me character sheets
>all but 1 are combat focused with combat in their backstories

Session 1 is coming up, my hopes aren't high

>running a game for 4 months
>but only played like 5-6 times.
>trying to create a decent game
>always allow the rule of cool
>preparing tons of NPCs/Shops/Events
>even created 7 restaurants with different menus for food district of the city.
>2 months ago, I planned a 3 round arena tournament for a side-quest.
>supposed to take a few hours.
>they spent last 2 sessions for the 2 rounds of the tournament
>not sure when we will play next time.
>nobody care or pay attention to what is going on the game.
>They don't even know how their characters work.
>Wizard reads spell descriptions only in her turn
>At the start there were 6 players and now dropped to 4.

I think I'm doing a terrible job.
Will stop GMing soon

>>47270304
I am not familiar with CoC, but I thought combat was highly unrecommended if not impossible. Could someone explain to me?

>>47271287
You can fight cultists and other people like that, attempting to fight creatures and other abominations is a fast track to death or insanity

>>47270304
Did they create their characters on their own? I've been GMing CoC games for years now and the only times stuff like this has happened was before I started having everybody make characters as a group. Everybody would go make a character on their own time and a bunch of them would think to make a combat oriented character just in case shit had to go down so come game day we'd have like four people playing soldiers or cops. Those sessions were often entertaining, but were by no means proper CoC games.

If you're that concerned about it throwing off the game get everybody together and have them remake their characters. Maybe give them an idea of what the scenario will be about so they can make something more suitable.