Time for some nerd raeg.
I have this friend, known him since we were kids. We played every kind of game imaginable together, from video games to table top RPGs. We went to different high schools, got into different things over the course of our lives, but we've always stayed friends.
So he's regularly trying to get me back into gaming sessions with him and his friends, and I occasionally say yes. He's a very fun, creative GM and usually runs a rousing game no matter what it is. Light on the roleplaying maybe, but never on flavor.
There's just one real thing I can't fucking stand about his games. And that's his friends.
I don't dislike any of these guys. I just dislike the culture of gaming they've created amongst themselves.
Here's the scenario:
Roll up a 1 Level Character. Usually, it'll be a melee of some sort, because his whole crew ONLY plays Wizards, or whatever class has the most game warping potential. I'll be told a melee would be good "to balance out the party."
Proceed to get thrown into an encounter that's WAY too high a level for you.
Sit around and do nothing while the rest of the party (his friends) blast everything with overpowered characters, who are higher level, are OVERLOADED with gear and benefits and who are always in the middle of some personal in-joke, that you may or may not get. Not in an exclusionary way...more like shouting out random memes from the days of yore.
They're not dicks, they're just loud and "whacky" and it always goes the same fucking way every time I play. Get laid low in the first few rounds of anything, and sit around while it turns into the "Chris and Co. Show." Marvel at the fistfuls of dice they throw, how they effortlessly address every situation by pulling one trick or another from their bag of Monty Haul. Roll your eyes at hearing the explanatory phrase "Wizard" get used no less than 50 times a night. Tap your fingers in boredom and wait as they theatrically make decisions on which the future of the party rests. Every. Fucking. Turn. Try to stifle the vomit rising in your throat as they high-five each other....for the 18th time. It was funny the first dozen times, but at some point it stops being a joke and it starts being how they actually view themselves in that moment in time. I'm a complete nerd, but even that is hard for me to look at repeatedly.
Don't get me wrong, I still have fun. I laugh plenty, geek out and generally do manage to enjoy the game (by virtue of my friends DMing more than anything.) I have no problem being friendly with these guys, who I've now known for several years.
But I sometimes feel like he invites me to these things because he KNOWS his games with his friends are borderline group masturbation, like having me come to play turns it into a real roleplaying game and not just him basically setting the stage for the same group of people to do the same thing, over and over and over again. I might stay to level up a character, become suitably bad ass, make a difference. But those first one or two sessions usually make me go "I'd rather stay home and play video games" despite how much I miss table top, and hanging out with one of my best friends. I don't resent his friends, I just resent the scenarios I get put into. I don't think I've EVER rolled Level 1 characters with these guys, and in a sense, I've never been part of the group despite being present. I'm always coming in partway through some ridiculous epic of theirs and don't find the campaign (or them) interesting enough to stay for long.
Part of me really wants to like the whole thing, but another part of me wants an actual roleplaying game...and not this hack 'n slash fantasy they always do. I don't come to games just to be an audience, but fuck if that's what I feel like every time I join them. I've given their group several tries but something has always eventually driven me away....and tonight I think I finally zeroed in on it.
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Topic: Things that made you RRRRRRAAAAGGGGEEEE today: Trust-o-nomics Edition (Read 3766657 times)