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Been running my Heroes campaign world for 3 years solid and 15 years or so here and there. Last few games that i have ran I've been easily distracted and keep breaking game and goofing off. And it doesn't bother me anymore, I'm almost more bothered by the fact I don't care than I am about the game getting broke every weekend. I have a huge ending campaign and I can't wait for it to all be over with. And I'm feeling a little guilty about it. This should be my masterpiece, where all my efforts over the years come to a head. And boy am I not feeling it. I'm excited about the story and what is going to happen but I think it may come down to the way some of the players are playing their parts. And honestly one of the inspirations for this game was exactly that. If I end this campaign I won't have to deal with super heroes not being heroic. I get this from my player(s) "how do you expect us to be good when you kill, maim, threaten, destroy whatever it is they love or working for?" But I think that's the beauty of being a super hero, and what makes it a challenge to play. that no matter what life throws at you, you make a choice to be one of the good guys. you won't use the same methods as a villain would because you hold yourself to a higher moral fiber than most. Just sick of the blood thirsty "heroes". Some don't get that its not just to foil the plans of super villains or saving the city, or whatever that's at stake, it is the morals and ideals of what a hero should be that need to be upheld and saved if need be.
Bah, anyway, getting off topic. Honestly I'm burned out and I don't feel all that bad about it. except now i feel bad for not feeling bad. I just don' know what the next step is. I have drowned and I am now doing the deadman's float waiting for revival.
Thanks

Try being a player for a change?

Try the riddle of steel RPG. Character values aren't just talk, they are part of the actual game system.

that no matter what life throws at you, you make a choice to be one of the good guys. you won't use the same methods as a villain would because you hold yourself to a higher moral fiber than most.

Also it's worth while remembering that someone writes batman. Some author just decides whether he dies or (more likely) lives.

All the ivory tower characters are just that - are safe in their ivory, don't kill the golden goose, towers.

So you end up more Roarchach than Batman as a PC, cause you can just suck it up from fate and die. There isn't an author who has you do the golden choice, then saves your bacon for another issue.

And Roarchach was interesting. Just as soon as you got over your need for clean, perfect, mary sue protagonists.

Yeah i need a break. Just sucks. lol. I give them plenty of other games where they can be more punisher like and cut loose I just want this one game to be what I grew reading about. lol And I'm not opposed to killing bad guys its just the methods used I guess. I had a vision and I got stuck on it and somewhere along the way I forgot how to just roll with it and still keep it fun for me. Luckily I'm not the only GM and I can get that break. I just tapped one of the other guys to run.

We tend to play campaigns as opposed to adventures. It is draining and you do think "how can I be passionate every week"

We're trying to switch to some shorter adventures. Maybe a break from the current campaign but play a simpler easy on th ebrain game or scenario. Dead Reign or another HU "quickie" (one bank job foiled) perhaps.

The Dark Elf wrote:We tend to play campaigns as opposed to adventures. It is draining and you do think "how can I be passionate every week"

We're trying to switch to some shorter adventures. Maybe a break from the current campaign but play a simpler easy on th ebrain game or scenario. Dead Reign or another HU "quickie" (one bank job foiled) perhaps.

Exactly what our table needs. I may run again tonight. Going to break out the old Street Ninja game. They are not actually ninja but they keep calling themselves that and they light up anytime there may even be a threat of breaking that game out again. It's a great mindless, high flying adventure with a with a lot of punching, running and jumping. Not much plot just smashing heads in for a street vigilante boss/trainer. What I really like about that game is that I experiment with a lot of hand to hand combat modifications to make it more actiony. Basically parkur mixed with silat and a dark colored hoodie theme. lol fun stuff. Picture a Michael Bay film with less explosions but the same mindless action and simple plots.

The moment you lose the ability to not invite someone, you lose creative control.

But really, it's not just that he's stubbornly playing an anti hero, your also stubbornly playing idealist good guys. Don't judge your stubborness as somehow higher. It's the same stuff. And if he can't trick you out of your idealist good guys inclination, don't start thinking you can trick him out of his anti hero inclination.

If you can't not invite someone, I'd suggest simply saying your going to run a board game on game night unless you can negotiate something. And that will involve you compromising your idealist good guys stuff along with him compromising his anti hero stuff, otherwise it wont be a negotiation and you will be playing board games for a long, long time. I'd suggest negotiating how violent a 'good guy' can get with badguys, giving examples.

Noon wrote:The moment you lose the ability to not invite someone, you lose creative control.

But really, it's not just that he's stubbornly playing an anti hero, your also stubbornly playing idealist good guys. Don't judge your stubborness as somehow higher. It's the same stuff. And if he can't trick you out of your idealist good guys inclination, don't start thinking you can trick him out of his anti hero inclination.

If you can't not invite someone, I'd suggest simply saying your going to run a board game on game night unless you can negotiate something. And that will involve you compromising your idealist good guys stuff along with him compromising his anti hero stuff, otherwise it wont be a negotiation and you will be playing board games for a long, long time. I'd suggest negotiating how violent a 'good guy' can get with badguys, giving examples.

Well its not just the anti hero play style. There are other contributing factors. But I totally get that. I won't confront him on this one. Its how he likes to play and how he destresses. I don't want to be that guy. Honestly since I vented here and read the other posts it really doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. But it did make me think of what really bothered me about his play style. Honestly the dude will do the exact opposite of what you want for any game. I think he just likes being obstinate and argumentative. I know how to handle it now. Don't know why I never saw that before. lol
Thanks

Savage Worlds has a supplement called Necessary Evil and its a great setting concept. The setting would port over to HU in heartbeat. The concept is that an alien race came begging to Earth for help and our heroes answered...and got betrayed and wiped out. Now the aliens are back and subjugating the human race. There's no heroes to save them.

...but there are villains. Some super-villains aren't thrilled with aliens messing around with Earth and have vowed to retake the planet...and the fight is by their rules. So your players get to be as-bad-as-I-wanna-be supervillains saving the planet and inadvertently doing good for the common people.

Think Dirty Dozen with supers. Fun stuff.

Another fun flip-side concept is Monsters! Monsters!, a supplement in the late 70s for the Tunnels & Trolls RPG. Essentially, you play a monster in a fantasy campaign. It's not just being an Evil PC, but getting to play a Medusa, a Bugbear, etc and dealing with all the issues of those pesky adventurers and villagers with pitchforks.

Spinachcat wrote:Savage Worlds has a supplement called Necessary Evil and its a great setting concept. The setting would port over to HU in heartbeat. The concept is that an alien race came begging to Earth for help and our heroes answered...and got betrayed and wiped out. Now the aliens are back and subjugating the human race. There's no heroes to save them.

...but there are villains. Some super-villains aren't thrilled with aliens messing around with Earth and have vowed to retake the planet...and the fight is by their rules. So your players get to be as-bad-as-I-wanna-be supervillains saving the planet and inadvertently doing good for the common people.

Think Dirty Dozen with supers. Fun stuff.

Another fun flip-side concept is Monsters! Monsters!, a supplement in the late 70s for the Tunnels & Trolls RPG. Essentially, you play a monster in a fantasy campaign. It's not just being an Evil PC, but getting to play a Medusa, a Bugbear, etc and dealing with all the issues of those pesky adventurers and villagers with pitchforks.

Nice. I like the savage world idea. Had something similar planned, may have to check it out for inspiration.

after that long do the players have underlings? these can be fun to play and openn a new light for your player(they love their character) but every underling complains about its bodss in some way.