So...am I evil??

GreyLord said:

Oh, it was definitely not a practical joke. More like desperation on my part. We had just leveled up to 15th in his 4e game (of which I was the lone player) and though I enjoy 4e, at this point I was going crazy with having to play it in his game. I am never going to drop him as a son...but I needed something to give me a break from the 4e for once (what is it they say of too much of a good thing...can't recall...but in this instance too much of 4e was driving me insane!). So, yeah...hope that this makes it so he runs something different for once. Even better, if he goes along with it he may become the group DM again rather than me doing it by substitution (just to keep the group together) currently.

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I agree that it wasn't a practical joke.

You mention what you did being an act of desperation. Desperation implies that rational and measured means have been previously attempted to no avail. However, your OP makes it sound like you never even spoke to him about changing editions, or even about him trying 5e (as a player or a DM). If you can't talk to your kid about something as trivial as a game (I love it too, but D&D is still just a game), I'm loathe to consider how you've handled more serious parenting issues where communicating with your child is vital. If this acting on your own selfishness (and you admit that it was selfish in your reply to [MENTION=23]Ancalagon[/MENTION]) is indicative of how you parent, then I'd suggest seriously re-evaluating whether either of your children will be inclined to support you when you're too old to move around (as you suggested to [MENTION=23]Ancalagon[/MENTION] that your son or daughter might do).

Last year, my father became so ill that he stopped eating and taking care of himself. I did what I could to help him, but he just refused to eat and dwindled away. I had to pump formula through his feeding tube, change his diapers, clean him up, and leave my job to care for him 24/7. He passed in late October of last year, with me at his bedside holding his hand while he passed. The whole experience was incredibly stressful and emotionally wracking, especially as his mental faculties left him, and he became irrational and abusive. It's only the strong bond I had with my father, and his example of giving of himself to do for others, that kept me from throwing up my hands and crying "no more, I'm done." I can't imagine I'd have been as inclined to look after him if his example for me had been one of selfishness.

Evil? No. Weird? Yeah kinda...

Its not drugs, alcohol or friends you didn't like, you banned him from a version of a roleplaying game you don't like?! Geez, if only all parents had dilemmas that easy to resolve.

MechaPilot, I’m sorry for your loss.

[MENTION=82779]MechaPilot[/MENTION]

I too am sorry for your loss.

Dannyalcatraz said:

MechaPilot, I’m sorry for your loss.

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GreyLord said:

[MENTION=82779]MechaPilot[/MENTION]

I too am sorry for your loss.

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Thank you, both of you.

@OP

Sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind...

This was the right move for your sanity and to break him free of the shackles of the accursed 4th edition.

It was done for love, compassion, and the long term greater good.

You are a Lawful Good Cleric, exorcising a Demon that had infested the innocent child's mind.

Have 1000xp for promoting the true faith.

If you want so much to play 5e why aren't you DM-ing instead of your son?

Dried said:

If you want so much to play 5e why aren't you DM-ing instead of your son?

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Right now I am DMing for the group as they wanted to play 5e and I wanted to keep them as a group I was part of, but I prefer to play 5e rather than to DM it. I don't have the best grasp of the rules, but I tend to be imaginative. My son on the otherhand will read a book intensely and then have it memorized...plus...he prefers to DM than to play.

He just insisted that he played 4e and they kept dropping off so I started a home game during the week which they could play so they would not simply join another group and forget ours existed. Eventually, I was the only person in his group...and that is because I felt obligated to support him. No way was I going to drop out of his campaign, even if I was the last one. He always wanted to DM it though, plus he knew if I was the DM we'd switch immediately.

Hopefully I'll be a player again soon. If he takes up 5e and wants to DM it's all good. The only complaint others had was that they wanted to play 5e, so if he's willing to DM it, then he will be back up as the regular DM again and I can be relieved of those duties in my weekly game.

It's not so much that it's an evil move (at least given the subsequent context) as that it's a counterproductive one. Any time anyone tries to get another person into a particular hobby, or TV show, or comic series, or gaming edition, by insisting that they absolutely have to play/watch/read it because it's so much better than what they're currently into, it creates an automatic resistance that will undermine whatever that person's attitude would have been to the subject.

Your son may not have been keen on 5e before, but this is a great way to make him detest it.

If he was having trouble finding players locally for his preferred game, then maybe you could have hooked him up with a decent webcam-and-mic set-up, some popular VTT software and places to find 4e players online. Cheaper than buying a full set of 5e books, and certainly nicer than trying to force him to change his preferences.

MarkB said:

If he was having trouble finding players locally for his preferred game, then maybe you could have hooked him up with a decent webcam-and-mic set-up, some popular VTT software and places to find 4e players online. Cheaper than buying a full set of 5e books, and certainly nicer than trying to force him to change his preferences.

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Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. That's a good idea. If it turns out that he hates the idea and the 4e books are put back up on the shelf and the 5e books taken down...I might suggest he try that.