See, that's what you all keep saying whenever I ask for feedback. But when all I hear is complaining (and not constructive criticism, but blaming me for things that go wrong because I'm not breaking the rules or fudging rolls to let you succeed), it makes me question why I spend so many hours working on this thing. Because I've invested more time in this game than the four of you combined. I'm not even using modules anymore, but coming up with everything from scratch save for the setting itself (while simultaneously running two additional games that are also made entirely from scratch, including the setting).I like this game...all of us have invested time into these characters and stopping now would be really bad.
When I talk about ending the game, I don't mean it as some kind of threat. I just mean, if everyone is complaining so much, clearly we're not having fun. And if we're not having fun, why are we doing this again? If something is wrong, we need to try and fix it. If it can't be fixed, it's better to just move on.
Naturally, you wouldn't have. But isn't it common sense that a mere level 5 character is not going to be as tough as a dragon? Even without knowing the dragon's specific level, I would have, in your place, just assumed the dragon was 5-10 levels stronger.Ok, first, how was I supposed to know the level of a Dragon?? Honestly?
Wait, so are you arguing that this whole thing was in-character? That you deliberately had her make a mistake because you felt it was the more in character thing to do? That's fine, but then...why would you be surprised it didn't work and why would you complain I didn't fudge it for you?Secondly, I guessed, I didn't know the spell used, locky doesnt have spell craft and to her it looked like a spell.
He probably should have just said that then. But I do accept that, and I'm the same way. I'm pouring hours of my life into this game each day because for fun, as well. I'm sure not getting paid for it (if only...if only...). And of course, hitting a brick wall isn't fun. Dying isn't fun. Losing isn't fun. Failing isn't fun. But these are parts of the game. Without them, then success and survival would mean nothing.What Jerrard was asking for was not to give us the answer, or just let us succeed everything, just accept that we are also playing this to have fun, hitting brick walls is not fun.
Remember the end of Pod-Caverns? The party was fighting the Shroom (the second time), and things weren't going well. People were dropping like flies, and it looked like hope might be lost. Then Locky hurled that bottle, that just happened to summon a pair of horses if broken, and she rolled a critical hit, thus crushing the Shroom in a hilarious and pretty epic way? Didn't that moment stand out to you? Wasn't it awesome? Now imagine if I told you that even if you had missed, or not thrown that bottle, there would have been a sudden cave-in in the next round, crushing the Shroom anyway? So it didn't even matter. Wouldn't that have completely invalidated the whole experience? That's why I don't do things like that.
Anyway, I wasn't going to say anything until after this chapter, but I have been thinking a lot about this game the past few months (actually, ever since the Malika/handless kender/Remove Curse incident). And trying to think of ways to retool it to make it better.
But if this is simply a matter of the players' style conflicting with the DM's style, I'm not sure what to do. I could change my style, sure. But then I'd stop having fun, get burned out, and wind up ending the game anyway.
If anyone has any suggestions, as always I'm open to hearing them. But regardless of what is decided and regardless of how this chapter ends, I will definitely be putting the game on a brief hiatus--a couple of weeks or so, while I retool things and try to see if I can figure out how to improve things.