Xjyuk

My boyfriend is DMing a D&D 5e game for a good friend of mine and I. It's a pirate themed campaign, which I was excited about, and takes place in a universe where magic is not believed in by most (implying our characters might discover magic exists along the way.) That being said, I immediately wanted to play a pirate character because I thought it would be fun. I'm using the swashbuckler rogue with the charlatan background who doesn't believe in magic, but my friend's character is a scholar who is looking for evidence that magic exists.

I thought this would work out fine, but with the way the game has been set up it feels as though it's very catered toward the scholar character. Almost all the major NPCs joining the adventure have been scholar type characters and I keep losing motivation for why my character would care to be a part of the adventure. The one time my character would have seen magic to make them believe in it, they were doing something else and missed it, which means now I'm on a quest for magical items my character doesn't even believe in.

I keep having my character request payment for their sailing services in an attempt to keep them interested in what's going on, but my friend's character refuses to pay them anything and I feel like my character just has to do whatever the scholars want to do or else I'll just derail things.

I don't feel like my character can just walk away to do pirate things because I'm trying to be cooperative with the story, but when I bring up that my character is a pirate and probably wouldn't want to be doing favors for no reason, my friend gets upset and says I need to just go with the story and then continues to make all the decisions.

I talked to my DM and he said he was hoping to steer things in a direction that gives my character some more things to do besides being the one who just....has the boat. But we've played a few times now and I'm still feeling like my character isn't being utilized very well.

I told my DM that if it's easier I can just create a new character that's a better fit for the story since I thought we'd all be pirates and I could get away with more chaotic choices, but he seemed hesitant to have me switch characters.

I feel like this campaign is just not suited for my character even though I'm a pirate. I had the most fun in our one time in combat when we were fighting....pirates. The guys I should probably be allies with haha. Combat has been the only time I've really felt like I could make some creative choices. In role-play situations, I feel like what my character wants doesn't have any weight.

How can I find a way to fit into the campaign in a way that makes my character feel utilised and me feel engaged? Would it be better if I just try to create a new character or to find a new motivation for my current character to stay with the scholar group?

Given that the DM seems to dislike the idea of a change of cast, you are not feeling like playing this character like you're playing it now and your friend seems uninterested in changing his ways to let you have fun (but at least the DM seems cooperative enough), I'd like to suggest something that worked for me in a World of Darkness campaign I've been part of (WoD often starts with many characters not knowing about magic).

Decide that that very naive guy who believes in magic needs protection. Pretend to get your share of the loot for whatever danger you end up facing together (instead of character to character payment, which will only happen at the end of the campaign if you don't stumble in anything valuable) and be ready to decide on the spot, whenever you will see magic with your own two eyes, if this magic is something cool you want to use too or if it's just the next big thing you have to protect the scholar from.

Sometime the game you are playing is simply not the game you believed you signed up for. Happened to me few times, see first paragraph here for an example.

You talked to DM and to the fellow player and it changed nothing. I believe they are trying, at least from your description we can assume good faith on the DM side. What you can do now is to talk to your DM and fellow player and tell them, without accusations, what you told us. You can dress it in words like this:

Guys, when I joined the game I thought we'd all be pirates and I could get away with more chaotic choices. I had the most fun in our one time in combat when we were fighting....pirates. The guys I should probably be allies with. Combat has been the only time I've really felt like I could make some creative choices. In role-play situations, I feel like what my character wants doesn't have any weight.

This is not the game I believed I sign up for. And this is not the game I created my character for. There must have been huge misunderstanding, and now it prevents me from having fun. I don't feel my character has any reason to continue doing what she is doing, and I won't have fun playing her if this will not change, so we need to have this fixed. I guess we can either change the story, or get me a new character, this time one that fits.

Note that I mostly used your own words - you are really good describing things without getting aggressive and accusatory, good for you!

What can happen is:

1. Campaign will change. You will work something out to make your character relevant and give him reasons and goals that actually make sense, possibly with minor retcons. NPCs and encounters will give you opportunity to shine and affect the story. You are good.


2. DM will help you create character that's relevant and fun for you to play. You'll roleplay transition, or just do it as downtime description of event. Your new character will have his goals and needs that fits the campaign you're playing. Great.


3. DM will tell you 1. or 2. is happening, but nothing will really change.


4. They will tell you that it's going to be better "later" or something like that. Remind them previous conversations and firmly state that "later" is now, and you do not accept any more delays or vague declarations.

Three is a sad part, but you probably should be prepared that it may happen. In my experience, this is the time your character just sails away* and you stop appearing to the sessions, at least for this campaign. If talking about the issue two or three times changes nothing, it is hard to believe fourth time will help.

I have told my players in Bastion RPG Club things like "Sorry, but I can't make this campaign fun for you while keeping it fun for other players, I tried but I failed, can't help it. Please accept my apology.". I had my character removed from adventures on my own initiative if needed be. Sometimes different campaign in the same group, or different gaming group, may simply be much better fit for you. If that's the case, you need to honestly answer very important questions:

Is it a good use of my time, playing a game that's no fun to me? Am I willing to do it? Why am I doing it?

If you decide it is not a good use of your time, you are not willing and do not have good reason, play your last session, let your character die or ally with pirates, thank other participants for playing. Be polite, but be firm - you have the right to have fun just like everyone else, and you have the right to quit if you're not getting it.

* Actually one of my characters simply retired, and I let two of them die, once even refusing DM "deus ex machina" to keep him alive.

The Real Problem: Your Character Has No Stake

1. There is an open question about the game world (does magic exist?) which your PC and the other PC have staked out opposite sides of.


2. The action of the game so far revolves around the investigation of that question (and genre conventions suggest the answer will be yes)

To be honest, this is not a good situation and not a good set-up for a game. But please note, I am not at all saying that you have made a bad character or are doing something terribly wrong. I am only saying that this set-up-- effectively X-Files, with your character as basically the skeptical Scully, but who also own key resources and yet is still dragged into things by the Mulder-- is not a good set-up for a game. What made for "dramatic tension" on a scripted television show come across very differently in an improvised RPG.

Those two factors have reduced you and your character's stake to near zero: Your character isn't doing what interests them, you know to near certainty that they'll turn out to be wrong, and in the mean time you get to follow along and provide resources.

The Solution: Get Your Character A Stake

Unfortunately all of my particular suggestions need some degree of GM assistance, or at least acquiescence. (And in this case, the Significant Other status of the GM can make things that much more delicate for all involved.) So I strongly advise you to go back to your GM (again) and say gently but firmly that you're not having fun because there is no earthly reason for your character to be going along on these adventures-- your character has no stake. Then you can get down to figuring out how to fix that.

1. One way is a new character. Although it's been shot down already, I applaud your instinct here, and maybe discussing the issue in a new way will yield a different result. (As a GM, if someone comes to me and offers to scrap their character and make a new one for the good of the game, that is both a serious warning sign that they are unhappy and a sign that they are willing to sacrifice something to keep the game going. It surprises me that this fell on deaf ears.)




2. Another way to have some other more pragmatic interest in what the scholar is seeking: You might believe the objects exist, but are not magical, and want to sell them. (But be warned, this sets up a delayed conflict with the other player character.) They might be your family heirlooms, restoring your family to its former grace. Or perhaps they have some other political or religious significance your character wants to exploit. (These require GM buy-in, though.) The objects might be wrapped up with legends of more mundane treasures. ("Yeah, sure, mystic orb of the whatevers-- wasn't that supposed to be part of Queen Whatsername's lost treasure?" Again, requires GM buy-in.) Any of these things can give your character a stake in the adventure. These of course are just suggestions/examples.




3. The easiest solution: Have your character convert or converted into a believer. You do not need the GM's permission to change your character's mind like this, but it does feel a little... unsatisfying. The more you as a player care about the history and internal consistency of your character, the less satisfying it will be. But, you also mention that once your character was near to or in the presence of convincing magic, but was distracted or otherwise occupied. Ask your GM if that can be replicated so that your character has a reason to change their mind, and get everyone on the same page.

So your character would probably rather walk away to do pirate things, but you don't want to pursue that direction because it would derail the campaign.

It wouldn't necessarily derail the campaign. If your character walks away to do pirate things, but the scholar character feels compelled to tag along, then the direction of the campaign would shift so that now you're the one making the creative choices, and it's your friend who has to go along and be cooperative with the story.

For example, once you decide to leave the scholar group, you might search for buried treasure! If your friend's scholar character has reason to believe the treasure has some magical significance, they might feel compelled to tag along.

Or, you might leave the scholar group and start privateering for a wealthy aristocrat or foreign ruler! If your friend's scholar character has reason to believe that your employer is a clandestine magic-user, they might feel compelled to tag along.

There are myriad possibilities. Of course, any of these options depend on whether your group wants to go along with them, but, from a story perspective, there's no real reason that your character shouldn't be able to walk away and take charge at the same time.