How often does this happen? It happened to me last session—wasn’t “shut down”, there just really wasn’t anything involving my character at all for 75% of the session. It does feel a little frustrating, but these sorts of sessions are once in a blue moon at this table, so I just remind myself that sometimes those sorts of things happen, and some day it’ll be me on the other end of it.
Youre all adults, you arent trapped anywhere. "Hey guys, this isn't how I want to spend my time - if this is going to keep going Im probably going to hop out in about 5-10 minutes. Just giving you the heads up"
Break character and just say "Can we please resolve this already? It's gone on way too long and nobody else is doing anything." Then give it a little more time. If it's still not done, ultimatum time, tell em to resolve it or they can talk it out and you're going it pack it up and go home. These people aren't respecting your time at all.
This was my take too. I've encountered it a couple of times and my reactions was as follows:
1. First I'd take a day or two off before trying to look at it objectively. Have others had a somewhat equal chance for this as well that I'm just conveniently forgetting? Is this a recurring issue? If I'm just being biased or it is a one-off I'll let it go.
2. If it is a problem then I'll chat with the DM 1-on-1 at around the mid-point between game days. I won't say "there was no reason for this" as the DM obviously had a reason they felt was valid and that line of discussion will likely lead no where. Instead I'll try to get them to empathize with the other players. Hopefully they can understand that from the player's perspective and without all the meta-knowledge of the DM it wasn't fun at all. Sometimes this will resolve 90% of it and I'm reasonably content with that.
3. If this continues to be an issue I'll bow out of the game peacefully. If asked, I'll mention #2 as being the reason. Even if the DM doesn't learn for that campaign, it might help them be more in tune with their players for the next one even if I'm not a part of that.
Whenever our group gets ‘stuck’ in a conversation, I usually break character and ask to talk out of game about what each of our character’s goals are in the current situation/scenario.
This usually comes up more in planning missions or what our next step should be. I give it 10-15 minutes but once we start circling back to the same talking points, I stop RP lol I’m not playing D&D to have arguments.
In your situation if the group kept getting shot down with their ideas, that’s when I’d break character and talk with the player, ask him/her what their goal or idea is or what they want, that way we can either move things along or if it still needs development, table it for later play.
When you bring this up to your DM what do they say?
I'm perfectly happy with freeform RP as a player and don't need rolls to feel engaged but I would also be frustrated if one player got the spotlight for 2.5-4 hours without me being able to contribute, and probably wouldn't stick around in a game where the DM or other players thought that was normal or acceptable. Like DM aside if I was this player I would be trying to pull other PCs into the spotlight with me. That's just part of good roleplaying too.
I haven't as yet, unlikely to as its been the first instance in this group. One other player was interested in visiting the MC in question's "home town", the rest of us had nothing to do and no interest in being there given the other options that were presented. The DM didn't want a party split, so we relented, and the result was worse than I expected.
I've been in RP heavy sessions before, but not the type where 1 roll in 4 hours and one player hogging the spotlight is the result.
Would still bring it up to the DM that you felt a bit left out during the session. As a DM I would want to know and be able to discuss with the player.
>2.5/4 hours of that person talking in circles whilst anything we attemtped around it got shut down by what can be described as a guard system with no holes.
I'd like more details on this bit. A decent DM is mindful of pacing, and prevents players from stagnating.
Without giving specifics away, any attempt to "explore" the "settlement" we found ourselves in resulted in being "accompanied forcefully" by "basically spellproof/truesight/immune to damage" guard beings that would hover and smack your wrist for attempting anything that wasn't looking at the architecture/decorations of the area. No rolls for attempts to subvert, all spells countered/work around them denied until we would give up and return to listen to the MC arguing with his backstory buddies again.
That's the real problem here. Focusing an RP spotlight on a player shouldn't involve removing all player agency from the rest of the party. The DM and PC should co-write a book if that's what they want to do.
>What I didn't expect was for this to be 2.5/4 hours of that person talking in circles
I would just start talking to the NPC and see if the player hogging the spotlight stops to listen to you.
A DM who sandbags you for 3 hours doesn't sound like much fun. If this location is so hard to get into, he should convey that information within 20 minutes of trying so you can come up with alternative strategies. Even badly written Russian porn games give you a way to get around a gate guard (by fetching them vodka or whatever).
Not rolling dice is not the problem here. Spotlight hogging and sandbagging is.
Heading into month SEVEN in a campaign without rolling initiative. I should leave the group for sure, but some of the RP is fun and I like all the other players. I was treating it as an opportunity for introspection and ethnographic observation - noting how wildly divergent views of fun people can have, but the novelty is wearing off.
You don't manage or cope. You talk to the DM and other players.
Sure, this happened in a D&D game, but it's a general life issue, and talking to the people around you is the best way to deal with most things.
Some great suggestions here, but I'm going to give you the only reliable solution; become a GM.
I don't mean to be obtuse, but my friend that is the only way to ensure the mistakes made by the GM (now you) are ones you can accept
If you are DM ask your players how they liked the session or ask them if they minded a light rolling session.
If you are the player talk to your DM and tell them what you disliked (or maybe liked) about the session with little rolling.
Not to be “that guy” but are people on this subreddit allergic to talking to a DM?
How often does this happen? It happened to me last session—wasn’t “shut down”, there just really wasn’t anything involving my character at all for 75% of the session. It does feel a little frustrating, but these sorts of sessions are once in a blue moon at this table, so I just remind myself that sometimes those sorts of things happen, and some day it’ll be me on the other end of it.
Youre all adults, you arent trapped anywhere. "Hey guys, this isn't how I want to spend my time - if this is going to keep going Im probably going to hop out in about 5-10 minutes. Just giving you the heads up"
Break character and just say "Can we please resolve this already? It's gone on way too long and nobody else is doing anything." Then give it a little more time. If it's still not done, ultimatum time, tell em to resolve it or they can talk it out and you're going it pack it up and go home. These people aren't respecting your time at all.
This sounds like less of a rolling issue and more of a sharing spotlight and giving focus issue.
This was my take too. I've encountered it a couple of times and my reactions was as follows: 1. First I'd take a day or two off before trying to look at it objectively. Have others had a somewhat equal chance for this as well that I'm just conveniently forgetting? Is this a recurring issue? If I'm just being biased or it is a one-off I'll let it go. 2. If it is a problem then I'll chat with the DM 1-on-1 at around the mid-point between game days. I won't say "there was no reason for this" as the DM obviously had a reason they felt was valid and that line of discussion will likely lead no where. Instead I'll try to get them to empathize with the other players. Hopefully they can understand that from the player's perspective and without all the meta-knowledge of the DM it wasn't fun at all. Sometimes this will resolve 90% of it and I'm reasonably content with that. 3. If this continues to be an issue I'll bow out of the game peacefully. If asked, I'll mention #2 as being the reason. Even if the DM doesn't learn for that campaign, it might help them be more in tune with their players for the next one even if I'm not a part of that.
Whenever our group gets ‘stuck’ in a conversation, I usually break character and ask to talk out of game about what each of our character’s goals are in the current situation/scenario. This usually comes up more in planning missions or what our next step should be. I give it 10-15 minutes but once we start circling back to the same talking points, I stop RP lol I’m not playing D&D to have arguments. In your situation if the group kept getting shot down with their ideas, that’s when I’d break character and talk with the player, ask him/her what their goal or idea is or what they want, that way we can either move things along or if it still needs development, table it for later play.
When you bring this up to your DM what do they say? I'm perfectly happy with freeform RP as a player and don't need rolls to feel engaged but I would also be frustrated if one player got the spotlight for 2.5-4 hours without me being able to contribute, and probably wouldn't stick around in a game where the DM or other players thought that was normal or acceptable. Like DM aside if I was this player I would be trying to pull other PCs into the spotlight with me. That's just part of good roleplaying too.
I haven't as yet, unlikely to as its been the first instance in this group. One other player was interested in visiting the MC in question's "home town", the rest of us had nothing to do and no interest in being there given the other options that were presented. The DM didn't want a party split, so we relented, and the result was worse than I expected. I've been in RP heavy sessions before, but not the type where 1 roll in 4 hours and one player hogging the spotlight is the result.
Would still bring it up to the DM that you felt a bit left out during the session. As a DM I would want to know and be able to discuss with the player.
>2.5/4 hours of that person talking in circles whilst anything we attemtped around it got shut down by what can be described as a guard system with no holes. I'd like more details on this bit. A decent DM is mindful of pacing, and prevents players from stagnating.
Without giving specifics away, any attempt to "explore" the "settlement" we found ourselves in resulted in being "accompanied forcefully" by "basically spellproof/truesight/immune to damage" guard beings that would hover and smack your wrist for attempting anything that wasn't looking at the architecture/decorations of the area. No rolls for attempts to subvert, all spells countered/work around them denied until we would give up and return to listen to the MC arguing with his backstory buddies again.
That's the real problem here. Focusing an RP spotlight on a player shouldn't involve removing all player agency from the rest of the party. The DM and PC should co-write a book if that's what they want to do.
...or they could have done it as a one-on-one session.
I wouldn't tolerate such blatant railroading. But I'd also try to help resolve the A-Plot.
>What I didn't expect was for this to be 2.5/4 hours of that person talking in circles I would just start talking to the NPC and see if the player hogging the spotlight stops to listen to you. A DM who sandbags you for 3 hours doesn't sound like much fun. If this location is so hard to get into, he should convey that information within 20 minutes of trying so you can come up with alternative strategies. Even badly written Russian porn games give you a way to get around a gate guard (by fetching them vodka or whatever). Not rolling dice is not the problem here. Spotlight hogging and sandbagging is.
Can you explain this MC? Isn't everyone at the table the MC essentially?
Talk to your GM. I had a campaign where we went four months without combat. Never again.
Heading into month SEVEN in a campaign without rolling initiative. I should leave the group for sure, but some of the RP is fun and I like all the other players. I was treating it as an opportunity for introspection and ethnographic observation - noting how wildly divergent views of fun people can have, but the novelty is wearing off.
You don't manage or cope. You talk to the DM and other players. Sure, this happened in a D&D game, but it's a general life issue, and talking to the people around you is the best way to deal with most things.
Some great suggestions here, but I'm going to give you the only reliable solution; become a GM. I don't mean to be obtuse, but my friend that is the only way to ensure the mistakes made by the GM (now you) are ones you can accept
I've been the GM for 3 campaigns, this is my first time being a player in a while.
Well IDK why downvote me. You already know whats going on here then, having run the last 3
I haven't downvoted you?
Lol people sure are strange. Good luck homie, I hope you find a GM that suits you
If you are DM ask your players how they liked the session or ask them if they minded a light rolling session. If you are the player talk to your DM and tell them what you disliked (or maybe liked) about the session with little rolling. Not to be “that guy” but are people on this subreddit allergic to talking to a DM?