I need advice

[Immabozo]

So a friend of mine is piloting a game similar to D&D, but in the future. This guy railroads prettty bad, but he just let the original creator of this little game (they have been playing for years, since before they knew about 3.5)

He railroads worse. In the first session, our old characters were taken away and and new "similar" ones (with few similarities) were given to us, with our freedom to specialize in the weapon system of our choice, however we are given 2 options and only 2 weapons and dumped into the middle of a huge arena to fight for our lives. So you better choose the ones you were given!

In addition, game balance is horrible, most weapons doing 3-6 D6 x10 and the rockets I was shooting dealing 3D6 x100 against humanoid targets who lasted several rounds against most gunfire that wasn't my explosives, or the sniper's big caliber gun. But then against massive robots with over 10k hp, we could never take them down. They would do about a quarter to half hp damage or more, per hit, but we barely scratched them.

And then there is the aggravation as a player of making new characters almost every week, for seemingly no reason, with the end game of everyone developing psionics and being unbeatable by any without it.

Basically, the railroading, imbalances, aggravation and bad story (or no story) has completely lost my interest in the game. But these are good friends. How do I tell them I dont want to play without hurting their feelings?

[Fax Celestis]

"I'd like to play by the rulebook for once."

[Fouredged Sword]

Ask if he wants to play DnD this time.

[Immabozo]

Both great suggestions!

[SciChronic]

"Listen, [Friend], you're a great guy, but you are terrible as a DM. You railroad us too hard, and prevent us from playing characters we want to play. With the way you're making us play you might as well just be playing Baldur's Gate or Fallout.

This rule set is clearly nowhere near being correctly balanced, so until it is, let's play something else, and hopefully by then you will be a better DM."

I go with honesty

[Darrin]

I don't have anything helpful to add, but it sounds a lot like RIFTs (and thus, you have my sympathies).

[Immabozo]

I don't have anything helpful to add, but it sounds a lot like RIFTs (and thus, you have my sympathies).

RIFTs? I am unfamiliar with that acronym. But thank you

[Darrin]

RIFTs? I am unfamiliar with that acronym. But thank you

Palladium: What is RIFTs? (http://palladiumbooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=252&Itemid=180)

Essentially it's Kevin Siembieda's take on 1st edition AD&D, only streamlined down to the expectations of a 14-year-old male adolescent, and then crammed full of every kitchen sink idea a 14-year-old male adolescent might think of as "totally awesome!" There's some sort of interdimensional war going on where wizards and vampires and ancient dragons and giant planet-smashing robots are all playable characters, every attack hits when you roll 5 or higher on a d20, but most everything has half-a-dozen dodge or parry rolls. The most distinctive feature is SDC (equivalent to what D&D might consider HP) and MDC, where 1 MDC = 100 SDC, and a 1d6 "mega-damage" weapon does 1d6 x 100 SDC damage (which is why your missile example reminded me of it). The odd part is the designers let some starting characters start with MDC and mega-damage weapons, and some starting characters just have SDC, and then attempt with a straight face to pretend that this is balanced and not completely insane.

(To be fair, the few times I ever played with the Palladium system, we had an absolute blast, and the rules were fine, even with the whole SDC/MDC thing. But we had a very good GM.)

[Captnq]

Ask to run.

I know exactly what you are feeling, which is why I always wind up running. Yes, it sucks to always be the DM and to never get to play, but it is far better to be stuck DMing, then be stuck in a game where you have no choice as how to play your character.

[Immabozo]

snip

Wow, that does ring a few bells! Yeah, it was a mad house. It had my attention for a while, but the more we got into it, the MOAR POWAH! everyone had, the less balanced it became and the power levels were ramping up exponentially.

Like there was a "vorporal" sword that ignored armor and every hit, 1D6 to see what limb was cut off.

I do like DMing. I have a different group I DM for, and they all loved my DMing.

Although now it looks like we are going to run a campaign with one of the most out-of-the-box thinkers I have had the pleasure of gaming with, so it should be fun! And I have a straight up silly build for his (gestalt) game (A gestalt Beary McBear, the either anthropomorphic, or were- Bear, Bearbearian, VOP for only the bear necessities, etc).

Alas, that is a different group.

[theIrkin]

If you want to stear clear of DM'ing or help the other two DM's improve their skills, you should try and open a dialogue with suggestions on how to improve their system. My group has been rotating DM's, and it has improved my (admittedly still lack-luster) skills immensely. You guys can talk about how you structure campaigns and adventures, and suggest not intermixing the extreme ends of damage. Power creep is another great discussion to have. Heck, in a more clinical discussion you will probably get a better understanding of where they're coming from and be able to suggest better venues for channeling their creative energies.

[Immabozo]

If you want to stear clear of DM'ing or help the other two DM's improve their skills, you should try and open a dialogue with suggestions on how to improve their system. My group has been rotating DM's, and it has improved my (admittedly still lack-luster) skills immensely. You guys can talk about how you structure campaigns and adventures, and suggest not intermixing the extreme ends of damage. Power creep is another great discussion to have. Heck, in a more clinical discussion you will probably get a better understanding of where they're coming from and be able to suggest better venues for channeling their creative energies.

I like it! Thank you