My group doesn't want to play the game I like, and I'm sad.

[Amaril]

So tonight, my group held a chat session to determine what our next long-term campaign would be, after finishing our last one and taking a break due to me being out of town for a few weeks. The way we decided to settle it was that each of us would pitch a system we wanted to play, and then we'd do reverse polling to pick--each of us would pick the game we found least appealing, and whichever one had no marks against it, we'd go with that.

Now, for years and years, I've wanted to play a steady, long-term game about mecha. I never thought I'd get anyone to agree to it, but then another guy in the group started talking up Bliss Stage, which I really like, and saying he'd be behind me if I suggested it. I let myself get my hopes up, and brought it as my suggestion to the group.

Not only did it not get picked, but it got two marks against it, not just one (we're currently a five-person group, but one guy just joined after our last game ended, and he didn't pitch a system of his own, so it was five votes to four options). And I'm disappointed. I'd really been looking forward to some giant robot goodness. We ended up going with Monsters and Other Childish Things instead, which sounds cool, but still.

This isn't my request for advice or anything--the group spoke, I didn't get it, it's done. I'm just looking for people to commiserate. Anyone else have the experience of having something you really, really want to play that you can't seem to get anyone else to go for?

[inuyasha]

Well, I know it's not as bad by any means because we reached a bit of a compromise, but my current group of D&D players actually doesn't like the standard Hack 'N' Slash and Take the Loot style game I'm used to. Instead they prefer my improv role playing skills.

I can't say that I don't like role playing, and that I won't do any combat at all, it's just a bit of an unfamiliar situation for me.

[Darth Ultron]

This is common.

The trick is to not get focused on ''one game'' and to figure out what, specifically you like.

The big problem is that when you say ''mecha'' or ''vampire'' or ''troll'' or really ''anything'', everyone has a different idea and view of that. And they won't all agree or see eye to eye.

Just take ''Mecha''. Some people will see ''A boring pew pew roll playing war game'', some might see ''A dumb war game written by idiots that don't know anything about the military''. Some might see it as a romantic comedy love triangle with some mecha fighting in the far background.

And what you see is likely different.

But try and pick out the parts you like. Why do you like X ? Hopefully you like it more then ''just because'', and if you do, try to bring that to any other game.

[Fri]

I know. I have a similar but different thing that's been gripping me for a long time.

Me and my friends sometimes pitches game ideas and be Game Master to each others. I like to GM and have game ideas, and I often pitches game ideas. But most of the time it never got enough interest, even if I beg and cajole and try to tailor it to what I assume my friend's tastes. Especially since I'd rather them play the game rather than some unknown random people.

The infuriating thing for me is that I know I can be dependable for GMing for my friends, and this only ever happen to me. Everytime my friends pitches game ideas they have to beat application with a stick or something, since they always got enough players for their game. Seriously, I can't remember a time when anyone else other than me pitches game idea and they don't have enough players. AND then the game end because the GM lost interest or have rough spot in life and give the game up and such. While I have to beg around for players, but rarely anyone want to join, eventhough I know I'd be dependable.

Honestly, this is one of my baggage against them. I know this is unfair for them, but what can I say, a man isn't purely logical creature.

[Kane0]

Battletech.

A game I've never got to actually play in its tabletop form, the best i've managed is dumbing down the entire system I know so far and fitting it into an RPG style game with each player having their own mech in a series of escapades across the IS. It's working out fine so far but its just not the same.

[Friv]

Oh, yeah, that happens a lot to me.

I keep pitching games and having them be the second choice. And I always end up enjoying the first choice, but still.

Games I've lost this way:
*) A Battlestar Galactica/Star Wars blend about the characters as captains of a military fleet trying to cross the galaxy during the collapse of an interstellar empire to get back to their homeworld.
*) A 1930s pulp supervillains/mob noir game using Blades in the Dark.
*) A Hunter: the Vigil game about Task Force Valkyrie, but with less oversight.

[Vitruviansquid]

Well, on the bright side, you probably wouldn't have enjoyed playing a mecha game with a bunch of people who don't understand the appeal of mecha or don't like mecha. So I guess you could think of it more like you dodged a bullet.

[RazorChain]

All the time....I rarely get to play what I want....because I´m busy running it.

[RazorChain]

I know. I have a similar but different thing that's been gripping me for a long time.

Me and my friends sometimes pitches game ideas and be Game Master to each others. I like to GM and have game ideas, and I often pitches game ideas. But most of the time it never got enough interest, even if I beg and cajole and try to tailor it to what I assume my friend's tastes. Especially since I'd rather them play the game rather than some unknown random people.

The infuriating thing for me is that I know I can be dependable for GMing for my friends, and this only ever happen to me. Everytime my friends pitches game ideas they have to beat application with a stick or something, since they always got enough players for their game. Seriously, I can't remember a time when anyone else other than me pitches game idea and they don't have enough players. AND then the game end because the GM lost interest or have rough spot in life and give the game up and such. While I have to beg around for players, but rarely anyone want to join, eventhough I know I'd be dependable.

Honestly, this is one of my baggage against them. I know this is unfair for them, but what can I say, a man isn't purely logical creature.


This is going to sound harsh, but a good game master never runs out of players. Hone your craft, read, study be the best you can be and you'll never run out of players (unless you try to Game master something really wacky like bunnies and burrows)*


*This does not apply if you live so remotely that your wife and your sister are the same person.

[Fri]

This is going to sound harsh, but a good game master never runs out of players. Hone your craft, read, study be the best you can be and you'll never run out of players (unless you try to Game master something really wacky like bunnies and burrows)*


*This does not apply if you live so remotely that your wife and your sister are the same person.

Don't you think that's what I thought all the time. Am I that bad of a GM that nobody want to play in my games? While my friend could just spontaneously mention "hey, let's play a game about superhero dogs" or whatever, and everyone just agree to play?

(nothing against superhero dogs, in fact that sounds like an awesome game idea now that I think of it).

Sigh, now I'm getting depressed again.

[AMFV]

This is going to sound harsh, but a good game master never runs out of players. Hone your craft, read, study be the best you can be and you'll never run out of players (unless you try to Game master something really wacky like bunnies and burrows)*


*This does not apply if you live so remotely that your wife and your sister are the same person.

That's not entirely true. It depends completely on your access to interested players and venues. Sure if you spend a lot of time hanging out with people who are into gaming, you'll have gobs of opportunities, even if you're a complete suck as DM, because that job comes with the most work and tends to be a chore, ergo nobody wants to do it.

But if you're not in an area that has a lot of players or your social circles don't coincide with a lot of players, then you're pretty much stuck. You could always try to game with total strangers, but in my experience, that sucks, or tends to. Or you can try to bring in new players, which isn't often that good either, even if you're in a profession that has a lot of fairly nerdy folk.

I think a lot of people who work in IT or are in College have a slightly distorted perception about how many people are actually interested in playing RPGs. Many people who spend lots of time at gaming stores do as well. It's really a very small fraction of the population, and if that fraction in your area doesn't like the kind of games you want to run, it's not on your DMing skill, it's local preference, that's way more significant.

Hell, different styles of games require different sets of DMing skills, so you might be very good at one style of game, and absolute crap another.

[bulbaquil]

And it does depend on what you want to run, and when. I could pitch a Saturday afternoon Pathfinder or D&D 5e game on Roll20 this morning and probably have twice as many players as I want applying by the time I'd go to bed this evening. But if I tries to pitch a 6:00 a.m. Central Tuesday game of a system only a handful of people have ever heard of, I will be lucky to get any players at all.

[JellyPooga]

Battletech.

A game I've never got to actually play in its tabletop form, the best i've managed is dumbing down the entire system I know so far and fitting it into an RPG style game with each player having their own mech in a series of escapades across the IS. It's working out fine so far but its just not the same.

The really annoying thing about Battletech (and it's a doozy) is that the setting is so well detailed, rich and vibrant, with almost infinite variety with regards to style of game...and yet whenever it's suggested, all people think is of the tabletop wargame (which was a terrible wargame btw; the rules are just bad) and pew-pew mech-fighting. Sure, that's an integral part of the setting and it's what the entire setting was designed around, but the Mechwarrior RPG (whichever edition; I like 3rd) covers everything from survival horror on some backwater Periphery wilderness to court intrigue in the halls of House Davion and everything in between.

Just because the Blood War exists in D&D, doesn't mean every campaign has to be all about fighting demons. Just because Werewolves exist in WoD, doesn't mean your Vampire game has to be about fighting them. Just because Battletech has big stompy mechs and a history of war, doesn't mean anyone even has to play a mech pilot, let alone someone in the military (one of the many) or even someone that can handle a gun. The focus of the RPG is supposed to be the action outside the cockpit and off the battlefield; if you want that, go play the TT Wargame (or don't, because it's rubbish).[/rant]

Many times I've had a Mechwarrior campaign shot down before it started because the other players didn't want to play a Mech-Combat game. I feel the OP's pain.

[tensai_oni]

Hey OP - could it be that other players blackmarked your game idea not because they have no interest in a giant robot game, but because they don't like Bliss Stage's fluff? The combination of focus on intense personal relationships (with sex being almost mandatory at some point), and all characters but one being underage can creep people out, and I can't really blame them.

Maybe suggesting a different game like Chris Perrin's Mecha or even Mutants and Masterminds would be better.

Also to be fair: I think your group's way of deciding which game to play sucks. Everyone picking only one suggestion they like least is not only bound to cause hurt feelings but in the end it'll end up with a game equivalent of going to a restaurant everyone doesn't like because that's the only one they could agree on. If you're really supposed to dedicate yourself to a long game, then everyone in the group needs to work out a consensus so it's a system and a setting they will all enjoy. Not just play the least disliked one.

And if the group can't agree on a system to play then they frankly don't mesh very well to begin with.

Perhaps you could try your luck online with PbP or live chat gaming.

[Pugwampy]

Battletech.

A game I've never got to actually play in its tabletop form, the best i've managed is dumbing down the entire system I know so far and fitting it into an RPG style game with each player having their own mech in a series of escapades across the IS. It's working out fine so far but its just not the same.
Roll for it

I am a dnd fanboy but if there is any other table top game outside DND . I would love to try some Battletech .
Its hard a try a new system when you have so many nice props and minis and tiles for DND.

[Airk]

Battletech.

A game I've never got to actually play in its tabletop form, the best i've managed is dumbing down the entire system I know so far and fitting it into an RPG style game with each player having their own mech in a series of escapades across the IS. It's working out fine so far but its just not the same.

Are you talking about Battletech, or Mechwarrior?

Because Battletech is terrible. I am sorry, it just is. I played a ton of it in college, and it was never good. Mechwarrior is at least broader and gives you some room for interesting things to occur.

[Segev]

I can't get people to play Risk 2210 with me. Which saddens me greatly. It's a lot of fun. To me. Apparently not so much to others.


It's also hard to find a good Exalted game, especially one that will let me play a Raksha. I love the insane reality-warping elves. I have so many ideas. And I never get quite the same thrill out of NPCs as some others who GM for the purpose of using such ideas seem to.




To the OP: I don't know Monsters and Other Childish Things too well, but maybe you could have your kid-PC be into robots, transformers, and the like, and develop some sort of ability to summon/control them? I don't know if you get powers from your childish imagination in that game or not.

[Amaril]

Hey OP - could it be that other players blackmarked your game idea not because they have no interest in a giant robot game, but because they don't like Bliss Stage's fluff? The combination of focus on intense personal relationships (with sex being almost mandatory at some point), and all characters but one being underage can creep people out, and I can't really blame them.

Maybe suggesting a different game like Chris Perrin's Mecha or even Mutants and Masterminds would be better.

Nah, trust me, if my group is ever gonna go for a mecha game, Bliss Stage is the way to do it. We play weird, non-traditional games with strange fluff pretty much exclusively--the most typical thing we ever do is Apocalypse World. I might be willing to do one of the systems you suggest, but the rest of the guys would probably rather gouge their eyes out.


Also to be fair: I think your group's way of deciding which game to play sucks. Everyone picking only one suggestion they like least is not only bound to cause hurt feelings but in the end it'll end up with a game equivalent of going to a restaurant everyone doesn't like because that's the only one they could agree on. If you're really supposed to dedicate yourself to a long game, then everyone in the group needs to work out a consensus so it's a system and a setting they will all enjoy. Not just play the least disliked one.

And if the group can't agree on a system to play then they frankly don't mesh very well to begin with.

Well, considering this is the only group I've been in where we all get along swimmingly, have tons of fun every session, essentially no drama, and, for the most part, share the same tastes (this particular case notwithstanding--like I said, all the other games offered also sounded great to me), I'd be surprised to find we "don't mesh very well". I have no issue with the method of decision. We all know what everyone likes by now, and can be relied on to put forth suggestions that no one will dislike, even if they might not be everyone's first choice. Plus, the longest campaigns we ever play are about three months (or eight to twelve sessions, one per week, whatever that ends up working out to), so even if someone gets passed over now, things will be different again before too long.


Perhaps you could try your luck online with PbP or live chat gaming.

No, no, thank you, but no. I'm done with PbP. I've given up. In all the time I've been doing it, I've had precisely one game that's stuck around, and it's conspicuously lacking in giant robots (those games always seem to die in a few weeks at most). Far as I'm concerned, it's a poor, desperate substitute for the real thing, and I mean to never rely on it again.


To the OP: I don't know Monsters and Other Childish Things too well, but maybe you could have your kid-PC be into robots, transformers, and the like, and develop some sort of ability to summon/control them? I don't know if you get powers from your childish imagination in that game or not.

Actually, when I mentioned my idea for a character (a D&D nerd with a dragon buddy), the others seemed surprised I wasn't planning on doing that :smalltongue: I mean, I could do something like this, but I don't want to. If I'm gonna play a giant robot game, I want to actually play a giant robot game, not awkwardly shoehorn giant robots into something that isn't about them and isn't meant to support them. I'd rather hold out for the whole package than enjoy part of it now.

[Freelance GM]

This isn't my request for advice or anything--the group spoke, I didn't get it, it's done. I'm just looking for people to commiserate. Anyone else have the experience of having something you really, really want to play that you can't seem to get anyone else to go for?

Every WH40KRP game I've played in or GM'd rapidly descended into a comedy of errors where an Inquisitor accidentally hires a gang of tactless trigger-happy murder-hobos instead of disciplined acolytes.

I've been waiting 2.5 years to run a Dark Heresy game that actually involves investigating heresy, and feels authentically Grimdark. I've even got an adventure outlined where the best possible ending is exterminatus.

I've also been waiting 2.5 years to run a Star Wars (D20 or EotE) game that actually feels like Star Wars, and not just D&D with lightsabers.

Both of these are more a combination of the GM or the players coming to the table with expectations. When I run a DH or Star Wars game, I try my best to stick to the themes and lore of the host setting, and when I play in one of those games, I expect the GM to do the same. I don't want gruesome, bloody deaths and moral ambiguity in my Star Wars games, and I don't want black-and-white morality and thrilling heroics in my Dark Heresy games. It's like tripping on a +5 Holy Avenger in Call of Cthulhu - it doesn't fit the setting, and it totally breaks immersion.

[Segev]

Actually, when I mentioned my idea for a character (a D&D nerd with a dragon buddy), the others seemed surprised I wasn't planning on doing that :smalltongue: I mean, I could do something like this, but I don't want to. If I'm gonna play a giant robot game, I want to actually play a giant robot game, not awkwardly shoehorn giant robots into something that isn't about them and isn't meant to support them. I'd rather hold out for the whole package than enjoy part of it now.

I can totally appreciate that. I haven't played a necromancer in quite a while because I have a particular approach I want to take with it, and I'm going to probably need a 3.5 or 3.PF game to do it properly.

[tensai_oni]

Well, considering this is the only group I've been in where we all get along swimmingly, have tons of fun every session, essentially no drama, and, for the most part, share the same tastes (this particular case notwithstanding--like I said, all the other games offered also sounded great to me), I'd be surprised to find we "don't mesh very well".

That's unusual. I guess you hit the jackpot on having a group full of mature people then.

[GungHo]

This is why we have two GMs. I run a hack 'n slash military campaign. The other guy runs a political campaign. We're on two sides of the same world and the stories run contemporaneously. You hear about the other party's exploits in rumors, gazetteers, and things like "fires over the mountains". We have done crossovers with villains, allies, and world spanning organizations. We do this because while I like the political stuff, my players like my grindhouse work better. The other guy is better at intrigue than murderhobo. He doesn't like playing intrigue and I don't like playing hack n' slash. So, it works out pretty well for us. Another guy does Star Wars one shots when we are taking a break from standard fantasy.

[Max_Killjoy]

I'm pretty sure the game (system) I want to play isn't even made.

[Segev]

I'm pretty sure the game (system) I want to play isn't even made.

To be fair, Maid RPG is kind of creepy from start to finish.

--oh, wait, you said "MADE," my bad.

[Max_Killjoy]

To be fair, Maid RPG is kind of creepy from start to finish.

--oh, wait, you said "MADE," my bad.

Are you also opposed to violins on television?

[nrg89]

I moved from a metropolitan area of a million people to a small village of 900 people. Now I live in a medium-ish city of 100 000 people and I still have problems finding people who will play whatever I want to play so where you live does matter. The group I have now were all introduced by me to the RPG hobby so I got to suggest a system for us to make sure that everyone's wishes were respected and treated equally, while still leaving us open for new games.

If someone invites a new player, he or she is just happy to be invited. We have no idea if this will be for her or him so we will not change the game we play to accommodate someone who might show up again. It's take it or leave it.
But, we always try to put a fixed time for the campaign so that it ends after x number of sessions (usually between 7-10). Then, after each campaign close one person, and that person only, gets to decide if he or she wants to submit a game for trial or if we should put up games to a vote. A trial game consists of one session and is followed by a vote of continue or close. If we put up games to a vote, we each get the chance to submit a nominee (you can also forfeit if you know a friend will submit the same one as you) and we all vote. Closure of a trial always results in the group putting up games to vote.

The person who gets to submit a game for trial is chosen by rotation, so at the next campaign closure, someone else gets the chance to submit a game for trial. The order of this role was chosen at random a long time ago, and if a new player becomes a regular, we will randomly slot this person into the order too.

[Segev]

Are you also opposed to violins on television?

Absolutely. But not as much as by stopwatches. How can they show so much secs on TV?

Of course, however, EVERY revelation is made better when accompanied by a viola.

[Friv]

Are you also opposed to violins on television?

As long as you don't have excessive sax, I don't mind.

[Amaril]

The direction this thread has now taken has helped me feel better more than anything else :smalltongue:

[Gravitron5000]

Tuba-d that people seem to be running out of puns. We need to drum up some more.

[Jay R]

It happens to everyone, all the time. Every time you play a game, watch a movie, read a book, or date somebody, then you aren't playing any other game, watching any other movie, reading any other book, or dating any other person. I've never gotten to play TOON or Pendragon, and it's been decades since I played Chivalry & Sorcery.

But you need to realize one thing. Playing a game with people who don't want to play it is worse than playing a lesser game with people who want it. If two of your friends didn't want to play Bliss Stage, then it's better for you, as well as for them, that it wasn't chosen.