An above all else group leader

[HeapThaumaturgist]

You "can" do lesser forms of that sort of thing ... but in that situation ... who gets to be King Arthur? Does he get Excalibur? Is it lots better than everybody else's items? If not, why is he King Arthur then?

I've played investigative games before, and had sort of "party leader" positions. I even played a nice campaign where one of the players was the captain of the skyship ... but everybody else happened to have shares in the ship and obvious veto power. And they had to use it once or twice. It was obvious from Word One that "being captain" didn't mean everybody else was his faithful and stalwart crew.

--fje

 

[iwatt]

You're describing a milder form of this than the original poster. If I'm playing a male character in a party with the Party Leader (dum dum DUM) playing a female cleric of Lolth, I'm essentially playing an NPC hireling.

Why? There's no reason why the player of "Party Leader" wouldn't take your advise OOC, but IC she'd be bossy. The thing is, I think a game like this could be fun, with the caveat that the player isn't an ass about his leadership position.

Also, remember that drow females "use" the males. Time for some hot drow on drow action

 

[iwatt]

It was obvious from Word One that "being captain" didn't mean everybody else was his faithful and stalwart crew.

Sure, you have to have everyone on the same page. If somebody doesn't want to play the role of faithful follower, then they shouldn't. But I don't think the possibilty should be dismissed entirely out of hand.

Also I could have fun been someone faithful and stalwart crew. I've even played in an evil campaign were I was the leader. Basically I was the evil cleric, and the other PCs were my minions. As long as they got to commit atrocities and say "But he told me too" they were happy as well. That was a fun game until we got hammered by a possee (sp?) of paladins. Evil must be discreet.

 

[dutorn]

I asked more specifically because I was thinking of planning out an underdark drow campaign with all the menzoberranzan houses and such. With such a campaign a female cleric of Lolth would be a no-question leader of the party. Not that the player would nessicarilly not ask questions and plan as a party, but as a character she would be in charge. Any male PC would of course fall behind any female party member. I was worried about the dynamics already described bye posters concerning players becoming bored or irritated because they played the wrong PC (Male, anything) I thought I could get around this bye making two of the PCs pick up a level of cleric so there wouldn't jsut be one in charge, but I hate to make players take classes they don't want. My other option is an all male or all female party.

 

[Threedub]

I've played in such a campaign, more than once, and would do so again. I've occupied both the role of leader and follower.

Sometimes the leader makes good decisions and listens and sometimes they don't; but in the instances where the supreme authority ended up being a supreme ditz they ended up finding themselves fighting gloriously but dying in a desperate battle. If you don't believe me you can consult the official histories that the surviving party members all testified to.

 

[Immak Antunel]

The thing is, perhaps a drow cleric has all the power socially and culturally, but deep in the wilds of the underdark, the other characters could just abandon her, or even kill her if she overdoes the bossy thing. Sure, that's a drastic example, but I figure that a drow party in the wilds might not give the cleric's edicts much more than lip service. I'm sorta thinking about the wizard in the War of the Spider Queen series, though admittedly I haven't gotten past the second book. Even with her draegloth hench-critter, what'sherface can barely get any respect from the guy.

Now, it's certainly possible that I'm just getting overly defensive because of the drow game I'm gonna run. However, there are a few further precautions in place. For one, the cleric bought a few NPC slaves, who should bear the brunt of the abuse. Secondly, she's the only character playing a subrace with an even harsher LA than normal drow get. In other words, she pushes the party (or even a single character) too far, she's toast.

Either way, should be fun

 

[iwatt]

but in the instances where the supreme authority ended up being a supreme ditz they ended up finding themselves fighting gloriously but dying in a desperate battle.

Heh, me too.

It was fun, because I "knew" we were all going to die, but my characetr's unshakable faith in his leader kept him charging into battle.

 

[Saeviomagy]

If an ass plays the leader, then you'll get pretty much the same situation as would probably happen in real life among people who's life is danger when they realise their boss is an idiot.

The guy's character is probably gonna get whacked or otherwise taken out of the picture. In D&D there are plenty of opportunities for the other characters to take someone out, and never have to face any serious consequences.

And since the guy who's character is dead/mind controlled is an ass, you gotta expect that he's going to take it badly. Which means that he's going to get upset, and possibly make some grudge characters.

In short - don't give any position of power to someone who's an ass. Just like in the real world.

 

[moritheil]

In short - don't give any position of power to someone who's an ass. Just like in the real world.

Too late for many real-world positions, but otherwise very sage advice.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why? There's no reason why the player of "Party Leader" wouldn't take your advise OOC, but IC she'd be bossy. The thing is, I think a game like this could be fun, with the caveat that the player isn't an ass about his leadership position.

As was said before, any concept can be made to work with the right people. But this set-up is more likely to cause problems than the default. No thanks.

Also, remember that drow females "use" the males. Time for some hot drow on drow action

Not unless I'm playing D&D on the Holodeck it's not.