Response to the original thread which can be found here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/lr9ze/story_of_the_worst_player_youve_ever_encountered/
So, who's the most Good Guy Greg-esque player you've ever met?
Posted Oct 28, 2011, 2:28 AM UTC
The best player I've ever encountered was Michelle. It was her first time playing DnD as well as the first time we met. The DM brought her along, she was friends with some of DM's friends.
She was a high-school English/socials teacher, so familiar with history and literature, also worked as an actress/improv comic while going through university. She played a bard, obvious choice suited her perfectly. Michelle could whip up rhymes and limericks or songs on the fly. She didn't know much about the game so wan't restrained by worrying abut the restrains of the rules. Oh yeah, did I mention Michelle was super cute?
I married Michelle. It was the only logical choice.
Hey! I came on here to brag about another Michelle, oddly enough.
It was her second time playing ever. We were playing nWOD with me storytelling. Her character was a science/logic based biology major, which considering she's studying biology and loves science made sense for her character as well.
The party was going through the prelude to a Changeling game. I had them go through a dungeon type challenge to get them to learn the system a little better. The puzzles all had 2 solutions, a harder, obvious one and a slightly more "use your head" solution.
I'll give you an example: The first "puzzle" was a bunch of shadows moving around at the bottom of the stairs and a bunch of yelling coming from the same direction. It was at the bottom of a spiral staircase. As the characters are sitting on the staircase, several crossbow bolts come up and hit them. 2/3 of the group turns around and runs (her character being one of them) a little ways down the hall, she turns around and says "Wait a minute... that doesn't work. The arrows came up a spiral staircase?" and she then proceeds to turn her character around and march down the stairwell.
She honestly didn't care about the damage. Her character was curious about how the hell an arrow shot up a spiral staircase. The idea of the trap was "Facing your Fear." I was going with an autumn theme.
The next trap/puzzle was similar. There was a huge room without a floor and a narrow ledge around the edge of the room. She takes a torch off the wall and tosses it into the hole. When she sees that it floats, she proceeded to march across the room. The puzzle was forcing them to shimmy along the edge of the room until they fell, then realize they could walk. She just said "fuck it, I'll walk."
My Michelle is also cute. But I'm just dating her. Haven't married that... yet.
I'd run a few more encounters before you decide whether to pop the question.
Yeah. Lol.
How do you know you the two Michelles aren't the same? I mean, cute, smart girls who are willing to play RP? Pretty sure those can be counted on one hand!
She probably took a double major or something!
Well, I don't know about him, but I've known my Michelle for the last 3 years. If she'd ran off and gotten married, I think I'd notice. :-P
Good man. The only logical thing.
Similarly, one of my best friends in high school was an actor and a musician. He brought a harmonica to every session, and, in-character with his bard, would burst into song or play randomly. It made for great fun.
Can I have your life?
Where was this, by chance?
Bowker Ave.
Sounds like you rocked a few Charisma checks.
One or two I guess but she was also very forgiving on those times I rolled ones.
So... she was your best player ever just because she was a competent female player?
Why the downvotes? I just want to know what made her the 'best player ever' other then her being female and competent.
It's all relative. Most people I game with aren't really great "role players", myself included, that doesn't mean we don't have a great time mind you. So yes, to me, she is the best player I've gamed with.
Well alright then :)
No, because she would put out to him!
I use a completely different standard than you guys, evidently.
Way to be, Mike. Way to be.
EDIT: Also, even though he was both drunk and high at the time, he managed to calmly call 911 while I was busy jamming an epinephrine pen into my leg.
According to my players I have become a DEMANDING DM who takes the game WAY too seriously because I hold to these ideals...especially the first three. Glad to know I am not alone. The players easily dismiss my angst for them no-showing or last minute cancelling by saying shit like 'well now you already have your game ready for next time.' They can not understand that it just does not work this way sometimes.
The worst is if you're one or two short of being able to start the game but everyone else actually did show up; then the culprit calls to say they won't be coming. At that point, on top of annoying you, they've wasted other player's time and gas.
Funny how all you ask for is basic courtesy. It is like gaming with orcs sometimes, I tell you.
Too true. We have a few people in our group that can't meet those first few simple expectations.
Best player ever? That title would be close for so many of the excellent players I've enjoyed gaming with over the years, but can only be held by one; I'm guessing many of you have similar stories.
We had a group that played (D&D 2E) about once a month over in Germany (US military). Great GM, solid group that worked well together. One weekend, one of the players arrived with an unexpected guest - his 7 year old son. Apparently his mother had "forgot" our gaming weekend and had planned a "girls weekend out" and not mentioned it until Friday as she was leaving (yeah... LONG story there). He brought Josh along with the idea that we could set him loose in the living room adjacent to the gaming room, with lots of cool movies and a couple video game systems to keep him busy.
Josh, however, had a different idea. He asked to play with us. After a brief round the table discussion, we all agreed "why not?" and let him roll up a quick "Ugmetough" warrior. The GM helped guide him- the basic result was a Conan-esque brawler fresh off the farm with the Int/Wis of a 7 year old; basically Josh on steroids.
That gaming session became one of legend. With a 7 year old's imagination, Josh BECAME his character. When action calls came, he'd put on a very focused look, think for a moment and decide what he'd do in that situation - Creative solutions galore, all day long. He even created this deep growly voice for his character (as deep as a 7 year old can do). He was the very definition of "role play". Kinda inspired all of us to up our games.
During combats, he'd have to jump down from his chair and demonstrate how each attack went. Simply saying "I hit the ogre" wasn't anywhere near enough; he had to demo each time what his stance and how the swing of his sword would occur. The GM played into this, being more descriptive of the results of his rolls based on his actions. All of us started following suit (descriptively, not the physically acting out he did). This lead to even better play for all.
Josh also provided comical events all day long, from innocent commentary, to misunderstandings a character of that Int/Wis WOULD experience, to a few "screw tactics, I'm hitting it" moments, to his real life actions like demoing how his character walked for us.
Josh brought back a bit of the Wonder that had been missing from our game, and we were quite happy to invite him to play several times after that.
That's painfully adorable.
When I was in college, I joined a role playing club. I was a freshman and had never role played before, but I had always wanted to. Our club adviser, whom I will call Scott, is the best role player I've ever met.
Usually, Scott had a policy of never playing with students. He played with Alumni, but not undergraduate students like myself. Well, the DM running Rift's made a special exception for me, and Scott was okay with this (he was not my teacher and I had nothing to do with his field).
Scott was a fantastic player. He was great at role playing, could joke around and switch into serious mode as the game required. And he always worked as a team. He would plan, listen to everyone, make sure everyone had their say. He also made sure, as a player, that no one person was hogging the spot light, and he would do this in character.
But what he did for me, the little freshman surrounded by all of the adults, that I won't forget is that he gave my character a nickname: "Little Buddy". He always made sure I was doing all right, kept an eye on me, mocked my use of psionics in a parental way (he was a Glitterboy), and treated me like a side kick.
As an inexperienced gamer, there is nothing more helpful than being "adopted" by another player and being accepted into the group. That lesson always stuck with me, and even when I later became vice-president of the club, I always did my best to make sure everyone felt welcome both in and out of game.
Thanks, Scott!
That's an awesome story, but I'm curious as to the point of having a college role playing club that excludes students.
I am sorry if I wasn't clear. Our club's adviser had a policy of not playing with students for professional reasons. The club itself was full of students and alumni that played multiple games all of the time. The game I was allowed in was usually just Scott and some alumni. I was let in as an exception.
Oh, that makes more sense. I didn't read it as a fraternization issue, I just figured he was being an elitist about it. Thanks for clearing that up.
"Karnak" (his PC name) is probably the best player I've had, personally. He got into it more than any player I've ever known... he would email me Karnak's private diary at the end of each session, his PC's view on what was going down. He would get right into his character more than anyone I know - if we were at the table, he WAS Karnak. Without a doubt. And Karnak was fascinating. His father burnt his family village to the ground, leaving him with a mental scar that made him terrified of fire. He went on to hunt down his father, determined to end his crime spree. In the process he rescued his half-brother from his father's claws... leaving the babe in a monastery (another PC, a Monk of the Order of the Yellow Rose).
Karnak loved to smoke. The player often bought a pipe to the game, and would ask the other players to light him up, since fire scared him so much. And addiction to tobacco, phobia of fire. It made for fun times.
When his animal companion Snappy the crocodile died, and the others refused to consider ressurection, he had Snappy turned into a suit of armour. It was never determined whether or not he was sent mad by the death of Snappy since he was adamant that Snappy's spirit was in the armour because the player decided he wanted to trek from Australia to London... overland through Asia, bumming his way.
He's having a blast. Fantastic guy, miss having him at my table. =[
This type of stuff is what my Warhammer Fantasy RPG group did allll the time. It was magnificent. Like the perfect storm of players and GM. I miss it man. Edit: the first part. We never turned alligators into armor.
The diary, idea is really cool. We have just started a new game. Only 5 sessions in or so. I've decided to start the diary at one day before the game began. Im having some fun with this. Im dropping little bits of back story, and paranoia into the entries.
Not my story, but it does get passed around at cons sometimes. As things change, I'll put in some of the less caring pieces as options. Not really a story of a great person, but it is the story of someone that every GM hopes to have as a player.
So, a gaming convention is starting up at the same time/after/X as a drama/theater/performers convention. Now we insert Amazing Actor Alan. Alan was at the location for the drama/theater meet, but stayed after either out of boredom or general interest. AAA is not a roleplayer as in the game, but some players invite him to join in on their game. They need a healer, and pass AAA a cleric/priest/holy man.
The game proceeds as normal, AAA not knowing the full rules but he gets some help and everyone is enjoying themselves.
Finally, the last encounter is about to happen. The party is weak, beaten, and on their last leg when the big bad reveals himself. And this is where every iteration of this story stays the same. AAA stands up at the table, points his finger at the GM, and begins shouting out a huge diatribe of southern baptist rhetoric full of fire and brimstone, cursing the big bad to a greater depth of hell for serving the forces of evil.
And then the convention hall erupts into applause.
I laughed imagining this. Have an upvote.
So when I reunited our old D&D group for the now 8 month long campaign we've been running, we added a few people - women. My wife, my best friend's wife, another friend's wife, and my wife's sister. It killed about 18 birds with 1 stone - our wives would know where we were, they would be on board, and they would get to participate in one of our favorite hobbies. Keep in mind the youngest person in our group is 27 (well, we just added a 25 year old last session).
None of them had ever played any kind of RPG, much less pen and paper. I started as DM, and the party breakdown went:
The Gnome quit pretty quickly, they had just moved up from Mexico, and she found learning D&D plus working in partial Spanish to be too difficult.
But back on topic. The Elven Fighter/Mage - brand new. She pulled out clutch plays at every turn without prompting. She used wands and spells in ways that we never guessed. Within 5 sessions, she was nominated the group's leader. I got busy, so the Human Cleric turned DM, and I made a Halfling Cleric. The Fighter/Mage saved us a dozen times in half a dozen sessions through clever use of spell mechanics and strategy. As of last session, she is now the DM.
It's pretty interesting.
Oh yes, she always brings mega snacks - white chocolate fondue, rum cake, stuff for mojitos, whatever. It's totally awesome.
The paladin's fall from grace is used so often it's become a cliche. There was one memorable time when the cliche was inverted.
Well played sir. Well played.
My best player every is Jimmy. If you knew him that would be enough; but he's the kind of insane genius of random awesomeness. Although his attitude doesn't always lend itself to a serious adventure, if you let him he'll drive the story for you, making DMing a wonderfully simple and enjoyable experience. Are examples needed? alright... As a wizzard he chose his quarter staff to be his familiar, Staffy. And he would role play Staffy as well. As it was an inanimate object and only he could hear it... it made a sort of sense. Unfortunately for him, Staffy was a cruel advisor and would usually end up making him hurt himself in non game altering ways...
"Staffy, how do I learn this spell?" "ok, first open the book... now place your hand in the book... now close the book as fast as you can!" "OW! Staffy why??!"
many such characters have been added to our games as a result of his insanity and they are all very memorable and have a place in my "crazy NPC" list for future use.
Wizzard like Rincewind?
This guy who was new to D&D, we'll call him George, was quite frankly fantastic. He came to the table with a well thought out character with an interesting back-story and a great personality, he then proceeded to consistently play this character how he described him, only breaking character once when he threatened to throw a troublesome players character of a cliff. His character, with his pathological need to protect people got his eyes torn out whilst recovering treasure for us, proceeded to save us all from disease by wading into a sewer to drain it for us first (he was still blind at this point) and generally took the lead in any dangerous situation.
And George never once complained/whined, no matter what the DM put his character through, he took it in his stride and reacted how he thought his character would react. He was always on time, he would drive people around, brought the best snacks, helped the DM with world building (and then didn't use his inside knowledge of what was coming to spoil our fun) he helped the next new player to our table to build their character and even gifted them a set of dice, the D&D 4.0 rule books and a couple of minis.
Wow. There sure is a lot to learn here for an advanved noob. I will take some of the things I read here and put them to action. Seriously; summarizing the characters thoughts and writing a diary will earn me xp in my current game. I'm sure of that!
I had a guy 3 hours into our first session become so emotionally invested he actually started to cry.
Had a friend that would embrace his character. Not only did he do a great job at roleplaying, different voices, different personalities, different classes; he compelled you and everyone else at the table to be that much better. No "my character says: this" all spoken and acted out naturally and believably.
It was as if he said, I am going to completely lose myself to this role. If I am comfortable doing this, then so should you.
I miss him greatly. But I am a better GM, player, person because of him.
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Mr. Welch
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I have a player in my Pirates of the Spanish Main Quest, who has almost no role playing experience. He plays his above the law, bad-ass character so well, it often throws a major hitch in my plans as GM. He has insta-killed rather important NPCs, stolen from the party, kidnapped a doctor rather than pay him, and forced him to work aboard the ship. Keeps me improvising, and more importantly inspires my other players to step up their own RPing, a true asset to the campaign.
My friend writes his on games on the hero system. he then GM's them at Gencon every year. A few years ago, the guys that wrote the system were there, and played jims game. i wasnt playing but i did watch. One guy chose a character that was a girl with the body of an 18 girl but the mind of an 6 year old. he became that girl. bad grammar, simple sentences and even an innocent little girl voice. it was amazing to watch.
Okay, I guess this is a bit of a story. Let me tell you about Ryan.
When I met Ryan, he was 18, fresh out of high school, and a Bro. Like, pink polo shirt with the collar popped, white baseball cap worn askew. Subscribed to the "pump and dump" school of dating. Loved FPSes and action movies. His girlfriend at the time (one in a long line) was a coworker of a guy in my gaming group who was one of the biggest nerds I've ever known. She thought--for reasons that have never been clear to me--that they should be friends.
Fast forward a few months. Ryan was actually fitting in really well with the group. We exploited his interest in Halo and Star Wars to expose him to geek culture for the first time, and he took to it with a HUNGER that I can't really describe. That being said, the GMs who we'd been playing with were fairly mediocre. Lots of hack and slash, zero character development, lots of homophobic table talk. (It was bad times for me, gaming-wise.)
So I decided to GM a game myself, starting with an Eberron campaign. Ryan, still being new to RPGs, asked me what he should play. After thinking about it for a few moments, I gave in to my at times wicked sense of humor, and suggested that he play a paladin. He was immediately taken with the idea, and rolled up a female paladin of the Silver Flame; a military veteran of the last war.
There are so many ways this campaign could have gone badly, yet somehow--magically--it was the MOST AMAZING GAME EVER. Imagine, if you will, a former military commander who has personally killed hundreds of enemy soldiers in battle, sent waves of men to their deaths to complete her objectives, and ordered the destruction of villages because it was strategically necessary. Now, she finds herself chosen as a defender of righteousness, working for a corrupt system and a church hierarchy more concerned with their own power than actually helping the people.
Normally, most gamers would have no problem meta-gaming their way through this situation, picking out the Paragon solution to each situation. But Ryan was not a gamer. Not yet. He was a Bro. And as a bro, he was actively, PAINFULLY torn between doing what was lawful--following orders from his superiors--and doing what he knew with the supernatural authority of a paladin was RIGHT. Session after session I made him agonize over choosing between law and good, and it worked because Ryan honestly struggled to be a good person. Choosing whether to execute a condemned prisoner who he knew for a fact was innocent was something he agonized over. Not as a roleplaying maneuver. Him, personally. More than once he found himself having to make a moral choice, YELLING at me that he didn't know what to do. It was AMAZING. :D
That campaign lasted 8 months, and at the end of the game both Ryan and his character were better people because of the hardships they had endured and the choices they made. Today, years later, Ryan is one of my best friends, and a much kinder and more thoughtful person than when we first met. And he doesn't pop his collar anymore.
EDIT: For reasons too complex to explain, Ryan's nickname became Lightning McAwesome. A title well earned.
sob
I love happy ends...
T'is indeed a very happy ending indeed.
This is why I have a problem with "group stereotyping," and not just the problem that all nerds seem to have with it, but also with the sort of stereotyping that nerds engage in themselves.
Everybody is a little bit nerd, and everybody is a little bit bro, and everybody is a little bit hipster, and so on. As if those titles even mean anything, which they don't.
See, myself and a few of my friends have a theory regarding stereotypes: not all of a group are the embodiments of stereotypes, but you will often find those within a group who are the epitome of the stereotype.
Having a military background, I've been thrown in with quite a ragtag band of individuals at times. I've known folks from all walk of life, to include wealthy who were there to prove themselves. I never judge based on race, religion, etc... because that's bad juju. What I will do, however, is laugh when you see someone that embodies every stereotype given to a specific race or ethnic group, as it is almost a charicature of real life.
In the case of the above story, I believe Lightning was one of those individuals.
Hear, hear brother.
If someone is willing to stand with me against dragons and the whim of a d20 they can pop as many collars as they'd like.
Which is why those who choose to self-identify and define themselves as a one dimensional character facet are comic to everyone else. Be it nerds or "bros".
This is the most incredible story... I wish I could be so lucky as to have such an excellent player at my table.
Lightning McAwesome?!
I gotta hear more about that! Please?
Thank you. I love to see stories about personal betterment through role playing games.