I am that DM. I am also a new member of the gamegrene community thanks to my friend Lorthyne here. Well, after having read the article and your subsequent comments, let me try and vindicate myself, and I'd also like you guys to tell me what you think of what I had in mind. Also, I feel just fine doing this as that campaign (unfortunately) has been canceled.
First off, as regards to the previous article concerning Lorthyne's horrible first session. I take full blame for this-while I couldn't use my force powers to change the die rolls, I believe a session should be fun for every player no matter what you roll, and so as a DM I failed in that regard. Also, I thought that Lorthyne was experienced and wasn't aware this was his first time with 3.5, so I felt comfortable working with the "evil player" while he and our other friend worked together. If I had known, it would've been different.
Now, to alignment and metagaming. Actually, I was quite impressed with how Lorthyne played his character, keeping player knowledge from interfering with character knowledge. Frankly, I think he already knows how to balance them out. Now, let me explain why I did it. First, it wasn't my idea. We were looking at the gods and she liked Vecna, liked clerics, and decided she was going to be a cleric of Vecna. I was about to tell her it might not be a good idea, as Matt's character is a paladin, but then I had an idea. You see, Vecna plays a major part in this campaign, in that far into the future I had plans for the characters to do things like infiltrate a temple of Vecna and other things that a cleric of Vecna would make much easier, not to mention more interesing, as she would be betraying her god in the process. I actually saw some character development that could really work here. Also, being a cleric of Vecna, you know god of secrets, I thought that she would be pretty good at hiding what she was from Lorthyne, and so that wouldn't be as much of a concern. Also, Lorthyne was actually a really cool paladin (one of those without the stick up his butt), so I was curious to see how accepting he would be if he found out. Here, I was going for character conflict, but in the end, character development. I didn't think either were the type to just start killing each other. So I saw a chance to facilitate the story, drive some character development, and set up some group conflict that I knew wouldn't end up in a grave. Oh, and I had no plans to make him a fallen paladin. I once had a GM that was cruel like that and made campaigns specifically designed to destroy the PCs when he got bored enough and I can't stand it. I love to make situations that could be potentially problematic like that, but there's always a way out. I would never force a PC into something so life shattering as that.
Well, whaddya think?
I am that DM. I am also a new member of the gamegrene community thanks to my friend Lorthyne here. Well, after having read the article and your subsequent comments, let me try and vindicate myself, and I'd also like you guys to tell me what you think of what I had in mind. Also, I feel just fine doing this as that campaign (unfortunately) has been canceled.
First off, as regards to the previous article concerning Lorthyne's horrible first session. I take full blame for this-while I couldn't use my force powers to change the die rolls, I believe a session should be fun for every player no matter what you roll, and so as a DM I failed in that regard. Also, I thought that Lorthyne was experienced and wasn't aware this was his first time with 3.5, so I felt comfortable working with the "evil player" while he and our other friend worked together. If I had known, it would've been different.
Now, to alignment and metagaming. Actually, I was quite impressed with how Lorthyne played his character, keeping player knowledge from interfering with character knowledge. Frankly, I think he already knows how to balance them out. Now, let me explain why I did it. First, it wasn't my idea. We were looking at the gods and she liked Vecna, liked clerics, and decided she was going to be a cleric of Vecna. I was about to tell her it might not be a good idea, as Matt's character is a paladin, but then I had an idea. You see, Vecna plays a major part in this campaign, in that far into the future I had plans for the characters to do things like infiltrate a temple of Vecna and other things that a cleric of Vecna would make much easier, not to mention more interesing, as she would be betraying her god in the process. I actually saw some character development that could really work here. Also, being a cleric of Vecna, you know god of secrets, I thought that she would be pretty good at hiding what she was from Lorthyne, and so that wouldn't be as much of a concern. Also, Lorthyne was actually a really cool paladin (one of those without the stick up his butt), so I was curious to see how accepting he would be if he found out. Here, I was going for character conflict, but in the end, character development. I didn't think either were the type to just start killing each other. So I saw a chance to facilitate the story, drive some character development, and set up some group conflict that I knew wouldn't end up in a grave. Oh, and I had no plans to make him a fallen paladin. I once had a GM that was cruel like that and made campaigns specifically designed to destroy the PCs when he got bored enough and I can't stand it. I love to make situations that could be potentially problematic like that, but there's always a way out. I would never force a PC into something so life shattering as that.
Well, whaddya think?