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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fagura" data-source="post: 6238406" data-attributes="member: 6762610">Today, there was a major disagreement regarding an in-game issue (that nevertheless expands in out-of-game territory and perhaps a big discussion on the GM-player relationship and way to handle conflicts) between 2 of my friends, so here I am looking for an outsiders' view of the situation. A few details, for a background to the conflict: We are playing a custom Forgotten Realms based setting - there has been a major destruction and only 1% of the population survived). Today, we began playing a new module (lvl 13). One of my friends would play a wizard. This wizard had also participated in our last module, which was a customized / lowered version of Paladin in Hell. At the end of Paladin in Hell, the party saved the world from total destruction. We discussed what had roughly happened the next 50 years. And then we decided playing this new module.The truth is we never decided in detail how strong the survivors would be (how many adventurers, what lvl etc), although we all agreed that the characters that finished Paladin in Hell would be rather among the strong ones. We also never agreed how famous these characters would be, although we said they would be among the rather famous personalities. The theme of the new module was about a person needing help (preemptive attack to protect 1 person's life). Our characters were approached by a well-known order (to which this person had ties). They were asked to help and agreed, each for his own reasons. They took the quest and went to meet the person. That person had them pass a rather simple 'test' to prove their worth. They passed. He gave them details about the preemptive attack. They left his place... CONFLICT Anyway,to the conflict: when we began with the character hooks, the player with the wizard looked dissatisfied with the way his character was hooked. The reason was his character was really wealthy (so he did not want money which was the first generic hook for the module). He suggested an alternative hook (he wanted fame, so he asked that the order would propose to the authorities that a statue to honor the adventurers that had saved the world should be constructed). This was not accepted by the GM. He said that the wizard would meet the leader of the order the next day to discuss the matter in detail, but nevertheless he had to go to the person needing help now, as this matter was pressing. The wizard reluctantly agreed. At the meeting, the wizard was insulted by the simplicity of the test (he had to verify whether 4 magic items were fake or not, which was in essence a Detect Magic - Spellcraft check with a very low DC). He role-played the situation by saying "You summon one of the saviors of the world to help you and you want him to prove his worth in a first grade test? I am not a little boy. I have matters to attend to. Please tell us why we are really here". The person in need of help (who was very heavily warded magic-wise) at first explained "You are here to help. When you help someone, you help him the way he needs to, this is part of it". The wizard reluctantly took a look at the first item, revealing within a few seconds that it is a fake and its true properties and then said, still rather annoyed (the player as well i believe). "Ok, enough of this, what is next? a couple of goblins? why are we here?". Then, the person in need of help began talking rather aggressively to the wizard, saying "Who do you think you are, talking to me like this" and generally had an attitude "you don't want to help, get out" approach. The wizard started examining him to see if he was mighty enough to cause him trouble. He asked the GM what he could get without casting (Detect Magic to see what spells were already in effect on him) and the GM was vague (probably he was not prepared for this), saying he had many auras and spells cast on him, some of them up to 9th circle spells. The wizard asked what spells and the GM said "let's not focus on that, you pick, he has a variety of transmutation spells". Anyway, the wizard-player very reluctantly explained why the other items were fake. Then the help-needer provided all the details we were looking for, but said that the preemptive attack had to happen that night. It was then that the wizard 'exploded', as he realized that he would have to finish the adventure before speaking to the leader of the order about his reward.At the conflict that followed, the arguments on both sides were the following:Wizard - 1. it is your job to hook my character properly, my wizard is not interested in money or alliances but fame and political influence he would not do anything before agreeing for a reward, 2. it is insulting for a well-known character especially a wizard with a big ego to undergo such novice tests especially when his aid is asked for, 3. who is this guy with the 9th circle spells? He is a major personality in a city, we are supposed to have met all notable surviving personalities in the world, how come my wizard has never seen or heard of a character with access to 9th lvl spellsGM - 1. i gave a variety of hook options: money and a potential alliance with a big order and a strong character. if your character is so selective on hooks, it is not my fault, he is not suitable for this module2. this is what the module author has written3. this is how it is. I am not going to reveal anything to you about this guyTo sum up, I am looking for an overall assessment of the situation, but also an opinion on how far should a Gm go to hook his players and how he should have handled the situation if he did not (the same goes for the player) and how you think we might be able to resolve this now to resume playing.</blockquote>

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