"Anti roleplaying" roleplayers? (or, about that non fighting druid...)

[Lalato]

We've just killed our old campaign... and we're about to start a new one. The setting is based on the Indian sub-continent of South Asia.

One of the players decides he wants to play a smart-aleck ne'er-do-well that has no desire for adventure... and I quote... "The only reason [this character] would tag along is if someone forced him to." At this point the DM and I looked up and said almost in unison... "That's not going to work in this game... You have to want to be there or the rest of the party will leave you behind." At which point the player turned to the DM and said... "I'm to lazy to come up with a different character concept... Can't we come up with a valid reason for this character to be this way?"


[Begin Rant]
This relates to one of my biggest pet-peeves about some ROLE-players... They substitute role-playing with role-assumption. They forget this is a game of adventure where everyone is there to have fun. Instead, they treat it as a chance to "develop" their character concepts. These are the same people that brag about playing several sessions without rolling dice.

I enjoy ROLE-playing as much as the next guy... but in my opinion I'm there to play a game first... not ROLE-play a pathetic character in an indie movie. Don't get me wrong... I enjoy indie movies immensely, but I'm not an actor. And I have no desire to become one.
[End Rant]

Sorry about the rant...
--sam

 

[jdavis]

Breathe deep Jdavis.

Yep, sounds like a rolekender(tm) to me. And I mean that in more the "Kender as annoying as can be" sense. It sounds like your halfing PC player wasn't really playing DnD in the same vein as you guys were. Now admittedly, the motivation could be a vareity of thing from borderline burnout, to a bad sense of humor to the idea that his fellow players were being way to serious about a silly fantasy game.

Sounds like your group should have taken this out of game and talked to the player about the conflicting play styles.

Like I said at the start he really is a good friend, he just self handicaps his players and goes overboard on silly concepts. His current character is actually decent.

 

[Gothmog]

Originally posted by mmu1:

There's planty wrong with this, beause the game being played is Dungeons and Dragons, not Parties and Parlors. The game, as designed, is about action and adventure.

It all depends on the type of campaign. If you only play hack-n-slash, then characters with Intimidate, Diplomacy, and other social skills will be useless. In my games, a character with developed social skills would be useful, because I tend to run mysteries, political intrigues, and investigations more than pillaging and looting adventures. Probably 15 of the 110 or so adventures in my campaign have had NO combat at all (not necessarily because of the way the adventure was structured, but because of how the PCs chose to handle the situation). Conversely, a character in my game who focused solely on combat prowess would be much less useful, and would be the slacker who the rest of the party had to compensate for. It all depends on the campaign and DM.

 

[Lalato]

Good point Gothmog...

The original post here was about any character that played against the party/campaign norm. I agree with you that in some campaigns social skills are vastly more important than combat prowesss.

Personally, I wouldn't bother playing in a game where there was no combat at all. I'm not a hack and slash fan, either. I like a game that strikes a happy balance between role and roll...

--sam

 

[SemperJase]

About 10 years ago I was in a group where a member insisted on playing a character who was obnoxious and always started fights (amazingly similar to his real personality acutally).

At one point, he picked yet another bar fight. The party had enough and told him we wouldn't back him. That didn't stop him though. He promptly got his butt kicked. After reviving him, the party took him outside where he started a fight with the city guard. We let them take him away.

The DM would have brought him back but he kept insisting "that's what my character would do". So the DM had him sold into slavery and carried across the sea in the opposite direction the party was travelling.

The player didn't come back for the next session and the party had a great deal more fun in the following weeks.

 

[Ace]

We've just killed our old campaign... and we're about to start a new one. The setting is based on the Indian sub-continent of South Asia.




[Begin Rant]
This relates to one of my biggest pet-peeves about some ROLE-players... They substitute role-playing with role-assumption. They forget this is a game of adventure where everyone is there to have fun. Instead, they treat it as a chance to "develop" their character concepts. These are the same people that brag about playing several sessions without rolling dice.

I enjoy ROLE-playing as much as the next guy... but in my opinion I'm there to play a game first... not ROLE-play a pathetic character in an indie movie. Don't get me wrong... I enjoy indie movies immensely, but I'm not an actor. And I have no desire to become one.
[End Rant]

Sorry about the rant...
--sam

S'Ok nothing wrong with your rant

I do know that I wouldn't belong in your game. I am there to Roleplay (OK be a bad actor) first and foremost. ALl of the other stuff comes second

Now don't get me wrong, I can hack and slay with best of them (and once in a long while I like a nearly pure H/S game) and would never ever wreck anyone elses fun with my RPing (did this once by accident and it cost me a friend) but I can go whole sessions with nary a roll.

Styles very

 

[Blockader7]

Some of the things I hate, is the player who will only play one type of charqacter. It died. So what? Keep the same stats and start him again.

Everybody, while playing 2e, only wanted to be elves. No other kind of persuasion could convince them to play another race.

 

[pogre]

Game Killers

Not necessarily a character type, but I have had players when bored try to ruin the game for everyone. They do things like set towns on fire, shoot crossbow bolts at the town guard, and so on. Then when the whole game predictably blows up, they gleefully brag about wrecking the campaign.

Now, if someone shows signs of this, I stop the game and tell them they are obviously bored with my game and they need not come back. Has not happened in years, but I remember several incidents of this.

 

[jdavis]

Oh I love roleplaying and I game with a bunch of theater people so I get a lot of overacting, and that's ok but there is a big difference between getting into a deep roleplaying experience and being a halfling master of disguise with only one disguise. If there is no real reason for the characters to be together and especially if there is a reason that one character should not be there, then you have trouble. Doesn't matter if you are role playing or roll playing, you got a paladin and a Blackguard in the same party it just won't work. I look it like I would a job, when you have a job you go to work, it doesn't matter what your personality or skills are you try to contribute. If you are just goofing off or you are picking fights with other office workers then you will get fired. If you say that your adventurer is the type of guy that hates adventures and travelling, well then he's staying at home where he's happy and a new character concept is needed. If you are playing a antisocial bully who can't get along with anybody then you are not good group material, your fired. If you have no redeming skills or qualities and add nothing to any of the adventures then you just are not cut out for this line of work, se ya. A good character concept has the want or need to adventure with a group of like minded people built into it. If your character concept is homocidal axe murderer and you want to adventure with a good party then you are a rolemoron. You just didn't get the big picture.

 

[Kesh]

Re: Game Killers

Not necessarily a character type, but I have had players when bored try to ruin the game for everyone. They do things like set towns on fire, shoot crossbow bolts at the town guard, and so on. Then when the whole game predictably blows up, they gleefully brag about wrecking the campaign.

Now, if someone shows signs of this, I stop the game and tell them they are obviously bored with my game and they need not come back. Has not happened in years, but I remember several incidents of this.

Most likely this is the same breed of individual who becomes a 'Team Killer' in online FPS games.