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« on: March 11, 2009, 11:04:28 PM »
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.
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