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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Systole" data-source="post: 5753793" data-attributes="member: 93930">So I'm caught in a conundrum here. I'm playing in a game with a couple friends and some of their family members, with another friend GMing. Here's the background.  [sblock=Long version]The GM is just .... not a good GM. In fact, he's sort of the opposite of a good GM. Every single combat is a brutal meatgrinder where one or more characters are reduced to single digit HP or drop. Part of the reason is that combat almost universally takes place in tight, twisty corridors, so our ranged guys can't get a shot off. A lot of this is that the characters are woefully -- woefully -- undergeared, because we haven't been able to resupply in about the past four levels. (My 7th level character is wearing the suit of studded leather she started with at first level, for example.) Also, we're constantly put up against overwhelming battles. Trash fights are usually CR+1. Boss fights are like CR+3 or 4. I think he even put us against a CR+5 once. After we'd had to fight a couple of CR+1's. I have no idea how we survived. Now, I'm not against meatgrinders, necessarily. But this is a friends-and-family game, and about half the group wouldn't know an optimized character if it crit them on a 15. We're only alive because the a couple of characters rolled ridiculous stats, and the healer is very, very good. Even so, the healer's player is starting to suffer from PTSD. I'm not kidding. Most of us are just waiting for the inevitable TPK. Some of us are actually beginning to hope for it, because it will make the pain stop. However, the worst offender here is that that in this game, every roll of 1 is a critical failure. The archer shoots the healer in the back of the head. The tank decides to see if his battleaxe can fit in his mouth. My character who has a Climb of +15 or 20 ... falls off a ladder and breaks an arm. After the last game, the healer said, "I'm just waiting until someone rolls a 1 on a Breathe check and dies."[/sblock] [sblock=Short version]Every roll of 1 is a critical failure. My character who has a Climb of +15 or 20 ... falls off a ladder and breaks an arm. After the last game, the healer said, "I'm just waiting until someone rolls a 1 on a Breathe check and dies." Above and beyond a lot of other problems, this one in particular means rolling an attack or a skill check is accompanied by constant fear and dread. Every 1 is a failure, and every failure is epic.[/sblock] I've tried gently suggesting to the GM that he's doing it wrong. I've even run him through a couple dungeons of my own where the atmosphere is not one of constant dread and foreboding on every die roll, where a 1 doesn't result in an unfortunate decapitation. Given that he's a friend, what the hell else can I do? My best guess is start talking about how great Kingmaker sounds, so that everyone wants to play that after the inevitable TPK. (Including the current GM, so he'll be inclined to let someone take over for him.) Thoughts, suggestions?</blockquote>

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