How in depth do you role play + rant

[yoippari]

DM: You see a thin layer of dust on the ground, it vaguely forms the shape of a human body.
Players (lacking the Knowledge(Buffy) skill): Um... okay. *whistle* Now what?

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.

As for finding a sage the town we were near has no library or any real knowlege source, and the mage/cleric was killed off by the DM the session before. We did however talk to the Capt. of the Guard who thought this might be related to the problems in the grave yard we had solved earlier. However we had cleared the crypt of all but the invulnerable (DM even said that we weren't ment to be able to kill it) chained up ogre . The actual problems were solved when we killed a mage who had just sent a large magical crystal sphere into a portal. We have had no report on the status of said sphere.

 

[diaglo]

We have had no report on the status of said sphere.

and how would you? did someone follow the sphere? did the dead mage tell you, even if he could?

some things are not meant to be told word for word... that's what makes them mysterious and makes PCs want to investigate further.

or not. you could just ignore it and assume it won't come back to haunt you later in the campaign.

 

[Li Shenron]

mhacdebhandia reminded us of a very important thing!

Why don't you all tell the DM to use Knowledge checks?

The Knowledge skills used to identify monsters are useful exactly to represent what the characters know about creatures even if the players DON'T know. It is not meant to be used to remind players what the MM says or to help those players which didn't buy MM at all! After all, if that was true, a player should just keep the MM on the lap and save skill points for something else.

 

[Telperion]

As for finding a sage the town we were near has no library or any real knowlege source, and the mage/cleric was killed off by the DM the session before.

To the newly initiated: a hint. Not all knowledge is stored up in vaults, wizards or people who call themselves "sages" (there are also lots of people who only pretend to know stuff). One could argue that most of the knowledge in a world isn't collected into the above mentioned areas / persons. Although a gathering of wizards can hold a vast amounts of information that doesn't meant that said information is useable in any shape or form. A library isn't much better either if you can't gain entrance into it: remember that said institutions aren't usually as open as current day libraries.

People may not know a whole lot, but talk to enough people (or the right people) and you will most likely find out everything you want to know.

 

[Buttercup]

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

I'm coming into this thread late, but welcome to EN World!

It looks to me like there are several different issues here. First, as others have said, it is the prerogative of the DM to change the monsters, and I wouldn't consider this along the lines of a house rule. Removing AOO or changing the way a spell works would be a house rule.

That said, I agree that he shouldn't have expected the characters to know that a human-shaped pile of dust was a dead vampire. It does indeed sound like your DM is inexperienced. The way I would handle such a thing is like so: "You see a vaguely human shaped pile of dust on the ground. Father Berengarius, please roll a Knowledge (religion) check." Then after it was rolled, unless the character got a 1 or something, "A shudder goes down your spine as you recall that vampires turn to dust when they are killed."

Regarding the players taking the time to role play upkeep and other mundane matters, this is a matter of taste. My players like it, and so do I. But lots of people don't, hence the rules in the DMG for standard upkeep. It sounds to me like your current group might not be the best fit for you. Perhaps you should look around for another game that matches the sort of game you want to play. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you have a different play style that your current group. Remember, it's all about having fun, and if you aren't then it's ok to move on.

 

[yangnome]

As for changing the monsters from what the monster manual says, I see no problem. his changes seem to be flavor issues first, not house rules. Second, even if I did change rules isues as far as monsters go (adding DR or something), I wouldn't tell the players.

As others have said, what you consider RP is actually background stuff. Sure, it can help flavor your character, but after first level, the cost of equipment and such in a normal by the books game is so minimal, keeping track of things is generally pointless.

As a DM, whether I keep track of these things or not depends on teh feel of the game I am going for. For example, when I ran a prison game for 6 levels, I kept track of what they had...I still didn't track every action they did in a 24 hour period though. Even without tracking every action, the sessions were very RP intensive. We'd go multiple sessions without rolling dice or having combat encounters. Most of hte RP was based off of character interaction. The background upkeep stuff played a role, but it was not at the forefront of every moment of the game.

The most important thing the DM needs to do is make sure the group as a whole is having a good time playing. If that is being met, then he ois doing his job.

 

[iblis]

The thing that really irks me though is that he won't let us role play. I'm not talking in character/ooc RP, that is pretty casual mostly ooc. I'm talking there is no point in buying food because he doesn't require that we eat (it is assumed that we do this when we rest). He doesn't let us dress dead animals and take the meat and skin for food and sale (well, hes let us but no one will buy it and he never gives us the chance to cook, because eating is assumed). He doesn't have us buy any thing on the adventuring gear page of the PhB except mount gear and lanterns.

Roleplaying is generally full of 'abstracting away', by necessity. If a player, or worse a GM, 'goes all OCD on the minutiae', the whole experience will diminish inevitably.

Do any other players have this problem?

Not here.

How much do the DMs out there require their players RP?

I know what you're meaning there, so I'll run with that. Me personally, I'm pretty flexible when it comes to that stuff. On the other hand, if a player was to get bogged down in details that will sooner or later detract from the overall experience for everyone else, then I would ask them nicely to see if they couldn't be more adaptable to the campaign's spirit of things. If that failed, then maybe they'd like to find a different campaign?...

 

[Nisarg]

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.

Then his mistake was telling you that he was going to follow the books, and that's it.

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.

So if you hadn't gone and checked the book you have no business checking, you would never have found out that the DM made the mistake of claiming he was going to follow the book, and you wouldn't be having this existential dilemma.

See, ignorance is bliss!

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

The correct answer to the questions "How much does a paladin's Lay on Hands heal?" is "As little or as much as the DM wants it to". The sooner you learn that the happier you will be. Because then you will understand that the measure of whether or not your DM is a good dm is not "does he follow the rules" but "do we have fun when we play his game"? That's the only thing you need to concern yourself about, certainly not second-guessing your DM or trying to rules-lawyer him.

Nisarg

 

[knitnerd]

By not allowing you to stop in town for a meal at the inn or a chance to buy supplies, he has eliminated all chances for you to gather information. How are you supposed to find out what is going on?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I like small details, too. But like diaglo said, there may be a difference between walking through things like 'eating dinner' and 'seducing the waitress.'

As a DM I do not go through every aspect of the characters' lives but at least once a session I will have them actually role play their trip to the shop, the conversation at dinner, or a meeting with some townsfolk who want to talk about their prixed cow. The reason for this is because on occassion one of things will be important and will provide good foreshadowing. If I only role played though events that ended up having an impact, it would be hard to sneak one by the PCs when I want to use it as a clue later.

Slightly off-topic, but I like this a lot. Personally I enjoy setting up the "encounter on the road" on a regular basis. It is fun watching the party take cover on the side of the road because they hear horses approaching and I have stopped to ask what the party is doing - Eek, its the scary turnip farmers!! Of course next time when the horse carts are carrying bandits instead of turnips and the players walk right by and get ambushed, they get a little PO'ed at me.