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My Best Friend Is 'That Guy'
Hi everyone.
All Things DnD is back with another story.
It’s tough playing games with…”that guy.”
It’s even harder when that guy is your best friend and roommate.
Tell us what you would do after listening to this story of friendship and hardship.
In the 20 years I’ve been playing, I’m fortunate to have very few horror experiences.
I guess that's because for the majority of that time, I’ve been lucky to have had GM’d
for the same group.
As time goes by people get married, get jobs, move, schedule conflicts, and basically life
arises and this group eventually went from gaming from twice a week to once to once a
month and eventually not at all.
About two years ago I moved in with my best friend and one day he told me he wanted to
run a mutants and masterminds adventure based on the SCP stories.
I thought that sounded awesome.
For those of you who don’t know, SCP is an online collection of stories about a fictional
organization that tracks down and contains monsters and artifacts, locking them away
and studying them and Mutants and masterminds is a superhero rpg.
So in my head I’m picturing a cross between company of heroes meets Cthulhu meets Spider-Man!
He invites one of his friends from college who we will call “Mark, and I invite one
of my old players who we will call Kevin.
Then of course there’s the GM, who I’ll call Steven and myself.
On game day, Kevin can’t make it, but we forge ahead anyway.
After making characters the three of us play through about half a session before Steven
wraps it up for the night saying he needs time to “think about what will happen next.”
We had only been playing for two and a half hours, counting character creation.
He told me later he hadn’t even come up with the monster yet despite it being his
idea and he set up the date for playing, and wasn’t working at the time.
A week later he calls the campaign off because he just can’t figure out anything to do
with it and it's cutting into his time playing video games.
This could have been the end.
This should have been the end, but it wasn’t.
I played again and I liked it.
We had 4 people who were committing to a regular game, whose schedules all lined up, and I
wanted to run.
I talked with Steven and let him know that I want to run a campaign.
I've already spoken with Kevin and Mark and even got a hold of one of my other players
who I will call Vince to join in a Star Wars group, and invited Steven to join.
I told him the idea was that it would be fireflyesque.
An episodic adventure of a crew who were an ensemble cast, just trying to get along.
Doing missions to keep their ship up and running and get some money on the side.
Those who were on the outskirts of the law and society, who could be a bounty hunter
one week and a smuggler the next.
Making friends and enemies in every port along the way.
“I want to be the pilot.”
Were his first words.
I’m cool with that.
No one else had chosen any roles on the ship yet, he was the first person who I spoke to
about what the plot would be, and we’re typically first come first serve when it comes
to characters.
Besides, it would all be figured out in session zero.
If anyone had any problems with that they could talk it out then.
I nodded and gave the ok.
“And I want to own the ship.”
Well, I thought.
The ship has to belong to someone.
But still.
“I don’t know....”
I began.
He cut me off.
“If I’m piloting it might as well be my ship.”
“Fair enough.”
I shrugged, not really seeing the harm that could do.
It's not as if everyone wouldn’t have a stake in the ship and missions based around
each character anyway.
“And I want to be a member of the rebellion.”
“You did catch that I wasn’t going to make the rebellion and empire a big thing.
I mean, they would give you an occasional mission or sometimes you may have to outrun
one of their ships, but that was about it.”
“I want to be in the rebellion or I’m not going to play.”
That wasn’t the full threat and I knew it.
From his tone he wouldn’t just not play, but he would whine and be as obnoxious as
he could during game time to make it hard for the players.
I sigh.
I could make this work.
Sure, he could be an undercover operative.
That could be pretty fun.
I’ve done that myself.
Occasionally he would get jobs that would secretly help the rebellion cause.
And then the group could start to figure it out, making it a mystery.
What is in the thing they are smuggling?
Or who is the person they are hunting for a bounty?
Until they eventually figure out they are working for the rebellion.
Yeah, that could be a fun thing behind the scenes.
“Okay,” I begin.
“But just a warning not everyone on the ship will be working for the rebellion.”
About to lay out this idea for him, when he cuts me off.
“If they aren’t rebellion I wouldn’t let them on my ship.”
I blink.
I had told him point blank that I didn’t want to run a rebellion/empire war campaign.
That I didn’t want it to be a central point besides for background.
“What?”
I asked in disbelief.
“You did catch what I said, right?”
“Yeah, but if I’m the pilot AND it's my ship, then I wouldn’t let anyone onboard
who wasn’t a member of the rebellion.
We would be doing rebellion work and jobs.”
I sighed again.
For the sake of my friendship and the peace in my home, I agreed.
Making a retreat to my room before he could dictate the game to me further.
In my room I start thinking.
‘Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
I hadn’t told anyone else what I was planning on with the story besides a Star Wars campaign.
I didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate as a GM, so I was planning on using published
adventures and adventure hooks from the fantasy flight games twitter, and I could still do
that.
I would just have to use some age of rebellion books instead of edge of the empire.
Really, it's not what I was planning on running, but I could still make it work.
But If this was the last of it, I wouldn’t be reading this story.
Skip forward a few days to character creation/first session.
I had picked up an introductory module for age of rebellion and familiarized myself with
it.
Steve, just as he had promised had made a pilot.
It was a very well rounded character, having a little of every ability but only real focus
is piloting.
A good support character and honestly I was pretty happy with it.
Mark had made a sniper specializing in heavy two handed ranged weaponry.
Kevin made an infiltrator talker character, and Vince made an engineer droid who could
only talk in imperial propaganda as he had originally been a rebel spy.
Anytime anyone starts talking about their character, Steve chimes in.
Someone has electronics.
So does Steve.
Someone has mechanics?
So does Steve.
Someone had medicine?
Steve doesn’t, but that's okay cuz Steve is “da biggest and bestest pilot in the
galaxy.”
Something we heard several times during creation.
The module begins with the group going to a rebel base under assault!
Steve refuses to allow anyone to help him pilot despite the fact his ship was made for
2 pilots, because “I’m the pilot, so I’m the only one who should.
Besides, I’m da biggest and bestest pilot in the rebellion, so I don’t need your help!”
They’re being pursued by tie fighters AND have to fly through a cavern with long hanging
stalactites and stalagmites while under fire, plus at a penalty without a copilot.
One of the players says they can at least use the turret and Steve tries to shoot it
down, saying “This is my ship and no one will do anything in it but me!”
I step in and bring up that Mark had gunnery skill, and Kevin could help pilot the ship,
and Vince could be repairing the ship during this.
“No!
This is my ship and the only thing I’m good at!”
We all roll our eyes.
By some miracle he brings the ship close enough to the base for its guns to shoot off the
tie fighters, but the ship is messed up, and Steven is mad.
Muttering angrily under his breath mad.
In the next phase of the adventure there is an AT-AT making its way down a canyon right
to the base, supported with 4 AT-STs and something like 50-100 storm troopers.
In the canyon there is a walkway carved that has explosives planted on it and an electronics
check is needed to cause them to go boom.
The droid has the best electronics so he volunteers, playing a clip of “for the empire!”
There are blaster cannons along the cliff edge that can be used with a gunnery check
to slow down the walkers.
Mark's character who had gunnery volunteers to use one.
There are hidden entry ways allowing for combat with the troops in the canyon.
Kevin volunteers thinking he can use his cloaking shield and claws to take down troopers quietly,
and pointed out there were speeders that can be piloted to help slow the walkers and provide
cover for the cannons.
Everyone turns to Steve, who is if you haven’t forgotten the ‘biggest and bestest pilot
in the galaxy!’
Steve says “What’s the point?
Kevin will just try to screw me over like he did on the way in here!
He obviously has it out for me!”
I wanted to explode, but thankfully the rest of the group had my back.
They reminded him how he refused to let them do anything.
He didn’t let the gunner shoot, he didn't let the copilot copilot, he didn’t let the
mechanic fix, and instead they had to watch him do everything.
He sighed and dropped the point, still shooting daggers at me and tried to figure out where
best to go.
He was reminded once again about the speeders, but just shook his head and muttered something
about me.
“I could do the explosives.
I have one rank in computer.”
The droid had 3.
“I could use the turret.
I have one rank in gunnery.”
The Gunner had 3.
He began to argue with everyone that because he had a 1 rank in something, he obviously
was the best choice for everything.
I can shoot!
I can use computers!
I can do this, so i should do this and you should do something else.
The rest of the group had had enough at this point and were arguing back.
Finally, after some test roles were done and they compared the size of their...umm...dice
pools, he agreed to fire a blaster pistol from the canyon face.
The battle itself isn’t important.
The droid made the booms go boom, the group slowed down the enemies enough for him to
reach the explosives, and the party won.
The only noteworthy point was that the gunners cannon took a hit which gave him a critical
injury when it exploded.
He rolled and his arm was paralyzed.
That was where I called that session.
Afterward, I spoke with Steve and let him know that it wasn’t just his story.
This was a group campaign, and that everyone can do something, and even if it isn’t him,
he can still cheer them on or offer his help.
He said yeah, he knew and he would do better next session.
I let it slide.
He and I had spoken, he seemed to know what he had done was wrong.
The party had stood up for themselves as well, and he apologized.
I thought it would get better.
Then the next session happened.
In between sessions I had made a new character for Mark to take over since his was badly
injured.
I had made another heavy weapons expert, so the party didn’t lose that damage, with
some medical capability, that being something the party was missing.
When we begin, and people are taking out their character sheets, I inform everyone that the
good part about being in an army like they were is that when someone is injured or killed,
there can be someone new assigned to the unit.
I took out the character I had made Mark and said if he wanted to he could play this, or
he could make up a new character and bring that one in instead until his gunner was healed.
Steven has a fit.
“You can’t just bring in a new character!”
“Why not?”
I ask in a calm voice.
I am very proud that I stayed in a calm, reasonable voice for this entire fight.
“Because you just can’t!”
“Yes, yes Mark can if he chooses to.”
“How are you gonna explain it in game?
It doesn’t make any sense?”
“I’m pretty sure i just did.
They are someone new assigned to your unit.”
“But where are they gonna come from?”
“The rebellion, of course.”
“But what about party cohesion?”
“You’re in the army.
Your cohesion is whoever you are ordered to be with.
Besides, it's not permanent.
And this character fills a void you were missing.
He’s not only a heavy weapon specialist like Marks old character, but also a medic.”
I say with a smile handing the sheet over to Mark.
“Again that is if you choose to use him.
Like i said, you can build a new--”
“The rebellion won’t fix him up!
He’s just some random soldier!”
I can almost hear him saying “he’s not my awesome, bestest pilot in the galaxy.”
Looking back at Steven, “Why not?
The rebellion has an entire medical fleet.
And he’ll get a baseline prosthetic arm, not anything special that will give him bonuses,
that is if the bacta doesn’t take care of it.”
This fight went on for nearly 5 minutes with poor Mark caught in the middle.
Finally Steven plays his trump card.
“If i was injured, i wouldn’t want to bring in a new character or be healed.
I’d want to play through it!”
Mark sighed.
“It's okay, I’ll stick with my Gunner.”
Looking dejected he handed me back the sheet.
He had actually been excited about the medic, eyes lighting up looking over, pointing out
interesting things it could do.
Steve looked triumphant.
“Are you sure?
You don’t need to let Steven dictate your character.
You are a two handed specialist who lost a hand.
The weapons you could use you don’t have any ranks in, plus you have a penalty from
the injury, and if you take a crit it’s guaranteed to be worse.
On top of that, your armor is ruined from the explosion so you’re defenseless.
This isn’t Steven's decision to make, it's not his character, it's yours.”
“Yeah, i guess I’m sure.”
With Mark having made his decision there was nothing else I could do.
“Okay.”
Sigh.
“I guess you can go to the quartermaster and get a new set of armor and a blaster pistol
so you can have a weapon.”
“No he can’t!
We don’t have time!”
Again Steven butts in.
“I guess i won’t.”
Mark says, giving in.
I let Mark know he could but he shakes his head no and asks to move on.
In the next section of the adventure it's revealed there is a traitor and it's up to
the party to figure out who it is.
The group narrows down its list of suspects, and splits.
Half the group goes to do background research and half go to interrogate the first suspect.
Steven decides to take Mark with him and talk to the suspect because he has a rank in intimidation
so he can do it.
“But I have more ranks in intimidate and persuasion and a higher presence...”
Kevin began, being a talking specialist at that.
“It's okay, I have 1 rank, and I want to do it and i'll do it better.”
“Okay,” said Kevin, just absolutely done with it.
“I’d rather go with and help with research.
I’m pretty hurt...”
Mark began.
“I’m about to confront a traitor.
You’re the only other fighter here and I want some protection.”
Kevin and I scoffed, remembering that close quarters combat was a speciality of Kevin’s.
I stuck with the droid and Kevin's character, letting them know what they found could be
fed to the interrogators and help them with their checks.
A few checks in and I hear.
“I want to interrogate the suspect!”
Steven announces loudly, speaking over me while I was in the middle of letting them
know what they found.
“Okay, hold on just one second, let me finish with them.”
“No!
I want to interrogate him.”
“I got that, but I’m with the other party and...”
“They can wait until after I talk to him.
what they’re doing doesn’t matter anyway.”
Vince says “Just do it.
You can come back to us.”
Giving me a long suffering look that only a big brother can--note, he's not my big brother,
but he is Kevin’s.
“Okay” I say, turning my attention to Steven.
“What’s the plan?”
“Me and Kevin are going to interrogate the first suspect.
I want to do it!”
Steven starts questioning, and rolls a success, but a despair.
A despair is a crit bad thing.
The man, realizing that he had been found, pulls out his blaster and shoots Steven in
the face with a stun bolt, knocking him out.
“But that's not fair!
I have one rank in intimidation!”
“Yes,” responded Vince.
“And he's a trained imperial spy who realized his cover was blown and protected himself.
Maybe next time let the person who specialized in talking do the talking, or let the researchers
finish the research because we had just found that out and could have warned you!”
Mark goes down next, the guy who didn’t want to be there, and was forced to by Steven,
goes down.
Since he already had a critical injury, he took another one.
This time he loses his entire arm, and the spy escapes.
I ask Mark if he wants to bring in a new character, because this is the time I could.
“Someone could have seen what happened and come along,” I reason, pulling out the backup
character I had made.
“No he doesn’t!”
Steven shouted.
Mark rolled his eyes and shook his head.
The group tracks down the villain, and the guy who is a two handed ranged weapon specialist
is forced to fight the martial artist with one arm, no armor, and no weapon already injured.
He goes down in the first round, and gets a new critical injury, now permanently paralyzed
from the waist down.
And before the villain is taken out, Steven, who was so proud of his 1 rank in ranged light
crit misses, hitting mark and giving him one final injury, causing permanent brain damage.
After they won the fight, Steven said he needed a break.
I stayed behind and spoke with Steven while everyone left.
“I really messed up tonight.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m ashamed of how I behaved in this game so far.”
“You should be.”
“It’s because of me Mark needs a new character, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m gonna stay out the rest of the night.”
“That’s probably a good idea.
I’ll tell the guys you're not feeling well.”
“Thanks.”
We finished that night's session without Steven, and in the next week he texted a personal
apology to every player.
Despite all of us agreeing to give him another chance, he didn’t play the next week either.
That was the last session as life once again reared its ugly head.
To me he didn’t just apologize for railroading, for pushing around the other players, but
also for forcing me to run a game that I didn't want to run.
That surprised me, I thought he had forgotten that.
Though we’re no longer roommates, Steven is still one of my best friends.
We speak at least once a week.
He is one of the most generous and caring people I know.
He is the kind of man who will give you the shirt off of his back and ask if you’re
okay while doing it.
He loves to tell stories and wants to help make the world a better place, even if he
doesn’t know how to.
He will talk about video games and anime and cars for hours, and will help you move, even
if you moved the weekend before.
And I mean lifting the heavy stuff too.
I put this here because it's easy to judge someone based on their worse times, but with
him those moments are fleeting.
This is who he normally is.
It’s easy to judge and it's hard to forgive but this story does have a happy ending.
Friendship is more important than most things, so cherish it.
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