Taking it too far...

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I'm not one to say that dnd is inherently evil. I've played dnd for about half my life [i'm nearing 19] and to this day i find it to be an awesomely fun and amazingly artistic expression and hobby. I've DM'd campaigns, played dozens of characters, played MMORPG's and things like BG and IWD, and never have I really experienced that much of a problem with people taking the game way too seriously...

Some time, in the past, there were a few players who took it seriously enough that they were ostracized and banned from playing with us any more. It was the best thing for the situation-

The point of my story is this: obviously everyone who plays dnd is affected by the psychological implications of role-playing, for good or ill. Either this can be a way for someone to express themselves [as is intended, like playing characters that are kinda like you] or it can be a way for them to fantasize that they are better than the way they really are and escape from reality.

--tonight, me and my fellow party mates [we've been playing for quite some time now, quite intensively and frequently, and are all Epic, lvl 30+] received a quest to track and kill a weakened avatar of the god Mask. Mask had been cast from godhood by Ao for treachery against all gods, and Helm visited my paladin and told me i must undertake this quest to destroy Mask in order to atone for some misdoings that weighed heavily upon me.

Needless to say, we spent quite some time cutting a path through countless allies of Mask and even an army he had raised by the time we found him. We blazed a wake all the way up to an abandoned and dilapidated fortress he had been using as a hideout, had a showdown with him and a few of his high priests [Demarchs] and emerged victorious, at the cost of our sorcerer who died to a rather gruesome Sneak Attack, but was later resurrected.

We got some insane gear, including my new suit of weightless full plate +5 of heavy fortification. We all rejoiced [it was a really hard fought battle, with several awesome tactics on our part, countered by similar brilliance on the part of the DM] and we had a good laugh and drank some pepsi and watched a movie. A little bit later, one of my friends said, "I feel like I could do anything now, I can kill gods." He wasn't really joking. I can't help but think that some part of him is lost in the game, he's been playing it so much. I looked into his eyes and he was totally serious. Now, he's been playing as long as I have, we're totally hardcore gamers/rules lawyers and are equally knowledgable about the game- yet I don't feel like I AM my character or that he in any way reflects my true abilities. Yet my friend, a rogue, after killing this god and assuming part of his portfolio [in effect becoming a demi-god] is walking around glowing and smiling about this.

I haven't had the heart or courage to tell him, "hey, its just a game..." because i haven't seen him this happy in a long time. He has even gone as far as to make fun of the rest of us for not being demi-gods, claiming he could now kill all of us at the same time. This is angering the DM quite much, but the DM is playing with a loaded gun. If he takes the powers away, how is my friend going to react? Up until now, he hasn't shown any signs of taking the game more seriously than anyone else. At times, even, he seemed disinterested.

All very touchy stuff... Deep psychological trenchedness that i see as a rarity more than commonplace. The rest of my friends are much more down to earth [my rogue friend is a bit of a social misfit, purposefully]. Any thoughts on resolution/have you seen this happening in your games too? Currently our way of thinking is just to end the campaign with a bang. Have something big happen and either have our characters die or have them retire. But the rest of us feel a little cheated if the game is restarted because of the powergaming and psychological problems of one of the 5.

[ February 15, 2003, 08:47: Message edited by: Amon-Ra ]

 

The syndrome you are talking about is real, but uncommon. My simple minded solution would be to take a 2 week break, as a group, from playing. Go to the movies, go swimming, have a party and invite all the non-D&D people you know. Crank the music, go to restaurants, give your friend a chance to come down. The only other solution is to mock him like crazy for being such an unrealistic weirdo to shame him out of his silliness, but that could have unpleasant consequences, like losing the friend or pushing him further into his delirium

 

Or have your DM ask him to roll for his reality check.

(Sorry couldn't resist )

 

You know, not too long ago I saw that happen to 3 of a group of 5 players that I know in my city. Every time me and my DnD friends see one of them, they laugh at us, just right there, wherever we may be. They laugh while talking insults about our weakling characters (even though we are epic lvl.). After seeing this, one of the two this didn't happen to (the DM) won't allow them to play with him anymore, and according to him, they got very angry and left yelling about what losers the two were. Now though, it seems that most of the DnD community where I live seems to reject them for this, which is a good thing in my opinion. And I usually reserve judgement until I've pondered the subject quite a bit.

EDIT - Lol Faragon!

[ February 17, 2003, 21:31: Message edited by: Lord Neon ]