Boredom [rant]

[Fester]

been there. done that. quit that group. i still have the scars.

Exactly. The group I was in was the first I'd played in for years and also the first I'd played in with a bunch of people I didn't know, so I thought it was just the way things were and suffered the misery of it for a long time. But then I started DMing (entirely with a bunch of people I'd never met before) and found my group wasn't like that. So I left and joined a new group and discovered that it just doesn't have to be that way.

 

[S'mon]

As DM, I do worry about this - that some PCs get much more 'screen time' than others. Some players are potentially really good roleplayers but may feel shy and hang back, so they don't get as much attention as they deserve and don't contribute to the game to their full potential. OTOH it's fair to say that some players simply can't handle being the centre of attention, and hanging the plot on them can be even worse than ignoring them, because when they screw up it can ruin the game for everyone. So it can be a fine line to tread. You just have to know your players, and pay them as much attention as they deserve and can handle.

 

[S'mon]

BTW Telperion, I do think the 3e Bard is pretty much designed as a 'support' characters - they work better as Cohorts than as PCs IMO.

Have you considered retiring the Bard and bringing in a new PC? If the GM lets your new PC be of similar level to the others it should be easy to create a character useful to a military campaign. Clearly information-gathering types are out, so here's some other possibilities:

Eg - if you create a battle-oriented Sorcerer, you should have no trouble overshadowing the Wizard in combat. He can cast his Diviniations and such while you fireball the enemy into oblivion.

Or, you could create a min-maxed melee machine, who can chop up the enemy while that Fighter is bellowing orders from the sidelines.

Or how about a DEX-based archer assassin/sniper type, nailing enemy mages and commanders with his deadly longbow shafts. A PrC like Arcane Archer or Deepwoods Sniper would work well here.

Another possibility would be to create a Fighter-type PC who's a subcommander in the army, maybe a knight or noble. A PrC that gave morale-boosting powers would be good here; your unit could become very valuable, even if you don't always obey your leader' orders to the letter...

Or maybe a Cleric or Druid? As written, these are probably the all-round strongest classes in 3e. Cleric is great in that you can Summon powerful allies (maybe _too_ powerful) for the big battles, and use deadly magics on your foes. If the campaign features religion at all, you could use it to inspire the troops into a fighting-fervour of religious fanaticism, also creating your own power base within the army - who would dare disobey the Voice of God?

 

[Mark]

They also have fairly specialized characters that aren't usually needed in times of war, great events and so forth.

Bards put the "Great" in "Great Events." Have you written much poetry, personally? Maybe you should check out some epic stories and stylize something for the game. At the least, you could write some bawdy and discrediting rhymes (propoganda) about the enemy.

 

[DragonLancer]

There is character interaction, but it simply doesn't concern your character. There are wars, big things that go bang and everything else seems to be there, but it just doesn't seem to involve your character in any way.

As a DM, this is something that really bothers me. Characters who don't get themselves involved in the campaign plot but are more interested in doing their own thing and personal plots. They have their time and place but not to the extent that they overshadow or ignore the main plot.

If things don't involve your character try getting involved.Your DM will probably welcome your attempts to get involved with his plot, and put you more in the limelight. Its 50/50 after all. Theres no point in the DM trying to include you if your not doing the work as well.

 

[Telperion]

Thanks for the input people. I had a lengthy chat with my GM, and we are restructuring the campaign somewhat. The main problem seemed to be that the GM had a great idea. The characters werer created around this first great idea.

Then the GM had another great idea and implemented it on the fly. The unfortunate side effect is that this second great idea left four out of six players on the sidelines.

After having a talk the GM promised to look into the matter and see what he can do to put the campaign back on its original tracks. It would seem that this campaign was never meant to become a war campaign, where the characters are big leaders, intructors and such. Or, it could still develop into that kind of a campaign, but the game needs to advance quite a lot before we are really ready to lead hundreds, or even thousands, of soldiers into war.

I guess he just got caught up in this second great idea, and forgot what this campaign was all about for a while...

 

[milotha]

I've been there and done that also. I've had this happen in *one* campaign that I was in. After a day sitting at the table where I had absolutely NO opportunity to do ANYTHING, I spoke to the GM very bluntly about the situation. Did it change anything. No... Though he said he would. I quit the campaign and was much happier for it. It was a problem with the GM.

It sounds to me as if you were interested in playing, that you tried, but after a while of having no effect on the situation you gave up. It's called learned helplessness. Just get up and walk away. There are plenty of good games, go find one of them.

 

[Altalazar]

This is definitely a "talk to the DM" moment. But sometimes things are so far gone it can be hard to break the habit and fix it.

This is why it is so important to have a unified party with unified goals and skills from the very beginning of a campaign - and the DM needs to design things to include everyone from the outset.

If it is to be a heavy-military campaign, then that should be made clear and perhaps a Bard should not have been a part of the mix.

But that is rather too late to change. I wish you luck. It is obviously quite possible to shift the tone of the campaign to include you more. But if this doesn't happen, your only option may be to find another group, at least until that campaign is over.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

been there. done that. quit that group. i still have the scars.

Worse, I've run the game.:\

It took a good talking to by the players to bring the game back on track. In my case the problem is that I had written the campaign for my old group, the new group had entirely different interests (Mostly killing stuff...), while I like mysteries. And only two of the new players had any interest in mysteries and conspiracies (the meta-plot) so they got a lot more attention than the others, becuse they were going the direction I wanted.

So I had to regear my game. adding in combat, and trying to make it fit with the plot. They now know they are heading the right way when the BBEG gets worried and sends his thugs.

7th Sea's Game Master's Guide has a thing called the 'The Other 100 Points' where players assign points to the categories of adventure they would like to see: Intrigue Action Romance Exploration Military which gives a good 'at a glance aid' for the GM. I handed them around and built events for the game around it.

Information on this can be found at: http://www.tlucretius.net/7thSea/100pts.htm .

Yor GM might benifet from this.

The Auld Grump

 

[BlackMoria]

It would seem that this campaign was never meant to become a war campaign, where the characters are big leaders, intructors and such. Or, it could still develop into that kind of a campaign, but the game needs to advance quite a lot before we are really ready to lead hundreds, or even thousands, of soldiers into war.

Well, here is your moment to shine. You are a Bard, gifted with skills for dealing with people in a diplomatic sense. If the DM realizes that the war scenario has gone too far, perhaps it is time to negoiate a peace.

Which mean YOU. You can be the instrument of negoiating a lasting peace or perhaps just a cease fire if the DM wants to keep tensions simmering.

Imagine the roleplaying potential for you while you and some party members as a security element meet with the contigent from the enemy side. Imagine the potential if elements from one or both sides are not happy with the ideas of peace and try to sabotage the peace talks.

Wow, if I was your DM, I would see about a dozen variations of this theme that I could use and turn into a great plot hook.

Suggest it to him.