That does sound a bit harsh, but let me explain.
We have been gaming for a few years now in this group. We do have fun, but lately I have been noticing a recurring factor that is impacting on my experience as a player. Basically, they appear to be creating situations that will constantly make the game an uphill struggle.
For example, the GM may come up with a scenario, then leave that as a cliff-hanger, giving us a bit of time to come up with a plan of attack, to talk about over chat for the coming week. He is a part of the chat group; we don't want to be rude.
However, when we do come up with what we feel is a good plan, the situation always has a twist or something that makes everything go awry, leaving us to abandon the plan, and handle the situation as it unfolds.
Another recurring issue is that the GM will throw sticks into the spokes of our progress in situations that are out of our control. A recent example of this is we were attempting to extract information from a captive. They were not cooperating when we used persuasion, but before we could attempt to use Intimidation, we were engaged in combat. By the time we were able to return, the captive had killed itself with a cyanide pill, leaving us stranded.
We have also been the victim of situational encounters multiple times, where one of us will be forced to fight a monster, simply because the rest of us could not make it to help, or were singled out.
At this point I am beginning to feel that I should just stop contributing, so that my plans cannot be used against me.
On top of all of this, I am also having issues with levelling – I will level my PC, only to again be overpowered by new, and sometimes recurring enemies. This in particular is causing a bit of a "treadmill effect".
As a player, I want to talk to my GM about handling this issue. I understand that he wants to create challenging scenarios for us, but at this point, like I said, it's a constant uphill struggle. What suggestions might I be able to provide in order to reach a common ground between us?
Best Answer
Most problems with the GM can only be solved by talking about the problem with the GM.
You have something displeasing you. Something that your GM is doing. Probably it's not intentional from the GM's part but still an issue nonetheless. In cases like this, specially if there are other players feeling the same but even if not, you must address the problem to your GM and make him aware of the issue; that is the first step. Tell him exactly what is displeasing you and ask if he could not doing that every time; there's a chance he thinks that you guys like it this way and go out of his way to increase the challenge up to 11 because of lack of feedback.
I prefer doing things in a subtler way.
If you want to start in a more discreet way (not my style by the way, I'm very direct), you can start giving feedback from the sessions, stating clearly what you liked and what not that happened in that session. Almost every GM I played with were interested in what the players were thinking about their campaign and were willing to change a thing or another based on players' feedback. I usually give feedback to my two friends that GM for me more often than the others because I know they appreciate it; not because I'm displeased to the point of complaining since feedback can also be positive, but they are open to constructive criticism.
Those are the 2 ways I have been using to deal with problems with a GM with the most success rate. I hope one of them works for you since my third best is leaving the game. If there's no fun and it will not change, there's no reason to stay.