reapersaurus said:
I don't agree that most DM's have the "balance" or "fairness" of the rules in mind when they willfully nerf rules to deny a player something he has planned out.
Of primary concern to him (most likely) is that he will have less power to control every little aspect of his precious little world, and we all know that that's the primary motivation of most DM's : control and power over the scene(s) and players.
I know some DMs/GMs who have a problem with having less control - but also some who don't:
1)
The railroad boss: You can kill his NPCs, run away, or do whatever else you like. It won't do you any good, though, 'cause in the end, there always is only
one direction you can go - and often, you automatically do so regardless of your wishes (e.g., portals that suck you where you have to go next).
DMing example: He had his computer randomly generate a dungeon (and didn't even clean up any illogical or senseless things that occured because of this) to use as the adventure. We were railroaded into the thing ("The road beneath you crumbles. You are now in a dungeon." - only that he used
a few more words to describe that), through which he railroaded us to a portal to some other plane.
He's one of the finest players I've ever seen, though - so it's for the best of everyone concerned if he's a player rather than a GM.
2)
New twink on the block: Has been playing for only a year or two now and hasn't run, to my knowledge, even
one gaming session that didn't involve the PCs' being railroaded by uber-powerful super-NPCs. If a PC is very tough, every last one of the 20-odd faceless bodyguards of the "employer" (read: random guy the PCs never met so far who nonetheless proceeds to command them to go run some errand for him) is tougher still. And you don't
want to know how powerful his "named" NPCs are.
All you can do is out-twink him - which is, despite his NPCs' power, very often ridiculously easy, given his relatively limited role-playing experience (both in time playing and in "tricks" learned). Oh, but even if you out-twink him,
don't destroy his plot or he'll get angry and leave.
GMing example: The game was Vampire. We were Camarilla characters (2 Brujah, 1 Tremere (?), 1 Malkavian) and for some reason or other, found ourselves in one small American city or other.
The Prince summoned us to him and told us to go to Cairo immediately to find out why some vampires there had vanished. (Note: We didn't work for the guy - or even know each other. Or him, for that matter. But he still insisted that we fly to Egypt.) He had about 20 seven-foot-tall Brujah bodyguards with breastplates and two-handed swords (yes, we were playing in the 20th century - why'd you ask...?
). Oh, and their swords had been magically enhanced by the local Tremere, BTW.
So anyway - we fly to Cairo. We met the local Prince and also his powerful Tremere advisor - and his 20-odd, 7-foot-tall Brujah bodyguards in medieval armor, carrying enchanted two-handed swords.
(Note: One of the PC Brujah had the "Huge Size" merit and thus, was almost 7-foot tall. Strangely, all those other giants appeared only
after he had intimidated some ghoul of the first of the Princes while we were waiting for our audience.
)
After being humiliated with mind control powers, we still tried to follow the plot. But, seeing as we weren't quick enough for his tastes (i.e., we role-played a little rather than
only following the plot), the Prince of Cairo soon summoned us to him again and chastised us.
We had had enough then and there and so attacked the Prince.
After we had killed about half of his bodyguards (four veteran Vampire players vs. a GM who, even though his characters were stronger and outnumbered us at least 5-1, still couldn't touch us because he knew absolutely nothing about effective tactics in Vampire) and the GM was nearing a violent rage, I told him that we should stop there. He agreed - and so, we called it a day.
As a player, he's still a munchkin who's interested in nothing else than his own power. He'll lie, cheat, steal and kill - and as often as not, the other PCs are his intended victims.
3)
The meat grinder: He encourages role-playing and PCs' being cool. He lets you run wild in his world and kill/trick/steal from/whatever almost anyone, allow every dirty trick (even most munchkin ones), if your character can do it. You don't have to follow his plot if you don't want to, either...
Heh. He's also the most combat-oriented GM
or player that I've ever met.
While looking for information, you'll meet bullies in a tavern who will rough you up a little if you get cocky.
On the way, you'll run into legions and legions of guards - usually starting about 3 minutes after play begins.
Oh, and did I mention ninja assassins in hotels? We can't forget those, can we?
You won't meet unmotivated wandering monsters, though; only determined, violent warriors (or guard beasts) working for the other side.
Sometimes, you have to fight your
own side, too, because those you now have to fight have been tricked into thinking that you're working for the enemy.
You'll also have ample opportunity to face off against the forces of law and order if you cause much random property damage (which is likely, given how often you must fight).
If a PC dies, he'll sometimes come back as an undead creature - which you then have to fight, of course. (That happened only in one game that I was in, admittedly, and the dead PC had been a victim of "friendly fire." Really, I didn't
mean to kill him that first time - he was too careless, and I rolled a botch, so...
I didn't mind killing him again after he had returned as a spectre of vengeance.)
And all this leads to a final, climactic battle with the powerful major villain behind it all. (First, you have to defeat 2-3 waves of his bodyguards and henchmen, though, of course.)
Heh. I love playing in his games; he's one helluva DM for D&D - and probably an even better one for games like Feng Shui.
Just don't expect his Vampire games to contain much less combat...
Oh, and he's a damn fine player, too. Only problem is (and it isn't always a problem, mind, just at those times when you want to run less combat-oriented games), he too often plays character like Int-, Wis-,
and Cha-impaired orc barbarians.
That - or cougars, cat-people-warriors (Int/Wis/Cha-impaired, of course), basilisks, etc.
And now you may feel free to ignore my points and attack me personally for daring to hold DM's up to a higher standard, and not buying into the DM bias of these boards.
No, you should not feel free to attack reapersaurus personally now, this being EN World...
