How in depth do you role play + rant

[reanjr]

The DM changeing the monsters a little bit wouldn't be so bad except that he said that he would follow the books. He never said anything about special house rules let alone that he would change monsters.

About the players reading the monster manual I at first assumed that DnD would more closely follow vampire lore than buffy lore. I didn't check the manual until after he put a pile of dust in a rough human shape on the ground, which he expected us to know was a vampire.

Oh and keep in mind that our DM is really just a semi experianced player. The getting things wrong expands to simple stuff like how to figure out how much a paladins Lay on Hands heals

Unless your character has a background that should indicate that he knows what vampires are, then there is absolutely no basis for complaint, whether the DM said he was following the books or not. Every creature is an individual, not some set of stats and description that is static for every encounter. If it were like that, then many pen & paper role-players would be fine with playing video games instead.

When playing, you should try to forget absolutely everything you know about the game that doesn't fall within the ken of your character. It's almost always more fun that way, and you don't have to come to any conflicts of what your player and character know.

NPC: Go kill the vampire
PCs: Alright. *they go off and buy stakes*

...later...

PC: The vampire didn't get destroyed when I used the stake.
NPC: Why the hell would you think it would? Where'd you get that from in the first place?
PC: Because vampires are killed by stakes. That's just the way it is.
NPC: Where did you learn about vampires from?
PC: TV and movies
NPC: huh?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Oh and keep in mind that our DM is really just a semi experianced player. The getting things wrong expands to simple stuff like how to figure out how much a paladins Lay on Hands heals

Well, if the paladin was an NPC, then as Nisarg said (wait, I'm agreeing with Nisarg? ), it is as much as the DM wants it to be. If the paladin is a PC, it is not the DMs responsibility to know the rules, it is the player's.

 

[reanjr]

Really, the Golden Rule applies here. If you were just starting out as DM, and folks nitpicked a whole lot about what you were getting wrong (and you would get stuff wrong, every starting DM does), how would you feel?

Not true. Since the DM is always right, even inexperienced or incompetent DMs don't get anything wrong. They just do things uniquely.

 

[Harmon]

RPing is about relationships with characters (made up/imaginary people), its creating a vision. Its about communication, about finding something different in yourself and making it come to life. With out that you're just Roll Playing- boring!

Keeping track of food and such- well I hardly ever do that. I try to keep track of the number of days the party has been out in the wilds, or tell them to make off a gp (when in town) for Common Room per day- they do. If food becomes critical- the last campaign the PCs were trapped in a mine with Goblins and Worgs outside and their horses were out of food (they brought like five days for the horses- it was day six).

As far as the rules go- offer to look stuff up, read the rules and when he says- "umm," about a rulling, jump in and say- "that's on page 161 PHB- read it just yesterday."

Help him out, works at our table.

 

[yoippari]

Ok, so the little upkeep stuff isn't really a problem with the way we were doing things. Just an expectation that at least 2 of the 3 players had (including me). That was our problem.

The paladin is a player who had the right idea about what to do but the DM said to do something different. The paladin explained the PhB lay on hands, and the DM explained that that isn't the was his old group did it.

It isn't always that he changes rules (that is seperate in this case) but that he doesn't know the rules. Stuff like the lay on hands is just something where he thought it went one way so he used that. Once we pointed out what the PhB said he changed to match the PhB. He was simply mistaken. If he wanted to change the rule to the way he has always done it then he can do that, but he didn't.

 

[Harmon]

It isn't always that he changes rules (that is seperate in this case) but that he doesn't know the rules.

So offer to help. No one can know everything. Our group is blessed with a very smart GM and one player that reads all the rules he can, but if someone doesn't know we try to educate or talk about how something works.

I would suggest not being upset about it and just approuch him, offer to help, keep a couple core books in the bathroom for reading material. Look up stuff you had questions about days ago.

Its cool, its just a game. GMs are just people, and no one on the face of this planet knows everything they claim to know (I wonder how many objections will come of that little statement? )

 

[TheAuldGrump]

That is basicly what happened. After about 30 seconds of players talking amongst ourselves to figure out what it was the DM said, "its a vampire." My response was "Vampires don't turn into dust!? Since when do vampires turn into dust?". Nearby we found large paw prints that went into the cave (we were told they were dog like) a lot of fur, and some humanoid tracks.

And as has been pointed out the vamp turning into dust is a flavor issue. And at that point as DM I label you as 'rules lawyer' and discount much of what you have to say. How you present things is as big a piece of the problem as how the DM presents things. Another way to handle the problem would be to ask 'what do I know about vampires? Is one of them turning to dust noemal?' And all undead do in fact die at 0 HP, how they die really is up to the DM. In other words you handled the matter in a confrontational manner, and he reacted to that confrontation.

Werewolves liking graveyards? Well, going by the stories of the loupe garou, yes they did in fact hang out in cemetaries. (Of course that was because of the supposed tie in between Satanism and werewolves...)

The Auld Grump

 

[Altoman188]

Hola Enworld forums. I am the forspoken paladin in Yoip's party. I also have a smal rant to add. The DM said that he would "Let" us DM when we reached level nine, and that we will have to use all his rules, and the same characters as we are using now already a bit Urked at him, but that has nothing to do with this rant. Although i have far ess Exp playing than he, i Learn quite quick and was under the impression that as a DM, i could do anything i wanted with the game as long as the players have fun. *waits for newb flaming*

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Sorry, no flame here - sounds like the DM is a bit daft to be giving a carpet ruling like that. There is no 'minimum level' for running a game. Getting upset with a player for telling him that 'vampires don't do that' I can understand, but iff he wants to run the game his way then he has to be willing to give the same freedom to others.

The Auld Grump