For context, I (36m) have been playing D&D and other TTRPGs a long time. An acquaintance that i’ve played with before, who I’ll call Tina, asked me if I could help her with her campaign. She’s DMing a full campaign for the first time after having run some one-shots, and she’s using a homebrew setting to boot. Most of her players are first-timers and they lost their cleric(healer) a few months prior. Ever since then, Tina’s players have been avoiding combat at all costs and just dragging their feet in general to avoid moving things forward. Tina thinks they’re just worried about getting their characters killed without a healer.
Tina wanted me to come in as a healer and push the narrative and action forward. I made a healer with high charisma(a celestial warlock) and stepped into the campaign at a point where the players just kind of farting around with escape room-style puzzles in a mansion to get an item they need. This was the third session of this, with the second session the previous week being nothing but investigating every single thing but doing nothing with the clues and "keys" they were finding. My character negotiated his way into the group by combining resources. After about 30 minutes the puzzle was solved and two of the other players literally said we need to slow down, which blew my mind. After leaving the mansion we were attacked by NPCs who wanted the loot. I immediately tried intimidation, but it failed and combat ensued. The other players acted like this was game over before we had even rolled initiative, complaining that they didn’t even get a chance to try to persuade the NPCs because I immediately tried to intimidate. We beat the NPCs and I only used one healing spell, so it wasn’t even very difficult. After that we did narrative stuff and pushed the plot forward, and I took a backseat for most of that because my character is the new guy. I only stepped in when negotiations were happening.
After the session several of the players contacted Tina and said they thought I was too aggressive of a player. We did one more session the following week and less than an hour in there was a big crashout over me pushing the pace and not letting the rest of them take their time or avoid combat. One of them said I was stealing the spotlight and trying to become the face of the party. When I said I hadn’t even rolled a single charisma check all session I was told that I’m not being respectful of everyone’s feelings. Tina told them she brought me in to push the pace and get things moving instead of stagnating for session after session. This made the other players very upset and the session ended here. Afterward, Tina told me that the other players were upset at her for allowing me to "force" my way into the campaign. This is despite her telling them that she invited me. They will only keep playing if she apologized and I didn’t play anymore.
So am I the asshole here? I feel like this is crazy.
NTA but you’re done playing with this lot.
Yup, this tables problems are between them and the DM.
Adding someone who wants to move fast and get into fights won’t help if the rest of the group wants to faff about.
The DM should have had a frank conversation with her table:
“Look guys, I’ve put a lot of time and effort writing an extended campaign and you guys have spent three sessions failing to solve a 20 minute puzzle. Are you guys scared of combat or would you just prefer to play a different kind of game?”
NTA lol wtf you’re just doing what you were asked. They’re just being babies. Sounds like Tina might need to find a group that wants to ACTUALLY play her campaign
Nta- but at least Tina is getting a crash course in being a dm. You can never make everyone happy, and you should make the campign fun for the dm first.
If the dm isn’t having fun running a campaign, then usually the campaign dies cause you don’t want to make the 30th escape room when the party won’t move on.
When I was running a campaign, my players and I knew it would be about a 2-3hr session but I had a planned stop point. So if multiple people wanted a shorter session they knew that there would be a murder hobo route. Or they can try and puzzle it out and get more into the lore.
NTA
You were asked to help and you did. The saying No good deed….
They don’t want to move forward. They don’t want you on their team. Their loss.
NAH? but they should go play exit room games and leave D&D.
I feel bad for Tina. They’re being the A to Tina. Maybe she should drop them. Just, give her some guidance in that area.
NTA, I think there are better systems for the players over the dungeon crawl oriented system, and I think Tina can find a group who will take her and her story into consideration better. I think you did exactly what you were brought in for but the players do not feel like there’s an issue to be fixed. I think this group, this story, should disband it sounds like it isn’t fun any more. If you have space for Tina in a new thing I think it would be kind of you to invite her, and I think you should recommend non-combat oriented systems to the players, if you’re conversationally close at all.
NTA some people are nightmares to play D&D with because they don’t handle anxiety well or somehow get super stressed during combat.
This wasn’t the case, you did things slowly trying to use intimidation to move a situation forward.
You then proceeded to stay back and not use any of your charisma.
It sounds like your friend has a group of whiny selfish people who don’t respect the DMs time.
The DM didn’t want to have an open discussion with the players – that’s on the DM.
You shouldn’t have agreed to come and push the DM’s agenda in secret.
YTA for that.
NAH… You were invited to do something, and you did it in a reasonable fashion. I wouldn’t recommend playing with them again, to be honest. Someone should also make sure Tina knows about having a pre-campaign gaming session, where everyone involved talks about and comes to an understanding about what will and won’t be happening in the campaign.
You tried….
They will be shocked when the DM quits.
NTA. Sounds like the players don’t really want to play DND, but want to say they play DND. Sounds pretty pathetic.
I dont think you are the asshole necessarily. It does sound like Tina wants to DM a different sort of gameplay than her players want to play but sounds to me like you both hoped having someone more experienced involved would help. The issue here is Tina. A good DM communicates with their players and she ought to have discussed it with them before bringing you in.
ESH (OP and Tina both, not the players)
If Tina wanted to change the pace, that should have been discussed with the players, not sprung on them with no warning or input.
They seem to have been happy with a slow-paced, non-combat game. But OP and Tina both ignored that even after they expressed their concerns.
The only people who communicated openly here were the players, and they very clearly stated they wanted to slow down and avoid action.