STARP_JVP
First Post
This forum is either:
a) an opportunity for you to air legitimate grievances against current or past DMs whose campaigns have become other than that which they started out as;
b) a chance for any DMs here to reflect with criticism on their past mistakes;
c) the perfect place to bitch about your DM or players.
Which do you think will be the most common?
My campaign jumped the shark. I didn't want it to, and I didn't intend it to. It had been going downhill for a while, with some NPCs that were becoming a bit too central to the whole process. But the JTS moment came thusly:
The PCs were on a ship, sailing around. The ship's captain, a PC, was tracking down her arch enemy, a pirate who'd kept her prisoner for years. They ran into the same pirates, but they'd changed their ways, and instead of being bloodthirsty cutthroats, were now entrepeneurs who did childrens' parties and laid on functions for tourists. The old leader, the nemesis, had been overthrown and was still the same old pirate, though he'd been locked in a dungeon for ten years. He'd gone mad, and when the PCs found him the one who desired revenge left him there rather than kill him.
In my defence, before I go on, the premise of the adventure was sound. I had actually expected the PCs to be just a tad curious about the activities of these pretend pirates, and to do a little detective work, uncovering that the whole thing was a front for something a lot more sinister and dangerous. Also in my defence, the player concerned had never articulated to me how strongly the character desired revenge.
Instead of investigating, the PCs just ignored the pirates and went looking for their target. The whole adventure got bypassed, and most of the players complained they had nothing to do. The lead PC had wanted a fight - he'd wanted to have a serious, straight-up duel with his nemesis and kill him. Now, again, in my defence, had that desire been articulated more clearly I would have provided it.
Nevertheless, the campaign jumped the shark at this point and shortly thereafter my players staged a mass exodus. It's all water under the bridge, we've all moved on and my new campaign continues as a roaring success, but it just goes to show how something cool can turn into something sucky so easily, if your players are a bunch of dumb-arses! Sorry, lost it for a moment there. Stupid players stupid stupid stupid players sorry, lost it again. I think I need to lie down...
a) an opportunity for you to air legitimate grievances against current or past DMs whose campaigns have become other than that which they started out as;
b) a chance for any DMs here to reflect with criticism on their past mistakes;
c) the perfect place to bitch about your DM or players.
Which do you think will be the most common?
My campaign jumped the shark. I didn't want it to, and I didn't intend it to. It had been going downhill for a while, with some NPCs that were becoming a bit too central to the whole process. But the JTS moment came thusly:
The PCs were on a ship, sailing around. The ship's captain, a PC, was tracking down her arch enemy, a pirate who'd kept her prisoner for years. They ran into the same pirates, but they'd changed their ways, and instead of being bloodthirsty cutthroats, were now entrepeneurs who did childrens' parties and laid on functions for tourists. The old leader, the nemesis, had been overthrown and was still the same old pirate, though he'd been locked in a dungeon for ten years. He'd gone mad, and when the PCs found him the one who desired revenge left him there rather than kill him.
In my defence, before I go on, the premise of the adventure was sound. I had actually expected the PCs to be just a tad curious about the activities of these pretend pirates, and to do a little detective work, uncovering that the whole thing was a front for something a lot more sinister and dangerous. Also in my defence, the player concerned had never articulated to me how strongly the character desired revenge.
Instead of investigating, the PCs just ignored the pirates and went looking for their target. The whole adventure got bypassed, and most of the players complained they had nothing to do. The lead PC had wanted a fight - he'd wanted to have a serious, straight-up duel with his nemesis and kill him. Now, again, in my defence, had that desire been articulated more clearly I would have provided it.
Nevertheless, the campaign jumped the shark at this point and shortly thereafter my players staged a mass exodus. It's all water under the bridge, we've all moved on and my new campaign continues as a roaring success, but it just goes to show how something cool can turn into something sucky so easily, if your players are a bunch of dumb-arses! Sorry, lost it for a moment there. Stupid players stupid stupid stupid players sorry, lost it again. I think I need to lie down...
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
