Do you trust the people you game with?

[xrpsuzi]

My story hour is different - the narrative VISION is to take what the system gives us and make it into something special, a kind of random confluence. But most of my campaigns have minimal system restrictions and heavy narrative restrictions.

[sarcasm]what madness is this? It sounds like you're trying to use RPG's to "role play"? Don't you know its about kewl stuff and killing and looting and rolling die! (unless you're a larper, then it's about hitting people with foam bats....) [/sarcasm]

Seasong, I've read your story hour and it's very good. I like games that have a strong narrative, because it helps players get into the game. Decisions of the character become decisions of suzi (I always play rogues, so my dilimnas tend to be on the moral side ....), and that depth of interaction does make the game more fun for me.

fight the good fight

suzi

 

[SamuraiY]

I can't trust a single one of the players in my group (well, maybe my brother...) I don't even trust the LG dwarven cleric of Moradin. I think he might actually worship Erithnul or someone. and before someone asks, no I AM NOT PARANOID! I have just had many...bad experiences with them before.

 

[Datt]

Well yes I trust them to play characters that will be fun and interesting. Although I don't think I have ever seen anyone play a chair. That might be interesting until one of the others try to sit on it.

 

[everchanging02]

Well, this is an interesting question, and something I had to consider when I was planning on running the game that (I hope) will start next week.
This will only be my second time GMing a game... I hand-picked the players from my group of friends. It is a Savage Species game that will allow the players to play whatever they wanted (up to LA +6 and total ECL 10).
I had heard stories of another game in which one of the players had been 'abusing', if you will, the <i>Polymorph Self</i> spell to polymorph into outsiders. In SS, there is a new feat that allows you to use a super natural ability of a form you have polymorphed into. After listening to friends talk about this feat, there was the concept of poly-ing into a Rakshasa and using the immunity to spells under 8th level supernatural ability.
Therefore, I had the idea to ban outsiders from being PCs, as I didn't want to run into this problem, being inexperienced as I am.
Later, upon talking to the player, it was explained that the game in which he was playing was supposed to be 'whored-out' (excuse the language) and that I could use a modification to the spell (such that a peice of the creature being polymorphed into would need to be in possession of the caster for the spell to work).
Therefore, I voted that I can trust most of them, but that some still need to be watched.

 

[Uzumaki]

Argh. I still hate my group. Some of you may remember how horrible they were from an earlier thread. Well, I decided I would try and give DMing them a chance.

Good lord.

I almost lost all of them the moment I said "First level, 32-point buy." The rest nearly went AWOL when I said "No evil characters." So far I have one person for sure, and everyone else is just kinda wavering in the middle. One person flat out refused.

Can someone save me? I live in San Diego. Surely there are other gamers in San Diego? There can't just be six out of 2 million people...

So, anyway, no, I don't trust my group. Not when I'm DMing for them, and vice versa.

 

[Sanackranib]

trust

Since I run my game at my home, I would only let in players I could trust. I have too much money invested in this hobby to do otherwise.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

I almost lost all of them the moment I said "First level, 32-point buy." The rest nearly went AWOL when I said "No evil characters." So far I have one person for sure, and everyone else is just kinda wavering in the middle. One person flat out refused.

Can someone save me? I live in San Diego. Surely there are other gamers in San Diego? There can't just be six out of 2 million people...

I live on the border of La Jolla and University City... Would be interested in playing in a weekly game or so, provided it's somewhere I can get to with reasonable ease (have no car, but plenty of ranks in Knowledge (Public Transit)). I normally game with my roommates, and it's fun, but wouldn't mind playing in a game that's taken a bit more seriously (they're video gamers who can appreciate the benefits and freedoms of an open-ended game system... but not exactly role-players)

 

[Kal Skid]

My regular gaming group consists of two players--a GM and a PC. There is a huge amount of trust. I have yet to verify one of his rolls, and we do a lot of the dungeon design together.

So far, it hasn't been an issue. Doubt it will be.

 

[Jenale]

I've left games because as a player I could not trust the DM. In the first case, he'd asked for 1st level characters, and then gave us an adventure in which our only chance for survival was to stand back and let the 5th level NPCs do everything. Gee, that was fun. Second case, the DM blatently favored another player, then went and changed my PCs action because he thought my PC would get killed (my POV: my character, my choice to take the risk), and to me that was the last straw. Third one was an on-line play-by-post game with a DM so overcontrolling that I was signing in just to find out what my character had done. I might as well have been reading a fantasy novel (not that there's anything wrong with that) as playing--and since I felt like he had 95% control over my character's actions, it wasn't that much of a wrench to say, "why don't you just take the character over completely". Of course, over 20 years of playing, I guess that's not a horrible record.

The games that I still play in, I trust my DMs to create an adventure that I'm going to enjoy (and in which I am the one who controls my character).

The games I DM, I feel that my players do put in a lot of effort in terms of roleplay, but I have put some restrictions in place for character creation so that their characters do fit into my homebrew world. Of course, I also tend to create adventures that hinge as much on whether the character can stay true to stated ideals as on whether the characters can overcome external foes, and even straight 18s (not that I would allow that) won't help achieve the internal victory.

 

[Quickbeam]

I voted for Option #2. Most of the people in my group are there to have a good time within the confines of the rules, and help promote a pleasant atmosphere in and out of character. But there are one or two players who like to push the envelope from time to time by tweaking their PC's abilities or equipment. Needless to say, I keep my eye on them.