Recent content by hawkeyefan

Yeah, I get that. I did some prep before full buy-in, but the bulk was after the players all confirmed they were down. Because it’s a friend group, we try not to exclude anyone. Another lesson… sometimes, it’s okay to just accept a specific game or campaign may not fit a certain player, and...

No. To the hobby. If people didn’t actually play these things, no one would produce them.

Because that's what RPGs are... people playing around a table (physical or virtual). People engaging with RPGs in ways that don't consider how things go at the table, while perfectly fine, are of less importance. Play is paramount in importance. Just like all the examples that have been...

Yes, I get that, and it’s fine. That doesn’t change the fact that play is the purpose of the books in the same way that cooking is the purpose of cookbooks even if there are people who just enjoy collecting or reading cookbooks but never use them to cook. There are such people around… and...

To RPGs. Role-Playing Games. If you’re not playing, then there is no game. One may be engaging in the hobby in some way, and that way may be totally satisfying to the person. I’m not arguing about preferences here. Yes. Like me setting up the goals for my soccer team. Engaging with soccer...

No… again, you can enjoy them by reading them and that’s great. But that doesn’t change that they were written for play. I mean, there could be someone out there entertained by boardgame instructions or by reading the Official Baseball Rules… and that’s perfectly fine. But their enjoyment...

I never said I don’t like those things. I said calling them something they’re not is silly. I enjoy reading some RPG books in and of themselves. That doesn’t change the fact that their primary purpose is for play anymore than the fact that I can also use them to stabilize a chair with an...

I tend to think this kind of thing… rule zero, as it’s commonly called… gets overemphasized and/or overstated. Most of the time, in the games with which I’m familiar, it’s not like a carte blanche for the GM to just do whatever they like. It’s more permission to change things to suit a...

Sure, generally. Like I said, people should enjoy what they want. I respect their taste, even if I disagree. But the idea that play isn’t the intended focus of an RPG? That’s not a stance I can really respect because I think it’s incorrect.

I’m a coach for my son’s soccer team. The season just started. Before it did, we had to go out to the fields and place the goals in their proper spots and put the nets up on them and draw the lines for the field. All necessary for play to take place. But no one would call that “playing soccer”...

I’ll throw this out there. The rules are there specifically so no one person has too much influence over the way things go in the game.

What comes to my mind when thinking about “play is paramount” is to think of an after report of play. Recently on another website, I was reading an actual play report, but all it did was describe the fiction that was established in play. Which to me is interesting because the person whose play...

It has in my experience. Not always, by any means, but often enough for “never” to be surprising to hear from others.

Wow. That’s surprising. I mean, 6-8 can be tough outside of a dungeon or similar location, but to never hit that number is kind of nuts.

Really? You’ve never had 6 to 8 encounters in an adventuring day in 12 years of play? That’s pretty crazy.