What am I supposed to do?

[Trekkin]

So you're going to stick this out to the end? You're insane. Godspeed.

"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering DM; to the last I argue with thee; from hell’s heart I slay catgirls at thee; for Galgenhumor’s sake I spit my last snark at thee. Sink all Sues and all katanas to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still gaming with thee, though ticked at thee, thou damned DM! Thus, I give up the logic!"

[Big Fau]

I'm not sure. I mean, having the whole Internet discover your system, and then unanimously declare "It sucks!" might just be the sort of thing that can break a dude's self-delusion.

It's a frightening thought that this may have all ready happened, which has led to the DM's irrational hatred of the internet.

[maxriderules]

It's a frightening thought that this may have all ready happened, which has led to the DM's irrational hatred of the internet.

Now released as a standalone novel: The origin of the PsychoDM! Part one. Of fifty.

[Trekkin]

Now released as a standalone novel: The origin of the PsychoDM! Part one. Of fifty.

Or combine it with the equally long backstory of the Ao-Sue. Run them in parallel; one column is the Sue spin-kicking demigods to powder, and the other is this guy's story.

[maxriderules]

Or combine it with the equally long backstory of the Ao-Sue. Run them in parallel; one column is the Sue spin-kicking demigods to powder, and the other is this guy's story.

Just make sure you have complete creative control over the novel. And a five figure cheque from the publishers.

[Trekkin]

Just make sure you have complete creative control over the novel. And a five figure cheque from the publishers.

And make them fold the check a million times first so it cuts through red tape and gets processed faster.

[Deepbluediver]

Or combine it with the equally long backstory of the Ao-Sue. Run them in parallel; one column is the Sue spin-kicking demigods to powder, and the other is this guy's story.

I don't think it's all that unusual to have power fantasies or imagine that we are all, personally, the good-looking/super-powerful/genius hero of a given story or universe. But most people just write fanfiction or post to deviantart.
(my personal little avatar of me-ness in these situations either throws lightning bolts or is made of fire, depending on what I feel like that day)

Why go through all the trouble of building a game or involving other people when there is simply no way they can NOT mess things up from whatever scenario you pictured in your head?

[Deffers]

Dude, my power fantasy idealized mes tend to be less powerful than the characters people make FOR me.

Ao Sue, by comparison, is so silly stupid powerful as to be totally pointless. If you can do everything as a matter of course, then there cannot be such a thing as triumph.

[Shadowknight12]

I'm not sure. I mean, having the whole Internet discover your system, and then unanimously declare "It sucks!" might just be the sort of thing that can break a dude's self-delusion.

Being honest, I have no idea if a sarcastic tirade brought on by four other people is the sort of thing that can break a delusional shell like that. Probably not.

The self-delusion exists to shield the conscious mind from the enormity of his self-loathing and the dismality of his self-worth. It's a coping mechanism to avoid spiraling into depression. Think of it as a psychological survival mechanism. It won't go down easily. He might live his entire life carefully reinforcing the self-delusion in order to avoid facing up to the enormity of his problems.

The victory I envision, to use your phrase, is more or less me ranting until I leave. I'm not trying to change his mind. That is, as you so rightly point out, impossible. I'm trying to enjoy this my way, regardless of what's in his head. You're completely right to say that my pride is wounded. This whole thing is ludicrous through and through, especially my unwillingness to leave it unfinished. A sane, sensible approach would start and end with walking away.

But I don't want to leave this unfinished, for the reasons I've already stated. I want to see this through, just to see how this is supposed to end, see everything, respond to all of it, and walk away with some sense of finality.

It will not end well. When challenged, a self-delusion that strong will lash out against such overt and direct challenges. If what you're thinking right now is "Great! Let him bring it on!", that's the mindset that leads to escalation and collateral damage.

Just, you know, be careful. Deep-seated, vast psychological issues aren't playthings.

[kyoryu]

Just, you know, be careful. Deep-seated, vast psychological issues aren't playthings.

This. The self-delusion will protect itself. Evidence has no bearing on it.

If the whole world exclaims that his game sucks, it'll be either because they're too dumb to understand it, or because people have poisoned them against his awesomeness.

As I've said before, he sounds like someone that has no ability to see himself objectively, or understand that others have different ideas, needs, and knowledge than he does.

[llehctim]

Worth noting that I disagree with the complete mockery plan, since having taken psychology courses, it never solves anything to have friends mocking you when you cant see the problem. And I imagine would make it much worse for everyone involved.
The main issue is he has taken psychology courses and apparently a ton of debate and ethics courses/other things, making trying to convey a point near impossible due to it becoming an ethical debate or nitpicking semantics of ours or his to derail the conversation.
I also suspect that similar to me he has the delusion that he can in some ways help other people through any issues they have, via (empathy in my case) logic and ethics. Although I suppose admitting that its something I like to think and that its illogical to expect it to actually work make it less of a delusion.

[Trekkin]

The self-delusion exists to shield the conscious mind from the enormity of his self-loathing and the dismality of his self-worth. It's a coping mechanism to avoid spiraling into depression. Think of it as a psychological survival mechanism. It won't go down easily. He might live his entire life carefully reinforcing the self-delusion in order to avoid facing up to the enormity of his problems.

It will not end well. When challenged, a self-delusion that strong will lash out against such overt and direct challenges. If what you're thinking right now is "Great! Let him bring it on!", that's the mindset that leads to escalation and collateral damage.

Just, you know, be careful. Deep-seated, vast psychological issues aren't playthings.

Well, if there's one thing this campaign has taught me, it's that when everyone says your plan's a bad idea, you've just got to dig in your heels, grit your teeth, and say...

Yeah, this is probably a bad idea.

Any form of satire is probably best left alone, I suppose. Would I be right to assume that calmly laying out all the issues we've had with the system, the setting, and how he's run both is also going to be completely unproductive?

[llehctim]

Well, if there's one thing this campaign has taught me, it's that when everyone says your plan's a bad idea, you've just got to dig in your heels, grit your teeth, and say...

Yeah, this is probably a bad idea.

Any form of satire is probably best left alone, I suppose. Would I be right to assume that calmly laying out all the issues we've had with the system, the setting, and how he's run both is also going to be completely unproductive?

In my opinion calmly stating the issues you had with the system is most certainly something you should do, (probably in writing to minimized communication errors).
The issues with the setting will not accomplish much since it will be blamed on the CT setting (somewhat justified) or a busy courseload.
Telling him his DMing style may have made the test a less valid test of the system itself might be relevant.

EDIT: also a side note to add, he said things would give XP regardless of the player levels, however that rapidly changed now if something was too easy it wasn't really challenging enough to warrant giving XP for it which makes spending XP on skills much harder, and reduces any motivation to actually level up.

[Shadowknight12]

Well, if there's one thing this campaign has taught me, it's that when everyone says your plan's a bad idea, you've just got to dig in your heels, grit your teeth, and say...

Yeah, this is probably a bad idea.

Good call.

Any form of satire is probably best left alone, I suppose. Would I be right to assume that calmly laying out all the issues we've had with the system, the setting, and how he's run both is also going to be completely unproductive?

I'm afraid so. He is going to argue every little detail and argument you bring up, and evidence will mean absolutely nothing to him. He cannot let you win, ever, no matter what you do, because his self-delusion depends on it. I wager he's almost solipsistic in how self-centred he is in that regard, and your frustration is your fault, not his. Your complaints are your fault as is anything that goes wrong in the game, ever.

He simply does not care enough about you (or the rest of the players) to acknowledge that maybe he should do something to get you to enjoy the game. You and the others do not exist as actual people with desires that are just as valid as his. You exist purely as an audience to validate his self-delusion and quell the gnawing self-loathing inside. You are props, and nothing more.

You cannot fight the self-delusion. Not even with diplomacy or empathy (sorry, llehctim).

His only shot at becoming a better person is to utterly fail as a human being first. He must be left alone and unloved long enough for the bitterness and self-loathing to eat through the self-delusion and manifest openly. Then, he might be willing to seek professional help, though he might still retain enough self-deluded pride to reject the idea.

Though even then, he's not your responsibility. Let his family deal with the oncoming trainwreck.

[Arbane]

Well, if there's one thing this campaign has taught me, it's that when everyone says your plan's a bad idea, you've just got to dig in your heels, grit your teeth, and say...

Yeah, this is probably a bad idea.

Well, I don't think ANYTHING's going to 'help', so I'd say you might as well get your frustration out of your system.

Any form of satire is probably best left alone, I suppose. Would I be right to assume that calmly laying out all the issues we've had with the system, the setting, and how he's run both is also going to be completely unproductive?

You can try logic, reason and evidence. Is there any reason to assume reasoned argument is going to work any better now than the last 437 times you tried it?

Or you could mock Ao-Sue to ontological collapse, subject Chief Circle to a wallpaper-peeling tirade cataloging as many of his faults as you can recite before you go hoarse, tear your character sheets into confetti and sprinkle them over his head, then stomp out in disgust and never play with him again.

Or you COULD just all quit NOW and save yourselves another month+ of sadomasocharacterization.

Most likely, none of these will be 'helpful'. But I'm pretty sure I know which one will be funniest, at least to me at a safe distance.

[Kaun]

Honestly this seems like a waste of your time.

You only have so much time left at collage and you mentioned that your main motivation for staying with the game is that you like playing with the other people at the table.

When your collage life comes to an end you can never be sure how the dynamics of the group may change. Who will stay and who will go. Personally i would advise spending the remaining time you have at collage playing a game you enjoy rather then the one you are forced to grit your teeth with a persevere through.

Even if its just slap dash beer and pretzels rp it has to be better then the frustration this seems to be causing.

[137beth]

Oh, he likes the Internet. You just CANNOT know that he does, because he wants to seem superior to you.

Trust me, he likes the Internet, and for the reason you know.

I have somewhat of an issue with your insistence that you understand someone you've never met substantially better than someone who has. It could be that he just doesn't like the internet, since it is home to people who disagree with you on everything.

EDIT: Also, at this point, laughing at the sue will probably get the exact same response as just about anything else you could do, since you are irrelevant in this world (which is the real world, but not...)

[llehctim]

I have somewhat of an issue with your insistence that you understand someone you've never met substantially better than someone who has. It could be that he just doesn't like the internet, since it is home to people who disagree with you on everything.

EDIT: Also, at this point, laughing at the sue will probably get the exact same response as just about anything else you could do, since you are irrelevant in this world (which is the real world, but not...)

The issue is complete mockery would be a betrayal (perceived or otherwise), a betrayal of ones close friends would be a massive spike in stress, which could trigger a worsening of the condition or a new problem etc, and if anything seriously bad happened it could have cascading effects (not to mention I'ld feel guilty as heck)

[aberratio ictus]

Ah, we could have such a funny escalation story if it wasn't for you pesky people with your unnerving common sense.

Seriously, though - they are probably right. Concerning SueDM, it's highly likely nothing will change, regardless of what you do. Concerning yourself, I suppose it would be healthier to just stop, than to endure and then feel a bit better in the end when you've finally carried out your plan of satire. Of course, you're the only one who can really say whether this is true or not, and if your satire could lead to real escalation, possibly with a regrettable outcome for on or all involved parties.

[Trekkin]

Even if its just slap dash beer and pretzels rp it has to be better then the frustration this seems to be causing.

Yeah, but this is funny. And I am in other games, and sometimes we do one-shots. This is just an excuse to hang out with everyone and laugh; it wouldn't be as fun if it were an engaging campaign, really.

[Kaun]

Well i guess if everybody is having fun then it will be good to hear an end to the story.

[Hiro Protagonest]

The issue is complete mockery would be a betrayal (perceived or otherwise), a betrayal of ones close friends would be a massive spike in stress, which could trigger a worsening of the condition or a new problem etc, and if anything seriously bad happened it could have cascading effects (not to mention I'ld feel guilty as heck)

Unfortunately, in this particular chapter of the game of life, that seems to be the best ending. Or you could all just leave the game and then move to the distant corners of the country, but that will screw up everything else in your life, which you guys don't need.

Do not humor this man. Do not continue to play this trainwreck unless you're planning to turn it off course so hard that the rails made with katana-forging techniques break. If it's too much, then you can leave both games you're in before it happens.

[Shadowknight12]

Yeah, but this is funny. And I am in other games, and sometimes we do one-shots. This is just an excuse to hang out with everyone and laugh; it wouldn't be as fun if it were an engaging campaign, really.

And the fun of other people is inconsequential? Because it sounds like you flat-out don't care if llehctim or the other players feel uncomfortable with the results of your plans, many of which are beyond your foresight.

I'm not trying to antagonise you, I will fully respect whatever you decide to do, but it sounds a bit hypocritical to complain about what a terrible person he is and then go "therefore, the answer is trolling!". It does not make you look an awful lot like a mature person.

Also, I don't see the "funny" angle. I see fear of change, sunk cost fallacy, wounded pride/ego and a refusal to let him have the last laugh. That's self-delusion too. Not the degree of PsychoDM, obviously, but you are lying to yourself, at least when it comes to the real reasons behind wanting to keep up the game. You want to "win" and it will not happen. He will not let you. And if you do not let it go, the only other path is escalation.

We don't need any more stabbing stories in this forum. Just saying.

[Trekkin]

We don't need any more stabbing stories in this forum. Just saying.

And, since I just left the game, there won't be any more.

EDIT: Not with me as the victim, anyway. Or hopefully with PsychoDM as the antagonist.

There's no resolution to this, no end, and no more fun. Everyone can go home now.

[Deffers]

OK. So do you think we can get the Sue's backstory?

Gotta be honest, it's probably for the best you extricated yourself from this stuff. Still, if there's any more details you want to share...

I mean, this really is like a trainwreck. Don't go back or anything like that, but... at least I am fascinated by the depths of this dude's crazy.

[llehctim]

OK. So do you think we can get the Sue's backstory?

Gotta be honest, it's probably for the best you extricated yourself from this stuff. Still, if there's any more details you want to share...

I mean, this really is like a trainwreck. Don't go back or anything like that, but... at least I am fascinated by the depths of this dude's crazy.

I am still debating that, but it is leaning in the favor of I might some time this weekend, or I might not. Conquering the world with only 4 types of minions is hard. Also may be finishing up my final session in the other campaign on saturday, so itll be a fun weekend no?

[Trekkin]

OK. So do you think we can get the Sue's backstory?

Gotta be honest, it's probably for the best you extricated yourself from this stuff. Still, if there's any more details you want to share...

That much is up to the others now. I've already done the boring, mature thing; it's them you want.

And...I know. At some point I'll probably stop being sore/curious about it, eventually.

[Alejandro]

And, since I just left the game, there won't be any more.

EDIT: Not with me as the victim, anyway. Or hopefully with PsychoDM as the antagonist.

There's no resolution to this, no end, and no more fun. Everyone can go home now.

Lemme guess, he just said you couldn't understand where the game was going anyway?

[Shadowknight12]

And, since I just left the game, there won't be any more.

EDIT: Not with me as the victim, anyway. Or hopefully with PsychoDM as the antagonist.

There's no resolution to this, no end, and no more fun. Everyone can go home now.

Thank you, you've made the mature and wise choice. It sounds somewhat silly to hear from a stranger, but I'm genuinely glad you'll be able to continue having fun with your friends instead of antagonising a clearly deranged person. It's a lot less worrying.

And of course there is more fun. Gather everyone else up in another location and have a completely silly campaign in celebration. Ding dong, the madman is gone and all that.

[llehctim]

I am finishing up the other game i am in with him this saturday and then plan to play a 1shot (or more if its well liked) of a game i beta tested and enjoyed "Legend of the Dragon Keeper" and maybe even give then some feedback from it.
Also despite not liking the idea of quitting, I think in this case it was the right choice, also I am showing trekkin the back story bit by bit, I will tell y'all if the other player that reads the thread figures it out (after this saturday).

EDIT: while reading it I came up with a new meme variation that applied to the character 0th world problems.