I need help with character motivation issue

[ryokoryu]

So I spent weeks creating a concept for a game in the Vampire Kingdoms and a character who would start a new merc group to save his hometown from vampires. I posted said game concept in Roll20 and began working to put the people together to play. eventually, I had all 5 players but was looking for a GM to run the game. It took almost 2 weeks to achieve this and we were still short the GM. We finally got someone to GM the game and they sounded interested in the story I had set up. So the GM says he has others who also want to join and I see nothing really wrong with that, nor do the people I had brought in. We get to game day and the GM describes there being a job posting there catching peoples eye and here I am thinking he is talking about the job my character posted in the backstory. Well turns out it isn't, I start asking questions in private chat about what happened to my job and my merc company. He tells me I need to have my character register with an NPC faction he created for this which I knew nothing about, so I have my character start this. Next as I am there filling out the paperwork one of the people he brought in has their charact4er come in and sign up the party into their merc company. No paperwork, just wham bam thank you ma'am. so I have my character continue filling out my paperwork thinking he will have some story element that will merge my characters story into the one he is telling. the perty has a conversation and heads out to this party to get in touch with the people offering the job he had in mind and my character had no motivation to be there so when he comes to asking me what i am doing I say filling out the paperwork to found my merc company. He is like why? I say because my character has no knowledge he needs to be there or even that there is something going on there. so he retcons and has me there and somehow part of the other players merc company and says we can sort it out later. Now at the end of the session I want to talk about sorting it out and I am wanting to try to figure this out in a way that my character would be alright with but he wants me to sort it otu with the person he brought in who also wants it to be in character and basically says his character would not be interested in merging into a partnership, my character would not just be joining another merc company and forgetting his hometown and my character does not fit into the story as it has changed.
So now I spent weeks on the the story which is now gone, my character's story which is incompatible with the current story so I want to just set him aside and make a new character. I seriously feel ambushed in this with changes that I didn't know about til our first session and i would have rolled a different character for this if I had known that the entire story was gonna be thrown out liek that. So far only the people he brought have weighd in on this saying I need to just play the character in the new story. I feel completely disconnected from this character without his backstory, motivations and general personality.

[ryokoryu]

I really am having a hard time figuring out if this is a salvageable situation or not.

[lather]

Doesn't sound like it.
And I'm sorry to hear about it.
I only game with friends because I've been in similar boats more than once. If that means no game, it's better than trying to play something that sucks. That's my approach, which I understand isn't for everybody.

[DhAkael]

Sadly; only two options.
1) KILL IT WITH FIRE!
2) See number 1.
The lesson boys & girls? Don't give over a story to someone ELSE to GM; it will only end it tears (and fire).

[ryokoryu]

Sadly; only two options.
1) KILL IT WITH FIRE!
2) See number 1.
The lesson boys & girls? Don't give over a story to someone ELSE to GM; it will only end it tears (and fire).

yeah, at least not strangers. The person who got me into rifts would have been able to do it, unfortunately, we no longer live near each other and he doesn't game over the internet or with people he doesn't know well. Also I am a low vision player and can only read for limited amounts of time so I am not going to realistically be a good gm for my own stories. the worst part is I would have been fine playing the different story, just would have liked to know before the first session that my ideas had been tossed and replaced. Informed decisions make the world better.

[dreicunan]

Total jerk move by the GM. If you are going to railroad someone, have the decency to let them know ahead of time. For example, we were making characters for a Palladium Fantasy campaign. The GM let us know ahead of time to not worry too much about sorting out our equipment, because the story was going to involve a shipwreck and losing almost all of our gear. None of us had a problem with this because we knew ahead of time. It also helped that we trusted him to run things fairly once we were washed up on shore.

[Hotrod]

Tricky. You started with five players and the GM joined you with a bunch of other players. That sounds like a very large party. Character backgrounds for big party games generally take a backseat to the plot of the adventure itself, because weaving together eight individually-written backgrounds and motivations is hard.

That said, the fact that the GM agreed to come in and run your game/story and then changed things on you is unfortunate. As I see it, you have a few choices:

1. Hang up your player spurs and take up the GM mantle. It sounds like you're more interested in the story than the game piece anyway.
2. Roll with it. Throw away your old background and come up with a new one. Maybe focus more on character traits than a background with a specific story direction so it isn't so irksome when things go in a different direction than what you planned on.
3. Roleplay with it. Maybe your character keeps up hope that the party will help him if he just keeps working with them; repaying favors and all that. Maybe there are no other options, no-one else who's even willing to work with him. Keep talking up your town in character with the party.

[ryokoryu]

Well now I know what writers feel like when they write an action movie and the director makes a romantic comedy.

[Killer Cyborg]

I really am having a hard time figuring out if this is a salvageable situation or not.

Doesn't seem like it to me, and that sucks.
Can you take over the merc company somehow?

[Blackwater Sniper]

Would you have the same response if the GM pulled out a game module generated by a third party?

Saying that just because things didn't go your way so you're going to take your ball and go home isn't the best solution.

Yes, you put a lot of time into the game you expected to play and I applaud you for you thought process. Once I lost three characters to bad dice rolls and worse luck. Each time I re-rolled time them I thought "this is the last time."

[taalismn]

3. Roleplay with it. Maybe your character keeps up hope that the party will help him if he just keeps working with them; repaying favors and all that. Maybe there are no other options, no-one else who's even willing to work with him. Keep talking up your town in character with the party.

Wrench back the storyline by working your own agenda on the side. Your PC is only with the mercs under duress, or is holding out hope that somehow he can find allies or mercs willing to take HIS job, at which point he'll split from the party. He takes opportunities to wander off and talk to other people, like passing adventurer parties, arms dealers, soldiers, or other mercenaries. If that's not possible, the PC is taking notes on the gear the mercenaries ahem, to see if it, or something like it, might be useful in defending his hometown. Any money, loot, or resources the PC acquires are to go towards the defense of his town(hiring mercs or placing orders for weapons to be shipped home). If the other party members decide to try to take the stuff earmarked for 'home defense', after hearing the PC's story, well, that justifies RIGHTEOUS RAGE and maybe killing some of the thieving bastards. Or maybe, if your PC's desperate enough(gets bad news from home, for example), he decides to STEAL the party's best vehicle or strongest weapon and makes a run for his hometown. Watch the GM try to deal with an outraged Man On a Mission...he'll either have to accommodate the PC's original mission, of your PC will be killed off and you can bow out(after hopefully taking some of 'em with you).

[Eagle]

I'm going to give completely different advice from everyone else here. Just get over it and play the damn game. Or don't play in it. But don't go in trying to sabotage it. That's the most selfish thing you could do.

If you're the GM, you get to pick what story you tell. That's the way it is, that's the way it's always been. Maybe this new GM wasn't inspired by the plot you came up with. Maybe the other players weren't really inspired either. You convinced someone to run the game, and if they aren't going with a story you like, you don't have to play. If you wanted to get people together to play a baseball game, and everybody decided they wanted to play backyard football instead, you don't have to play if you don't want to. But don't try to screw up other people's fun.

If you really really want to play that storyline, then GM the game yourself, and tell that story. But personally, it sounds like your idea for the game is heavily based on your own character background. In effect, you are the "main character" of the story. Even if the other characters are from your town, your proposed game still revolves around your character and his background. It leaves little room for somebody else who maybe has a different idea. Everybody else has to work around the structure as you've defined it.

[taalismn]

Well. the risk of role playing is, your character might be somebody else's roadkill.
Look both ways before crossing the road, and look out for oncoming trucks.

[Jorick]

If you really really want to play that storyline, then GM the game yourself, and tell that story. But personally, it sounds like your idea for the game is heavily based on your own character background. In effect, you are the "main character" of the story. Even if the other characters are from your town, your proposed game still revolves around your character and his background. It leaves little room for somebody else who maybe has a different idea. Everybody else has to work around the structure as you've defined it.

I want to second this. I think it sucks that the new GM didn't tell the OP about the changes. But even if you GM'd a story about one main character, you're going to run into trouble in a group game. Tabletop RPGs rarely work out when things are built this way. The tendency would be to either railroad the players (if the central character is an NPC), or favor one player's decisions and one player's story (events revolve around furthering only one characters themes and goals). The group has to all be on board, and even then it'll only capture everyone's interest for long if they all get to play significant roles.

It's easier to write the adversaries as a GM. The players then become the heroes they want to be. If they're on board with supporting a meta-plot, have them start as relatively autonomous members of the "central character's" merc company. They can engage in key assignments that help further the goals of their fearless leader while the larger story moves forward (in the battle, the players need to take/hold the watchtower, while the Merc leader is leading the main offensive formation, or the players gather intelligence far away from the base, etc.).

In the end, a GM, even a friend, can't be expected to be successful running a group game for one player. It's just not the reality of tabletop games.

[Khanibal]

If eye strain is a problem, them use discord or Skype. Shucks, even Roll20 has a voice option. Now you can GM.