Does your group have a "main character"?

[Ylis]

See, I recently played in a game like this. Only I was the "protagonist" character. There was another character in the group that also had a long play-time, but not quite as long.

Now, I refuse to play the "protagonist" most times, but we had 4 newbies to RPG, so I had to in order to help them learn how to play.

Only the other long-played character ended up talking the newbies into plotting against me through some nice side-gaming, using the fact that the GM was giving me all the "cool jobs" and ignoring them (which was sort of true...I got all the "cool jobs" since I could do them, but he didn't ignore them at all)....

Anyway, to make a long story short, they tried to blow me up by rigging my rooms with c4, only to find out that they miswired (they botched...severely...which is why you don't try stuff like that as a new character).

Well, the point is this: not all long-standing characters try to play the protagonist, nor want to. Sometimes it's just how things fall into place, or it's the GM's idea. If this person falls into this category, you could perhaps talk to him about it and together get the GM to quit planning his stories around one person. Otherwise, if the protagonist is the reason behind this, I'd say talk to the GM. It's not much fun playing a game with just one player, so they might see the light about the situation.

If not, there's always C-4 Just don't botch

 

[Desdichado]

Nope. We don't have anything like that. I don't think our group would put up with it; it's pretty lousy DMing, in my opinion.

Again, just talk to the guy. Don't wait for a meta session, and bring it up in front of everyone, just talk to the DM 1x1. Don't let it go until you're really bitter and you can't help but be confrontational.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

I know that I'm somewhat of a "Main" character in one of the games I play in, or, more accurately, I pretty much became the main character in the last few sessions.

Backstory: in 2ed, I made an elven fighter/wizard. As a player, I got tired of the fighter/wizard concept, and with the DM, I discussed a way to become a full-fledged wizard instead. My father was a guard captain, and my mother taught me how to use magic. I renounced my fighterly ways in a pseudo-ceremony in the desert. I broke my (magic) weapons and swore off fighting. I had a dream, and when I woke up, I was a wizard, I was given an artifact that belonged to my mother's side of the family. A prism that had powers and drawbacks.

More recently, I expressed the desire to get rid of this artifact. The drawbacks (much more damage from cold attacks and water is like acid to me) and becoming too much of a burden (for me, but for my character mostly). Now the DM has arranged for us to enter a pocket dimension, contained somehow inside my prism, in which we must defeat guardians in order to eventually be able to get rid of my artifact (which is kind of cursed).

I admit that I felt kind of "bad" when the DM announced this, since I don't want my character to be the focus of the game. I hope the other players don't feel too left out. I just hope that they can be incorporated as much as possible into this part of the story (we've also been at this game for a loong time... probably 4 years or so).


AR

 

[Matafuego]

Well it happened to me once
it was pretty funny this one session where "the chosen one of the DM" had to play an archery contest in the street vs a bragging thug and was very VERY bad about it. So I (a ranger) demanded to play, since I wasn't an expert in archery (and neither was him) it took me only a few lucky shots to win to this guy, and he wouldn't let me play (the DM) and told the other player to take more shots but standing nearer the blank....
Anyway.. we all quit that campaign, even the "chosen one" that got tired of playing once we all started to quit (the DM never seemed to pay attention to our complaints, he even encouraged us to develop a background but when we wanted to put it into play he refused blatantly and ignored us...)
the campaing is still running, with this dm, his brother and his friend (who loves rping and is now the main character in that campaign, the new chosen one)

I don't know how to help you with this, but confrontation may be the only way out...

 

[willpax]

I've set up my current campaign to have one focus character--the cleric/aristocrat, who is the linchpin for the current group. He's the one with the calling and the political stake that the larger plots revolve around, and all the other characters have jobs defined in relation to his position.

That said, the actual game play is anything but centered on that character. Being the political leader, he can't be everywhere all the time. Indeed, one character has developed into the "dirty work" specialist--he does the jobs that he thinks are useful, but too morally dubious to involve the leader in. It's been fun for everyone.

There are some dangers. I made this decision in hopes of getting this player more involved, and offering some carrots to the person who would play the healer (not a popular role in our group, and I'm tired of supplying a useful NPC for the purpose). Nevertheless, he isn't a consistently great role player, which makes the center weak some sessions. On the other hand, that gives the other players more room to work. I also think that, as a DM, I have to go out of my way to ensure that every player gets some "screen time" during each session, so I try to provide encounters that will allow each of the characters to show of their particular strengths.

 

[silentspace]

Has anyone talked to Jim about it? Your meta discussion could go a lot better if Jim was on your side.

 

[MarauderX]

Are "Jim" and the DM in love? Ask your DM about it. Perhaps "Jim" has spent and extraordinary amount of time interacting with the DM 1-on-1 via email or underneath the sheets. Either way, you are neglected and it's time to start your own group or find another if they are going to be using the game to flirt.

 

[Aristotle]

I DM almost exclusively. In my current (D&D) campaign I don't see much of this happening, but it was sort of an issue in most of the (White Wolf and Shadowrun) campaigns I've run in the past.

In the multiple White Wolf campaigns I've run there has always seemed to be one character that the storyline came to focus on. The reason for this was that I was relying on the characters' backgrounds for plot hooks and most of the players refused to give me a viable background for their characters. Anything over four sentences was asking to much of them. So I took what I had for them and attempted to expand upon it, but the character with the two page background with all sorts of cool plot hooks built in easily became the campaign focus.

Other players sometimes complained about "everything being about so-and-so", but when I would practically beg them for additional background material they would say they didn't want to give me fodder to use against their characters. Uh... conflict is what makes things interesting!

Shadowrun was a little different. I had a new player (one of my regular players' girlfriend) with a great deal of potential. She gave me a good starting background, and I pushed her character into the spotlight a little. Her character became the "main character" but all of my more experienced players were cool with it. They were just happy to see how well she adapted to gaming and enjoyed using their characters to further the storyline (they had their moments too though).

 

[frankthedm]

My group has a similar issue, but mostly i blame the other players...

"Mr. E" is most often the 'main' charater, while a little stat greedy, he does try to get into character.

"Dom Sol-Kanar" is a lazy bum in real life and doesn't get too deep into character. and if he can't afford smokes that week, he role plays a great sloth.

"Host" Doesn't seem to care about a lot as long as we are playing and something is dying foe, npc or PC.

"Carpenter" Is chaotic greedy and goes for even oviousy trapped loot. he doesn't show up regulary

"Mr. ADD" or "Mr.pass me a character sheet" is suicidal and making him a plot device is a waste of time unlesss the goal is keep the chaotic stupid pc alive.

 

[Acid_crash]

As a DM I can say that this has happened in a couple of my games. The reason why this ended up happening is due to a couple factors: A) Only a couple players wrote up any kind of background whatsoever, and I am a DM that creates stories based on backgrounds, and all the players were told this more than once...B) Those that wrote backgrounds roleplayed their characters better and put more effort into the game...C) The other players only wanted a hack fest and I told them in advance that that is not the kind of games that I run.

Based on that, I didn't feel sorry for those that complained two months later when they told me that they felt I was being unfair towards them. I told them that the more they put into the game, and the more they put into their characters, the more they will get out of it, and the more I can work them into the game. That's how I run my games as DM, and they knew what they were getting into when I told them I run character driven games and not hack fests.

But, if your DM isn't listening, then it's more his fault than yours.