All NPCs have attitude.

Quasqueton · Jul 20, 2003

Have you ever played in a game where all the NPCs you meet are more powerful than your PCs, and they all have attitudes?

Where the DM extensively describes each NPC as some fancy badass who could probably squish your head? Where they all talk down to you (if they bother to talk to you at all)?

Where no matter what your PCs do or can do, you feel like you are at the bottom of the barrell?

Where the world always seems to scale or adjust to your PCs' abilities, so that no matter your power level, you are always scrambling to survive in a world too big for you?

Quasqueton

Olgar Shiverstone · Jul 20, 2003

You mean like when every NPC has the same personality: that of a bitchy 16-year old girl?

Yep. Been there, done that. Didn't enjoy it. In fact, we took great pleasure in killing said NPCs for no other reason.

Mercule · Jul 20, 2003

Olgar Shiverstone said:
You mean like when every NPC has the same personality: that of a bitchy 16-year old girl?

That's an excellent way of putting it. I think I played in this campaign, too. Except that we couldn't kill off the NPCs, no matter how powerful we were.

And that's pretty powerful. It was the one time that I rolled an 18/00 strength -- and I was the weakest one in the party, next to the wizard/thief with an 18.

Talath · Jul 20, 2003

Mercule said:
That's an excellent way of putting it. I think I played in this campaign, too. Except that we couldn't kill off the NPCs, no matter how powerful we were.

And that's pretty powerful. It was the one time that I rolled an 18/00 strength -- and I was the weakest one in the party, next to the wizard/thief with an 18.

What's the point of 18/00 Strength if you can't use it?

Angcuru · Jul 20, 2003

Olgar Shiverstone said:
You mean like when every NPC has the same personality: that of a bitchy 16-year old girl?

Finally words to describe what it's like to game with my DM. Although they tend to be less bitchy when your Elf is widely known for dual-wielding longswords that tear the soul out of his victims.

Lalato · Jul 20, 2003

Oh yeah... and every shopkeeper drives the hardest possible bargain... almost as if they don't want to actually sell you anything.

--sam

ThirdWizard · Jul 20, 2003

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen an NPC who were were supposed to interact with who was weaker than me or who wasn't running around with five other buddies all heavily armed...

O_O

Arnwyn · Jul 21, 2003

A campaign where they were *all* that way? Nope, never seen it.

Ridley's Cohort · Jul 21, 2003

Usually that is a sign of DM burnout. Have someone else sit in and run for a few months, and your regular DM may have a new perspective on treating PCs.

Or he could just be a control freak 'rhymes iwth brick'.

Uzumaki · Jul 21, 2003

Yup. Been there, done that, walked away from it never to return. Tjough in my case, I think that not only was the DM suffering from burnout, he also enjoyed the power trip that came with talking down to all of his friends.