D&D General What do you want to be able to DO as a player?

[Umbran]

That much variability in preference might make it tough on a DM who's trying to take those preferences into account while planning/prepping the next six months worth of adventures.

Which is why I noted that, if I sit at the table, I expect to engage with whatever the GM has, regardless of my preferences.

I cannot reasonably expect a GM to know that, five months from now, I'll have had a bad day and all I'll really wanna do is beat some villain into the ground.

 

[jgsugden]

I think it is important to consider that while a given participant might not be playing a game "optimized for their preferences" they are likely doing so as a concession to their friends at the table. if everyone wanted to play, say, Gloomhaven and just string some combats together with handwaving connections, they would. But if they are playing an RPG, at least one person at the table does prefer the talky bits. So even if all I care about is combat, I am happy to "endure" roleplaying so my friends can have fun, too.

I often play board games with friends that I do not particularly enjoy because they do enjoy it ... but there is a difference between putting someone else's preferences ahead of yours for a couple hours for a board game and putting your joy aside for 200 hours so that your friends can get what they want in an RPG.

The equivalent discussion can be had about relationships. If your significant other wants to watch a movie that doesn't appeal to you, it isn't unreasonable for them to ask you to watch it with them to keep them company. However, if they expect you to take up a hobby of theirs that you either dislike or find offensive ... and they expect you to do it week after week ... it is a different discussion.

If you're on these boards, you like are, or want to be, playing a lot of D&D. If you'd be happier playing Warhammer 40K, Gloomhaven, or something else, but your friends would not, consider whether it is time to look to expand your friend circle. D&D is often a huge time investment. If you're only kind of enjoying it, that is a huge investment into something not too great for you. Your friends may be wonderful people and hanging out with them may 'make up' for the deficiencies of the game ... but there are wonderful people out there in the world that enjoy your preferred hobbies.

And just to note it - many of the horror stories over the year about players ruining games are stories about people that do not care about the role playing ruining the fun of their friends that do because they have different priorities. This doesn't mean you are a problem - but it means you have something in common with a lot of players that are problems eventually.

As I said - I'm not kicking anyone out ... but if you do not enjoy role playing elements of D&D it is well worth your time to consider looking for ways to transition into hobbies where you are passionate about the best things in those hobbies.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Bring back Black Leaf.

 

[jgsugden]

...I cannot reasonably expect a GM to know that, five months from now, I'll have had a bad day and all I'll really wanna do is beat some villain into the ground.

Not true. They know you're a moderator here, so it is safe to say you'll have a lot of bad days due to frustrating ENWorlders....

 

[Reynard]

I often play board games with friends that I do not particularly enjoy because they do enjoy it ... but there is a difference between putting someone else's preferences ahead of yours for a couple hours for a board game and putting your joy aside for 200 hours so that your friends can get what they want in an RPG.

I think you are overstating it. Some significant portion of those 200 hours are the thing I prefer. The rest of the time isn't torture, because I am with my friends.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Bring back Black Leaf.

I’m working on it

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I often play board games with friends that I do not particularly enjoy because they do enjoy it ... but there is a difference between putting someone else's preferences ahead of yours for a couple hours for a board game and putting your joy aside for 200 hours so that your friends can get what they want in an RPG.

The equivalent discussion can be had about relationships. If your significant other wants to watch a movie that doesn't appeal to you, it isn't unreasonable for them to ask you to watch it with them to keep them company. However, if they expect you to take up a hobby of theirs that you either dislike or find offensive ... and they expect you to do it week after week ... it is a different discussion.

If you're on these boards, you like are, or want to be, playing a lot of D&D. If you'd be happier playing Warhammer 40K, Gloomhaven, or something else, but your friends would not, consider whether it is time to look to expand your friend circle. D&D is often a huge time investment. If you're only kind of enjoying it, that is a huge investment into something not too great for you. Your friends may be wonderful people and hanging out with them may 'make up' for the deficiencies of the game ... but there are wonderful people out there in the world that enjoy your preferred hobbies.

And just to note it - many of the horror stories over the year about players ruining games are stories about people that do not care about the role playing ruining the fun of their friends that do because they have different priorities. This doesn't mean you are a problem - but it means you have something in common with a lot of players that are problems eventually.

As I said - I'm not kicking anyone out ... but if you do not enjoy role playing elements of D&D it is well worth your time to consider looking for ways to transition into hobbies where you are passionate about the best things in those hobbies.

I feel like your annoyance here is genuine and worth recognising and respecting, but at the same time, the context is a once-a-decade-type videogame.

It's not like BG4 or any CRPG on par with BG3 is going to come out at any point in the next, say, three years. Or probably ten years. BG3 might get an expansion which does some of the same. So I think in six months or a year you may well have forgotten this entire incident, or largely so.

The only even possible major CRPG I can see coming in the next three years is Dragon Age 4: Dreadwolf late next year. But given how we know that's gone pretty action-heavy (we don't know HOW action-heavy, whether it's just more action-y than DAI or full on action-RPG), I very much doubt people entranced by BG3 will be entranced by it. Everything else is JRPGs or Action RPGs of various kinds. Witcher 4 might hit in 2025 or 2026, if we're optimistic, but it will definitely be action-oriented and likely no party. Probably a great RPG for what it is but...

 

[Lanefan]

Bring back Black Leaf.

Done. She'll be in play again a week tomorrow if the game goes ahead as scheduled.

(I've had a Thief named Black Leaf as my PC in a game for a few years now)

 

[jgsugden]

...The risk, however, is that once things get going, if some of the players find that underlying plotline disintersting or unengaging you're painted into a corner...

It is worth considering this heading into the creation of a storyline and asking yourself what happens if the PCs just walk away. I include "stop the armageddon" storylines in my games - but I am always thinking about what happens in the PCs let the armageddon come. In other words - if you think about it in advance, you're not painted in a corner if the PCs walk on a storyline that did not grab them.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It is worth considering this heading into the creation of a storyline and asking yourself what happens if the PCs just walk away. I include "stop the armageddon" storylines in my games - but I am always thinking about what happens in the PCs let the armageddon come. In other words - if you think about it in advance, you're not painted in a corner if the PCs walk on a storyline that did not grab them.

I wish more people thought this way - if you're going to put in a potential armageddon/apocalypse scenario, and make it possible to fail at stopping it, you've got to give some consideration for what happens if the PCs fail to stop it. This is also really helpful to running such scenarios, I think, because you know that you won't face the "Well I have to find a way to make them win because I don't want to change the setting..." dilemma, because you're already past that.