[Channel Teaser]
A DM’s Eternal Struggle Of Listening To 'Your Character Is Too Normal'
Hi everyone.
All Things DnD is back with another story.
It can be so difficult getting yourself from “Behind the screen” to play the game you
love.
Here are two DMs that tried.
Whenever I'm playing DnD I'm usually the DM and that has been my role for quite a while.
Recently, however, I felt a bit tired of DMing and wanted to experience being a player for
a change, and it led to this story.
While looking for a group to play online I stumbled upon a very interesting campaign
idea.
It was very well thought and the world seemed to be very rich.
I applied to the game and ended up getting to the interview phase and eventually accepted
into the campaign.
They were looking for two new players to add to their already formed group, but that didn't
seem like a problem for me at the moment.
Regardless, the DM asked us to create a character we wanted to play, and we would have a session
zero after three days.
The time slot was good for me and so it wasn't a problem.
As mentioned beforehand, I was a bit tired of only being the DM for a while and decided
to take the things easy on myself.
Instead of making a caster or someone with a very controversial backstory I went a more
simple route.
My character was a human fighter, simple, yes.
Who used to be a guard in a small town in the countryside.
I wrote an understandable backstory with friends and family, etc.
But I didn't do anything like "his family was killed" or that sort of thing.
He was just a normal guy who was laid off from his duty due to not being very good at
it and decided to travel and experience new things.
Well, session zero came to be, and we got our cast: The DM, The Rogue, The Warlock,
The Wizard, The Cleric, The Ranger (also new) and myself as Jasper.
When we first got online everyone seemed to be friendly and were quite nice, chatting
and generally getting to know each other.
After a short while the DM asked us to describe our character, show drawings if we had any,
and explain our backstory.
When I DM, I don't usually tell the players to talk about their backstory.
I allow the party to find bits of it through the gameplay, but that's up to the DM's style
and I saw no harm in it.
So, people started to talk.
After a few moments I realized my normal guy was the only “normal” character in the
team.
Which is completely fine people usually make their characters special.
When it got to my turn, I described my character, his backstory and showed a drawing that I
had made of him.
Yeah, I had time.
When I drew this character, I made him the most plain looking man you could possibly
think of.
No, he wasn't dashing.
His nose was crooked from taking a punch when he was a guard, and he was just a simpleton
down to his bones.
Now, we were using webcams, this was the DM's requirement, and I noticed some strange expressions
on the other players, but I didn't give two thoughts about it while I was talking.
Once I finished one of the players almost automatically said "Isn't your character too
normal?
I mean this is DnD."
I was caught a bit off guard by the question and said "Well, yes.
That's just how I envisioned the character, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have depth."
That interaction left the mood of the group a bit tense, but I was the last one, and we
said our goodbyes.
We started the campaign proper yesterday, and I was very excited to be playing.
We got together and finally started playing.
Our characters met on a mission to escort a merchant caravan, and started to get close
with each other.
The interactions were all interesting, though most of them seemed to have some sort of sexual
innuendo.
I, myself, don't really do that kind of stuff when playing and would just laugh it off.
After a combat encounter we finally arrived at our destination town and our group went
to a tavern.
After some role-playing one of the players, The Warlock, started to have his character
make some advances on my character.
He made some suggestions that I won't repeat here but he made his intentions perfectly
clear.
As mentioned, I don't really do that stuff while in-game, and decided my character would
not partake in any kind of romance.
That apparently made this player quite angry, which warranted him to question me "Why is
Jasper not accepting his invitations?"
I was honest and said I don't really feel comfortable with that kind of stuff.
I am a heterosexual male and I just don't really feel comfortable playing another gender
for my PC's.
Well, apparently, that unleashed pandemonium.
The other players with the exception of The Ranger jumped in and started to almost yell
that my character was ruining their experience.
He wasn't special, he was just a normal guy, and they were playing DnD to be special.
I honestly didn't know what to say, so I excused myself and left the game session.
Later, the DM came to me and told me he thought it would be best if I left the table.
As it seems the majority of players weren't happy with my character.
There was nothing to do at that point.
It didn't work out, but to me, it was the first time I saw a group kick someone out
just because their character was a normal person.
Well, I hope you all had a laugh at it.
I'm just sharing this so that maybe I can understand what happened.
Because I'm still a bit confused by it all.
The best characters are “normal” people put in extraordinary situations.
Can you imagine playing the most specialist boy/girl from level 1 to 20?
Here are few comments that resonated with me
Mitch121192 said
Wow.... that’s just peculiar.
I understand a lot of DND is escapism and hey.
I can’t do magic so I will roleplay someone who can.
But to bash a PC based on him not living up to YOUR expectations is just wrong.
I personally love your character.
I like the image of a party of obscure races and flamboyantly dressed casters.
Oh and jasper.
The brown tunic wearing, average height joe blow that’s along for the ride.
Reminds me of x force from dead pool 2.
I am currently DMing and already planned for a character like yours as an npc.
Party meets a band of pirates.
Captain blood beard, murdering Mike, slashing sally.
Oh and Jim.
He just wants to sail.
Erik_in_Prague said
They seemed to want a very particular kind of game -- which is their right -- but that
should have been made clear in the post or during the application/interview process.
If they want an erotically charged game with exotic characters, they can do that, but they
need to recognize that not ALL of D&D is like that.
Impressive_Reveal716 said
Over developed characters at level one always feel like the writer is trying too hard.
I myself make almost all of my characters closer to a joe average at level 1.
This gives them immense room to grow and mold to fit with the group and story that develops
as opposed to clash with it.
Also anyone trying to force any sort of sexual fantasy onto you in roleplay or even in acting
is just wrong on so many levels.
Here is another short story about a forever DM trying to play...key word is trying.
D&D 5e One-Shot Where Being Lawful Good is Not Allowed
I am what you'd call a "Forever DM".
I started D&D ~10 years ago, and every time I convinced one of my friends to DM, it went
and/or ended terribly (stories for other times).
Always wanting to sit in front of the screen rather than behind it, I decided to look for
another group online to just do a one-shot or two.
My character was a lawful good Dragonborn Paladin of Ilmater.
As a servant of Ilmater, it was my job to spare my enemies, bury the dead, and help
those in need.
I was not permitted to do any of these things.
The adventure began in a tavern, and after some story stuff, we'd subdued a spy for the
enemy faction.
The spy was refusing to talk, but then I spoke up:
"I've got this spell called Zone of Truth, that--"
As soon as I said that, the DM and his other players all loudly dismissed the idea.
The DM didn't say WHY I couldn't use the spell; just that he wasn't permitting it...
Coulda told me that before I made a paladin...
The DM then instructed one of his other players to execute the spy to prevent further interrogation,
magical or otherwise.
Fast-forward to the end of the first combat, wherein we'd killed a bunch of lizardfolk.
I had specifically spent some of my starting gold on a shovel so I could bury my fallen
foes.
When I told the others that's what I was planning to do with the lizardfolk, they stopped me
once again, saying that we were "in a hurry".
Storywise, we were not in any hurry.
The DM could've easily said, "OK, you bury them, and we move on."
Instead, the corpses were laid about the road, untended, for no good reason.
In the session's last scene, we were in a land settlement of neutral sahuagin.
They'd welcomed us in as diplomats, given us food and shelter, and offered to provide
guidance to our next destination.
While my character was bolstering good relations with their leader... the REST of the party
was sneaking around assassinating and stealing from them…
I said, "I didn't realize I'd be playing with a chaotic evil party..."
To which the DM replied, "... You're not."
I never played with that group again.
When I didn't show up to their next scheduled game, the DM made no attempt to contact his
missing player.
I haven't heard from them since.
He was the worst DM I'd ever had.
The truest form of the murderhobo.
Classic.
HippieMoosen pointed out something very important about this group.
“The DM then instructed one of his other players to execute the spy to prevent further
interrogation, magical or otherwise.”
This whole story is just weird.
This detail seems to shed some light though.
This DM appears to have a ton of control over these players.
They've likely played together a lot, so they have a specific style they stick to, keeping
all other play styles far away from their table.
Not sure how the group thought that they weren't chaotic evil, but I guess if the narrator
says you're the good guy, you'll believe it.
And Erik in Prague had a brilliant idea.
Yikes!
If they're not chaotic evil...what did they think they were? Girl Scouts?
Also, a group of forever DMs that rotates running one shots for the party would be perfect…
If only people could properly communicate.
Forever DMs don’t give up hope!
I know you will find a great group to play with.
Please let us know what you think and comment below!
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