MechaPilot
Explorer
I tend not to have an issue with dark games or adult themes, but my biggest deal breaker is the presence of certain non-consensual content in the game. I've been in a game where that stuff came up when the party was captured. No one warned me ahead of time that such content was allowed in that game (I would have declined to join if I had known), and the DM was insistent that the scene be RP'd despite my being very obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable with the situation.
Now that I think about it, most of my dealbreakers are not rules related. I'm generally willing to try different things with regard to rules: sometimes they work out to be fun for me, sometimes they don't. However, players (or DMs) who are disrespectful of others, who let out-of-game matters influence how they run/play the game (I recall playing with a pair of siblings who used to bring their fights into the game so often that virtually every session that they played in together resulted in PvP. This also covers DM favoritism toward girlfriends and such, or when a DM/player thinks he can get something out of me out of game by giving me things in game).
As far as rules-based dealbreakers go, the only ones that immediately come to mind are rules that result in permanent losses (especially as a result of dumb luck). I don't like level, xp, or ability drains. Xp drain is the least offensive to me as long as it can't result in level loss, but it's just not fun for me to lose things that I've worked for to a roll of the dice (that's probably the same reason why I don't find gambling to be fun). And ability drain is probably the most offensive to me of those three. It would be different if you could train to increase your ability scores instead of having to spend systemic resources on them, at least then you could regain what you lost, but the cascade effect that ability reduction has on feats and other things (especially in prior editions) just means it's not worth the extra bookkeeping (and I'm a tax accountant saying this).
This last one is not a dealbreaker for me, but it is a MAJOR pet peeve: attribute requirements for things like feats and MC'ing. I have never seen any legitimate justification for these. Being allowed to take those feats or class levels while failing to meet those requirements never results in being more powerful than when you meet or exceed the requirements. Now sometimes people try to throw "realism" in there by saying that those attribute requirements are there because only someone who excels at certain things can pick up that feat or level in that class while also adventuring. That argument never holds much water with me since most of the DMs that I've played under require no period of training before a feat or class level kicks in. No. Instead, they usually gain the class level during whatever interval when people normally level up (often during an adventure). In several cases, I've been in groups who have ended sessions by resting at an inn for the night with the DM telling the players to level up their character before the next session. Those players who opted to MC end up gaining an entirely new class after just eight hours of sleep, without having ever studied magic or whatever during the gaming sessions or in their downtime.
Sorry about the rant. Like I said, it's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
Now that I think about it, most of my dealbreakers are not rules related. I'm generally willing to try different things with regard to rules: sometimes they work out to be fun for me, sometimes they don't. However, players (or DMs) who are disrespectful of others, who let out-of-game matters influence how they run/play the game (I recall playing with a pair of siblings who used to bring their fights into the game so often that virtually every session that they played in together resulted in PvP. This also covers DM favoritism toward girlfriends and such, or when a DM/player thinks he can get something out of me out of game by giving me things in game).
As far as rules-based dealbreakers go, the only ones that immediately come to mind are rules that result in permanent losses (especially as a result of dumb luck). I don't like level, xp, or ability drains. Xp drain is the least offensive to me as long as it can't result in level loss, but it's just not fun for me to lose things that I've worked for to a roll of the dice (that's probably the same reason why I don't find gambling to be fun). And ability drain is probably the most offensive to me of those three. It would be different if you could train to increase your ability scores instead of having to spend systemic resources on them, at least then you could regain what you lost, but the cascade effect that ability reduction has on feats and other things (especially in prior editions) just means it's not worth the extra bookkeeping (and I'm a tax accountant saying this).
This last one is not a dealbreaker for me, but it is a MAJOR pet peeve: attribute requirements for things like feats and MC'ing. I have never seen any legitimate justification for these. Being allowed to take those feats or class levels while failing to meet those requirements never results in being more powerful than when you meet or exceed the requirements. Now sometimes people try to throw "realism" in there by saying that those attribute requirements are there because only someone who excels at certain things can pick up that feat or level in that class while also adventuring. That argument never holds much water with me since most of the DMs that I've played under require no period of training before a feat or class level kicks in. No. Instead, they usually gain the class level during whatever interval when people normally level up (often during an adventure). In several cases, I've been in groups who have ended sessions by resting at an inn for the night with the DM telling the players to level up their character before the next session. Those players who opted to MC end up gaining an entirely new class after just eight hours of sleep, without having ever studied magic or whatever during the gaming sessions or in their downtime.
Sorry about the rant. Like I said, it's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
