A campaign I'm fed up with. . .

[The_Old_one]

Best thing to do here is simply let her know that you're not having as much fun as you'd hoped. Try and come up with three things you DO like about her game, and three that you DON'T.

Explain this to her, and be sure to explain that you don't want to stop gaming with her or the others, just that the game is not 100% what you wanted. Hopefully she'll be willing to comply, especially as she wants to keep all the PCs on board for her plot.

If that doesn't work, find a local WoD LARP group, and take her along for a visit. One of two things will come of it;
1) She sees the WoD as it should be, run by people into the themes and mood of the setting, and some of the cooler members of the LARP community rub off on her.

OR
2) She meets a bunch of kindred spirits and finds what she's really after in her game. (This because she sounds like a lot of WW fans I met who were frustrated LARPers and just needed a subtle introduction to LARP)

 

[Thotas]

She needs to learn that writing a novel and running a game may have some superficial resemblances, but there are some very fundamental diametrically opposite qualities. That's part of what is making this situation so bad.

It is possible for a game to translate into a good novel, but a novel does not ever translate to a good game. Examples of the first? Paksennarion has a lot of fans, and only a blind gamer can read those stories and not see that Paks was once a PC of Elizabeth Moon, and that she played the Village of Homlet. Then there's Dragonlance; after playing the scenarios as a home brew, the authors had enough fun to think they should write it as a narrative. Example of the second? Dragonlance again. I don't know from my own experience, but I've heard from those who've read the stories and tried to play the adventures that the reading is better than the playing; the process of gaming is too free-form and individualistic to expect another group to recreate the original experience, which is what those adventures apparently do.

The lesson is that game to novel can work, novel to game cannot. And, sorry to say, it sounds like your friend has a pretty lousy novel that she's working from anyway. I doubt there's any hope for this game, as a result. I can't know enough from message board posts to advise you on what to do about it, but I will say that whatever you should do, the fact that you have to begin with is this: This Game Cannot Be Salvaged.

 

[SolitonMan]

Uncontrolled Radioactivity Man

Hey, isn't this one of the characters on NBC's "Heroes"?

 

[Arnwyn]

I'd really like to quit the game outright, but the GM is very touchy and I've known her for years and am afraid that dropping out will destroy the friendship, and it's the one time of the week I can hang out with several people I like to spend time with, but generally only see at the game.

Wow, you're screwed. You have some decisions to make, to be sure.

In any case, you're a better man than I for hanging in there as long as you have (are). If it were me, and talking to her privately didn't work, I'd quit the game outright - my fun and limited time is far more important than her novel and personality flaw. But then, I'm selfish that way.

Already happening. . .if the vampires in the party want to learn new disciplines, there is always an uber-Vampire to teach them, but only if they have sex with him. I don't know what it is with vampires, but the GM absolutely loves them, and doesn't understand why everybody wouldn't want to play one (like how my mage character said he'd rather commit suicide than be embraced, an attitude she found utterly baffling, more wondering why anybody wouldn't jump at the chance to become a vampire, since she keeps insisting that it's far better than being anything else).

And that's just creepy. I have a low tolerance (though thankfully untested) for that sort of nonsense.

 

[The_Old_one]

It's always baffled me that some folks can see vampires as anything other than vicious, inhuman monsters. What part of undead blood sucking predator is actually sexy?

Give me Christopher Lee's portrayal of Dracula any day...more like an animalistic 'thing' that happens to look like a person than an angst filled romantic.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Wow! Once again, I find myself attacking a post of Kamikaze Midget's. Our gaming philosophies are clearly polar opposites. Engaging on passive-aggressive nonsense that simply increases the number of people having a bad time while offering nothing constructive? Screw that.

I'm no fan of unnecessary honsty but it seems to me that a certain level of social honesty is called-for here, as opposed to passive-aggressive sabotage.

There was a memo put out, fusangite. I guess you missed it. My post was for entertainment purposes only, should not be used as a flotation device, may cause seizures, etc. You should talk to your doctor before reading my post.

Ye gods, I HOPE no one follows that advice!

Yes, social honesty is the sensible, mature, wise path.

But it's fun to envision the insensitive, immature, deviant path. Especially when it would be returning what is precieved by me to be insensitive, immature, deviant STing.

Laugh a little, fungus. Life's more fun like that.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What part of undead blood sucking predator is actually sexy?

Hello?!

Post #42- neck nibbling?!

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

It's always baffled me that some folks can see vampires as anything other than vicious, inhuman monsters. What part of undead blood sucking predator is actually sexy?

You've soooo never been to a goth club, have you?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

It's always baffled me that some folks can see vampires as anything other than vicious, inhuman monsters. What part of undead blood sucking predator is actually sexy?

The part that gets +4 cha

They're predators, that's for sure. But they prey on humans, and they do so while walking in their midst. And those humans aren't exactly sheep. Not all of them.

So those vampires cannot just go on a rampage each night and tear a couple of humans apart and suck them dry. They might be 100 times stronger than humans, but humans outnumber them 10.000 to one. And they have napalm, and nukes, and UV light. Vampires wouldn't stand a chance.

So they hide their viciousness behind a veneer of grace. Yes, they're inhuman and vicious, but they hide it until they have their victim where they want it, away from prying eyes. Then they no longer hide.

But they have to get their victims where they want it, without anyone noticing anything out of the ordinary. So in addition to their other weapons - viciousness, strength, undying resilience - they have thair grace, their style. They wind mortals round their little finger with ease. They incite passion, much like a succubus, and to much the same ends.


That doesn't conform to all the myths about vampires. But it does conform to those stories that have spawned what is probably the second most popular RPG out there, and it does make sense. It's how I'd think contemporary vampires would be like, how they would be able to survive today, in our midst.

The rampaging horror in the night would have no chance against surveillance cameras and special forces who have night vision equipment, elite combat training, and are in constant radio contact with each other.

The Count Dracula thing would have worked a hundred years ago, but not necessarily today. So your car breaks down on some road and you have to take shelter in a weird castle with weird inhabitants, and your friends start disappearing? You just whip out your cell phone and get the cops. Or the automobile club - excellent service wherever you are, around the globe.

Todays vampires would need to be social predators. Wolves in sheep's clothing - and who says that those vampires couldn't get some of said woolen utensils?

 

[jeffh]

It is possible for a game to translate into a good novel, but a novel does not ever translate to a good game. Examples of the first? Paksennarion has a lot of fans, and only a blind gamer can read those stories and not see that Paks was once a PC of Elizabeth Moon, and that she played the Village of Homlet. Then there's Dragonlance; after playing the scenarios as a home brew, the authors had enough fun to think they should write it as a narrative.

I must be a blind gamer, then, since I take these authors at their word when they tell very different stories. For instance, Moon, not a gamer herself, wrote about Paks because she heard how some gamers play paladins, and thought (correctly IMO) that they were dead wrong. The Deed series was written in response to bad play of D&D paladins, but did not directly derive from a specific game, much less one Moon played in.