DM Intervention

[Morrus]

I'm changing my answer and defecting the "it's not your business any more" camp. However, if it should happen to come up in conversation with him, it might be one worth having.

 

[DonTadow]

I have been leaning more towards the mind my own business. The only reason I entertained the thought of intervening is , before my wife quit, she wanted me to talk to him. Now I have no vested interest other than the gripes i hear at my game and wanting to see a friend succeed.

My wife has told me the reason that they die is because the DM does not adjust the module to 2 "eccentric" personality players. One player is the kind of guy who hates feeling like he's on a railroad. So he goes off and does things that will not be obvious. He does not like to powergame, and makes characters that he has described as "useless".

The other guy is a powergamer who likes to test his powerful builds by seeking over the top challenges.

These two guys barely get along in real life, and thus never work well together unless you give them a thread that unites their two obsessions.

My wife described an inccident last night of the last TPK. They were walking across a field, there are tracks of a lvl 15 creature (they are 5). Instead of going to the town like they are suppose to. player 1 goes to hunt down the creature. Player two goes along to test his character out. The other two characters walked away but out of guilt went to help in the end. TPK.

Also, they tend to rarely have a full session, so often 2 or 3 people will be missing, but the DM never scales down the module.

 

[Halivar]

My wife has told me the reason that they die is because the DM does not adjust the module to 2 "eccentric" personality players. One player is the kind of guy who hates feeling like he's on a railroad. So he goes off and does things that will not be obvious. He does not like to powergame, and makes characters that he has described as "useless".

The other guy is a powergamer who likes to test his powerful builds by seeking over the top challenges.

These two guys barely get along in real life, and thus never work well together unless you give them a thread that unites their two obsessions.

This changes everything. I'm beginning to see this as a player problem, not a DM problem. Yes, the DM can (and should) scale things. But these guys are coming and griping to you about things they can fix themselves.

 

[Morrus]

These two guys barely get along in real life

Well, that would be a problem to me in itself. Why are they engaging in a social activity generally shared with your friends with each other if they don't like each other? I wouldn't go to the pub with someone I don't like; I wouldn't see a movie with someone I don't like; I wouldn't go out for dinner with someone I don't like; and I wouldn't play a game with someone I don't like. I don't get it - my gaming group has to be my friends, to me.

 

[nedjer]

Might be easier just to run a game for your wife

 

[the Jester]

This changes everything. I'm beginning to see this as a player problem, not a DM problem. Yes, the DM can (and should) scale things. But these guys are coming and griping to you about things they can fix themselves.

Sure, but it's still a no-win to get involved.

 

[billd91]

It sounds to me like your job is to be a neutral bystander. If someone comes to talk to you about it, bend an ear. Offer advice as a disinterested party. Do NOT take sides.

To me, it sounds like a combo of DM rigidity and dysfunctional player dynamics. And those, as play styles (using that term loosely), don't mix.

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

A lot of people will cry foul at this and say, "But no, the DM has to CATER to the PLAYERS!" Yeah, whatever. The DM does a thousand times more work to make a game happen than does a player and then players do nothing but complain and whine about how they aren't getting what they want. How about, "Thanks DM for putting hours and hours and hours into your games for us so that we can all hang around and enjoy the results that are watered down to about 10 hours prep for one hour of gaming! You're awesome!"? Hmm? How about that?

As a DM, I want my players to enjoy the session. Yeah, it's a ton of work, especially for someone as obsessive about details as I am. I easily put in 10 hours a session planning and plotting. But if I'm the only one having fun at the gaming table, I've failed (regardless of the amount of effort I've put into the game).

I enjoy the planning and plotting outside of the game. It's part of the fun I have running the game. However, the payoff to that planning and plotting is how the players react to it.

People seem perversely focused on their own enjoyment and forget that the DM is a PLAYER as well. Only for the game to even happen, he's the only player that has to put in any actual effort and then at game time, he is STILL having to do fifty times more than any one single player. Do you think he gets fifty times the reward or benefit or fun out of games? It's easy to criticise a DM and yet I find the most vocal players are also the ones who either don't step up to the DM chair, or can't.

So instead of complaining, how about trying to adapt to HIS style instead of forcing him to adapt to yours?

If a player was having fun at the expensive of the other players, a good DM would step in and address the problem. What you describe is the DM having fun at the expensive of the players and justifying it by saying the DM has a lot of work to do. The DM as both Referee and Storyteller has a ton of power at the gaming table. All of that power is derived from his players. If you abuse that power, you will soon find yourself writing fiction instead of running a game.


To the OP, unless I was playing in the game, I wouldn't say anything. That's a hornet's nest you don't want to kick. Nothing good can come out of it.

 

[Halivar]

Sure, but it's still a no-win to get involved.

If he could get the gripers to change their behavior, perhaps this whole problem could be solved without stepping on the DM's toes. After all, if these players are coming to him with concerns, then I would consider it fair play to point out how they aren't helping the situation.

 

[S'mon]

My gut feeling is that the DM should get himself some different players. It doesn't sound as if these players fit his DMing style at all.