I am in a campaign with several players who also DM, on a rotating schedule.
One DM in particular has a control issue, in my opinion. He tends to say "no" to just about any action the PC wants to perform that is not planned for.
Examples of responses:
- Librarian in Dark Heresy searches a database: "You can't find anything."
- Illusionist in D&D casts a spell: "The spell has no effect."
- Bard using music in D&D: "They seem unaffected."
- Assassin sneaking in D&D: "The person you were sneaking up on turns to face you."
- Warrior charges in combat in D&D: "You hit them." – This is the only case that works.
The problem here is that the 'core' mechanic is being denied to the class. Wizards without their spells, bards without their songs, librarians who are denied information when they have the books etc. I have deliberately killed characters who were effectively useless in the campaign. Far above and beyond failure of one or two attempts, but rather all situations where the player has a chance for their 'class' skills are denied even though they have invested heavily in specializing in their expertise.
I have no problem with story/plot line elements overriding mechanics, but these are genuinely unmitigated player-blocking, pure and simple. I tend to play support/utility classes such as Illusionists, Jack-of-all-trades, and high-intelligence characters. This usually means the DM needs to be quick on their feet as my PC is always doing something they didn't expect. I personally love to find another solution to the problem than just 'fighting'. The DM basically expects us to fight everything we encounter, and when we do attempt to out-think the situation it appears as if he is not prepared.
Basically it reduces the ability to have fun down to playing a munchkin-warrior. Otherwise your effectiveness (and by proxy my fun) is reduced to nothing.
How can I deal with or fix this?
Best Answer
Different playstyles
You virtually say that you and the GM in question do not want to play the same type of game. The answer, as with so many things, is to talk to them. But the topic should be how to get into the same style of game.
If the GM is playing a mostly tactical game and expects most of the drama and fun to come in handling tactical situations, then trying anything else is going to be at best unfun for him and probably won't work well. Remember, if he has spent a lot of time planning a battle, balancing it against the party, possibly custom making maps, he is going to be invested in seeing that battle happen and understandably reluctant to a non-combat resolution. There is nothing wrong with a mostly tactical game, as long as everyone agrees that is what they are playing.
You seem to want either a wide open sandbox or at least a game with very light rails enforced invisibly, and you seem to want most of the action to come outside of combat. This is a valid style of play (and one I prefer), but it requires a GM who is good at improvising (not everyone is) and willing to set aside any set pieces he may have spent a lot of time planning. Not all GMs are even capable of playing this way (at least not until they have practice doing it). Even ones that can, may not find it fun.
Finding Middle Ground, or not
So, the answer, depending on relevant situations may actually be for you not to be in that game when he is GMing. It sounds like you want a very different style than the GM is providing. He is not providing you fun, but shifting to accomodate your style may very well ruin the style of fun he enjoys.
Less extreme than that, you could both consider shifting some towards the middle ground. He may agree to hide the rails better and be ready to hand you information, and go out of his way to make some of it useful for the upcoming battle. But he may ask you in exchange to focus your solution finding to creative ways to prepare for the combat rather than really avoiding the combat he has invested time in preparing.
For some examples of that, think about Wizards in D&D. They shine best when they are facing an enemy with particular strengths and weaknesses, and have had time to prepare for those in their spell list. You could be the one to learn the information about what they need to prepare for. The Witcher in that series is similar. He is a powerhouse if he loads up with the right potions and oils and traps...but needs to have an idea of what he is facing ahead of time to do that. A savy player could spend a fair bit of the game time researching the creatures to know what to prepare for (or looking that info up online). Your character could be like that, researching how to prepare and then doing the preparation. Batman is also like this.