Mired in the Quicksand: Being a Player when Nothing Happens

[ArtfulShrapnel]

So. I'm actually playing in a game for a change instead of running it. Supers game in the Wild Talents system. The GM is new and (having had really railroady GMs in the past) seems to be trying to avoid jamming a plot down our throats. We were told it would be a supers game loosely inspired by "Heroes", so we should make supers that aren't necessarily four-color "let's fight crime" folks. All good things in theory. However... (you knew that was coming)...

NOTHING IS FUCKING HAPPENING! It's a fucking parade of NPCs. An accurate summary of the plot is as follows:

We were threatened by a guy, then were forced to talk to another guy. We were sent looking for a third guy, who sent us to a 4th guy. He sent us looking for a 5th guy. Then the 2nd guy talked to us again. Then guy #5 showed up out of the blue and talked at us, telling us to go find guys number 6 and 7.

There hasn't been a single task to accomplish other than "talk to the next guy". It has been three fucking sessions lasting about 5 hours apiece.

If you want the longer version:

Myself and the other players begin as normal people who happen to have awesome super powers. A great tradgedy kills the old team of supers, and the police force starts hunting for others. Of course it's us.

They threaten us into meeting with them, act like mysterious douchebags who of course know EVERYTHING about us, then ask us to "join the team"... with no specifics as to what that might entail. When we finally relent, nothing happens. No missions, nothing. I grasp at the one straw of plot that I've noticed about supers going missing.

Next a shadowy figure from the "resistance" approaches us, mind controls us, shows off how much he knows about our powers, then asks us to 'join the resistance... again with no implication of what that might entail. We're sick of being dicked around so we say no. The attempt to convince us drags on for about two hours. We finally leave and follow our old trail about some villains who might know something.

Then we met an NPC hero who told us to go talk to another NPC hero, who told us to go talk to an NPC villain, who told us to not talk to an NPC super. This marked the end of session 2.

In session 3 we were accosted by jerk #2 again. He mind controlled us into having a conversation. (like, seriously. He mind controlled someone into walking two blocks so he could talk to us in a dramatic location) In this conversation he again asked us to "join him" with no specifics as to what that would mean. He tells us to talk to another NPC after another lengthy attempt to convince us (at this point we fucking hate him because he keeps mind controlling us, which is a dick move). Then the NPC we were supposed to not talk to shows up out of the blue and tells us to go talk to another guy...  End of session 3.[/color]

So my basic issue here is that the GM seems actively opposed to anything happening. Every pointless conversation leads to another one. Anytime we try to do something one of the NPCs shows up and talks at us for a while. We didn't build crazy psychopath heroes, so we can't just start killing people... but that's the current game plan. My other plan is to explain this to the GM and see if he takes it well...

What does RPPR think I should do?

[ArtfulShrapnel]

Oops. Accidental double post. Is there no delete here?

[Tadanori Oyama]

Why are you still playing? Player revolt! Kill the officers and elect new ones from the common ranks. Someone needs to step up and be the GM because whoever is behind the screen at the moment isn't doing the job.

[Mckma]

A dick-ish move would be to just start killing people to force things to happen...

[clockworkjoe]

don't talk to the next guy is what i would recommend

[ArtfulShrapnel]

don't talk to the next guy is what i would recommend

Yeah... I'm starting to feel that might be best. The issue comes when he does something dickish like mind control a member of the party and force them to talk to him. And the character in question is like a ghost or something that can't be targeted. Like tonight.

[ristarr]

Try to get a real meeting with the mind controller or join the resistance to get to him.  Then kill him.  If you kill him, message sent.  If he kills you , game over and you can start a new one. 

[Tadanori Oyama]

Have you tried speaking to the GM about the lack of fun? Anybody around the table spoken up and said: "This sucks"?

[ArtfulShrapnel]

Try to get a real meeting with the mind controller or join the resistance to get to him.  Then kill him.  If you kill him, message sent.  If he kills you , game over and you can start a new one. 

ooh. I like that one.

I think I will try the "hey dude your game is getting dull and you're turning into the GM you hate" approach first.

I find it odd to play in a game where the GM doesn't solicit opinions at the end. I thought that was kind of a normal thing, especially in the first few sessions of the game. :/

Have you tried speaking to the GM about the lack of fun? Anybody around the table spoken up and said: "This sucks"?

That's basically my "plan A". Plan B is now to try and kill his GMPC resistance/villain guy.

[Tadanori Oyama]

That's basically my "plan A". Plan B is now to try and kill his GMPC resistance/villain guy.

Have you gotten as far as Plan C, mass PC murder/suicide?

[ristarr]

I guess plan A is the best choice. I know I would rather hear about disatisfaction from the players rather than an NPC's murder that I might not figure out why it happened.

 But look on the bright side, maybe the GM will let you kill him anyway after your conversation.

[clockworkjoe]

has there at least been some violence

[ArtfulShrapnel]

That's basically my "plan A". Plan B is now to try and kill his GMPC resistance/villain guy.

Have you gotten as far as Plan C, mass PC murder/suicide?

Isn't that ALWAYS plan C? I didn't even feel the need to mention it. 

has there at least been some violence

Not with any result. We tried to take some potshots at his mysterious mind control guy, but he was an illusion or some shit so it didn't work. Nothing more fun than being held in place by a guy you can't influence in any way....

[Tadanori Oyama]

has there at least been some violence

Not with any result. We tried to take some potshots at his mysterious mind control guy, but he was an illusion or some shit so it didn't work. Nothing more fun than being held in place by a guy you can't influence in any way....

I don't think in-game violence is gonna solve this: you need real life violence. I foresee a hail of dice and the face of a disliked GM in your future.

[ArtfulShrapnel]

has there at least been some violence

Not with any result. We tried to take some potshots at his mysterious mind control guy, but he was an illusion or some shit so it didn't work. Nothing more fun than being held in place by a guy you can't influence in any way....

I don't think in-game violence is gonna solve this: you need real life violence. I foresee a hail of dice and the face of a disliked GM in your future.

The sad part is, I think the guy has potential. He seems to recognize good and bad GMing in other people, but he can't see the same traits in himself. He even left his old gaming group and struck into the world of GMing because he had a sudden revelation (after playing with a bunch of other groups) how badly his original GM was doing. This is after years of gaming together. Yet now, he's repeating the same exact mistakes that drove him away. I wonder... does a player inevitably become their first GM?

Perhaps I need to give him The Talk. The one where you explain to a new GM the truth about a GM's role in the game. That the GM is not the most important person at the table, and that the game is about the GM sacrificing his own ego to create a world in which the players are the main characters. I think he is GMing from the perspective of a player, and still thinks that the GM is God and Protagonist wrapped into one.

Not sure how he'll take that. >_>