Alien forms of gameplay/game design you've encountered?

[Thomas Shey]

I've never heard of any group running this way. I have seen games where the players are supposed to roll everything, the first edition of Icons worked this way, and it can work but it does take an attitude adjustment for the GM. At least it did for me.

I've seen it as the standard way some game systems roll (Cypher for example). I think it would make me twitchy.

 

[Umbran]

Oh I have one:

DM does all the rolling. Players just say what they want to do.

I've seen this on TV shoes (eg Community). Is this really a way some people play?

My very first game of D&D was run this way.

My eldest brother had brought the AD&D rules home from college as an X-mas gift to his younger siblings. He referred to it as running the game "blind" - we didn't even have character sheets, just broad descriptions of who we were and what we could do - and he ran it that way so he could get us right into play without having to teach us the detailed rules beforehand, so we could play more during his X-mas break.

And, it worked just fine - we described what we wanted to do, he told us what dice to roll. Probably a heavier load for him, but he was okay with that.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

While not a RPG, I had a friend who refused to cooperate in Zombicide games.

Ran off on his own, never helped the others, stockpiled loot and treasure to "get the most kills", refused to share them, gloating all the while.

We'd always lose the game because of him.

We don't play with him anymore.

Those folks are way too common in multiplayer computer games.

"How come I have the most kills in this battleground; what are the rest of you people doing?" when everyone else is trying to achieve the win conditions in a World of Warcraft battleground is super-common.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Oh I have one:

DM does all the rolling. Players just say what they want to do.

I've seen this on TV shoes (eg Community). Is this really a way some people play? Or is it just done for television for some reason (easier to edit and flow the dialogue?).

I believe that may have been how it was originally played in Lake Geneva. It's a very old school approach.

There are some 1970s era games campaigns where the DM explicitly never told the PCs the rules and may not even have let them have character sheets.

 

[billd91]

I believe that may have been how it was originally played in Lake Geneva. It's a very old school approach.

It's also the kind of play you might see in an environment where dice are relatively scarce - like early days of the hobby.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's also the kind of play you might see in an environment where dice are relatively scarce - like early days of the hobby.

You'll use these cardboard chits and you'll like it!

 

[Thomas Shey]

I believe that may have been how it was originally played in Lake Geneva. It's a very old school approach.

There are some 1970s era games where the DM explicitly never told the PCs the rules and may not even have let them have character sheets.

Are we talking systems or campaigns? I don't recall seeing any of the former that did this.

Regarding Lake Geneva, though there's nothing to suggest doing this with the regular game play, I was startled a couple years ago to find that what the rules say for character generation is that the GM is supposed to roll stats, not the players. Don't think I ever saw that one done (but then, at least on the West Coast, characters were generally too mobile from campaign to campaign to see how it could work).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Are we talking systems or campaigns? I don't recall seeing any of the former that did this.

Campaigns. It may have even been talked about in old issues of The Strategic Review and The Dragon (before they dropped "The" from their name).

 

[Thomas Shey]

Campaigns. It may have even been talked about in old issues of The Strategic Review and The Dragon (before they dropped "The" from their name).

Ah, okay. I've heard reference to that occasionally.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ah, okay. I've heard reference to that occasionally.

I also have a vague memory of Arneson's Blackmoor campaign running like a black box at some point as well.