D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

[mamba]

Isn't that what lines, veils and X cards are for?

and in the absence of those, we discussed things and agreed to not include them. They have been formalized for the more common things, that doesn’t mean there is nothing left to discuss

I have a player who just joined who admitted she's squeamish about child and animal abuse. Guess what I'm going to avoid using in my plots? (or just gloss over, you can infer child casualties in a sacked village without describing child corpses). I don't see this as particularly controversial.

I don’t see it as particularly controversial to not include things people dislike either, but apparently if it is not on one of the 20 or so common x-cards and the DM dislikes it while some player does not, then there are people arguing for the inclusion

 

[Maxperson]

I dislike humans. Are they banned in your game now?

1) you don't play in his game, so why would he ban them.
2) It actually has to rise to the level of having a negative impact on your enjoyment of the game.
3) If it does rise to that level, I question your choice of games in the first place. D&D has been human centric from it's start until this very minute. Perhaps you should play a game that doesn't have humans.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I think that's kinda the part I don't understand. I might not particularly like scrambled eggs, but if I'm making a brunch for guests I'm still serving them even if I don't eat any. Bringing it back to D&D, there are some species I probably would never play (like say, centaurs) but I don't exclude them because that could be someone else's jam. I would never design a game as if I was DMing it just for myself, because I remember what it's like to be a player in such a game. To feel superfluous and that my enjoyment was secondary.

Yep yep.

I've used the word a lot just recently, but it absolutely flabbergasts me that someone could think, "I don't particularly care for this. Anyone who asks for this is not behaving like a decent human being." Like...goodness gracious, Lord Almighty, what kind of attitude is that? A teensy smidgeon of "I don't particularly like that myself" and now everyone has to walk on eggshells about it?

 

[mamba]

I dislike humans. Are they banned in your game now?

are you a player in my game? Humans might be the one exception, given that we all are human, but as far as I am concerned any fantasy race is up for grabs / exclusion if your dislike is strong enough, no different than slavery, etc.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

So it's not things that "I'm not into." I'm not into halflings, gnomes, half-orcs, loxodon, playing with Barbies, tortles, 3e-5e tieflings, aarakocra, githzerai, hammering nails through my feet, lizard folk, kenku, and other odd races. I don't give a fig if my players want to play one of those races, play with Barbies, or hammer nails through their feet.

I'm talking about something the DM or player dislikes to the point where it has a negative impact on fun, however minor. At that point the decent thing to do is just play one of the gazillion other fun things in the game. You're just not going to convince me that the intentional infliction of negativity on another person is an okay thing to do.

P.S. I would actually care if one of my players tried to hammer nails through his feet and try to stop him.

So, when you use the word "dislike", what you actually mean is "utter disgust"???

Is this...I just...what? What term WOULD you use for something you just don't like, but which you also don't, in your words, "dislike"? Because it seems to me you've defined yourself into a corner where you cannot express mild negative feelings about anything. It's either 100% okay or disgusting.

No. Never said that.

You were the one who kept using the word "dislike", only to (as I am only now discovering) redefine it as "something that would ruin my fun", which is a hell of a lot more than mere "dislike".

 

[Maxperson]

It's the favorite punching bag and you know it.

Tortles were just brought up because when we all say what we're actually thinking, folks get all hung up on "why DRAGONBORN, why ALWAYS dragonborn?!?!"

As you can see, no matter what we do, no matter how we approach it, every choice we make is wrong. Is it any wonder I get testy about the constantly-shifting rules about what isn't allowed to be discussed?

Because you're focused on the wrong thing. It's not about the specific race in discussions like these. Dragonborn are like the quantum ogre. The problem with the quantum ogre isn't that it's an ogre, so changing it to a quantum pixie isn't going to change anything. Same with the troll and metagaming. The specific creatures are just the poster children for the real arguments.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Because you're focused on the wrong thing. It's not about the specific race in discussions like these. Dragonborn are like the quantum ogre. The problem with the quantum ogre isn't that it's an ogre, so changing it to a quantum pixie isn't going to change anything. Same with the troll and metagaming. The specific creatures are just the poster children for the real arguments.

And the real argument seems to me that GMs believe they are entitled to ride roughshod over everyone else solely because they elected to take on the significant responsibility of GMing.

Or, in other words, they feel entitled.

 

[mamba]

You were the one who kept using the word "dislike", only to (as I am only now discovering) redefine it as "something that would ruin my fun", which is a hell of a lot more than mere "dislike".

it was always about something negatively impacting the enjoyment of the game, from the very start. It’s just that we do not repeat that mouthful every time and use a shorthand like ‘dislike’

 

[Maxperson]

So, when you use the word "dislike", what you actually mean is "utter disgust"???

Dislike is a range. And no, it's not utter disgust. Disgust is a different word. Metagaming isn't allowed in my game. I dislike it the point where it has a major impact on my fun playing the game. I don't find it disgusting in the slightest.

Is this...I just...what? What term WOULD you use for something you just don't like, but which you also don't, in your words, "dislike"? Because it seems to me you've defined yourself into a corner where you cannot express mild negative feelings about anything. It's either 100% okay or disgusting.

You've dialed it up to 10 again. If it's something I dislike, but not to the point where it would impact my fun(see halflings, gnomes, Barbies, etc.), I'm not going to say anything. If it does rise to that level, I'm going to let them know how I feel. None of us are the kind of people who want to intentionally inflict negativity on others. There are more fun things that won't bother anyone in this game than we can play in our lifetimes. Literally. There's not enough time to play all the fun possibilities. Why wouldn't I choose one of those other things? Why wouldn't my players?

 

[mamba]

And the real argument seems to me that GMs believe they are entitled to ride roughshod over everyone else solely because they elected to take on the significant responsibility of GMing.

no, it’s that players are not entitled to run roughshod over the GM either. Everyone will have to try to accommodate the others, and if that fails, then one of the two is out