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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Engilbrand" data-source="post: 4646023" data-attributes="member: 44184">My contention was that the player should be able to make up a backstory that fits what has been laid out for the campaign. If it seems like it makes sense with the campaign, but the DM refuses it, the DM should give reasons and a consensus should be reached. If the DM refuses and then TELLS a player what their backstory should be, there is now a problem.It sounds like her DM is not the sort that I would play under. He was insulting to her and even admitted to being inflexible. No thanks. I've had my times with crappy DMs in the past. I'm glad that I have a great group now, and we're involved in a bunch of different games. I have told the main leader of the group that I won't play under one of the other guys, though. I've played under "Mike" a few times. He focused too narrowly on what was in the book and wasn't very flexible. When he took over one game, rules that I have been following for my character suddenly changed. While I usually like "Mike" as a player, I will refuse to play in any more games that he DMs.The DMs that I play under that I like are very open minded. I have been able to create character ideas that they have then applied to the setting. For a Wraith Recon game, I gave a Genasi the Dhampyr bloodline. I have a backstory that he agreed to that involves the Shadowfell. He now has a new place to draw ideas from.The last crappy DM I was under reinforced the idea that no gaming is better than bad gaming. It was 3.5, and I rolled more saves in my first game with the group than I had in the YEARS before then since I had started playing. He had a script in his mind, and nothing else was important. I convinced 2 players in that game who hated it to leave and join me for 4th edition. In my last game with him, I took down a Hellcat with a charge and 1 hit point. I described the hell out of my action. He decided to get excited and said, "No no no. He does this." He "corrected" me about my character's action so that it was what he wanted. At that point, I should have just called him a douche and left.I wholeheartedly subscribe to the 4th edition idea that it is a joint game. I refer to the group as OUR 4th edition group. He refers to his as "MY" Forgotten Realms Group. If there's no room for player ideas, there's no point in having players. DMs are important because they set the scene, but they aren't the only important thing. Everyone is equally important. Without DM, there's no game. Without players, there's no game. A game is like a book. The DM sets up the different places and events that work with the characters, and the players have their characters interact with the scenes to shape what's to come.I also have a problem with this idea that I'm seeing that DMs create everything beforehand and then drop the PCs into it, and the PCs have to fit. A group of us are planning to start Hunter: The Vigil next week. We had a pretty long discussion about the type of game we wanted. The DM wanted to do a "blue collar" gritty game. I told him that I'm up for that, but I need to have a character with powers. I'm sure that that sounds stupid to some of you, but I told him that I refuse to play a character who is a completely normal person with nothing special about him. That's not why I game. I game for fun. If I want to be a normal person without powers dealing with strange, mind screwing beasts, I'd just come to work. (I'm a high school teacher.)Everyone needs to be on board and agree to the type of game that is going to be played. If my friend had just said, "We're going to play Hunter and you're going to be normal guys trying to survive all of the monsters in the area", I would have told him that I had better things to do. Actually, that was one of his ideas, and I did tell him that I had better things to do.Summary: The entire thing needs to be cooperative. If it's not, then someone is doing it wrong. If I ever find myself in a situation where I'm with a new DM, I'm told to be creative and run things by him, and he just starts shooting down ideas without a good reason, I'll just tell him that I'm not interested in the way that he runs things and I'll leave.</blockquote>

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