Several years ago my best friend invited me into a group of table-top gamers that played every Tuesday evening. They were playing 3rd edition D&D at the time (which I had boycotted for quite a while, but relented in the interests of playing anything at all). They had been meeting at a gaming shop, but moved their location to the home of one of the players. Yes, we did play in his basement, but 1) he owned the house, is married, and is 10-20 years my senior, and 2) the basement was huge, well lit, and decked out with all the gaming necessities, including generic reference material and snacks.
For the first few sessions, it seemed people were taking turns being DM. I'd come in on the last session run by their usual one, since he was moving out of the area. After that, the host ran a couple, then passed it over to one of the other players to run a campaign. It's a workable system, allowing everyone a chance to be a player and partake of the pleasure in gaining loot and experience. About five sessions in, though, we discovered the major flaw in the plan.
The DM screen passed to an older player, probably an additional 10-30 years older than the host. He was known for playing the Paladin, and in some ways was regarded as being a real "Boy Scout" type in real life, too. So, he didn't play far from what he knew, basically. I don't personally think he understands what it really means to be a Paladin, or the alignment table. He played more of a fanatical crusader than a Lawful Good anything.
But, he was the DM this time 'round, and it started out with the party being ambushed in the night, and all our equipment being stolen. All the treasure, the magical items we'd managed to either create (taking precious gold and exp) or acquire (with difficulty), everything we'd worked our butts off to gain was taken from us. No dice rolls, no chance to hide anything, do not pass go, do not collect 200 gold pieces. One of the players even lost a special ability he'd given up other class abilities to gain, with prior DM approval, because the new DM didn't understand the ability.
The table took a break, that lasted an hour or two. The DM went outside and took a smoke break while the players, including me, had a long debate over what to do with the situation. Would we pack up and go home, rejecting this campaign, or would we give him a chance, to see if the rewards of this campaign of his would outweigh the up-front frustrations and irritations?
I was the newbie, so I didn't feel comfortable trying to pass judgment on anyone at the table, especially someone I didn't know. The host, however, insisted that I be heard. I was there, I was a player, I had a vote.
I was the only person who spoke up in defense of the guy.
Everyone else was prepared to just call it quits. I played devil's advocate, and even admitted as much, but I can't let a situation I'm involved in go on without at least acknowledging the possibility of other viewpoints. We ended up continuing the campaign, though there were some tense moments early on (The DM continued by having us join up with a military force that was tracking down those that had ambushed us, and insisted that our characters participate in the drills and training structure, effectively being drafted into this army. This didn't sit well with those of us playing Chaotically-aligned characters.), and eventually had some fun with it. But the problem with having a rotating DM had reared its ugly head, and left a really nasty taste in our mouths.
The next campaign was run by our host. He had us roll up new characters, because we weren't playing D&D anymore, but something he'd had 10 years experience with: Shadowrun.
I was skeptical. I'd just poured a lot of mental energy into learning 3rd edition D&D, and now I was going to have to learn a completely new system with new terminology, and an entirely different magic system. And I'd been raised on fantasy, so this cyberpunk stuff was unknown territory to me.
I shouldn't have worried.
I eventually moved away, and couldn't participate anymore, but the "Tuesday Group" became a group of friends, and I always have a spot saved for me at the table, should I be able to visit. This invitation extends, now, to cyberspace.
The host/GM started up a play-by-post group, and I just got my character for it finished. I'm hoping I get to play this one longer than the last one, which ended because he had a change of financial situation and had to get another job. That one was set in Louisiana, "N'awlins", and my character was a DJ from St. Louis who had moved to New Orleans to find a less competitive market. Oh, and he was a Cat Shaman, too.
Unfortunately this new campaign is apparently a low-magic setting, so I can't dust him off and try again. This time, I'm playing the daughter of a Yakuza member who was shooting for an advisory position. Someone else wanted it to, though, and tried to 'discourage' him from getting it. One of these 'discouragements' was kidnapping my character and dropping her in a bunraku parlor, where she was given a complete cosmetic makeover. When they tried to install the personafix chip, though, something went awry and it didn't take, her system getting partially fried in the process. They dumped the body, leaving the still alive but pretty much comatose chummer to rot. She was picked up by a passing poser-gang member, nursed to health, and woke up with no memory of her identity or what happened to her.
So she's now an Adept with no memory of her past life, finding a sense of community in a poser gang. Are her parents still alive, or did her father's competitor take him out? Is someone looking for her? With no resemblance to her previous appearance, the only way to check her id would be with DNA, if her previous life's info (SIN) even still exists.
I think it's pretty nifty. I'm still waiting on approval from the GM, but I'm excited about playing again. Here's hoping for a good run.
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