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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6095886" data-attributes="member: 4937">After 30 years of gaming and nearly as much of being the DM, I would say that what you describe is a more or less average group.  So what you end up with is a lot of different things depending on group dynamics.  Mostly, what you are dealing with is a group of friends.   In some games I've been in with basically that group, one of the members of the group is more gregarious and more demonstrative than the rest, and as a result the group does what that character wants - even if it isn't what is really preferred by anyone else in the group.  So if the group is a power gamer, the whole group approaches play from that perspective.  It isn't anyone but that one players ideal game, but since they are friends everyone else tolerates the less than ideal play tries to make the most of it and feeds off the table crumbs and scraps that are available to them.   In some groups, this situation is unstable.   The less involved members of the group gradually find an excuse to drop out, and the group shrinks and then shrinks again and after a dozen or two sessions falls apart.   Sometimes it happens more dramaticly, with a huge proxy table fight that leads to hurt friendships and a wrecked game.   Sometimes you have multiple forceful personalities.   It's even possible to have a table that fights continually and yet enjoys the game.  In some groups the forceful personality is the DM, and the game goes on for a while sometimes happily and sometimes unhappily, with the general assumption that to be playing a game that isn't perfect for you is still better than not being able to play at all.  What really interesting is watching what happens when the forceful personality isn't there and watch what happens with the play when its allowed to take different directions.  A group which at one table is all about power gaming and DM as antagonist, can be when composed slightly differently turn into a group that is all about character exploration and low drama when its freed from the need to keep certain players or DMs happy.For my part, I know that I can't run a game which at every momment is making every player happy.  I try to vary as much as possible the focus of the sessions and provide as much as possible variaty within the sessions.  If a session passes by without combat, then usually its pretty important to deliver lots of combat the next session.   If a session is all combat, then its usually important to make the focus of the next session something else.   It's important to provide all sorts of different oppurtunities for players to express themselves, because what one player considers fun the player sitting beside him might consider a snoozer.   Ideally, you try to foster interest in all aspects of play and try to match players to characters that can shine in their preferred aspect of play but still have things to contribute when it isn't.  I have a power gamer who always plays basically the same character - a powerful combat brute who has a bit of a goofy out their personality.  I'm pretty sure he does it, perhaps unconsciously, so that he can justify being disruptive when the game runs too long between combats.  It's his way of dealing with the problem of 'boring role play', by playing a character that creates conflict and drama.  I get players that produce these awesomely concieved deep backgrounds that they match to a character who has almost no combat role.  I try to encourage them to power game a little more, both so that they'll be engaged and the player who judges a character solely by how the character is contributing to party success has less reason to be annoyed with the player's thespian tendencies.  In short, as a DM most of the time what you need to run is a diverse game because your players are diverse.  It happens that everyone at the table likes the same things equally, but I wouldn't say it is typical.</blockquote>

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