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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Character Description Discrepancy
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<blockquote data-quote="Xamnam" data-source="post: 8936651" data-attributes="member: 7037765"><p>The goal here is to resolve the conflict, and so, I'm going to assume not just good faith, but best faith from everyone involved. Unless there's a history of malice or taking advantage of kindness (and to a degree, even if), that's the path I've found to be most reliable. This has happened enough for you to notice the pattern, so it's worth fixing.</p><p></p><p>So, on Edward's front:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">He has a significant issue that he can't get past with his character not matching his particular conception of them in this regard.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">He does enjoy/get use out of the particular power this magic item grants.</li> </ul><p>On the artist's front:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They were being kind, and creating a gift for their party members. (the sort I personally would be over the moon to receive)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They were trying to depict the character as described, and to Ruin Explorer's point, was probably just trying to show off the cool, unique item of this character.</li> </ul><p>And on the group's front</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They're not trying to upset Edward, just being accurate in their description, or bringing it up as necessary.</li> </ul><p>I'll admit, I find the last one a bit harder to square than the first two. If this had been an issue before, to the point of "upset for hours, disrupting the game play" I know I would avoid mentioning it even remotely, both as a kindness to Edward, and to avoid negatively impacting the session. I'm curious if it's that people are specifically mentioning the glasses, or just asking Edward to detect magic. It doesn't seem like the latter would be an issue, given that "He likes to detect magic a lot."</p><p></p><p>Regardless, my first step would be to talk to him, privately, preferably in person. Maybe ask him to show up early to the next session. I would ask him, if he felt comfortable with it, to explain what frustrates him about the glasses, or being described/depicted with them. Assuming that it is the issue of glasses specifically, I would ask if replacing it with a different style of magical item that is mechanically identical (a magnifying glass, a spyglass, a rune on their hand, a compass, whatever) would resolve the issue. If so, I'd have no issue doing that, and retroactively declare that is what it always was.</p><p></p><p>My optimistic guess is that that is indeed how the conversation would go, and it would keep this from being an issue going forward. In that light, I would encourage Edward to apologize to the group, and especially the artist.</p><p></p><p>If the above approach didn't solve it, if Edward had an issue with ret-conning or the item conveniently changing at his whim, I would then ask him what he would desire going forward to avoid this happening again, and really wait until he's found a satisfying, non-arduous solution. My guess here is that he wants no one mention the character's glasses, which, ultimately, seems like a pretty small ask. If it is this important to him, I would sincerely hope the rest of the players would respect the request, and not actively bring attention to something they know bothers their tablemate. I would take lead on letting everyone else know that this is now the rule for this table. I would again encourage him in our personal conversation to offer a sincere apology after that, alongside of an acknowledgement that someone might slip up, and that he would try and not take it personally, given that everyone agrees this is how the table is moving forward with it.</p><p></p><p>Given that it has been a noticeable issue, I don't think it can get away without saying something about it, but I also don't think it needs to be a big production. Just a simple acknowledgement of what will change going forward, because everyone's goal here is to have fun, so a needless hurdle to that is being removed, and people taking ownership and responsibility for the impact that this has had.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Xamnam, post: 8936651, member: 7037765"] The goal here is to resolve the conflict, and so, I'm going to assume not just good faith, but best faith from everyone involved. Unless there's a history of malice or taking advantage of kindness (and to a degree, even if), that's the path I've found to be most reliable. This has happened enough for you to notice the pattern, so it's worth fixing. So, on Edward's front: [LIST] [*]He has a significant issue that he can't get past with his character not matching his particular conception of them in this regard. [*]He does enjoy/get use out of the particular power this magic item grants. [/LIST] On the artist's front: [LIST] [*]They were being kind, and creating a gift for their party members. (the sort I personally would be over the moon to receive) [*]They were trying to depict the character as described, and to Ruin Explorer's point, was probably just trying to show off the cool, unique item of this character. [/LIST] And on the group's front [LIST] [*]They're not trying to upset Edward, just being accurate in their description, or bringing it up as necessary. [/LIST] I'll admit, I find the last one a bit harder to square than the first two. If this had been an issue before, to the point of "upset for hours, disrupting the game play" I know I would avoid mentioning it even remotely, both as a kindness to Edward, and to avoid negatively impacting the session. I'm curious if it's that people are specifically mentioning the glasses, or just asking Edward to detect magic. It doesn't seem like the latter would be an issue, given that "He likes to detect magic a lot." Regardless, my first step would be to talk to him, privately, preferably in person. Maybe ask him to show up early to the next session. I would ask him, if he felt comfortable with it, to explain what frustrates him about the glasses, or being described/depicted with them. Assuming that it is the issue of glasses specifically, I would ask if replacing it with a different style of magical item that is mechanically identical (a magnifying glass, a spyglass, a rune on their hand, a compass, whatever) would resolve the issue. If so, I'd have no issue doing that, and retroactively declare that is what it always was. My optimistic guess is that that is indeed how the conversation would go, and it would keep this from being an issue going forward. In that light, I would encourage Edward to apologize to the group, and especially the artist. If the above approach didn't solve it, if Edward had an issue with ret-conning or the item conveniently changing at his whim, I would then ask him what he would desire going forward to avoid this happening again, and really wait until he's found a satisfying, non-arduous solution. My guess here is that he wants no one mention the character's glasses, which, ultimately, seems like a pretty small ask. If it is this important to him, I would sincerely hope the rest of the players would respect the request, and not actively bring attention to something they know bothers their tablemate. I would take lead on letting everyone else know that this is now the rule for this table. I would again encourage him in our personal conversation to offer a sincere apology after that, alongside of an acknowledgement that someone might slip up, and that he would try and not take it personally, given that everyone agrees this is how the table is moving forward with it. Given that it has been a noticeable issue, I don't think it can get away without saying something about it, but I also don't think it needs to be a big production. Just a simple acknowledgement of what will change going forward, because everyone's goal here is to have fun, so a needless hurdle to that is being removed, and people taking ownership and responsibility for the impact that this has had. [/QUOTE]
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