Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Some background first - we're playing a Pathfinder game set in Greyhawk (though the DM has tinkered with the history in some minor ways). I'm playing a war master, alongside a rogue, a warlock, and an erudite (a variant psion). We've all just made 3rd level.
Recently, our DM has been telling us that we're not role-playing our characters enough; that he has no sense of who our characters really are, how they'd react to various situations, etc. And, in all honesty, he's right - we're not really role-playing so much as just moving things along from one combat encounter to another, with breaks to rest and buy new equipment.
After today's game ended and the GM left, however, the rest of us started to talk about why that was so. We came to the conclusion that the DM was a fairly large part of the problem. None of the NPCs we've met thus far, for example, have had a name...for that matter, the name of our starting town (where we still are) was one that I had to prompt him to give us during this last session. Simply put, we realized that while we're not role-playing, it's largely because he hasn't given us anything to really work with.
Now, to be fair, he has tried to start laying down a backstory. He's hinting that our warlock's father was a big figure in the Great Kingdom (the big bad empire in the last war), and that he's coming back...but most of the rest of us have largely been left out in the cold in terms of any sort of environment or NPCs that we can use to develop our characters. So yeah, there's blame to go around, I suppose.
Eventually, we came to a decision to, as our erudite called it, "LoJack the campaign." In other words, we decided that if the DM wasn't going to provide us with details to flesh out our starting town, where we should by all rights have some connections, if not deep roots, then we're going to do it ourselves. We all started brainstorming some ideas, and I wanted to ask you guys for your thoughts on what we've got, and any other ideas we may have.
Here's what we've come up with so far.
Beyond that, we're certainly open to suggestions. One thing I tossed out was that our PCs come up with characters to whom we have significant personal ties - e.g. family, love interests, etc. I'm considering charting out my character's family history, and maybe an NPC girlfriend in town. Likewise, we want to start putting some of the treasure we've gained from adventuring back into the community (not dissimilar to what's in Pathfinder #32's kingdom-building rules, but we're not using those).
At this point, our DM doesn't know about our shift in focus, and to be honest we're keeping it that way until we're down with what exactly we're going to do. It's not meant to be antagonistic; it's just that our DM has a fairly narrow vision of how the campaign should proceed, and it usually takes considerable effort on our part to change his mind on anything (and changing DM's isn't an option - nobody else is available to, or really wants to). Hence, we're going to heavily shift our focus to laying down strong community ties.
So, what else can we do?
Recently, our DM has been telling us that we're not role-playing our characters enough; that he has no sense of who our characters really are, how they'd react to various situations, etc. And, in all honesty, he's right - we're not really role-playing so much as just moving things along from one combat encounter to another, with breaks to rest and buy new equipment.
After today's game ended and the GM left, however, the rest of us started to talk about why that was so. We came to the conclusion that the DM was a fairly large part of the problem. None of the NPCs we've met thus far, for example, have had a name...for that matter, the name of our starting town (where we still are) was one that I had to prompt him to give us during this last session. Simply put, we realized that while we're not role-playing, it's largely because he hasn't given us anything to really work with.
Now, to be fair, he has tried to start laying down a backstory. He's hinting that our warlock's father was a big figure in the Great Kingdom (the big bad empire in the last war), and that he's coming back...but most of the rest of us have largely been left out in the cold in terms of any sort of environment or NPCs that we can use to develop our characters. So yeah, there's blame to go around, I suppose.
Eventually, we came to a decision to, as our erudite called it, "LoJack the campaign." In other words, we decided that if the DM wasn't going to provide us with details to flesh out our starting town, where we should by all rights have some connections, if not deep roots, then we're going to do it ourselves. We all started brainstorming some ideas, and I wanted to ask you guys for your thoughts on what we've got, and any other ideas we may have.
Here's what we've come up with so far.
- The erudite takes a hand in running his local psionics school. The DM has already let it slip that at 3rd-level, the erudite is equal to the headmaster at the small local psionics school. Given that, he wants to start taking an active hand in teaching psionics, loaning some students to temporarily serve with the town guard (my area), and spend some of his gold to expand on the school (he's the richest member of the party currently). This includes his player charting down some NPCs at the place (e.g. names, descriptions, etc. for 1st-level psionic characters).
- - I take an active part at the local war college/barracks. My character has been staying at a combination war college/barracks. What goes on here, how many soldiers are stationed here, who's in command here - none of these have ever been established. My plan is to ask to take command of this, and by default the town's guards/militia. If the DM objects, my character's response would be to petition the authorities, noting all the good I've done thus far (including testimony from the people we've saved).
Ideally, this would lead to posting a greater patrol of the surrounding areas (goblin raids have been a problem), building some sort of local defense (there's barely a fence around the town), and generally working to keep the place safe and prosperous. Like the erudite, I'd also like to chart out some key NPCs for my character to interact with.
- - The rogue makes deeper connections to the local community. The rogue has a day job as a waitress at the local tavern. Her player would like to note some of the patron regulars that she's gotten to know. Similarly, she should make some connections with the local thieves' guild (it's been hinted that there's one). Also, her player is keen on mapping out the town and getting a general sense of what our community looks like.
- - The warlock does something with magic. Yeah, that's not very specific, but the warlock isn't sure what to do to start being a leader in the community. Any ideas here would be helpful.
Beyond that, we're certainly open to suggestions. One thing I tossed out was that our PCs come up with characters to whom we have significant personal ties - e.g. family, love interests, etc. I'm considering charting out my character's family history, and maybe an NPC girlfriend in town. Likewise, we want to start putting some of the treasure we've gained from adventuring back into the community (not dissimilar to what's in Pathfinder #32's kingdom-building rules, but we're not using those).
At this point, our DM doesn't know about our shift in focus, and to be honest we're keeping it that way until we're down with what exactly we're going to do. It's not meant to be antagonistic; it's just that our DM has a fairly narrow vision of how the campaign should proceed, and it usually takes considerable effort on our part to change his mind on anything (and changing DM's isn't an option - nobody else is available to, or really wants to). Hence, we're going to heavily shift our focus to laying down strong community ties.
So, what else can we do?
