Does your group have a "main character"?

[Munin]

The solution is pretty simple my friend.

Get with the rest of your group (besides Jim and the DM) and plot.
The next time the party rests for the night, murder Jim's character in his sleep. Do the same with his dragon cohort. Then do the little happy man dance around his flayed carcass, whilst acting it out in real life around the gaming table. Point and laugh. Throw dice if it makes you feel better. Think of it as therapy for six years of abuse.

The DM and Jim will of course be very angry about this, but not to worry, in the long run they will thank you.

Once they storm out (or if you're gaming at their house, kick you out), simply gather the remainder of the group and run your own game.

You'll have fun, because you can actually play some d&d for a change, and Jim and the exDM will be happy, because they can now play their own little god game to their merry heart's content. The rest of the party was just plot dressing anyways.

And no, I'm not kidding.

 

[Wippit Guud]

Ugh... bad topic... because it seems I'm this player in my campaign, but for a completely different reason - nobody else does anything constructive.

I even specifically asked my DM if I could play a 6 int half-orc, just to try to get the rest of the party to do something, because I'm sick of always havig to take the lead... and then I find out that during the times I have to take care of my son for 10 or 15 minutes, the game all but stops, because none of them know what to do!

I'm playing a guy with an 7 str and an 8 dex because I didn't want to be the leader... but even with that, I'm always the one taking the initiative.

 

[Elf Witch]

Ugh... bad topic... because it seems I'm this player in my campaign, but for a completely different reason - nobody else does anything constructive.

I even specifically asked my DM if I could play a 6 int half-orc, just to try to get the rest of the party to do something, because I'm sick of always havig to take the lead... and then I find out that during the times I have to take care of my son for 10 or 15 minutes, the game all but stops, because none of them know what to do!

I'm playing a guy with an 7 str and an 8 dex because I didn't want to be the leader... but even with that, I'm always the one taking the initiative.

I know how this felt I often drove our old campaign I picked up on the plot hooks and got the party to follow them. I wasn't trying to be center stage I just wanted the story and the game to move forward and be about more than let's make magic items.

it wasn't that the other players were not getting it. It was more like they sit and wait for the DM to literly throw the hook at them. And as for interactions with nPCs thye saw them mostly as a way to get information or supplies. I saw them as more and so the NPCs became a rich part of the game. And no they didn't come in and overshadow the characters we just had a rich history with them.

Everyone who is saying this DM and Jim are bad shouldn't really be saying that because we have not heard their side. Maybe the other players didn't pick up the ball and the DM has just found that it is easier because he knows Jim will do it.

Regardless if this is a problem talk open your mouth and get a discussion going. If people are having isues with the game and they don't say anything then resentment builds up and when it finally comes out it can be very bad.

I speak from bitter experience this last week has almost seen the break up of my group that have been together for a long time. One player has left, I am seriuosly thinking of leaving I am going to give it one more try. And the sad thing is that the final straw was not realy that big we have had far worse. But the resentment had quietly ben building.

 

[drakhe]

it might be a clichee but it's a paladin

The group I DM for has a pivotal character, a Paladin.

It was not intended as such, but the backstory I worked out kinde revolves arround the paladin.

keeping it simple:

- paladin is unaligned (not chosen deity)
- during first session some bad rolling turned the session into almost disaster
- I decided on a diviine intervention, giving the paladin a deity
- but then <insert evil grin> I also gave him a foe: a drow high-priestess of Lolth
is seeking a general to lead her army against the surface dwellers and casts her eye upon the (not yet firmly alligned) paladin

The rest of the party is asked to keep an eye on the paladin by the chosen deity (Kord) as He can't or won't interfere directly