What ever happened to "role playing?"

[Pbartender]

To restore your confidence in DMs, I suggest you direct your favorite browser to the Rat Bastard DMs Club. At the Rat Bastard DMs Club, you're among friends... really.

Rat bastardry
Pronunciation: 'Rat bas-t&rd-ry
Function: noun
1: A philosophy that asserts that a role-playing game's capacity for providing enjoyment can be greatly increased by weaving a complex web of psychological challenges, moral or ethical dilemmas, frequent plot twists, and unforeseen consequences to create a gaming environment with verisimilitude that rises above the mundane with the ultimate aim of creating an atmosphere of awed paranoia for the players.

 

[Crothian]

My question is, what happened to DMing? What happened to stories? Why is everyone (the last 8 DM's I've played with) so concerned with rules rather than playing? Is it just me? Is it bad luck? Or, is this a growing trend, the wave of the future for D&D?

First off it is not a new trend. It's always been this way, at least for the 20 plus years I've been gaming. Some people like different styles. Nothing wrong with the styles, but sometimes you do have to hunt down a group that fits the way you play.

 

[Piratecat]

Felon, it sounds like he was competent or good at running combat - anyone who has a 40-50 round fight with nine characters and multiple NPCs that doesn't take three days would have to be! - but that he has some problems with pacing. Contrary to your assertion, I'd *much* rather run roleplaying-based encounters when there are a lot of PCs, because combat has a tendency to bog down so much into a boring slog.

It's hard to say for sure, but my impression from reading this post is that it's a DM who doesn't want the group to succeed in innovative ways and who might want to "win" himself. I'd probably find that very frustrating. I'd agree with you that this isn't a 3.5 problem at all, but one focused on that particular DM.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Never had a problem with a lack of Role playing at my table. It's all about what the group enjoys.

 

[Nightfall]

Loki,

Well it obviously depends on the DM, but to me, starting DMs have no real clue or often not as good a grasp of how to finely detail/tune a story to highlight not just the characters but the PCs themselves in terms of a story context.

 

[ForceUser]

Are you guys sure this isn't a troll? "9 bad DMs in a row" sounds too unlikely to believe.

 

[Crothian]

Are you guys sure this isn't a troll? "9 bad DMs in a row" sounds too unlikely to believe.

Does it really matter? IT's not the thread is ueless. It has a lot of good thoughts by a variety of people. Even if the first post was a troll, it has been slain with an honest topic.

 

[Ice man]

Which does new members what good, exactly, other than confirming that this is a repeating problem? It's good to welcome new folks; telling them "This has been posted before" doesn't really do that. I know it's tough, but I'd be just as happy if folks avoided threads that they found repetitive.

And it will NEVER be as bad as 3e "rangers got the shaft" threads.

as a new member of this community I greatly appreciate the thought PC. By the way I hear that 3E rangers got shafted, anyone ever post on that?

 

[tetsujin28]

Which does new members what good, exactly, other than confirming that this is a repeating problem? It's good to welcome new folks; telling them "This has been posted before" doesn't really do that. I know it's tough, but I'd be just as happy if folks avoided threads that they found repetitive.

And it will NEVER be as bad as 3e "rangers got the shaft" threads.

I think there should be a sticky about it, or something. It's something that's plagued D&D since...well...there's been D&D.

 

[MerricB]

"9 bad DMs in a row" sounds too unlikely to believe.

I wish it were that unlikely. There are plenty of bad DMs out there - or DMs whose styles are so antithetical to your own that only bad experiences come out of them.

Cheers!