DMs sure can make life hard... :(

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Your DM is a jerk and IMO so are you if you choose playing with him over playing with your son. Really, I can't even fathom why you would even be having this conversation.

Just for the record, I have not chosen playing with this group over my son.

Thanks.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

2. Let's NOT call the poster a jerk about his and his son's play choices, shall we? We don't know anything about their relationship, his son's opinions on the matter, or his long term plans.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I guess the message didn't make it through, but I thought I posted another message that Kyle and I were running a campaign here at home with some of his work and college buddies. He was also looking at the local community college, where D&D games are played quite a bit.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

I will say that I don't particularly approve of posting his first and last name in these quoted mails. I'd have kept it first name only, or refer to him by an alias. Even if he is a jerk, he might get get upset if he googles himself and finds this ;-)

Dang, I didn't realize I had done that. I stripped the actual e-mail addresses and forgot to edit that part. Corrected now. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

So being rude to this DM is probably not the way to go. I read the emails, and I saw him as being defensive more than anything else. The encounter presented had only 2 problems:

- 9 PC's

- level+7 soldiers

Granted, both of those are firmly in the DM's hands to fix, but I have been a DM who prepared for 7 and got 11, I know it is tough to add to an encounter on the fly and not make it suck. Do we know what his *original* plan was?

This is not the first thread you have started discussing your DMing woes. Have you talked to him, frankly and honestly about it? Sure, an email with a list of grievances may seem like enough, but a face to face where he can understand that you are serious sound in order. If that is to awkward for you, I'm not sure you have a leg to stand on. Really, the goal is for you and he to both enjoy yourselves playing D&D. If that is not addressed, then you should enjoy yourselves *seperately*, but do please give him a chance to try it your way.

Jay

In almost every instance during a session, that I brought up some particular point or the other, where I disagreed with the way they were doing something, it came back to the "I don't care how WOTC and 4e does it" syndrome.

In a few instances, when several people were involved, we made headway.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Thank you, I appreciate that. I guess the message didn't make it through, but I thought I posted another message that Kyle and I were running a campaign here at home with some of his work and college buddies. He was also looking at the local community college, where D&D games are played quite a bit.

That's awesome. Really glad to hear that at least.

 

[Holy Bovine]

In almost every instance during a session, that I brought up some particular point or the other, where I disagreed with the way they were doing something, it came back to the "I don't care how WOTC and 4e does it" syndrome.

In a few instances, when several people were involved, we made headway.

Now there might be a problem. Bringing this stuff up while the game is runnign could be annoying to the DM (and other players). I would simply make a note of whatever stood out to you and brought it up after the session. I really don't know/think this will help as this DM really seems to have a bug up his ass about WotC & 4E. Honestly if he is disliking it I question why he continues to run it.

 

[Turtlejay]

Now there might be a problem. Bringing this stuff up while the game is runnign could be annoying to the DM (and other players). I would simply make a note of whatever stood out to you and brought it up after the session. I really don't know/think this will help as this DM really seems to have a bug up his ass about WotC & 4E. Honestly if he is disliking it I question why he continues to run it.

Exactly. Many DM's do not like to stop the game for rules disputes. I can't see why one would want to stop one when your issue is with encounter composition. What is he going to do, rewind and set you against something else? It breaks versimilitude, and it takes up what could be rare and precious gaming time.

Also, you would both benefit from some distance from the issue. Doing it *in the moment* might make you both dig in your heels. It certainly feels like that is what your DM did.

I would also avoid doing it more than one on one. It might feel like you were ganging up on him. Avoid mentioning what the others feel, and just approach him with your thoughts. Bring up what you have been told on this forum, about player level and encounter level. He probably will feel at least a little offended, but you have to get past that. Both of you.

Of course, this is all funny coming from me, I don't have the balls to do something like this. I'd make someone else do it.

Jay

 

[eamon]

Exactly. Many DM's do not like to stop the game for rules disputes. I can't see why one would want to stop one when your issue is with encounter composition. What is he going to do, rewind and set you against something else? It breaks versimilitude, and it takes up what could be rare and precious gaming time.

Both as a player and a DM I strongly feel that quick rules discussions can be very valuable to have on the spot. You want them to be as rare as possible, as quick as possible, and not to be disruptive, but just saying "because I say so" can be much worse. What you don't want to have happen is that some rules misunderstanding dramatically affects the outcome of some encounter, so if that's the risk, I think it's appropriate to do a limited on the spot discussion.

That's not supposed to be an excuse to question the DM every combat, but to keep things flowing smoothly and consistently; I hate retconning - better to fix honest errors right away, particularly if they're serious.