Faolyn
(she/her)
I'm not resentful when the bard takes game time to recite poems and sagas that the player actually wrote.As a player at that table, I'd resent every single second that you spent on your sidebar. If it became a habit, I would quit the group. The fact that you care so little about what anyone else thinks is fun, in order to make your own fun the highest priority is the last thing I want from a fellow player.
I'm not resentful when the cleric takes game time to have vision (or actual) quests.
I'm not resentful when the fighter takes game time to explore his background (the player went for amnesiac) or had long, personal moments with his adoptive family.
We don't resent each other when one player gets a bit of extra screen time, because we know that everyone will get a chance to shine. At the end of each session, we give out two inspiration. One is awarded by the DM. The other is awarded by the players as a group. The players game me inspiration for my "sidebar," just like we give them inspiration for when they do things like I wrote above.
I have asked the other players to tell out of character me if my actions are hurting the game, because I know that chaotic neutral is a very iffy alignment. Out of character, am I, Faolyn, doing things that are harmful to the other players' enjoyment of the game? You know what? They always say no. And since we as a group are very good at expressing our feelings to one another like adults, especially when one person does something that is bothersome to another, I can trust that they actually mean no, not that they actually mean yes but are trying to be polite.
And if it were just a talky moment that had no hooks or mechanical issues, the DM would have done that--and has done that. But I think you ignored the bit where there was actually important information. I guess I wasn't clear about it: this was a literal encounter the DM had planned for, in case one of us decided to go to the fortune teller's. The DM wasn't "forced" to come up with something for me. This was something already written up.As a DM, my reaction would be, "Ok, you talk to the fortune teller. We'll deal with that over email (or whatever format you care for) during the week between sessions.
It's like the thing with the five boats, where two of the boats had backstories and a purpose other than just "ferry the players somewhere."
My own upcoming game has numerous NPCs that have their own plot hooks. Some of them connect to the main plot; others, to side-plots. They're all there in case the PCs want to talk to the NPCs, not because they have to talk to the NPCs.
None of these sidebars are pointless. I'm not going to write red herrings for no good reason. A side-plot may not lead to the main plot, but it will lead to something meaningful.
Superior? Well, the other players at my table and I are having fun. Are you? Because you certainly don't seem to be.I would then deliberately turn away from you to the rest of the group and I would not come back to you until after they had dealt with the temple.
This is the exact opposite of what I want from a game or a player.
You keep telling me to change how I game. As if the way you game is somehow "superior". That it's somehow more fun.
I have to wonder, if any sort of diversion upsets you, how are you expressing this at the table? Are you pretending that everything is hunky-dory, or are you complaining like you're complaining here?I've gamed at those kinds of tables. They are the furthest thing from fun for me. They work for you? Great. Different strokes. But, insisting that I should somehow start playing the way you want to play, so that we spend even MORE time on pointless sidebars, forcing the DM to constantly come up with stuff that rewards your spotlight hogging, is the last thing I want at a table.