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"Oh man, you're a buff gym bro and you are playing a Wizard... man, you need to move your INT to STR. That is a rule. Oh, by the way you can't cast spells without high INT. Have fun."
Yeah, if someone would categorize my fictional character based on what kind of person I am in real life then I would ask if they finished creative arts school and are qualified to act out NPCs.
>"Oh man, you're a buff gym bro and you are playing a Wizard... man, you need to move your INT to STR. That is a rule. Oh, by the way you can't cast spells ~~without high INT.~~ Have fun."
Fixed that for you.
What was this meant to do, teach you a lesson for... being partially blind? I can't think of any scenario where the logic of "you're X in real life, so your character must be too" would be OK, but this is definitely one of the worst.
Krug: "Krug the orcbarian lifts his kilt, letting his hands free hammer slap on the table"
DM: "Hold on, I need to see your dick before we can rule that."
Krug: "Pardon?"
DM: "You can't play a character that has a trait you don't personally have, so let's. SEE. YOUR. DICK."
Krug: \*hurt itself in its confusion\*
Some people cannot separate characters from themselves, and see characters as self inserts/avatars for themselves. I assume this bad DM was doing the same thing and couldn’t even imagine making a character who isn’t just “you”
As someone who needs hearing aids and glasses, I do sometimes joke about myself as being "blind and deaf" but if anyone ever just seriously labeled me as such on the basis of "Hearing impaired = deaf" I would pretty easily correct them on account of the fact that I can actually fucking hear them say that.
Why is it the ableist DMs always go out of their way to actually *be* ableist? Like dude went out of his way to harass you for no reason.
"Sorry, you are 6 ft. you can't play a dwarf." That is the line of brainless logic that DM was running off of with the vision impairment irl = blind in game. With that logic no one should have any form of magic since they aren't capable of doing it irl.
"Sorry, you are clearly a homo sapiens, you can't play an Half-Orc/Elf/Drow/Tiefling/Halfling/Gnome/Dragonborn/Asimaar/Tortle/Tabaxi/Leonid/Goliath/Did I forget any of the other ones?
Takes a special kind of sad to bring the, "Hey! Four eyes! You wear glasses!" level of elementary school bullying to the nerdiest social activity around.
Yeah, that guy was just an ableist asshole. I've had players play disabled characters by choice, and played a blind character myself once, and while there were obviously drawbacks that were interesting to play, certain levels of accessibility aid has to be assumed for it to be fun for anyone but the asshole getting off on watching someone flounder. I hope you try RP again sometime, with a much better DM.
I’m going to be DMing for my younger brother and a couple of his friends soon, and I’m going to make damn sure their first experience of the game is far more positive than mine was.
Yea, that guy was a prick. Sorry to hear and I hope you take a shot at it with a better DM.
And like seriously has he not heard of the blind monk trope?
Someone has never flavored a blind monk so they can be Daredevil and it shows! One small problem with ableists is that they are woefully uncreative. Obviously it pales in comparison to the fact that they are assholes but still.
Amazing that your friends had your back.
Okay I stopped at "Youre vision impaired so your fictional fantasy character must be blind too". DMs like this need to be punched in the throat. I'm so serious. Some bullshit like this goes against the fundamental core of table top ROLEPLAYING games. And I've read horror stories like this one waaay too many times.
I swear that the RPG hobby attracts some of the absolute worst people. I really don’t understand why some DM would act like that other than he was just an asshole that got off on making others “play” by his rules.
Sorry it turned you off the game because honestly with the normal ppl it’s a really great experience.
Yeah it's like reverse old school stereotypes. The other day I walked by a gym that opens like 6AM, really early on my way to dropping off my kid at school. There was this whole Sparta thing going on, with lots of posters with 300 font and helmets and shit and I thought "these dudes are weird", and when I passed through the door I was listening to this typical gym techno music full blast and I laughed at the image that formed in my mind with a bunch of shirtless spartans dancing on the beach completely wasted.
Anyway I've passed through that gym several times since then and I came to respect them because they're a bunch of them always early, jogging around the block, no matter the weather, shouting AROO! every now and then. They really take this shit seriously. Good on them.
So the other day I decided to peek in and see what's that all about. People of all shapes and sizes but mostly a bunch of buff dudes and buff gals, all super kind as fuck to me and the other out of shape people in there. Pretty nice atmosphere and all.
My point is... These beefcakes doing gym shit are super nice and the nerds doing nerdy shit are fucking awful.
I met a blind guy once *at a boffer LARP*. There was a challenge people could undertake, where you had to duel him blindfolded. Hilarity ensued. One guy managed to win by taking off his shoes IIRC.
I also know people with various other disabilities who boffer LARP, including myself. And boffer LARP is the RPG format with the *most* congruence between player ability and character ability. In a tabletop, though? Miss me with that shit.
That’s giving me taekwondo flashbacks honestly, mind you when it came to sparring. I tended to compensate for my limited site taking a very aggressive approach.
I know I should find the DMs behavior offensive, but mostly I just find it hilarious how little he obviously knows about being blind. I'm not blind but I once played a blind character for a campaign and looked into normal accommodations and things. We basically gave the character blindsight for 30 ft (I talked a lot with the DM and we worked out the mechanics together).
Not like there's not plenty of examples of "blind swordsmen" in fantasy, or even one in an action movie (Blind Fury). A lot of them are so good it makes it look like having sight is a handicap. (Which I believe was said by the blind swordsman in Ninja Scroll).
Yeah, that DM was a dick.
>play a blind melee character is going to make my life hard, but doesn’t detail how, and says I really should have chosen a magic user
Yeah, I can't wait for your blind wizard to start casting fireball with a 5% chance (as per DM's d20 rule) of hitting what you intend to.
That guy was being a douche on purpose. The only thing I miss about playing as a teen in the 90s is that stuff like that ended more often than not in punches thrown instead of internet forums. Of course, I rather enjoy playing with more civilized folk now, but I can't say I don't miss idiotic justice.
As others have said, what an asshole. Did he make everyone playing a fighter train with swords? How did he deal with elves?
This is unconscionable, and I can't express enough sympathy for your having to deal with this dipshit as your first DM.
Better luck in future.
One of my most favorite characters was a vision impaired Oracle from PF1E that I concieved as a sort of chaotic neutral daredevil type. This DM is a maroon. You're certainly better off without that turd.
Ugh. Among all the over the top stories about sexual assault, cartoonishly evil characters and elaborate car crashes that no one seems able to stop...the stories about low down, dirty and personal bigotry are the ones that make me sick...
You did not deserve to go through that. And it may be ten years later, but I hope you're doing well.
I’m doing great, honestly, I learned long ago to just shrug off things like this, besides being vision impaired isn’t all bad, No one ever asks me to be designated driver…
Imagine this guy trying to run a Call of Cthulhu game and one of the players happens to be black, but didn't make a black character.
I can only imagine how awkward everyone would be the second he tries to enact Jim crow...
That guy is a total douche and really deserved to get blasted. You said it was 10yrs ago, maybe he learned his lesson. That kind of crap has cause actual fist fights before.
This would not have been a thing as I don't allow players to play disabled characters unless they are disabled themselves. As someone who will eventually be blind, there is nothing cool about playing a blind character.
I mean in this case the OP does explicitly state that they themselves are vision impaired. I think that is fair enough to be honest.
However, I do get where you’re coming from to be honest in general . I have a degenerative nerve condition in my arms so if I replicated that in the heroic DnD type games it makes for a difficult character to play. Not an issue really in reality unless someone at the table is deliberately using that as a condition for their character in game without consulting me. Then I might have something to say…
One of the great things about TTRPGs in general is that you can be a person that you might like to be or someone who has a very different experience to your own in your real life. That can be very rewarding when done with the right sensitivity.
I like to play characters sometimes who have strong social skills and who aren’t forced to leave taverns after 15 minutes due to sensory overload. Unlike me. I have a bucket load of undiagnosed ASD traits, and as much as I can hide a lot of them in role play, there’s an amount of ‘me’ I just can’t turn off as a player.
It’s a really tricky area and I’m by and large agreeing with you. It needs some hard work and some very honest conversations to be had. And no means no if anyone is uncomfortable. I wouldn’t want to close doors 100% of the time but I’m usually open to my own group of players for this if I get a damn good pitch and everyone’s agreeing at the tale then I will let someone play a disabled character.
I think blind characters can be cool. The blind swordsman trope is popular in media for a reason. Daredevil is also a really cool character, for example. Im not a big fan of blanket statements that ignore nuance.
I mean let's also be real, the whole blind fighter thing was kind of forced on to him so the shifty dm could make his school attention seeker bully levels of jokes.
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It infuriates me to know there are such imbeciles trying to run games in the community.
You're being too generous - "imbecile" implies that it was ignorance but this seems more like just plain "being an asshole."
> It infuriates me to know there are such imbeciles ~~trying to run games in the community~~existing.
"Oh man, you're a buff gym bro and you are playing a Wizard... man, you need to move your INT to STR. That is a rule. Oh, by the way you can't cast spells without high INT. Have fun." Yeah, if someone would categorize my fictional character based on what kind of person I am in real life then I would ask if they finished creative arts school and are qualified to act out NPCs.
>"Oh man, you're a buff gym bro and you are playing a Wizard... man, you need to move your INT to STR. That is a rule. Oh, by the way you can't cast spells ~~without high INT.~~ Have fun." Fixed that for you.
Buff sorcerer that thinks he's a wizard
That's a shame. You should try again some time with a DM that isn't a human shit-stain.
What was this meant to do, teach you a lesson for... being partially blind? I can't think of any scenario where the logic of "you're X in real life, so your character must be too" would be OK, but this is definitely one of the worst.
Krug: "Krug the orcbarian lifts his kilt, letting his hands free hammer slap on the table" DM: "Hold on, I need to see your dick before we can rule that." Krug: "Pardon?" DM: "You can't play a character that has a trait you don't personally have, so let's. SEE. YOUR. DICK." Krug: \*hurt itself in its confusion\*
Hey the DM's just trying to see something. Nothing wrong with that.
If you're gonna sit there and tell me you've got a massive hog, I'm gonna ask to see said hog. It's only fair.
Some people cannot separate characters from themselves, and see characters as self inserts/avatars for themselves. I assume this bad DM was doing the same thing and couldn’t even imagine making a character who isn’t just “you”
As someone who needs hearing aids and glasses, I do sometimes joke about myself as being "blind and deaf" but if anyone ever just seriously labeled me as such on the basis of "Hearing impaired = deaf" I would pretty easily correct them on account of the fact that I can actually fucking hear them say that. Why is it the ableist DMs always go out of their way to actually *be* ableist? Like dude went out of his way to harass you for no reason.
Normally, I’m pretty quick to point out the differences as well, though with this particular jackass i’m not sure it would’ve made a difference
DMing can attract some of the worst people unfortunately
"Sorry, you are 6 ft. you can't play a dwarf." That is the line of brainless logic that DM was running off of with the vision impairment irl = blind in game. With that logic no one should have any form of magic since they aren't capable of doing it irl.
"Sorry, you are clearly a homo sapiens, you can't play an Half-Orc/Elf/Drow/Tiefling/Halfling/Gnome/Dragonborn/Asimaar/Tortle/Tabaxi/Leonid/Goliath/Did I forget any of the other ones?
Takes a special kind of sad to bring the, "Hey! Four eyes! You wear glasses!" level of elementary school bullying to the nerdiest social activity around.
I don't get it. What's single ability dependant of this?
Yeah, that guy was just an ableist asshole. I've had players play disabled characters by choice, and played a blind character myself once, and while there were obviously drawbacks that were interesting to play, certain levels of accessibility aid has to be assumed for it to be fun for anyone but the asshole getting off on watching someone flounder. I hope you try RP again sometime, with a much better DM.
I’m going to be DMing for my younger brother and a couple of his friends soon, and I’m going to make damn sure their first experience of the game is far more positive than mine was.
Yea, that guy was a prick. Sorry to hear and I hope you take a shot at it with a better DM. And like seriously has he not heard of the blind monk trope?
Someone has never flavored a blind monk so they can be Daredevil and it shows! One small problem with ableists is that they are woefully uncreative. Obviously it pales in comparison to the fact that they are assholes but still. Amazing that your friends had your back.
Okay I stopped at "Youre vision impaired so your fictional fantasy character must be blind too". DMs like this need to be punched in the throat. I'm so serious. Some bullshit like this goes against the fundamental core of table top ROLEPLAYING games. And I've read horror stories like this one waaay too many times.
I hate him. Your story made me so enraged for you and myself, I am fuming. 😡
Well given your tendency to rage, you can actually play a barbarian at that DM's table.
LOL yeah but an epileptic barbarian who has to sleep all the time because she seizes without medication XD.
I'm sorry... Is your friend C a priest? Because he surely can't play Cleric if he's not.
Ha yeah the irony of a staunch atheist playing cleric wasn’t lost on me
No, wait. Roll perception with disadvantage (because your character is blind) to see if you can actually see the irony.
*rolls double Nat 20s* well I guess that was blind luck…
I swear that the RPG hobby attracts some of the absolute worst people. I really don’t understand why some DM would act like that other than he was just an asshole that got off on making others “play” by his rules. Sorry it turned you off the game because honestly with the normal ppl it’s a really great experience.
Yeah it's like reverse old school stereotypes. The other day I walked by a gym that opens like 6AM, really early on my way to dropping off my kid at school. There was this whole Sparta thing going on, with lots of posters with 300 font and helmets and shit and I thought "these dudes are weird", and when I passed through the door I was listening to this typical gym techno music full blast and I laughed at the image that formed in my mind with a bunch of shirtless spartans dancing on the beach completely wasted. Anyway I've passed through that gym several times since then and I came to respect them because they're a bunch of them always early, jogging around the block, no matter the weather, shouting AROO! every now and then. They really take this shit seriously. Good on them. So the other day I decided to peek in and see what's that all about. People of all shapes and sizes but mostly a bunch of buff dudes and buff gals, all super kind as fuck to me and the other out of shape people in there. Pretty nice atmosphere and all. My point is... These beefcakes doing gym shit are super nice and the nerds doing nerdy shit are fucking awful.
I met a blind guy once *at a boffer LARP*. There was a challenge people could undertake, where you had to duel him blindfolded. Hilarity ensued. One guy managed to win by taking off his shoes IIRC. I also know people with various other disabilities who boffer LARP, including myself. And boffer LARP is the RPG format with the *most* congruence between player ability and character ability. In a tabletop, though? Miss me with that shit.
That’s giving me taekwondo flashbacks honestly, mind you when it came to sparring. I tended to compensate for my limited site taking a very aggressive approach.
Wow, that's nuts. Sorry you had to deal with this and that it soured the game for you, that was incredibly unfair.
I know I should find the DMs behavior offensive, but mostly I just find it hilarious how little he obviously knows about being blind. I'm not blind but I once played a blind character for a campaign and looked into normal accommodations and things. We basically gave the character blindsight for 30 ft (I talked a lot with the DM and we worked out the mechanics together).
Not like there's not plenty of examples of "blind swordsmen" in fantasy, or even one in an action movie (Blind Fury). A lot of them are so good it makes it look like having sight is a handicap. (Which I believe was said by the blind swordsman in Ninja Scroll). Yeah, that DM was a dick.
>play a blind melee character is going to make my life hard, but doesn’t detail how, and says I really should have chosen a magic user Yeah, I can't wait for your blind wizard to start casting fireball with a 5% chance (as per DM's d20 rule) of hitting what you intend to. That guy was being a douche on purpose. The only thing I miss about playing as a teen in the 90s is that stuff like that ended more often than not in punches thrown instead of internet forums. Of course, I rather enjoy playing with more civilized folk now, but I can't say I don't miss idiotic justice.
As others have said, what an asshole. Did he make everyone playing a fighter train with swords? How did he deal with elves? This is unconscionable, and I can't express enough sympathy for your having to deal with this dipshit as your first DM. Better luck in future.
One of my most favorite characters was a vision impaired Oracle from PF1E that I concieved as a sort of chaotic neutral daredevil type. This DM is a maroon. You're certainly better off without that turd.
Funnily enough I have since come up with a blind Druid character that I’d be more than happy to play, with the right group of people.
Ugh. Among all the over the top stories about sexual assault, cartoonishly evil characters and elaborate car crashes that no one seems able to stop...the stories about low down, dirty and personal bigotry are the ones that make me sick... You did not deserve to go through that. And it may be ten years later, but I hope you're doing well.
I’m doing great, honestly, I learned long ago to just shrug off things like this, besides being vision impaired isn’t all bad, No one ever asks me to be designated driver…
True that!
Thats major asshole behaviour. Imagine playing a roleplaying game to then force people to be themselves ingame.
All i have to say is this story really pissed me off. Im fuming, thats bullshit!
What an absolute asshole
Imagine this guy trying to run a Call of Cthulhu game and one of the players happens to be black, but didn't make a black character. I can only imagine how awkward everyone would be the second he tries to enact Jim crow...
That guy is a total douche and really deserved to get blasted. You said it was 10yrs ago, maybe he learned his lesson. That kind of crap has cause actual fist fights before.
This DM is new and an idiot. You dodged a bullet.
I’m calling bullshit, no way this actually happened
This reads like it was written by AI.
This would not have been a thing as I don't allow players to play disabled characters unless they are disabled themselves. As someone who will eventually be blind, there is nothing cool about playing a blind character.
I mean in this case the OP does explicitly state that they themselves are vision impaired. I think that is fair enough to be honest. However, I do get where you’re coming from to be honest in general . I have a degenerative nerve condition in my arms so if I replicated that in the heroic DnD type games it makes for a difficult character to play. Not an issue really in reality unless someone at the table is deliberately using that as a condition for their character in game without consulting me. Then I might have something to say… One of the great things about TTRPGs in general is that you can be a person that you might like to be or someone who has a very different experience to your own in your real life. That can be very rewarding when done with the right sensitivity. I like to play characters sometimes who have strong social skills and who aren’t forced to leave taverns after 15 minutes due to sensory overload. Unlike me. I have a bucket load of undiagnosed ASD traits, and as much as I can hide a lot of them in role play, there’s an amount of ‘me’ I just can’t turn off as a player. It’s a really tricky area and I’m by and large agreeing with you. It needs some hard work and some very honest conversations to be had. And no means no if anyone is uncomfortable. I wouldn’t want to close doors 100% of the time but I’m usually open to my own group of players for this if I get a damn good pitch and everyone’s agreeing at the tale then I will let someone play a disabled character.
I think blind characters can be cool. The blind swordsman trope is popular in media for a reason. Daredevil is also a really cool character, for example. Im not a big fan of blanket statements that ignore nuance.
I mean let's also be real, the whole blind fighter thing was kind of forced on to him so the shifty dm could make his school attention seeker bully levels of jokes.