Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2013-05-20 06:46 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2013-05-20 06:46 pm
[ SECRET POST #2330 ]
⌈ Secret Post #2330 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 068 secrets from Secret Submission Post #333.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
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As I said in the secret proper, it's truly difficult to find a group of people who share the same priorities when it comes to tabletop roleplaying, and even harder to find a group that does so who get along. That said, playing a game you don't like or with people you don't like isn't fun, and if you're not having fun, why bother? It's not like you're getting paid to do it.
Back in the day, gaming was just something to do on a Friday night - it was the geek equivalent of parties, and the point was to socialize. There was no serious roleplaying, there were up to 20 people in a party, and whoever shouted loudest got to go first. We were terrible, the GMs were terrible, and it just didn't matter. That wasn't the point.
But slowly, over time, a kernel of that group who truly enjoyed the roleplaying aspect formed, and separated from the rest when it became clear they weren't interested in changing the format. Thing was, though, everyone in this kernel was more interested in playing than GMing, so we'd put up with some very shitty GMs so long as we got to play. Ones who hated roleplaying, ones who'd punish characters for the actions of their players that had nothing to do with the game, ones who'd favour their girl/boyfriends, ones who'd make their favourite NPCs the stars of the game instead of the players, etc. So that went on for a couple of years, too.
Finally we got sick of that shit and cut them out, and started going through a rotation of GMs from within the group - everyone had their turn. None of us really wanted to do it, or liked it that much, and we knew it, so all deference would be made to the person GMing as they were the one doing the "work". Even so, games would be offered, people would make characters, and... nothing would ever materialize. Or we'd get a handful of sessions in and the GM would "run out of inspiration" and stop. Very rarely we'd get a whole campaign finished, and that would be with a bunch of dropped sessions for no real reason in the interim. It wasn't much fun to go to a session expecting to play and get let down, though, or have characters whose arcs never got to go anywhere.
Until... I finally got a long term of GMing in. I decided I'd try to run from a box set - Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil - and make the atmosphere a little more casual so that it didn't feel so much like "work". (Though as anyone who's done it knows, even playing from a box set requires significant prep time.) I ran that thing to completion and realized: hey this isn't so hard! Actually, this is fun! And it's waaaay more satisfying to finish a game, to know you're going to play every week, too. Plus as GM, you don't just get to play one character - you get scores of them! So I wrote an original game and played that to completion, over the course of two years (!!) with a session almost every week (barring holidays and exams and the like). And then another one. And another one. Eventually, I became "the" GM.
Then there were rumblings about "giving me a break" and "letting (me) play once in a while". I had misgivings about this, because as much as I missed playing, I'd much rather GM a session that actually happens than make a character for a session that never does, but I went along with this. I was reassured that, like me, everyone else had grown up, too, and they had much more free time than I did (which was true - I was working full time and going to grad school).
Yeah, yeah, whatever, guys. Sure enough, nothing happened for... months. And when it finally did, we had a session or two, then it was dropped. Then someone else would try for a session or two, then drop it. Until I finally set said fuck it, and made a game, and ran that straight through. This time, my role as "the GM" was completely solidified. No one even bothered to offer to run anymore.
But I enjoy GMing, so why am I ranting?
Because the deference that was once paid to the GM in our group has now completely evaporated, as a direct result of my reliability and maturity as a GM. Before, it was acknowledged that the GM was the one doing the "work" - and this is still true! I just suck it up and do it! We're not 17 anymore guys! - so we'd play whatever they wanted to run, however they wanted to run it, with a modicum of stylistic and thematic input from the players. (There's also no free food or drinks for the GM anymore, because I make by far the most money of the group, too.)
Now I'm not just getting requests for games, I'm getting demands for games. As in: here is exactly the campaign I want you to run. No, buddy, if I'm doing the work, it's going to be the game I want to run. I mean, I'm not running shit no one wants to play or something. I'll gather feedback in the sense of 'this is what I'm thinking of, is anyone interested?' and if I hear a positive confirmation on one of those options, I'll do it. But I'm not going to run your game for you. I started to respond "Gee, that sounds great - when do you plan to start? I'll have a character ready!" and that got the point through.
So what does one of these whiny little pieces of shit do? I make a game that everyone else wants to play, but he alone would rather pick a different option (i.e. I offered two and he was outvoted 3-to-1), and rather than either play it anyway and get the different option later, or say "nah, no thanks, I'll sit this one out guys", he... shows up late, or no call/no shows so that our playtime is cut in half, and when I start running without him, he shows up to a session just to make sure that his character is instrumental in the next one where we leave off, then doesn't show the next time, making the plot break down and diminishing the enjoyment for everyone. Now, at first I thought he was just being a childish, irresponsible douche and flaking out a lot...
...But no! His wife (who sometimes plays with us) informed me that it was a deliberate tactic to try to scuttle the game to get it to "end sooner" so I'd run the one he "really wanted to play" for him. His wife was itching to rat him out because, apparently - and I hadn't even realized this - he done this deliberately to another game of mine a while back, basically bribing one other player to agree that he wasn't having fun anymore (even though he was) and browbeating his wife into agreeing (even though she was) so that when three of my players said they wanted to stop a game to try another I agreed to it, even though I was enjoying it too.
Fuuuuuucccckkkk you you little shitbag. You want me to start running a Skype game from Japan, do you? The one you almost ruined my other game over before I left? Here's a clue dipshit: sure, I'll make vague promises, string you along, get you to make your character, get your hopes... ...AND NEVER RUN IT. I'LL RUN SOMETHING ELSE. FUCK YOU FOREVER, DOUCHEFACE. AND IF YOU EVER START PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVELY SKIPPING OUT ON MY GAMES AGAIN, I'M NEVER INVITING YOU BACK.
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/RAGE
We actually acquired a new player for the last game and... it was astounding how grateful he was, how helpful, and how appreciative, and how clear that that's how it used to be for my crew. Now it's like night and day.
Maybe I just need new players. Toss this douchenugget and find some people who want a reliable, experienced, and skilled GM.
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(Anonymous) 2013-05-21 05:26 am (UTC)(link)-LFA
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(Anonymous) 2013-05-21 06:03 am (UTC)(link)/o\ I DON'T KNOW DDDD:
I have to be up in 4 hours. Ohaiosu and ja ne!
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BUT WE HAVEN'T GREET EACH OTHER YET TODAY SO THAT'S STILL TECHNICALLY CORRECT (OH, JAPAN).
Otsukaresamadesssu.
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(Anonymous) 2013-05-21 07:01 am (UTC)(link)no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-05-21 07:02 am (UTC)(link)Fuck I need to sleep. Kthnxbai!
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(Anonymous) 2013-05-21 05:29 am (UTC)(link)no subject
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(Anonymous) 2013-05-21 08:11 am (UTC)(link)no subject
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(Anonymous) 2013-05-21 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)