When is it no longer heroic fantasy?

[Doug McCrae]

This was after a ten minute stretch of nothing out of us, as we were set in a town with no hooks, no motivation, no anything.

Your DM sucks massively. Forget about whether it's heroic fantasy or not, that isn't the issue. The issue is that you're playing in a truly terrible game.

Leaving would be a very reasonable option. Taking over the DMing reigns would be another - from your posts I can tell you'll be much better at it.

 

[Nareau]

If I were you, I'd try two things:
1) Ask your DM to run a game of Dread. It's a horror game specifically designed to kill the characters. And it's insanely fun, and easy to prep for. http://www.tiltingatwindmills.net/dread/index.html

2) Offer to run something that's high-action, high-adventure fun. Run a one-shot where the characters are expected to repeatedly succeed in spectacular ways. Spycraft and Risus are perfect for this kind of thing.

One of the most important lessons about DMing I've ever learned (from our very own PirateCat) is to say, "Yes" to your players. Let them at least try anything they want, and give them a better chance of success if what they're doing is really awesome. Who cares if it's totally implausible?

Nareau

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Five words:

Talk. To. The. DM.

I'll repeat that for emphasis:

TALK. TO. THE. DM.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Five words:

Talk. To. The. DM.

Good point(s). I agree.
Try that, and if he doesn't know or doesn't want to change, suggest doing something else together. DM yourself! It's not that hard to begin. It's just hard to get really good. (EN World has a lot of good DMs. I am constantly trying to steal the crumbs of their wisdom they sometimes leave in their posts...)
Maybe you should suggest writing a book to him. (He could read from it too you, as his personal critics. )

 

[Bacris]

Given the posts of some others, if you do talk to the DM, I would probably say approach it as "hey, I love your stories and the way you present your plots, but..."

If you explain that it's not that you dislike his ideas, just that they don't really mesh with a "heroic fantasy" or really even "roleplaying" game, you might come out with less bruised feelings.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Sounds to me that what he really wants to do is write a gritty survival horror novel, rather than run a D&D campaign.

What with the doctor-decapitations, I'm thinking it's not so much Survival Horror as Kafkaesque Nightmare or a Thomas Covenant campaign.

Brad

 

[Bardsandsages]

If he wants to run a hopeless campaign, there is always Ravenloft...

 

[mmadsen]

I admit tragedy can be a powerful tool, but when the first five minutes of the campaign can be summarized into "Doom is coming and there's nothing you can do about it", is it wrong to feel no attachment to the pile of numbers that's about to be replaced? Is it wrong to feel no investment in a world with no hope?

The opening scenes of a heroic epic probably should seem hopeless, so everyone knows how tough the opposition is, and so minor victories seem like major victories -- and so when you finally overcome that overwhelming opposition, the victory is that much sweeter.

Imagine playing Battlestar Galactica and complaining the whole time, "What's the point? We'll never beat these guys! Screw it, I'm going to go out in a blaze of glory."

 

[pawsplay]

While it is tempting to sympathize with the OP, I'm going to note there is nothing there that says unquestionably "railroading" to me, just player impatience, which could be more or less justified. When I game, I expect stuff to happen. Some of it will by my PC's doing, some of it will not.

If you really wanted to game "heroic fantasy," the game would involve lots of NPCs and deus ex machina. I think would most of the responses in this thread are suggesting is that the PCs should get to do something.

But I'm not at that game table. Maybe the PCs can do something and are expected to, but the players are sitting around waiting for the "now is the time when you do something" signal and it doesn't come. I've had it happen, even to the point of one player harassing one of my NPCs and making a comment about "Clicking on the plot" before I exlaimed in exasperation, "He's not important! He's just a dude. Would you guys just decide whether you want to go planetside or take the job or what?"

Maybe it's a big railroad job. But maybe it's someone complaining on in the Internet because they don't understand the root problem. It could simply be a difference of opinion in what a game is supposed to be like.

As noted above, it's time to talk to the DM and ask what is supposed to be happening.

 

[Vegepygmy]

While it is tempting to sympathize with the OP, I'm going to note there is nothing there that says unquestionably "railroading" to me...

We can always wonder whether the OP is misrepresenting things, I suppose, but this seems pretty unquestionable to me:

If we try something he didn't plan for, we're told no.