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Having a rough experience with a GM pre-game, interested in thoughts.
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So I have joined a Mass Effect D20 game on Roll20.net, and we are still in the process of making our characters. A few of us have had character sheets approved, and someone started a thread to talk about our character backstories and personalities. The transcript is as follows. I am completely in agreement that the GM has the final say on the rules of the game, but I do not agree that the GM has the right to rule on a reasonable backstory in this manner. (It should be noted that my character meets the requirements for the Photographic Memory feat that I describe in my backstory.)


Player 1, first post: I thought that some people might want to talk about their character's personality and maybe if they have any back-story and in general just discuss what as a group we might want to do when the game starts.


(GM reminds players that posting replies to character sheet posts is not allowed, brief argument ensues, but is quickly dropped)

(7 hours later)


Me: As long as this is an ok place to talk about our characters:

I have Noki's personality profile established, but since we don't know what the campaign premise is going to be, I'll wait to make her backstory such that it will fit in with the story. Even if back-stories are not necessary or required, I enjoy making unique, well-thought out characters for anything I do.

Noki is hotheaded and antisocial. She will work with a group to get something done, but dislikes authority figures. She doesn't smile often, and can typically be found off sitting by herself or eavesdropping rather than interacting with other people or sitting among them. Because she is not used to dealing with people in a social setting, she is not good as a diplomat. She also has a lousy poker face, but that doesn't stop her from gambling occasionally. She dehydrates easily, so she doesn't drink anything but water, and she never touches alcohol.

Noki is slim and athletic, and keeps her hair cut short and dyed bright white. She also wears white almost exclusively. When not in armor, she never wears dresses or skirts, and always dresses modestly. She arms herself with a sniper rifle and pistol, as well as a dagger she keeps for closer encounters. Noki prefers quick and quiet over loud and powerful, and is adept at not being detected when she doesn't want to be. She also possesses a photographic memory, allowing her to remember the contents of documents, conversations, strings of numbers, or anything else she hears or sees with perfect recall. She never writes anything down and almost never forgets anything.


Player 2: I'll use this post to state that, despite posting Cage as a Vanguard, he is actually a Soldier.

Born on Earth, son of the German agronomist and farmer Heinrich, Cage had his life all planned out: he would inherit his father's business and have his own family.

When his father had the idea to take the family business to a colony, Cage followed his father's to Minerva IV. After a year in the colony, it was attacked by raiders, who destroyed the colony and nearly killed Cage's dad.

Saved by the Alliance military, Cage became fascinated by the idea of serving as a soldier. While his father tried to return in the colony business, he enlisted, being taken to train on Earth as a marine. When graduated, Cage discovered that his father actually became a successful colonist, employing thousands of farmers on New Minerva.

Despite not following his father's footsteps, Cage is proud of his decisions and became a competent soldier in Alliance military. Still young and brash, he can be impulsive sometimes, always questioning his own actions. He isn't the center of the attentions, but can be very friendly, and will kill and die for his companions, friends and family.


GM: You people keep forgetting one major factor.

YOU ARE ONLY LEVEL ONE.

Unlike in Mass Effect the video game, Shepard would technically be at least level five, however in RPG terms, you are greenhorns, fresh recruits from boot camp, you have ZERO experience points, you have NOTHING in your history to mention. The only thing your characters have done is be born, and receive training, anything else would require Experience Points, and that include fighting bullies in school.


Player 2: Where in my character background did I mentioned that he is a seasoned veteran badass killin' machine?


Me: Yes, I agree that we are only level one and inexperienced. But looking at the posts made here, I do not see and claim of any accomplishments or abilities that are not covered by our chosen feats. Noki's photographic memory is inherrent, and her personality is described as antisocial and hotheaded. Cage spent life before the military as a colonist, and has been trained in the military. No history after that is mentioned. He is described as competent (though impulsive), friendly, and dedicated to friends that he may make. Just because we have not done anything that can gain us experience does not mean our characters were not people before the game starts. Whether you make use of it or not, we like to put flavor to our characters to make them feel more real to us. It makes it more fun for us that way.


Player 2: And I second what (Me) said. If my character was a experienced one, I would make a longer and more detailed character history.


GM: Using skills would net you experience points for completing said skills either as a success or failure, you still net experience points for the situation. So gambling, being diplomatic, and being in any athletic activities outside of basic training would reward her with experience points.

This is the problem I am talking about. You might as well say you were apart of the Skyllian Blitz, or that you earn the rank of Major General in Boot Camp.

You should ONLY be writing about your Personality, Appearance, and Family History. Nothing of your own Character's Direct history.


Me: Even at level 1, our characters have skillsets. They are not starting off as children. We are starting off as soldiers with combat capability, not as farmers with pitchforks. There is nothing wrong with having participated in minor activities that bring our characters up to the level of ability inferred by being level 1. Our skill points are into things like electronics, climb, jump, gamble, bluff, diplomacy, things that we would not have skills in to begin with if they had not been practiced in some way. All activities of our characters' life leads up to the ability scores, feats, skills, traits, and items that are expected of a level 1 character. It is fine for characters to have history that gives them these level 1 abilities as long as they do not exceed the limits of a level 1 character. That is what backstories are for: to bring us UP to level 1. Otherwise, we may as well start with zero skill points, zero ability scores, no feats, and no items. Essentially negative level 4.


(Update 1) Me: However, as the rule of thumb is that the GM has the final say in all aspects of the game, if my argument above is still considered invalid, or if you have reasons for requiring blank slate characters that you can't reveal without spoiling story aspects, then you have that right, and I can accept that. After all, it is your game. I just want to play the game and have fun with it.


(Update 2) Player 2: Well, to prevent a headache, just ignore my character history. He's just a guy who's out from boot camp.


Player 3: Yeah, it's all about having fun, rolling some dice, and kicking some badguy ass, right guys? Right?

And as for my character's personality; it's hard for me to explain(Mostly because if I do explain it, I'm usually off... And if on the chance that I do write it down in the way I feel it right, I end up NOT doing that as I play them.) What I plan on doing is just leaving it off on story(Which the only real combat experience Sylan had aside from scuffles with other street dwellers is 3 fights that were had with a group of Slavers; More so like a small-scale gang war.)


Player 1: (GM), playing as a character in most RPGs means you are more skilled than the average man when it come to the collective whole, so having a backstory were your character has done something slightly heroic or above the norm is completely in the bounds of almost all RPG systems, don't take being "lvl 1" so literally .


(Update 3) GM: (Me), you don't even HAVE Ranks in Gambling.

So, your character is as experienced as a newborn trying to gamble, so WTF, why do you think your character has a background in Gambling?

This is EXACTLY why I don't fucking like players making shit up and trying to write a damn backstory, because they forget about what their character actually HAS written down, and start making up shit just to be creative and unique, when it only causes more problems for the GM.

Just write a damn character sheet, and leave it the fuck alone, how simple is that?

Just like a TV show, a Movie, or an Anime/Cartoon, Character Development takes place THROUGH THE SERIES. Everyone feels clueless and left out when the Character's History and backstory is already developed and explained, then the Character seems boring and uninteresting because there is nothing else for them to do.


Player 1: Yeah, but that is all random, something you have control over in the end, this is something we controll, plus just cause his character gambles doesn't me she is good, hence having the "bad poker face". And every T.V. show or game has origins for there characters, this is our origin, our own personal story of why we are what we are.


GM: okay enough, fuck off. You are not listening to the GM


Player 1: I am, but having someone put a hamper on the whole idea of us having some story outside the game is limiting the creativity of the player off the bat. (Comment deleted by the user or the GM, not sure which)


Me: I did say in my character sheet that Noki is a bad gambler, sorry for not clarifying that in my post here. But again, the GM has the final say in all aspects of the game, so I'll let it drop and just forget about it. I just want to play the game.


Update 4: At this point, the GM deleted the thread and ejected player 1 from the game

If there were plenty of other Mass Effect D20 games to join, I'd be leaving this one right now, but this is the only one up right now, and I really want to play it. The GM also has GMed 11 games on the site, so I know he has experience with GMing. Interested in hearing the community's thoughts on the matter. Thanks!

Update 2: GM has not made any additional response, though I would like to hear what he has to say to all this now.

Update 3: GM finally posted

Update 4: End result: GM deleted the thread, Player 1 has been ejected by the GM. The other players and myself have decided to voice in skype during gameplay so we can talk about our characters' backstories and do the roleplaying aspect of the game amongst ourselves. The GM, as I understand it, does nothing with voice or video anyway, so will not be joining us.

Update 5: I've gotten together with the players still in the game, the one who was kicked, as well as one that expressed interest, and we are working on getting our own game going with a more rational GM. Thanks for all the input everyone!

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