Bit long in the ranting, positive input requested-
A few months back my wife and our GM had a bit of a falling out over a plot line that involved one of her characters. The plot line was ended prematurely, my wife stopped playing a character she loved and our GM had a…. not so happy experience by ending much of what he had set up in the campaign (long story), needless to say there has been some tension between them.
Its my belief that had my wife been any other player then my wife she would have been asked to not return to his campaigns (the other GM might feel obligated to keep her included due to the fact that I am the only other GM and cutting her might cut me from the group and that would leave him with two players).
In any case (enough history) she made up a new character- a former pirate whom was chosen by Trithereon. Her father was a (I lack the line of thought right now) pirate working unofficially for the region of Greyhawk out of the port of Safeton. The authorities captured them (him and his crew) and he was falsely accused of crimes he did not commit, he made a deal to free his crew and sacrificed himself. Shortly after his death she was chosen by Trithereon.
(I am trying to get to my question here- please, stay with me.)
She spent much of her early years (she started as a Rogue and has followed the Clerical path for 8 more levels) teaching peasants how to defend themselves and gaining retribution for those wronged, all the while seeking to discover how to clear her father’s name. She met one member of our party and will be joining the group the next time we play the campaign.
A few points here- the Wild Coast is a slavers area, and Trithereon is a god of individuality and liberty (as pointed out in Complete Divine), she is from Safeton on the Wild Coast. My wife has made a number of points to the GM and another Player that she devotes herself to Self Defense and Retribution (which are two of the things he’s the god of from Greyhawk Gazetteer- the book we had when we started making the character).
When Complete Divine came out my wife gravitated towards the Summoning Domain (half the characters Feats are Summoner feats) and Protection (as defined in the Gazetteer).
Now she (my wife) seems to be catching some static from one of the Players in our group and the GM that she needs to play the entire Portfolio from the Complete Divine and seemingly ignore much of the Gazetteer (the GM is being quite open on the Domains and very kind in that respect). All this tells me that her character should be battling the government of the Wild Coast to free slaves and such, while all my wife wishes to do is play a Summoner, have fun and not be bogged down with politics.
Some of what the GM says is quite true, my wife has slacked off recently in her role playing, her characters seem to have an inconsistent personality and she seems to lack interest in that which got her into gaming in the first place- role playing and investigation campaigns (she use to love the mysteries now she does not).
My questions as you can see are many and basically break down to- “how should this be handled?”
My wife is quite busy with work, she has had a year and a half of health problems related to a surgery she has had, work is a bear as she has been given quite a bit more responsibility then she’s willing to take, and seems more fragile or rather less then thick skinned to comments made at the gaming table.
The GM is a good friend and a great GM, thou tends to use a lot of what I call Red Fish, and such in his mysteries.
They seem to get along well personality wise (my wife has made a number of comments that lead me to believe she thinks him a close friend), and I can see that many of the problems are related to GMing style vs. desired play.
I fear what a complete falling out will bring and I would like some thoughts on how to best handle this.
A few months back my wife and our GM had a bit of a falling out over a plot line that involved one of her characters. The plot line was ended prematurely, my wife stopped playing a character she loved and our GM had a…. not so happy experience by ending much of what he had set up in the campaign (long story), needless to say there has been some tension between them.
Its my belief that had my wife been any other player then my wife she would have been asked to not return to his campaigns (the other GM might feel obligated to keep her included due to the fact that I am the only other GM and cutting her might cut me from the group and that would leave him with two players).
In any case (enough history) she made up a new character- a former pirate whom was chosen by Trithereon. Her father was a (I lack the line of thought right now) pirate working unofficially for the region of Greyhawk out of the port of Safeton. The authorities captured them (him and his crew) and he was falsely accused of crimes he did not commit, he made a deal to free his crew and sacrificed himself. Shortly after his death she was chosen by Trithereon.
(I am trying to get to my question here- please, stay with me.)
She spent much of her early years (she started as a Rogue and has followed the Clerical path for 8 more levels) teaching peasants how to defend themselves and gaining retribution for those wronged, all the while seeking to discover how to clear her father’s name. She met one member of our party and will be joining the group the next time we play the campaign.
A few points here- the Wild Coast is a slavers area, and Trithereon is a god of individuality and liberty (as pointed out in Complete Divine), she is from Safeton on the Wild Coast. My wife has made a number of points to the GM and another Player that she devotes herself to Self Defense and Retribution (which are two of the things he’s the god of from Greyhawk Gazetteer- the book we had when we started making the character).
When Complete Divine came out my wife gravitated towards the Summoning Domain (half the characters Feats are Summoner feats) and Protection (as defined in the Gazetteer).
Now she (my wife) seems to be catching some static from one of the Players in our group and the GM that she needs to play the entire Portfolio from the Complete Divine and seemingly ignore much of the Gazetteer (the GM is being quite open on the Domains and very kind in that respect). All this tells me that her character should be battling the government of the Wild Coast to free slaves and such, while all my wife wishes to do is play a Summoner, have fun and not be bogged down with politics.
Some of what the GM says is quite true, my wife has slacked off recently in her role playing, her characters seem to have an inconsistent personality and she seems to lack interest in that which got her into gaming in the first place- role playing and investigation campaigns (she use to love the mysteries now she does not).
My questions as you can see are many and basically break down to- “how should this be handled?”
My wife is quite busy with work, she has had a year and a half of health problems related to a surgery she has had, work is a bear as she has been given quite a bit more responsibility then she’s willing to take, and seems more fragile or rather less then thick skinned to comments made at the gaming table.
The GM is a good friend and a great GM, thou tends to use a lot of what I call Red Fish, and such in his mysteries.
They seem to get along well personality wise (my wife has made a number of comments that lead me to believe she thinks him a close friend), and I can see that many of the problems are related to GMing style vs. desired play.
I fear what a complete falling out will bring and I would like some thoughts on how to best handle this.
