#god modding

I will not be getting realm of magic for the same reason I don’t have vampires.  I feel vampires are too overpowered and, from what I heard about realm of magic, it sounds like spellcasters are more overpowered than vampires.  My opinions are my own, and ymmv.

If you god-mod my muse, especially something they say or the way they react to something... if it's not already talked about mun to mun, it will pretty much ruin me wanting to respond to that thing. Nothing bothers me more. My muse is MY muse for a reason.

It's honestly not difficult to discuss something with me beforehand or just be patient and let my muse respond on their own. Don't ruin our rp relationship over something like that. Because I want to write with each and every one of you but I just don't want to be disrespected.

I never heard of that term before. There are still a lot of things l don't understand about Tumblr...

Tumblr can be confusing sometimes.

But what does God modding mean?

{Gimmick blog is what this blog is! Basically it means someone fictiously takes on the persona of something. On Tumblr it can be anything from as ridiculous as a 'toaster' persona (yes, the inanimate object) or a popular anime character. This is called role playing. This blog is a gimmick blog in maintaining the persona of Xavier from Love and Deepspace. Which I was inspired to create thinking of what he might post on a blog if he had one. He's a famous person in canon after all, so I figured he'd be somewhat used to being asked (and avoiding) random questions from Linkon citizens all day! After all, in game he does have and post on social media.}

{Every gimmick block handles it differently. When I interact as myself and not Xavier, I use brackets so people don't assume Xavier is talking. So if you'd ever like to say hello to Xavier, just specify. I tend to use purple text when starting off an interaction with Xavier to indicate he's talking, because it's his favorite color.}

{God modding: means 'taking control of the actions of another'

I love getting asks, i truly, truly do.

But when you send an ask as if you are my muse or are they are doing something. You're asking it to be deleted. I can't stand god modding. Not in my rps and especially not in my asks.

Don't.

Do.

in my experience in dungeons and dragons things are always crazy. when dnd is by the rules the players are the reason you have to be on your toes as a dungeon master. when your a player the dungeons master is the reason you have to be on the edge. and i can attests to the saying that when the dm smiles or laughs it is never a good thing. it scares the hell out of yo and some dm’s get a kick out of watching players squirm. its a give and take relationship but when the rules are fallowed its always fun.

however when one takes into account the idea of a person god modding then it gets bad. for those that dont know here is a definition of god mod fro dnd

God-modding is taking control of another player’s character during role-play. It’s frowned upon and with good reason: you only control your character and no one else’s.

the sad part is god modding is not just this. god mod can also happen if you do one of the fallowing in many dnd cycles

1: making a character without faults: this means the character can do no wrong in any way and you are constantly arguing with the dm over the rules

2: making a character that is in a sense op (over powered): this can play into level one since when this happens the players normally want to make it so the character has a lot of things the dm doesn't know about making it where the dm has to call out rules and in sense makes the air of the game play uncomfortable. 

but its not just players that can god mod dungeon masters can as well which brings me to example 3.

3: letting a player make a character that breaks the rules of the game

lets have a example of this. say a character is in there right to something and they go through with the deed. as such away from others you have another person try to raise the character such as a mage or wizard doing the work of a cleric. any dnd player will tell you that this isn't possible. in some dnd and other games a game master can make exceptions but only if they find a item that can cause it or even having a player quest to find a way to fix this. but when a game master lets you make a player that goes against any forms of rules in right the rest of the players have a right to call them out on it. 

god modding if anything is one of the worse things that can happen in a dnd game. one of the ways that this can go about is by putting limits on a character. in example of this ill use two characters i built for a dnd game im currently running. these characters are in a jest named npc’s they are select to this world but have limitations and faults like a pc character would but to a more extreme leash. the characters are simply called inn keeper and cook. both of these two are brothers one year apart, immortal but can still be killed in human form but must revert to god form until they regenerate a form over a course of so many months, and sons of Loki who are gods in their own right that have taken human form. why they chose so the party has yet to find out. they run a chain of inns that has copies of themselves running it and they at all times know what is going on in all the inns at that time. as a result only the real versions can leave the inn but copies have to stay int he tavern at all times not setting foot outside the border of the tavern. 

although they have good powers if used they level the surrounding area and are banished from a area completely. and on top of that they can not give the party to much help they only give a item tell them what it does and leaves the party to pick if they keep it and figure out how to use it for there task. or they leave it and find another way around it. if they chose the later they have to make a deal for it. in this way yes its a safe form of god modding as it make a puzzle for the players as some things they give them might not help them on this quest and is needed for a new on further down the line or is just something that they trade off not thinking and can be needed again at a later date. 

by making your players think on what they need to do it becomes less a god mod and more of a divine puzzle. one friend of mine finds that goddmodding in some games can be helpful for a dm but he also says that i can be harmful as well. “when you god mod as a character you have to make sure your players know ahead of time this character can god mod his rolls. i figured out a way around it though to make it so that its less god modding and more of the character is using the idea of warped probability. sort of like that alien guy from MIB 3.” in some ways i can see what he means building a character that can see many outcomes is a good idea but at the same time that comes as flaws. a character might not be able to know which reality he is in unless he asks the players. the players have a reason to either tell him or not. if they do he knows which of about 50 ideas of how combat will go but at the same time if not their in the world of about 269 scenarios that they lose. by using this i can see how he has made goddmodding hard for a character the gm is controlling but at the same time more trouble for the dm by having to think ahead of time and have a file cabinet of doom.

but dont think that god modding is just for in game it can be out of game as well. as a way of keeping up with my players and helping them with rolls i have a rule that when rolling for stats i must be present. this is because i have seen many games where a player was able to roll away from the game and it was completely unfair to the others they had a over kill of points that didn't seem to add up even to the dm. when i do this i make it a point to let my players know its nothing against them its just i want to make sure to keep the playing field fair. no one excluded for this not even me and my players often watch me roll stats so they can see im not cheating and that im playing fair by them. they never know when some things will be used so it keeps them guessing as to who it is they are going to fight. this creates a excitement for me and players alike as i dig in my files and pull npc sheets. 

i got this idea from another freind who had this to say on the subject. “we used to let others roll what they wanted and the dm did aswell. one game though we realized that 3 of out 8 players where some what cheating. they used what is known as cheater die and soon we where not allowed to roll unless we where at the guys house and using his dice to roll so he knew we had non cheater dice. that worked ok for about a year but then they got wise and if thy rolled one thing they lied on the sheets. some things never added up and sure you could say that it was just luck until we saw the sheets. we had a bit of a accident in the house we played in when a water pipe burst over the winter and when the family got home we found some of the dnd stuff got in the water. so we all went over to chip in at different times of the day to help clean out and try and salvage things. on the work from dnd we found things that really made us mad.”

“we where all friends and we all trusted one another and this was way back int he 90′s. so some of the stuff for dnd that you guys have now is kind of major fancy now but the sheets from back then we guarded as not just a clue to characters but clues to who a person was. we had to look at the sheets to see whos sheet got messed up and we found the normal doodles and all but at the same time on the scratch papers we used to pass notes we found that one had said next time we have to roll for stats we need to say these numbers showed on the die. they where planning ahead of what characters they wanted to build we all did but to lie about a dice roll was hell. we confronted them on our next Friday night game and told them that half the group wanted them out but the rest where on the fence and we where not going to make them choose who to be loyal to. so we made them a alternate. they could stay in game but the dm had to roll the dice for them and they only got one roll. one is still with us but the dm is always next to them to make sure they are not cheating on rolls. i have no clue where the other two jerks are.”

in many ways some might say that this is kind of extreme but in many different game groups this is basic fact. if ne person cheats the whole group comes to question. its up to the game group or even a player to have a choice to stay with he group or disband from them and set out on their own adventure. we have all been Bilbo handed a contract of thorn and company when we look into playing dnd. the character sheet is the contract. you swear to fallow the game rules and to play fair. thats in anything be it rpg or signing contracts to play football. and just like in mainstream sports and in the job market you break the rules you and anyone else with you or associated must also be placed to the same outcome of that. when one player cheats at a sport the whole team is held in the same regard. its just facts of life. and its not just stats that this can be seen with.  

i also make rules as to what races a player can use so that i have time to read up on other races if they where used in a game. so when a player tries to make a character of a unapproved race its still hard to tell them no but i have to stand stonewall on the fairness i try to keep with my players. granted if they want a character to look a select way yes it means that later in the game some things will come up. this brings into the point of should you tell your players or not. would keeping it to yourself as the dungeon master be considered god modding on your part? the answer is no. your the dungeon master keeping the way some what a mystery is a point. yo can chose whether or not to tell players but at the same time you can give out as little or as much if you like. but remember that at times some players might feel like you have it out for them. in many ways players can feel like they get picked on because of character class and this is not true. this is what a friend of mine said about her character. 

“i was playing a bird race. and i picked the look of my character as a peacock man. i didn't want to do a parrot because i didn't want to have people doing the Polly want a cracker stick all the time. i was away for a time before i got to play my character so the party had a good bit of headway ahead of my guy in the game. the dm said he could work me into the next game as the same level as the others so i said sure. while he was setting up stuff while i was leveling my character from a level 3 to a level 6 he asked me if i was ok if we had me show up working at the brothel that the group was entering at the next one since i made mention i wanted my rouge to be kind of like a spy undercover for someone at ne point. i told him that be fine but i didn't realize those words would come back to haunt me.”

“when we started playing he said to me on a text my character was going to make a entrance and he said ‘as the lights fade once more for the next dancer you all hear a man in a booming voice call out. ‘lets hear it for SIR COCK’ and he starts playing the i want to see your peacock song. unknown to the others i had had a bad experience with that song and i had a panic attack right there. i had never told them so in a way i guess it was partly my fault that i didn't tell them but in a way it made me not want to play that campaign again. this was only after one person that joined constantly made the jokes and the dm let them make the jokes of saying the i wanna see your peacock. since then i dont go to that group anymore but i have a different one i play with once a month given my busy time sheets for work”

in a way yes this was kind of a dick move on the dm by letting that happen but at the same time was not so much a sense of god modding but bullying. i made this point as to me it didn't seem like god modding but to others it seems like it. but then they layed this on me as i asked why did the dm let them keep doing that? 

“the players character was meant to be a counter spy at the time one that knew my characters past without doing any work on how they where working. this meant they had like uber magic items that you had to be like a cleric or something to use because of how the items where preset up int he game as they where home brew items. one of our cleric players noticed this looking through the booklet of items the guy gave us as a little home brew guide of his game and when they called the dm out on this the dm got pissed and told us all to get out of his house it was his game and he was gonna run it how he liked it. if we didn't like how he built his world we could get out. so my friend who called him out drove me home and we made our own once a month dnd group. didn't help that they made me the joke pony every day with that character.” 

when this was further explained i realized the hell that some can have with dm’s and the dm playing god of the world. as a dm you are the story teller and the world shaper you wear the faces of monsters and innkeepers. you are the voice of rivals and companions. with a wave of your hand to throw dice you are a force that can calm or strengthen a storm. its a lot of power and at times can go to your head. because of this you have to be careful who is the punching bag and in some ways i have started to experiment with how to not have one person be the punch bag. 

in this sense make a different person a punching bag at the time of game play. this way its fair have a list of a sheet and go in a rotation. after the rotation ends roll a die to see who gets what spot int he line up so that each person gets it. that or you can do it with each encounter person that got most damage taken is out of the running and go for the next one in line. i like to preroll the day before game to see which player gets to be the punching bag and its fun. so far the punching bag has yet to be used as encounters in my game seem to be solved mostly by verbal conflict but even then sometimes the players make one another punching bags and i dont have to do a thing. 

so what can we take from the collection of stories and observations i have done. in some ways yes god modding can be helpful but only if used in the right way for select npc’s such as gods or demigods but you must always remember that you have to put major bars up on them to keep them in check. going in and god modding a player character however is never a good thing and can be bad for you as a player or dungeon master. and can and times be fun but know it is dangerous as many times you might lose those you have fun with if your not careful.

((About and rules can be found here.))

// So this is something I’ve noticed lately in the roleplay community. God-modding is one of the most frustrating things to deal with as a roleplayer, but I feel like a lot of the time the muse/mun that’s guilty of it is usually unaware. This is because it’s easy to say ‘well that’s just what the character’s like.” 

This is a valid point, especially if you’re playing a character you yourself didn’t create. But for OCs and borrowed characters alike, consider the following, and you may find out why people get pissed/upset with you.