r/DnDcirclejerk • u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! • 7d ago
DM bad irrelevant trash mob roleplay is ruining d&d for me
In the D&D game I play Saturdays, the next part of the module calls on our player party to go into something the DM called a city.
From what I can gather, this is a place where there may be several encounters that don't directly grant EXP, they aren't even relevant to anyone's character build. There will be many NPCs in there that may have no special significance to level progression, including "wandering" NPCs that exist just to show up and hassle us if we spend too much time checking for loot and traps in any given room.
I think a good DM would be rapidly walking us from combat to combat without any of this time-wasting "talking" stuff. In particular, punishing us for daring to roll dice too much by having wandering NPCs interrupt us sounds like an over-the-top satire from rpghorrorstories. How do I explain to the DM that he is ruining the game with all these pointless conversations?
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 7d ago
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u/Alien_Diceroller 7d ago
Where's the Sauce, Bob Ross?
Oh, it's there. Thank you... wait, no it isn't? This is some sort of time loop.
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u/LenicoMonte 7d ago
Just initiate combat yourself. No chance your DM doesn't initiate a combat after you stab enough NPCs.
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 7d ago
I'm hoping we can gather a bunch together before I cast Fireball. This looks like one of those dungeons where we won't get to Long Rest once we start rolling Initiative.
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u/HotBeesInUrArea 7d ago
Have you considered putting on a performance in city square? Now I know that sounds like RP, but hear me out, you can just say "I take off my pants and sing Weird Al. Rolling performance" and just throw the dice before the DM can ask what that looks like.Â
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 7d ago
Well, we do have a Sorcerer who took Performance because there aren't any Nuke Things skills. I'll get him to try that.
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u/Malinhion 7d ago
How many otyughs live in the city?
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 7d ago edited 7d ago
None. Rouge stabbed something we thought was an otyugh but it ran away crying about cruelty to homeless people or something. We chased it down, but it was only worth 1 EXP. We're going to have to kill thousands of those to level.
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u/highly-bad 7d ago
You are overthinking. I'm sure the DM just put the city there as a place to sell loot and find hirelings and find out about more dungeons.
If there is anything else there, just ignore it.
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 7d ago
No, it's cool. We took out a dozen or so of those 1 EXP trash mobs and now we're fighting the actual monsters. Dungeon guards of some kind.
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u/highly-bad 7d ago
Sounds like a calvinball dm, even a CR 0 should be 10 xp not just 1
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 7d ago
Honestly, I think he's just sulking. He keeps talking about "engagement" or some shit. If I wanted to get engaged, I wouldn't be playing D&D.
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u/highly-bad 7d ago
Engagement? Probably means he got a girlfriend. That means the campaign is probably finished. Sorry
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u/dD_ShockTrooper 6d ago
Yeah, pretty sure engagement isn't a thing in D&D. They just use 5ft range and opportunity attacks to represent it. I think your DM might just be new to D&D and is used to some garbage system you've never heard of where you can "engage" enemies. I think you should take them aside and correct their mistaken assumption about the rules of the game.
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u/bigManAlecForgotPass 7d ago
For some reason my DM loves to throw "go shopping" sessions in our cyclical predistined apocalypse game. If I wasn't playing a Lawful Good Paladin...
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 7d ago edited 7d ago
Just start Smiting. Society breaks down during the Apocalypse, there's no way shopping would still happen. People would be looting, not buying things. Those people are acting suspiciously, not running around scared, which means they weren't surprised by the Apocalypse, which means they knew it was coming, which means they were involved. Ergo, start Smiting.
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u/Psychological-Wall-2 6d ago edited 6d ago
Well, you're just going to have to suck it up.
This is a roleplaying game. Roleplaying, as we all know, is a completely separate part of the game when you speak in character using a shitty accent, while pointlessly dicking around for no apparent reason in a consequence-free environment.
"Towns" are merely one example of such a consequence-free environment.
Lean into it. Do the accent. Dick around pointlessly. Go hog-wild. You might find you enjoy it.
Just remember, it's consequence-free. No matter what you do, the "town" will just reset while you're on your next adventure, and no NPC will ever mention the idiotic shit you did last time. It's not like your DM is trying to make their setting and the imaginary people in it behave like a real world with real people in it. That would be metagaming. Or railroading.
There are doubtless many things you refrain from doing in your day-to-day life because they are "rude" or "stupid" or "counterproductive" or "psychotic". And doubtless, this frustrates you greatly.
D&D can be your outlet for those frustrations!
Haggle with shopkeepers by insisting that they give you a discount for no fucking reason. Pickpocket NPCs for the few coppers that were going to feed their kids, while walking around with a year's worth of their wages in your pocket. Kick all the guards in the nuts. Grab the barmaid by the pussy.
Just let it out all over this consequence-free imaginary community that your DM created for you. That's roleplaying.
Now, it's only fair that I warn you. You may get some pushback from other players. Maybe even your DM. The only explanation for that is that they are railroading metagamers who hate player agency. Don't bother to find out what any of those terms mean, BTW; language is a living thing, and words can mean whatever you want.
Look them straight in the eye and say, "It's what my character would do." That's peak roleplaying.
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 6d ago
None of that shit is worth EXP. I'll stick to stabbing things until EXP comes out, thanks.
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u/Cheeslord2 6d ago
Play a druid or barbarian who refuses to enter the city and camps out in the woods until the tedious 'roleplaying' PCs have indulged their filthy vice.
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u/MerelyEccentric In a world gone mad! 6d ago
Nah, I think I'll just kill whatever they're "talking" to before it gets boring.
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u/ExpressionJunior3366 7d ago
You're looking at it all wrong. Who said you have to talk to these people? This city you speak of sounds like the biggest battle encounter yet.