Are you a Roll-Player or a Role-player?

[Wombat]

Rules are there to set the broad framework of a good story.

The more detailed the rules, the more details you end up realizing are missing.

The fewer the rules, the easier it is to cover situations, as you worry less about the specifics and more about the tale.

I try to avoid battleboards, tape measures, and all the other accoutrements of the miniatures gaming days (Bless you, Jack Scruby!).

I hand out more XP for playing well than for killing monsters and finding treasures.

For me Over the Edge is pretty much the perfect system; Aftermath goes to the (horrible) other extreme.

 

[Steverooo]

What type of player are you?

Are you a roll-player who is bent on the rules and the results of rolling the dice?

-or-

Are you a Role-player who could care less about the rules and enjoys the excitement of creating a personality for your character(s).

EDIT: Opps, my bad. I forgot to add the other option I actually wanted to put in there. Which would be a mix of both. But since I can not edit the poll, select the one you prefer.

Silly Wabbit! Everyone is BOTH (to some extent)...

 

[pogre]

Re: Hijacking attempt

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed a tendency for the ladies at the table to role-play much more so than their male counterparts?

I remember the first game I DMed with my buddies girlfriend playing. “Why don’t we talk to the goblins?” what something that I was not prepared for. It turned out to be a memorable evening.

Not at my table - my wife rates adventures on how many dice were rolled. Our other female player threatens to leave the table if there isn't some blood on the ground pretty soon.

I imagine there is a real mix just like in the male pop.

 

[Mista Collins]

Re: Re: Are you a Roll-Player or a Role-player?

Silly Wabbit! Everyone is BOTH (to some extent)...

Well I know everyone is both to some extent, but I was just curious which one everyone prefers. I personally tend to be 35% roll/65% role playing. I think when you actually role play (I do so even during encounters and combat) the result is more memorable. The reason for the 35% roll is that in order to prevent the arguing on what can and cannot be done there needs to be rules.

And just a reminder, last time I was called a Silly Wabbit this was the result:

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I am a DM.

You too? So you prefer hack'n'slay, right?

 

[Celtavian]

re

Once again, missing an option. I'm both. I very much enjoy role-playing, but I also understand that without the roll-playing the suspension of disbelief would be less. Rolls allow you to resolve situations with a high degree of random chance. Without the rules system and rolls, all situations would be entirely without a sense of randomness save for the whim of the DM. I wouldn't like that.

I find both aspects of the game important to an immersive gaming experience, one that takes me out of the real world into fantasy land.

 

[Kichwas]

I listed myself as a ROLE-player - though I am also a strict adherant to printed rules who doesn't tolerate ANY house rules in the games I run or play in.

Printed, even from non official sources such as d20 publishers, yes. But house rules no. And I am very particular about following the rules of the game.

Obviously I can't control what house rules another GM uses - so I get very selective over what GMs I will play under, and when I do end up in a game that has them I play characters who will somehow or another manage to avoid contact with the house rule. House rules just bug me...

But, my focus in play is all story and characterization. Hack and slash, combat, dungeon crawling, metagaming, power gaming, and min maxing all do not generally interest me.

I use them only in so far as they help me achieve concept, genre, and story.

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed a tendency for the ladies at the table to role-play much more so than their male counterparts?

Over the years, I've noticed more of the opposite.

Reflecting back, I'm seeing a roughly 4 to 1 ration favoring action over roleplay in the women.

Among the men I can only think of a few who favored action and didn't get kicked out of my game for drugs, drinking to excess, fighting (real life), sexually innapropriate behaivoir, stalking, or something along those lines.

All of those problem people favored action or powergaming save for a possible one.

The bulk of the men I've seen at the table favored roleplay. Given the numbers of men I've gamed with, I'd peg a ratio at around 10 to 1 favoring roleplay if I included the wierdos, maybe 15 or 20 to 1 favoring roleplay if I cut them out.

So...

As for problematic female players -if I exclude the ones who couldn't stop talking about rape fantasies or making sexual remarks the ratio favoring roleplay over action goes to about 50-50.


Funny how that sort of thing works out...

Maybe this is why I have such a low opinion of powergamers --- my own experience with them has been strangely skewed.

 

[Psion]

I'd just like to chime in and say that I hate the term "roll-player" and do not think it's cool that you casually bandy it about.

 

[Dyir]

I'm always the DM, so since I'm in control of the rules interpretation, I don't really have to pay as much attention to them. Thus, I turn into a "role-player" to describe the scenes and NPCs.
However, the very few times I've been a player, I've turned into the worst kind of power-gamer/rules-lawyer I've ever encountered. My DM at the time was threatening to throw dice at me the entire time. Hmmm...maybe there's a reason why I'm always the DM...