>What's the most frustrating aspect of this hobby for you?
For me, it's simply the people who play it. This hobby attracts some very neurotic people, and some extremely self-centered types too. Sometimes both! I firmly believe that "finding the right group" is more important than even the system you're playing.
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It is frustrating how much time it takes to get an RPG campaign going.
By the time people settle on which system to use, which variant rules to use, which house-rules are applied, which setting we're playing in, what particular playstyle we want, and finally do the damn character sheets... most of the players have left.
Sometimes, I wish people just played one game and stuck to it. It does not (and really should not) cover every possible setting and playstyle: just choose one and stick with it, damn you.
I sometimes wonder if the "one person GM's, the others play characters" is truly the best way? The workload is entirely unbalanced towards a single person.
Players that cannot fathom death.
This is one of the reasons why I like games with communal world/narrative building elements.
How difficult it is to find a decent game, and how unlikely that game is to last more than a few sessions.
I've always be kind of lucky regarding players, and my sessions in general (in cmparison of horror stories of Veeky Forums of course).
But what saddens me the most is when i feel that things would be better if one player would not be there.
Of course, said players are not downright awful and horrible. But i can clearly see that the don't mesh that well with the other, and hurt the game dynamic without slowing it down enough to justify me kicking them out (i try to make so that it will work anyway).
And when you think that things are going quite good, suddenly, said players are absent for a single session, and you feel like everything is fine.
It's quite depressing since they are good friend, full of ideas, and one is a really good roleplayer.
I think that this guy is right, with the good groups, anything is fine i have four excellent group of friend/players to play with
I really want to run a 5e campaign with the DMG variant that anyone can swap to be DM or introduce story elements. It seems like it would be fun in a sandbox if your group has a few people into DMing.
this
The fact that, out of the three RPG groups I've joined, two of them have died before anything interesting happened (the first was an XCOM-homebrew that I was just getting the hang of, the second never even started) and I'm really starting to wonder why I should even bother anymore.
Every community is either cringy or aggressive as hell. Sometimes both. I am happy to be part of a big club that only has a few cringey people and isn't flooded with bad-wrong fun guys.
The people you play with can be both the best and the worst thing about it all, really.
It's really rather how people who work in retail perceive their customers. Some days are fine, you'll even meet some nice ones, but other days it's neurosis and bad tempers all round. You need them, and occasionally you meet some good ones, but still, sometimes you wish they'd all just fuck off and die.
The incredible difficulty in finding good players with at least rudimentary social skills.So many of them are, at best, entitled shits. I've gone through hundreds of people since I started, and the last time I recruited a long-term player was in 2009.
The 5e game I'm in has six players. Don't get me wrong - it doesn't get in the way while we play, and it's incredibly fun, and I love hanging out with everyone.
But boy howdy does it bork our schedule. Our "standard" is one session every 3 weeks. Last time, the time between sessions was six weeks. Truth be told, it's a bit frustrating, and I'm looking into potentially running or joining a smaller game that gets played more frequently.
You need to get a bunch of improv actors who are also decent at math and relatively mature and all with similar tastes in media to come together and carve out several hours from their adult lives per week just to partake of the hobby. It's an absolute hell.
This. People in this hobby can get cripplingly indecisive about things like system or setting or even minor things during character creation to the point that a game will never get off the ground because of it. I wish more people were open to taking an idea and running with it even if it isn't perfect.
Being a forever GM really, none of my players or people I know within reasonable distance are willing to do it, and I dont feel I have enough free time to scour through randoms online trying to find a decent group.
>Also players who dont fucking read the material you put up
got my best group in 30 years of playing/DMing,
2 work friends, the wife of one of the work friends, and a friend of that same guy.
Meet once every 2 weeks regularly, players all have about 10 years of casual roleplaying game experience, no personality conflicts 15 sessions in, having a blast.
Be Jelly.
Fat, ugly, socially awkward people.
Gaming isn't for you then. Go join a softball or basketball league.
For me, it's my insane amount of ambition. I'll draw up campaigns with five major plots, ten ways for the players to get there, overarching themes, different catalysts for individual character development, alter mechanics to fit the theme of the game... And then one (Or a lot more than one, let's be honest) aspect doesn't quite work out, or the players start heaping memes on top of it because that's how they socialize and the game's honestly not as important. And I lose interest instantly. Veeky Forums tells me I should write a book instead, becuase Veeky Forums doesn't actually know what they're talking about and they figure it's a railroading problem. The story can go in any direction, what fucks it up is a complete disregard for tone.
A lot of games (systems, even) recommend you let players do the writing about their house, and their contacts, and really anything that has to do with that character. Gets them invested and saves you time. Dunno if you trust your players like that, though.
I hate how much some people think of it as just a video game on a board. I practically have to drag my players by the nose. They take no initiative and just want me to dole out quests like my npcs have exclamation points above their heads.
Right now it's between my friends being unwilling to understand or accept that I am less experienced than them and the crippling fear that I am "that guy".
I am playing Dungeons and Dragons for the first time and the guys in my group point out how stupid every move I make in game is. I think I am acting in character, and I don't mind making mistakes. If it hurts me, I figure I learn my lesson. It's also not even stuff that will make the character die. I understand their frustration, I have only ever played WoD so I probably seem really out of it in fantasy, but it's killing the fun of exploring and figuring it out.
It might be my fault though...
I ran 3 pre sessions that covered key turning points in the player's lives from age 8 to 18.
The problem is, now they are so invested in their characters that they get legitimately upset if it even LOOKS like they are all going to be killed by some turn of events.
Play up your character as being the inexperienced rookie, have the other players straighten you out in character. If they won't, maybe they are just dicks. One of my players struggles with the math and tries to occasionally poison Constructs, but we are nice in helping them along.
You could throw in a system of Fate tokens to give them some assurance. I personally have to use character death just to try and reinforce the fact that people can really actually die, and doing stupid shit will kind of do that to you.
Fortunately they really don't do stupid shit, and I have a great system for circumventing 5e's terrible CR system.
I'll try that, thank you.
My DM told me he wants more character interaction, too, so that could help multiple things.
My group doesn't seem to do in character talk much either which is a shame. Fights are kind of boring without plot.
Without roleplaying, you are just playing an unnecessarily complicated board game.
I mean if they're legitimately afraid of character death when you're not even really doing it, that's probably a good thing, since they'll be acting carefully in-character and probably playing right with your intentions. Reassure them for sure, but y'know. Dangerous profession, they DO have to stay on their toes.
Struck a nerve? You don't need to be fat and ugly just because you like to play rpgs. Don't use these poor excuses.
Exactly. The campaign is in Nehwon, and old retired and reformed villains occasionally remind them that Heroes traditionally die young. (it's a convention in those books). And the ghosts of dead relatives occasionally appear and give them portentous warnings.
The player I work alongside knew the party was in one of my deadliest encounters in the map region, and stressed about it all the way up to the game night. But man, did they fight as a team to beat that one.
MTG players that get salty when you try to win in a 1v1. Like, they get that offended look on their face if you throw down a 1/1 with haste T1 and swing.
I'm not fat but not Justin Bieber either. And you are taking part in a sedentary niche nerd hobby.
I'm sorry that you are appalled by the number of sedentary nerds engaging in it.
"I love basketball, but whats with all the nigrahs?"
If you think you might be That Guy, you're not.
The utter lack of imagination with some players and how they refuse to accept change.
>The BBEG's not a dragon/lich/demon? WTF
>The BBEG's not really all that bad, just determined? MUH BLACK-AND-WHITE
>The locals use sortition to elect part of their government? NOT MUH FANTASY
>They proceed to drop their drawers and defecate on the dog
Well, I'm jealous. You've pretty much got it made.
I mean I get called Justin Bieber all the time, shit sucks tbqh.
This. "that guy" has no worries or self-awareness. He does it effortlessly.
Justin would easily be "that guy" at any game session.
When a player gets indignant when challenged instead of creative.
Yeah, I can't believe my good fortune. None of them have reached 11th level in D&D before, despite years of playing, due to inconsistent DMing. Everyone has a good schedule and we are committed to reaching level 20 in a few years of every other week sessions.
I mean my instinct says so, yeah. He sounds like the personification of the "millennial entitlement" meme. But I dunno, he could be a cool guy underneath all the bullshit.
Yeah, but could he shed that massive layer of bullshit at this point? His mind is probably more warped than a North Korean at this stage.
I dunno, sometimes people surprise you. I'd give him three sessions, I guess.
My farts are majestic.
I'd give almost anyone 3 sessions, I agree with you there.
Enthusiasm counts for a LOT.
In fact I'd say that RP games are 60% enthusiasm 30% personality, and 10% mechanics familiarity.
In other words, the inverse of Warhammer 40k.
>Warhammer 40k
>60% obsession to exclusion of all else
>30% vitriol
>10% fudging the dice
Well said. There's a group of us eternally creating our own hell so that we *might* experience a bit of heaven.
I stand corrected.
To be fair though, it's a game about Vitriol set in the Vitriol universe. So it could just be really good roleplaying.
I'm sorry for your dog
Actually finding people to play with.
Finding decent people as a close third.