Redemption - General Hangout (Everyone Welcome)

[Varen Tai]

I'll answer the question! This is also a very young age, playing the original red box D&D set way back in the very early 80s. You know, this one:

I was playing with my uncle DMing and it was just me. I loved wizards, so I totally started with a 1st level Magic-User, with Magic Missile memorized. I had a whopping 2 HP.

He had designed an adventure for me, so we began and I walked towards a big stone wall with a door. As I approached the door, Giant Fly buzzed down and attacked! I hit him with Magic Missile for about 3 damage, and then he hit me for 2. Aaaaand that was it. Adventure over. I think it lasted 2-3 minutes total after character creation.

Lesson learned: Wizards cannot solo, but to die 2 minutes into the adventure? Incredibly embarrassing.

[Rumrunner]

Embarrassing moments? I had one here on the weave, where I was playing with a group. We worked out that the relationships in advance I was playing a noble and another person was playing their servant, so we tied them together. It was a fairly abusive relationship, but it was fun to roleplay through the complexities of that relationship and everyone was having a blast with the character growth and development. The GM left for reasons, but we were having so much fun, that we got a rescue GM.

Soon enough the party is separated, and I can't shake the feeling that I'm being punished... turns out the GM took the RP as bullying and toxic, and it wasn't until well into it that they realized otherwise. Funny enough, we hadn't considered how the relations might appear to a newcomer as they had been planned in advance and developed overtime. I'm like straight up uppity noble being physically and emotionally abusive to the servant that's posting all self-pity, which would just piss my character off more because they were actually as strong as me in their own way, or they'd stand up for themselves and there would be a real fight. At the same time was very protective over them, it was complicated and fun for all... but Reading back over it, I was like... ooooo yikes, I bet that GM was probably losing sleep over how to deal with it.

Some of the most fun I've had for character development over the years has been interparty conflict and violence, as power dynamics coming to a head, but it's also been the source of the worst times as well. In a violent setting, sometimes violence is needed to resolve things. I know many DMs ban PVP, but when done well, it can add so much depth, though I very much get that it's definitely difficult to moderate, especially when the group is a bunch of strangers. I also know people who hate any in game conflict between players, even disagreements on perspective stress them out and ruins the game for them, so... its no easy thing.

I had one player in a RL game, who was so consistently antagonistic that when the DM made note of a group on an airship that was our other party in a simultaneously running campaign, the player picked a fight with his other character from the other game and fought to the death(and loved it!), and for nothing but a minor slight(shoulder bump) that was actually in character for both his characters... so, I may be a little desensitized.

[PixCO]

56 minutes ago, Rumrunner said:

ooooo yikes, I bet that GM was probably losing sleep over how to deal with it.

Or was thinking "No wonder the other GM bailed!"

[Rumrunner]

5 minutes ago, PixCO said:

Or was thinking "No wonder the other GM bailed!"

Lol Right!

[Harding]

Played in the 3rd edition and made an Avariel Elf thinking that playing a race with flying speed would be OP. The ''kind'' and ''merciful'' DM remembered me often about falling damage. He didn't miss any opportunities in fact. Hold person was his favorite way, but he was getting quite creative in the process. After a couple sessions, one of the other character nicknamed my character ''Sir Fall A Lot'' (which the name stuck all the game up to level 14). I never played another character with natural flying speed in any of his games afterward.

[PixCO]

19 hours ago, Varen Tai said:

 

Lesson learned: Wizards cannot solo, but to die 2 minutes into the adventure? Incredibly embarrassing.

... is it though? We've all had a 1st level glass-cannon go "I know, magic-missile! Um... no? I'll throw my dagger!", thinking they'll survive even one round of fighting. I believe you can dig deeper. That one was mostly on your uncle for throwing HP challenges so quickly.

[PixCO]

14 hours ago, Harding said:

Played in the 3rd edition and made an Avariel Elf thinking that playing a race with flying speed would be OP. The ''kind'' and ''merciful'' DM remembered me often about falling damage. He didn't miss any opportunities in fact. Hold person was his favorite way, but he was getting quite creative in the process. After a couple sessions, one of the other character nicknamed my character ''Sir Fall A Lot'' (which the name stuck all the game up to level 14). I never played another character with natural flying speed in any of his games afterward.

Oh, there's a good question.

 

"What character types have you banned yourself from playing?"

 

I can't play Mean Girls anymore. Somehow I'm too good at it. 1st time was a Ravenloft campaign where we were expected to play terrible people and die horribly. I had the entire party turning on itself so badly that we didn't survive the first city, though. My only cool TPK outside of Paranoia.

Unfortunately the same thing keeps happening in campaigns where I'm not supposed to get us all killed. The last time I had to come up with an excuse to dramatically redeem her personality because she'd already destroyed any good will the characters had towards each other. So I just stay away from it entirely now.

Which is weird because I only wish I could be even half that manipulative IRL.

[Varen Tai]

2 hours ago, PixCO said:

... is it though? We've all had a 1st level glass-cannon go "I know, magic-missile! Um... no? I'll throw my dagger!", thinking they'll survive even one round of fighting. I believe you can dig deeper. That one was mostly on your uncle for throwing HP challenges so quickly.

As an adult, you are correct. As my 7 year old self, I was embarrassed. My uncle was only about 12 and was still trying to figure it out himself.

But I don't know that I have any other embarrassing stories, mainly because I was always the DM and have a tendency to not get embarrassed easily. When I made a DM mistake, I was usually able to roll with it and make it into something cool instead.

UNLESS we are including D&D video games in here, and then, hoo boy, do I have a good one that no one here would truly appreciate. Playing D&D Online in Hardcore mode (one death, that's it - no coming back and that character is done for) as a trapper style character, running through a low level mission with NO ENEMIES. You just have a bunch of crates to wreck within a time limit. Should have been a gimme.

However, I had forgotten that there was a single trap on a bonus end chest, not even required for the quest, and so, about 1 second after my trap sense reminded me there was a trap, I had opened the chest and died instantly.

If you understood DDO better, you would understand the gamer shame that assaulted me after that one, let me tell you.

[Civit]

I didn't ban myself but my group banned me from playing paladins after they had decided to sneak up and slit the throats of a room of sleeping frost giants. Rules of chivalry forbid killing the unarmed AWAKE FOUL GIANTS FACE ME!

Somehow the fact we won and that I personally took down 3 meant nothing.

[Nighteyes5678]

Quote

"What character types have you banned yourself from playing?"

LN silver-tongued lawyer.

This was in Deadlands, though I've played versions of the character before (including Shadowrun), and I was playing a gnome gunslinger who logically planned for a lot of situations (I was the type to have sealed envelopes that I had the DM sign to show they were unopened) and was reaction-based in his combat style.

Anywho, our party was new to the area and needed a base of operations. So we took a job from a farmer couple out of town that was having trouble with some beastie killing their cattle. I solved two problems with one stone by fast talking the couple into buying "new and improved" security for their farm so that when we left, they'd still be protected. Course, it'd take more than they were planning, but that's fine, because there are low payments and a reasonable interest plan so they....

....anywho, I owned their farm before I was done, even before we killed the beastie.

So he was like that.

Apparently, the rest of the party became fed up with Daniel's antics that they conspired with the DM and turned on Daniel right after an encounter that left him pretty wounded (because they planned it that way) and tried to kill him. I was a little miffed (in my defense, I was also much younger and less mature), so I pulled out all the stops, killed most of their characters, and had Daniel make a clean escape.

Then when everyone's tempers cooled, I asked what had happened and why, took their constructive feedback seriously, and have never played a character like that again.

As a PC. You ought to watch out for a character like that as NPCs though.....

[Zelphas]

I haven't specifically banned any particular character type... but as I consider it, I think that I have a tendency to overthink myself out of fun if I create a character that's too "brainy" or has too many options. So... I suppose I avoid high Int characters, for the most part.

[Basil_Bottletop]

Embarrassing Moment:

So at a live table, I'm the note taker. It's just something that I've always done and it's been something I've noticed that normally needs to be done. It also gives me something to do when another player is having a nice little scene and it doesn't distract from the RP.

We were in my duet game (two players and one GM), and the other guy was still fairly new. So notes were very important. But I thought I was doing a good job. We'd instilled the rule of 'if it's not on a character sheet or in the notes, the item doesn't exist' with the new player pretty early and they caught on pretty well. Character Sheets were well kept.

Anyways, we're near the end of this Romp-through-the-Ruins and we can't figure out this locked door at the end. We try everything and are just about to give up and just walk away from the whole thing when the GM has the bright idea of pushing us off to the other hallway and down into a room we'd left somewhat unexplored. As a veteran player, I immediately think he's going to drop the key in there and that will be that. Instead, we find ourselves a lore-friendly time machine and we go on a 2-session adventure back in time where we play two members of this fantasy geomancer/engineering corp working our normal daily lives in this building. It's a ton of fun because it was very much a 'figure out how to solve regular problems without murdering bad guys' and also a fair amount of easy exposition on world lore.

Fast forward to near the end where one of the Historical PCs has the key to the room that Real-PCs need to get into. We decide to stash it in one of the secret hidey holes we found in a previous session. When we finally make it back to present day... we rush to that hidey hole, hoping to find it. It's empty. The GM puts his face in his hands and just sighs.

GM: "You guys found the key a long time ago... in this exact location... but no one must have written it down. I have it written down though, so will someone please just say you have it and put it on your sheet."

We did a flashback episode for some World Lore...but also just to tell us we're idiots.

[Basil_Bottletop]

Banned Characters: Again, I need to remind everyone reading that I am presently in a gaming group where it's just two-PCs and a GM. So while my 10 party group had significantly fun stories and we had tons of relatable moments, the last 15 years has been mostly with a singular dynamic and it's shaped my tabletop experiences significantly. /disclaimer

I wanted the other player to take an active role in our games outside combat. So when a new game started, I simply didn't play a character that had any intention of speaking on behalf of the group. But eventually, like the sun coming up in the east, I would lose the battle of wills (and for the sake of the game) and I would do exactly what I wasn't built to do (conceptually or mechanically). We've played many campaigns where the best CHA in the group is a 10. I try my darndest to play to the score, but eventually I just want to get the plot moving and so I'll quietly fudge the score for the sake of RP.

Right around 2020, we started a new game. I had an epiphany during session zero. The other player wasn't going to change his stripes. But he also didn't seem to care that I did all of the RP. So why shouldn't I just embrace the FACE of the party and at least have the scores to back up the personality and role. It was my first bard in a long long time. Actually being able to roll with a nice modifier was such a refreshing thing! And because I embraced the role beforehand, I was able to also do other things decently enough to feel like I was also getting to play a few of the other roles I enjoy. That game came to an end due to a module burnout after months of VTT (due to the return of COVID in 2021). When the next campaign started, I played a different concept, but I also included space in the build and concept to be a reliable Face.

So while my taste in my tabletop games leans away from Alchemists (PF), Artificier (5e, PF), Warforged, and a few other options that I feel don't fit the world lore of your standard fantasy realms, it was the unbanning something on my own list that helped me see a better view from my seat.

[PixCO]

1 hour ago, Basil_Bottletop said:

So at a live table, I'm the note taker.

Holy crap, how did I forget about designated 'note taking'? It was like being the banker in Monopoly. Player X killed 2 Goblins and found 4 gold, 2 gems. Player Y needs food badly.

Was that actually in the early editions, or did we just collectively carry the scorekeeper role from board/card games because it's what we were used to doing?

[Basil_Bottletop]

I'll admit that I started doing it because of the game where my username comes from. The GM was very concerned that my college sports schedule would keep me from his weekly 'highly narrow pathway' campaign on the regular, so he ended up giving my character a portable room. The idea being that I would just be in it whenever I couldn't make a game. Jokes on him, I was one of the most consistent players behind only the GM's wife. Being the youngest and newest member of this veteran-ish group of players, they were happy to let me make some of the newbie mistakes. For example, I went on a kick for a bit where I would collect 'trophies' from all of the neat magical beasts we killed. I would put them in my portable extra planar room.

My notes for the room were immaculate because I wanted to be able to have something for everyone if a problem arose that class builds couldn't fix. I was sort of a tinkerer gnome in that regard, but only in the most basic of ways. I never wanted to build a giant robot or anything. But like, at one point I had a bunch of bombs we took from a bad guy but my throw distance was well within the radius of effect. So I built a potion-tosser. Or the time I took hippogriff wings and made a wind glider so that we had a scout in the sky above our desert travel. Anyways, it was roughly 4 pages of notes. A page just for the list. Then multiple pages of just jotted notes about how to use the junk I had stashed away in there.

By the time that game died, I had started keeping an IC journal because the campaign was us following pages from a MacGuffin's Journal. It made sense that we record our own travels.

When the next game started, it just felt natural to keep some notes. Sometimes I'll do notes only from my perspective. Sometimes it's a more broad -but basic- telling of what everyone is doing. I was in a game that was doing Skull and Shackles (and another that did War for the Crown) and both of them have non-combat social encounter rounds. I kept details of those because I knew the other players weren't keep track of their successes and failures. Just pages of 'turns' in social combat.