A rant about people and rpg's

[DanielJ]

I'm just had it now,

i mingle with a group of people in a small town that show some form of interest in pen and paper rpg's and they will join my games. This is my problem. They show almost equal interest to those of us decent enough to buy books but thier too stingy to spend any money on anything but video games, building thier computers better and generally non rpg related garbage.
Which leads me to my next point. I have this bad feeling that i'll be stuck dming for the rest of my natural life. Why is this you may ask? this is becuase thier not borrowing my books so they can read them and use them to make campaigns if they want to do that they should pull thier finger out and actually stop being stingy and spend money on thier own set of books.
To tell the truth i'd rather play than dm and it annoys me to no end that ive unoffically been branded dm for as far in the future that i can possibly see.
The only place i feel i'm going to get players that actually give a decent damn is on the net if i do play by post games or join another play by post game. The only problem with this is that i dont like waiting a day until i can make another post. PBP games are just too slow and i'm not on the internet enough to be part of a chat based game.
I also hate people that wont give roleplaying a chance when you offer them the opportunity to play. Its not that they may not find it exciting its more of the fact that they cant forsee how it could be fun so they just rubbish it on the spot.
Why cant i have a group of savy half dedicated and not half ....... ed gamers.
Dammit!

I'll add more to this rant later.

 

[DanielJ]

ok i dont expect for anyone to really know completely why this makes me angry.

 

[DanielJ]

ok its also got to do with the fact that i ask them whether they would consider atleast getting the phb and they even come out and blatantly say: Oh i would but i'm too lazy, oh... (and not say anymore), oh but that costs money (damn stinges)

 

[Mordane76]

Might I suggest you breathe for a minute.

Did you offer to DM? If so... then how long ago did you offer to DM?
If not, then why did you let them corral you into DMing if you didn't want to DM?


While you're getting some of this out of your system online, I have to wonder... Have you told the people you're angry at about how you feel? Have you sat down, formulated your gripes into coherent, non-confrontational sentences, and then gathered up the people you're upset with and actually told them how you feel?

Believe it or not, ranting about it online, while it might make you feel better, isn't going to solve the problem. Go tell them how you feel -- it might not end well, but at least you won't have this all bottled up inside, and you might actually get some of them to change their ways.

 

[DanielJ]

yeah well its bad enough that i have ASD and OCD and confronting people is a hard thing for me.

 

[bubbalin]

Hi Daniel,

How's the weather on the other side of the country?

I fully understand your annoyance. I've been in a similar situation for ages, but I finally managed to convince one of the others to GM, and another person I got in hasshown a lot of interest. THis is after three years of trying and providing the only books at the table. Persevere and eventually you'll find somebody who enjoys it as much as you. Just keep running good games, but don't burn out, and work at it.
Good luck.

 

[DanielJ]

Hi Daniel,

How's the weather on the other side of the country?

I fully understand your annoyance. I've been in a similar situation for ages, but I finally managed to convince one of the others to GM, and another person I got in hasshown a lot of interest. THis is after three years of trying and providing the only books at the table. Persevere and eventually you'll find somebody who enjoys it as much as you. Just keep running good games, but don't burn out, and work at it.
Good luck.

Lol i think i may have convinced my best friend to buy white wolfs "Exalted RPG" YAY!
I carefully explained that i dont want to gm/dm all the time so i suggested exalted over dnd cuase it means only 1 core rulebook rather than 3.
He seemed agreeable we should be ordering it tomorrow.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I would suggest maybe giving it time. I mean when I first got into Warhammer (an expensive game) I hardly decided I was going to throw out a bunch of money before I found out I liked it. I watched. I played with someone else's armies for a couple of months until I could make a determination if this is the game for me.

Maybe your friends are the same way. Maybe if you run soem games that are fun for a few months or a year, perhaps one or more of them will get an interest. I am not sure how experienced these players are but you can't really expect a first time gamer to decide he was going to run a game.

I am pretty much the gm in my group and there have been periods in which someone was interested in a game and decided they were going to run something and it was a lot of fun. I would just suggest to give it some time and wait and see.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I would suggest maybe giving it time. I mean when I first got into Warhammer (an expensive game) I hardly decided I was going to throw out a bunch of money before I found out I liked it. I watched. I played with someone else's armies for a couple of months until I could make a determination if this is the game for me.

Maybe your friends are the same way. Maybe if you run soem games that are fun for a few months or a year, perhaps one or more of them will get an interest. I am not sure how experienced these players are but you can't really expect a first time gamer to decide he was going to run a game.

I am pretty much the gm in my group and there have been periods in which someone was interested in a game and decided they were going to run something and it was a lot of fun. I would just suggest to give it some time and wait and see.

I agree. If they are just learning the game, they might be quite reluctant to spend the $$ on the books and also run the game. I think a lot of people who are new players also need a long time to learn the mechanics of the game before they can run it properly. I know I am still learning, and it's going to be a long while before I run a game. The people I play with are all used to very experienced and good GMs and before I have a crack at GMing them, I want to make sure I know what I'm doing. I suspect your friends might be the same way.
It's also , as I'm sure you know, a lot of work, and you need to be able to put a certain amount of time aside to spend working on the games. Maybe they just don't have as much time.

However, I think that if, in time, they decide they are into the game and want to become more devoted players, they should buy at least the basic books. But, like Keeper of Secrets says, give it time.

That said, I guess it really comes down to you. Is playing the game with these people worth it to you to let them use your PHB until they decide to buy one of their own? Is having to be the GM for at least a while worth it to you to be able to play? Or can you find another group to join. There are a lot of EnWorld people from Australia, I don't know where in Australia they (or you) live but I bet you could find another group of more devoted players (or join a group as a player yourself) if you look.

I know it's frustrating, though. But really, take a break for a week or two and try to figure out if the frustration is worth it to you to play. And check (or maybe make a post yourself) in Gamers seeking Gamers and see if there is anyone in your area looking for a new player.

Good luck.

 

[Darklone]

Ah well. Yeah, give them time. A DM who does not know the rules better stays away from the game.

Don't worry about being stuck DMing. My newbies with whom I started 2.5 years ago slowly start to buy books now

Some of them already said they'd like to DM later... or in other groups.