I think we need a new DM

[WarlockLord]

Wow. Tell me what you think of my DM. Points to consider:

1) Constant railroading. He's always telling us what to do, what to play, etc. For instance, we just boarded the enemy ship.
DM: "Look in the cabin! Look in the cabin!"
Me: "Stop railroading!"

Then later, we're in the ships hold:
DM: "Use your alchemist's fire to blow up the ship!"

He does this stuff all the time. Every time we do something, boom! Here he is with suggestions on what we should do.

2) The omnipotent DMPC: At low levels, he will run a sorceror with the Bloodline of Fire feat and burning hands...and have us fight armies of kobolds/orcs/goblins/mooks that die easily, but swarm. He will also award XP based on individual kills. He hasn't done this in our recent campaign, but it was still annoying when he didn't. Any character that isn't configured to fight an army single-handedly (say, a rogue) is going to die and be called crap. I am tempted to run Pun-Pun, but that would be wrong.

3) Ignore the players: We want to play a higher level campaign, with odd things such as drow, binders, and so on as PCs. He has banned anything he considers "weird", which includes alternate magic systems, any non-core race, anything 'dragon', and is continually up for editation. And we always start at low levels. Once, when we were going to star at third, he banned full casters so we couldn't have 2nd level spells.

4) Randomly cursing the PCs: I have had a lot of crap happen to my PCs. A duskblade aquired a goblin bane sword which, at precisely the wrong moment, threw him into a rage so he couldn't cast spells (given to him by an unwanted girlfriend). A drow shadowcaster got a 'fart bomb,' revealing him sneaking up on the dragon.

So, advice? I am considering DMing myself. The current DM is a friend of mine, but I'm not sure he's a good DM. I like his current campaign, except for his uncontrollable railroading urges. And now, he having customized the other player's PC, we are going to fight a mook army. I am a swordsage. I can fight a few enemies well. This makes me 'mediocre'.

Help.

 

[JustKim]

He just needs some experience. A DM who knows what they're doing will get you to look in the cabin by saying you hear a crash of glass from the cabin, or the cabin door creaks open and a raven flies out, instead of actually telling you that you need to look in the cabin.

The other things you describe are pretty common to new DMs. Maybe show him some reading material like the Dungeon DM help articles or Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering.

 

[Nifft]

DM yourself. It's fun and rewarding.

Cheers, -- N

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Yup. you need a new DM.

You should run a short one shot and basically show him how it should be done or at least give him an idea of how it should be done.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

DM yourself. It's fun and rewarding.

Cheers, -- N

and once you take up the reins as a DM, it's usually impossible to forsake them

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Yeah, try DMing yourself. You won't make the same mistakes.

Yours will be different.

 

[Mark]

Go for it! Take over the reins and DM. You can learn from his mistakes, see the pitfalls and avoid them.

 

[Jhaelen]

Every player should have tried DMing for a while. It really puts things into perspective. Ex-DMs are generally much better players.

 

[Coplen]

Kill him and take his stuff.

Try DMing for yourself - it's very rewarding.

 

[MarkB]

DM yourself. It's fun and rewarding.

Cheers, -- N

I dunno, it can be kind of lonely. I much prefer DMing other people.