D&D General Arbitrary and Capricious: Unpacking Rules and Rulings in the Context of Fairness

[Micah Sweet]

Why ask this question? Why is this relevant to the trust Matt Mercer's players have in the fairness of his decisions?

For the record it is harder to resurrect a character in Critical Roles game than in regular 5e.

Not if it always succeeds.

For the record, I was just curious.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Not if it always succeeds.

For the record, I was just curious.

Technically 2 characters died on Critical Role so far. Vax'illdan dies in season one but due to a promise to the Raven Queen is sent back as a revenant to oppose Vecna.

The way Matt runs it, ressurection is not a sure thing and the DC gets harder each time.
His battles are quite tense and have come very close to a TPK a couple of times.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Technically 2 characters died on Critical Role so far. Vax'illdan dies in season one but due to a promise to the Raven Queen is sent back as a revenant to oppose Vecna.

The way Matt runs it, ressurection is not a sure thing and the DC gets harder each time.
His battles are quite tense and have come very close to a TPK a couple of times.

If there is never failure, especially after all the times PCs have died and come back, you can't really say its gotten harder, just more dramatic.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

If there is never failure, especially after all the times PCs have died and come back, you can't really say its gotten harder, just more dramatic.

If you are not taking my word for it. This is not a good faith conversation, I am done.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If you are not taking my word for it. This is not a good faith conversation, I am done.

I have seen all of season 1 and half of season 2. I have seen many resurrection scenes on Critical Role. All are quite dramatic, and seem very high stakes. And every one of them ends in a successful resurrection.

I don't disbelieve you, I've just come to a different conclusion. Actual results matter.

 

[MGibster]

Personally I'm only annoyed by rules-lawyers when they are:

At the risk of being "that guy," what do you think a rules lawyer is? I've got no objection to a player pointing out a rule exist, so that in and of itself doesn't make a rules a lawyer. By definition, at least my definition, a rules lawyer is someone who does one or more of the things you list as not liking.

 

[Yora]

I think the short answer is that the G in RPG stands for game, and most of us desire fairness in the games we play. Most of us won't enjoy a game that's unfair even if we're the ones benefitting. The long answer is, holy cow, that's actually a pretty deep question. Why is fairness desireable anywhere? Most of us are certainly bothered when we think something is unfair. But why?

Yeah, I've been having real doubt for a while if "game" actually is a fitting term for roleplaying activities. What are the win conditions? Who is playing against who?
It's certainly "play", but it really does not seem like a "game".

(And to go really noodly with semantics, is the fact that German has no separate words for play and game making the problem worse or better?)

I'm really just trying to understand what people here mean when they talk about fairness? What would be actual examples of unfairness in RPGs that people here take issue with?

 

[Voadam]

Yeah, I've been having real doubt for a while if "game" actually is a fitting term for roleplaying activities. What are the win conditions? Who is playing against who?
It's certainly "play", but it really does not seem like a "game".

As a kid playing Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica or Justice League that is playing a game of make believe and roleplay with no win condition or playing against each other. What else would you call that?

What purpose would be served to define games narrowly to require a win condition or playing against someone else? Such a definition would seem to exclude things that are normally referred to as games. Improv games for example.

 

[Yora]

Okay, but then what is fairness in a game with no win conditions and no opposition between players? What is unfairness?

 

[Aldarc]

Okay, but then what is fairness in a game with no win conditions and no opposition between players? What is unfairness?

Opposition? No. Spotlight or other unequal benefits (e.g., magic items)? Yes.