Most boring campaign?

[dragonshaos]

What experiences have you had with boring campaigns.  Ones where even though you don't want to play you somehow muster up the willpower (no saving throws  >.<) to continue on.

For example one of the most boring campaigns I'm playing is with my friends Wheel of Time rpg.  Its made for people who have read the book, and being only the GM has read the series its really confusing for us players.  All the references to characters and events that would be really cool and awesome are just lost on us as we try to comprehend why the events that are unfolding before us have any real meaning.

But the only reason I'm really playing it still is that it's my friends first introduction to being a GM and he's having a blast.

[Tadanori Oyama]

I really don't. When a game is boring I tend to leave it. I try to give the GM (or other players) a chance to change to something interesting, that doesn't always work. So, if it doesn't look like it will change, I leave the game.

[Phelanar]

Hmm. I was in a Rebellion-era Star Wars campaign where nobody (except me) wanted to do anything. At one point we were in a market in a podunk city on a podunk planet in the Outer Rim. A creature-pulled wagon piled high with veggies rolls by. A trio of Imperials (two Stormtroopers and an Officer) try and stop the wagon, which bolts and tries to make a run for it. The driver is shot and killed and the wagon overturns, exposing 3 people under the veggies. The Imperials are closing on them and about them and clearly about to execute them all at point blank range. The GM very clearly meant for us to get involved, save the people, and stop the Imperials. Time seemed to slow down as I (and the GM I assume) waited for one of our big beefy bruisers to step up and pick a fight. They didn't. My scrawny little mechanic/slicer scoundrel finally had to step up, blaster in hand, to get the party started. And nearly got dropped in a single shot for the effort. The others very reluctantly got involved at that point and ran away as soon as it was feasible. This is representative of the entire game. The others clearly didn't want to do anything risky. Ever. Join the Rebellion? We might get shot! Go into crime? We might get shot! Work with the Empire? We might get shot! They apparently wanted to play an office cubicle simulation in the Star Wars universe or something. I never found out because I quit. I'm fairly sure the game didn't last long past my leaving either.

Not the only boring game I've ever been in. Fandom games (freeform) are always dull as all hell and are too much like anarchic multiperson fanfic writing than actual games.  I played in a couple, one even had a really nice concept based on the .hack games/media and another had a good Slayers/Lost Universe/well informed OC vibe, but just got tired of it. I like the GM-Players dynamic too much to enjoy "games" where you basically have to ask permission for every little thing your character does, even if it would be in-character or a good story to do so.

Back more on topic for this site. A D&D game who had a GM who thought that his homebrew world was a masterwork worthy of Shakespeare and he could barely take the thought of mere peon players sullying it with their actions. Character backgrounds were required to be more akin to novellas than most of what I see online or off. And the GM rejected most of them anyway for the most pretentious reasons, such as "You've told me this character's name, but you haven't told me ~why~  he is named this. I need to know the reasons behind it or I cannot accept your character". Paraphrased, but otherwise completely true. Needless to say, he never got any characters he liked and the game never got off the ground that I'm aware of.

How about a location-based online Exalted game. I was really excited about this one. Set in Chiaroscuro in the South part of Creation, which is one of the more interesting parts of the setting. All types of Exalted where there, epic plots were promised. I made up a Dawn-caste Solar martial artist. And proceeded to be bored as all hell for weeks. Most of the game was people sitting around Chiaroscuro cafes, bars, and markets. Talking. Endlessly. The Admins (who basically were GMs as well as players in other Admin-controlled plots) wouldn't run plots for you were either part of their clique or they felt sorry for you. If you weren't playing a Sidereal or Dragon-Blooded, you had to try about three times as hard to get involved and it often didn't work out anyway. I got involved in a plotline about a city-wide riot which was going on because there was an army encircling the city. My involvement lasted about 15 minutes. Meanwhile elsewhere in the city at the very same time, there were DBs and Sidereals fighting a Demon of the Second Circle. Awesome stuff. I wasn't allowed to get involved, even though I could have. In the end, I could have made a homeless pickpocket or street vendor selling sausage and had as much time doing interesting things as my cool Solar martial artist. I went off on the admins and left. They almost certainly never even really understand why I was so upset and I'm probably long forgotten, but it still kind of ticks me off to this day.

[clockworkjoe]

I joined in on a Mage campaign late in its run so my dude had little to do compared to the others. It had an interesting plot but I didn't understand most of it and the GM took forever to get anything done. Some sessions took over 6 hours and I can't remember much of what happened. But that was far from the worst.

I've been in many D&D games that were boring dungeon crawls or string of fights that typically only lasted one or two sessions. I've played in a few failed world of darkness games where the fights sucked and nothing happened.

Generally the boring games happened when the GM took too long to get things moving. I am rather hyperactive when it comes to RPGs. I need shit to happen all the time and I can't stand down time or stretches where nothing interesting happens.

[rayner23]

I've had boring sessions, but never a really boring campaign.

I run a game of D&D for some of my students at school and sometimes it can be boring because they haven't quite grasped the idea of role-playing a character that isn't themselves.

Most sessions revolve around players going off on their own and wandering aimlessly around an area. Once they come across something interesting, they go and find other players to show them. Rinse and repeat.

A barbarian came up to a blood trail leading out to the woods, so he wanted to go and find his friends (despite the fact it was clear that they were busy looking at things on their own). He found the player who is playing a fighter and the two of them wanted to go find more people. Eventually, I told them that they crave blood and fighting (because that is the ONLY thing they established with their characters up until this point) and they should chase after the blood.

Thankfully, they went.

[ethan_dawe]

My most boring game story is ananecdote in RPPR episode #5. One night of it was enough!

[wrotenbe]

The most boring campaign I was in was a Vampire: The Requiem game set in 1960s New Orleans. The ST spent at least three sessions over the course of the campaign explaining to us the roadmap of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes, it was continually stressed to us that we were pitiful neonates and most every other kindred in the city was stronger and more connected than us, and most of our political intriguing consisted of taking notes and giving away more and more lagniappes (favors) with little payoff. Our characters had no direction and no goals other than 'eliminate the Carthian menace' which despite our best efforts we could never get any information on beyond vague rumors. I liked the idea of the game so much that I stuck it out, but it seemed like I was chasing my own tail and never accomplishing anything.

[Mason]

one of the most boring games I was in was a Hunter:The Vigil campaign, my friend was running. for every building in this abandoned town she had like five minutes of description. then she added fetch quest that had us going from one end of town back to the other. ontop of that she liked to add what our players were thinking and feeling in her dialog, Im sitting there like "Fuck! does she want to roll my dice for me to?!"

eventually me and my friend snapped. we were both playing holy men, of sorts, and we just ran to the trunk of our car stole some guns from our other team mates equipment bag and started blasting everyone and everthing that moved. eventually she got fed up with us and had a fucking angel come down and try and kill us so we said fuck you and lit the gas tank on the car and drove it at him. if only she remebered angels could fly. angel bits and mortal bits rained down and it was a total party wipe. She left that night pissed. she has yet been back to GM since.