Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Paradox Mystic]

I wonder if anyone has had a different experience because the ONE time they put a Chaotic Retard in charge was a TPK in my case.

Whenever I've seen Chaotic Good characters try to take control of a situation it turns into a dumpsterfire in the long run once they get past the initial dopamine rush from rejecting the rules and expectations of society. Sure other chaotic characters can be a problem too but they don't usually have the problem of their player pretending their actions are morally correct. People are more willing to accept a bad end when they're playing Thunderbeard the Cannibal dwarf than if they're playing some sort of pretentious character with ties to royalty/fame/status.

"I don't understand why my Rick Sanchez/Dr. Who parody ended tragically!"

 

[Adamska]

I wonder if anyone has had a different experience because the ONE time they put a Chaotic Retard in charge was a TPK in my case.

I've had anarchic characters hijack games before and while the ride can be fucking insane and sometimes twists, it never went horribly, since for all they disrupted the world flow, they also did get their and our asses out of the fire they started.

Most notorious one I can think of where they were there from the start was a Chaotic Psychotic Barbarian who managed to use his ridiculous wealth we got as very successful pirates just to fund terror cells of different ideas around the world just to be a horrendous dick. My favorite one he backed was the group who tried to essentially drag the world setting we were on to a worse version of Athas by killing the Sacred Groves that formed a nexus point of stable life magic to the realm. Runner up was the boomer necromancer cult who if I remember right wanted to unleash Thrazidun simply because even unlife got boring. We were barely able to contain that fuck-up.

Runner up was the CN Swordsage who managed to become a tinpot dictator of a planet, since he just beat the consequences to death and got lucky early on. We beat up Old Ones and Elder Gods for their lunch money by the end of that ride, since we were just tapping on Epic and busted to shit and back.

Current game is a triad of LN, CG, and LG running the show, so while the anarchic character does dictate some crazy shit, it so far has not bitten them on the ass. For now.

 

[MaxPayne]

Biggest tragedy in my experience as a player was a character who worshipped the setting's God of monsters, but was an otherwise standard violent barbarian. After clearing out a mine of orcs, we encountered a starved troll the orcs had trapped in a side passage. But rather than kill the thing like everyone else was rearing to do, my character attempted to communicate with it and get it out of the mine unarmed, feeding it some of the many, many dead orcs we had, which disappointed everyone except for me. If I were playing a more standard violent lunatic, I probably would have fought it, but I decided to just go with what I felt was most in-character. Naturally, I did not last long in the group and dipped due to clashes in the aim of play. Many such cases.

If I were DMing that game I'd go along with it using a completely neutral poker face but later on you'd certainly stumble upon the aftermath of innocents slaughtered by the troll, maybe a destroyed village or two as a result of that choice.

 

[Henri Barbusse]

I would be inclined to agree. Most fun campaign I ever ran was one set in Vegas in Vampire the Masquerade with all the PCs as important power players that together ran a casino. They all went off to their own things and advanced the interests of their clans and whatnot. One day will do something similar with LA.

Did the game feature the canonical Giovanni capo of Las Vegas, Shlomo Rothstein?

 

[Fuck Bankers]

This is why I always put the Lawful Good guy in charge of the party. Yes, he was an annoying fuddy-duddy, yes, he would shut it the fuck down for certain versions of what you considered "fun." But would he keep things moving? Yes. Would he be fair? Yes. When you won, thanks to not having a Chaotic Retard in charge, would he split up the goods fairly? Yes.

When I GMed my usual party, our "diverse" (i.e. a bunch of goddamn retarded niggers) party would sometimes dispute putting the Paladin in charge, but whenever it came down to a vote? Even the brain-dead psychotic half-orc assassin would grumblingly contribute the last (unanimous) vote for the LG dude.

I wonder if anyone has had a different experience because the ONE time they put a Chaotic Retard in charge was a TPK in my case.

I think 3 point alignment is better than 9 point alignment. You're either lawful, chaotic, or a fence sitting faggot.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Whenever I've seen Chaotic Good characters try to take control of a situation it turns into a dumpsterfire in the long run once they get past the initial dopamine rush from rejecting the rules and expectations of society. Sure other chaotic characters can be a problem too but they don't usually have the problem of their player pretending their actions are morally correct. People are more willing to accept a bad end when they're playing Thunderbeard the Cannibal dwarf than if they're playing some sort of pretentious character with ties to royalty/fame/status.

"I don't understand why my Rick Sanchez/Dr. Who parody ended tragically!"

Anyone playing Chaotic Good as getting a thrill from "rejecting the rules and expectations of society" is a faggot and deserves every consequence they get.

Chaotic Good isn't a dangerhaired rebel without a cause, it's a Robin Hood archetype. It's someone who puts the good of others above the Law, and will break said laws in order to improve the lives of those they meet. As opposed to a Lawful Good character, who tries to do as much good as they can within the rules. A Chaotic Good character inserted into a lawful but fair society will maybe get bored and mischievous (CG characters make for great pranksters), but they won't try to overthrow it just because Law = Bad.

 

[Paradox Mystic]

Anyone playing Chaotic Good as getting a thrill from "rejection the rules and expectations of society" is a faggot and deserves every consequence they get.

I get that, I've been burned by running stuff for people who think their characters are Chaotic Good but they're really Chaotic Neutral at best. It's part of a tendency of some people to latch onto a concept and play it in a bland narrow way that often misunderstands what they're playing.

 

[40 Year Old Boomer]

I wonder if anyone has had a different experience because the ONE time they put a Chaotic Retard in charge was a TPK in my case.

As a chaotic neutral tiefling sorcerer with a dragonborn berserker second banana. It was a wild ride but we made it all the way to the end alive (with just one hitpoint left in my case).

 

[LovisXVI]

If I were DMing that game I'd go along with it using a completely neutral poker face but later on you'd certainly stumble upon the aftermath of innocents slaughtered by the troll, maybe a destroyed village or two as a result of that choice.

A single troll? Retarded. Never mind the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere and trolls in the setting are more concerned with getting fed and aren't particularly evil.

 

[Aib Ld]

I never knew how bad couples are until now. The woman refused to read the rules of her class and she blows me off. Okay, she's probably busy. Theres no way I'm having a repeat of that event again.
Second time, she disappears when I go to her again and her boyfriend fills on her spot. What the fuck? I didn't ask you.
Third, finally got her when boyfriend is busy to protect her. "dont blame me, im autistic" the rest went into my ears, and went out the other. Boyfriend finished up on what he was doing and switches with her. I didn't ask you again.
Now, she has the gall to talk about doing seasonal sessions right on my group, including me being right there, overtaking my timeslots. I remind her about the game that is currently one minute away from starting. She pretends I wasn't there and then ghosts me (and the group!).

I fucking wish I could boot the girlfriend but keep the boyfriend. At least the boyfriend actually plays the game but gets confused a lot because the girlfriend keep doing things she can't do. He even acts like a responsible adult, like letting me know if he can't come to the game or got lost in the plot. If she turns out to be using him as a shield against me, then what a cowardly bitch.

 

[Ghostse]

Now, she has the gall to talk about doing seasonal sessions right on my group, including me being right there, for overtaking my timeslots.

Yeah this person would be disinvited from my group right there, boyfriend be damned. I would have shut that shit down right then and there, this is not the recruiting area, you don't poach players.

Since he's the more reasonable of the two, I'd lay down the law with him: That behavior is not ok. You aren't running a super serious game, but more effort than none needs to put in by players. The goal is everyone should have fun and she's making things unfun and stressful for you.

I guess I would have issued warnings before shit got to this point, but now that you're there I don't know that I would even given her a strike, I'd just give her a boot and tell the BF he's welcome to keep coming to the game but you completely understand if he cannot.

The last problem couple I had I would have given them the boot except they were hosting.

 

[AnOminous]

I fucking wish I could boot the girlfriend but keep the boyfriend. At least the boyfriend actually plays the game but gets confused a lot because the girlfriend keep doing things she can't do. He even acts like a responsible adult, like letting me know if he can't come to the game or got lost in the plot. If she turns out to be using him as a shield against me, then what a cowardly bitch.

Just boot them both dude, it's not worth the drama. There is no point coping with this bullshit. You either excise this cancer or your scene is already dead.

The last problem couple I had I would have given them the boot except they were hosting.

Glad I never had this shit. The only couple thing I ever had was a non-problem couple. She would refuse to heal him if he had fucked up and would heal someone who was actually killing bad guys. "Want a heal? Kill something!"

 

[Judge Dredd]

There is a reason I rail on people who just say "Well my group just ignores the latest woke lore" because one of these days you're going to have to find a new group.

That's why I reject the "just find a better group" excuse as well. It's slim pickings now.

Even the rules are busted. 5e is now a tangled mess of 14, 24, and TCE.

. The FLGS closed down recently due to eminent domain.

What are they building?

 

[Ghostse]

Glad I never had this shit. The only couple thing I ever had was a non-problem couple. She would refuse to heal him if he had fucked up and would heal someone who was actually killing bad guys. "Want a heal? Kill something!"

I've had mostly good luck with couples before. There were the creepy swingers, and this pair.

Oddly I had issues early on with the guy who wanted to do Chaotic Stupid but he eventually stopped ruining the game for everyone else and was an OK player. And the wifey started out fine and engaged but then got pissy because she was expected to remember stuff between sessions (and never took any notes, of course) and would need to do prep work for clever plans and coulnd't just spring them in midsession and expect the universe to reorder itself to accompany her 'brilliant' plan.

Spoiler

They were infilitrating the BBG's fortress after slowly working their way through his troops were entering via a back entrance. Only then in this moment, despite being at this most of a year, did she suddenly decide she wanted to do an infilitration mission.

Now I had given them tools for this possibility. The enemy had 580 named troops, and were recruiting locals. I had made sure that, if they had wanted, they could infilitrate the enemy fortress (either intel or assassination mission) steal uniforms, and they had pulled dogtags off
They even had taken a prisioner a guy who valued his own life over "the cause" who could have been a source of codewords, etc.
She had given zero shits about this stuff and infact had done the 'bored face' as this stuff showed up in loot lists. Clearly didn't care.
Until this exact moment 5 seconds before they were about to start their assault. NOW she wanted to play Metal Gear Solid.
So I told her "Ok, tell me the name of one of the bad guy's units". Completely blank stare, how am I supposed to know that, etc.
I told her "You can try, but you are goign to be rolling up in bloodied uniforms, the wrong armor, and knowing jack shit about how they operate.". They get found out by the first guy the encounter because they didn't know the password of the day. surprised pikachu

She also got pissy because an NPC they were stringing along by basically promising shit they intended to never deliver on cut them off. Which was the whole point; he was a training wheels bailout NPC who wanted to use her character to get him access to the Elf Kingdom to trade, so he was willing to eat a fair amount of shit backing the party and helping them get work and build contacts. And once the party didn't need training wheels anymore he was going to "Look, I've given you a lot of help. Time to put up or shut up" and since they were misrepresenting themselves there was no way they could put up. But it wouldn't really matter because they shouldn't need him by that point.
But she got pissy that the savvy cutthroat trader NPC saw through her obvious bullshit that she wouldn't have fallen for.

What are they building?

You know, eminient shit.
:scouter:

 

[Rapier Ape]

@Ghostse
If you're not opposed to strangers then you could go old school and hit up the public boards. Libraries, comic shops etc. I'm in a good sized city and I've seen them in a lot of businesses. There are several record shops and mom and pop book stores with them. I've seen them in a handful of bistros and pubs. Some places may charge you a couple bucks to stick something up there for a month or so but I've found that it's generally not the case. Oh also laundromats generally have them.
I went with the public board rout maybe 8 years ago and the next thing I knew I had 12 different people ready to go and waiting in 2 weeks. 5 of those players I still talk with and do tabletop stuff with across several games as well as stuff outside of tabletop. One actually texted me last week wanting to know if I'd be down to run an OWoD Vampire the Dark Ages game at some point.
The age range for these people went from a 55yo who hadn't played since 1e (he still had his old fighter/MU elf character sheet) to an 18yo homeschool girl with zero tabletop experience but watched a buttload of videos on how to be a good player etc. Hell I even had a couple teenagers hit me up but that was a no go.
I say print up some flyers with tabs with an email address and or phone number and just see if you get some bites.
I mean if you spend 2 hours hanging those up and get a couple players it's well worth it.

 

[Overly Serious]

@Ghostse
If you're not opposed to strangers then you could go old school and hit up the public boards. Libraries, comic shops etc. I'm in a good sized city and I've seen them in a lot of businesses. There are several record shops and mom and pop book stores with them. I've seen them in a handful of bistros and pubs. Some places may charge you a couple bucks to stick something up there for a month or so but I've found that it's generally not the case. Oh also laundromats generally have them.
I went with the public board rout maybe 8 years ago and the next thing I knew I had 12 different people ready to go and waiting in 2 weeks. 5 of those players I still talk with and do tabletop stuff with across several games as well as stuff outside of tabletop. One actually texted me last week wanting to know if I'd be down to run an OWoD Vampire the Dark Ages game at some point.
The age range for these people went from a 55yo who hadn't played since 1e (he still had his old fighter/MU elf character sheet) to an 18yo homeschool girl with zero tabletop experience but watched a buttload of videos on how to be a good player etc. Hell I even had a couple teenagers hit me up but that was a no go.
I say print up some flyers with tabs with an email address and or phone number and just see if you get some bites.
I mean if you spend 2 hours hanging those up and get a couple players it's well worth it.

The other advantage is that you might get non-gamers joining the group if you advertise in more generic places! All this discussion about players who just make all these lazy assumptions - where does it come from? Generic D&D and videogames. In my experience the players who have approached things with a realistic grasp of actions and consequences have been players with limited gaming experience. They've never been taught that everything is some level-balanced encounter or that the Bad Guys just sit there waiting for the party to arrive.

I do recommend putting some age notes on any such ads. Can avoid awkward situations and wrong expectations. Just something like "average age 35 but younger and older players welcome" or something.

 

[Corn Flakes]

The other advantage is that you might get non-gamers joining the group if you advertise in more generic places!

I know it was probably not what you intended but I've had way more success finding people who actually want to play RPGs rather than create new character "concepts" and "builds" when I advertised in general gaming communities rather than ones "dedicated" to RPGs and advertising games (or, God forbid, Roll20).

I'm not sure what that says about the broader RPG community, but it's probably not good.

 

[Ghostse]

@Ghostse
If you're not opposed to strangers then you could go old school and hit up the public boards. Libraries, comic shops etc. I'm in a good sized city and I've seen them in a lot of businesses. There are several record shops and mom and pop book stores with them. I've seen them in a handful of bistros and pubs. Some places may charge you a couple bucks to stick something up there for a month or so but I've found that it's generally not the case. Oh also laundromats generally have them.
I went with the public board rout maybe 8 years ago and the next thing I knew I had 12 different people ready to go and waiting in 2 weeks. 5 of those players I still talk with and do tabletop stuff with across several games as well as stuff outside of tabletop. One actually texted me last week wanting to know if I'd be down to run an OWoD Vampire the Dark Ages game at some point.
The age range for these people went from a 55yo who hadn't played since 1e (he still had his old fighter/MU elf character sheet) to an 18yo homeschool girl with zero tabletop experience but watched a buttload of videos on how to be a good player etc. Hell I even had a couple teenagers hit me up but that was a no go.
I say print up some flyers with tabs with an email address and or phone number and just see if you get some bites.
I mean if you spend 2 hours hanging those up and get a couple players it's well worth it.

This isnt a terrible idea on the face, but my concern is I am in a Blue Urban Bugman hellhole and given what the glorified magic shop generated I fear what wastes of time and oxygen open recruitment would dredge up. (No real horror stories, just the usual "This isn't like critical role at all" thing with people who were convinced they want to play to a game they don't enjoy.) The bookshop idea specifically I had a "Oh yeah that would be a good source of people who might be up for games of lets-pretend but also shower" moment and then I remembered all the small bookshops are about at the level of "The PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PRESS".

Though maybe I'll see if there a board in the closest Whole Foods. At least that way when they storm out due to colonialism it'll be nice to watch them leave.

Honestly I just need to stop being lazy and take a half day off work and go check out the less-local gamestore on open table night and see what the scene is like there.

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

Though maybe I'll see if there a board in the closest Whole Foods. At least that way when they storm out due to colonialism it'll be nice to watch them leave.

I wonder what you'd get if you trawled in different waters. Comic book shops, record stores, and musical instrument stores have plenty of nerds, and their clientele tend to be more varied.

 

[AnOminous]

I miss the days when one of my friends would call me up and say "hey want to play a complete asshole character in one of my campaigns where the win condition is they don't kill you until they don't need you any more?"

And then I'd show up. And everyone would be like "oh it's one of THESE again."