Geek Confessional Thread 2024

[ART!]

If a fantasy ttrpg I'm playing has guns as an option, my character will not use them. I have no problem if one character has guns, but if it becomes more common than that I'm going to lose interest. It just doesn't feel like traditional, pseudo-medieval fantasy to me if there's guns.

 

[Meech17]

If a fantasy ttrpg I'm playing has guns as an option, my character will not use them. I have no problem if one character has guns, but if it becomes more common than that I'm going to lose interest. It just doesn't feel like traditional, pseudo-medieval fantasy to me if there's guns.

Agreed. I've never felt the desire to mix muskets or other black powder weapons with my wizards and dragons.

I'd much prefer to play a modern or sci-fi game where guns are more fitting, rather than shoe-horn guns into fantasy land.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I dunno. A blackpowder fantasy setting done right can be fun.

Consider those in which magical ability is rare but powerful. Firearms would be considered in much the same way as they are IRL- “the great equalizer”. I may not be able to twiddle my fingers and say a few words to bend reality to my whims, but by God, I can put some lead in your behind from a few dozen yards!

Beyond that?

In a world where magic is rarer, even wizards might be packing heat.

And speaking of heat…you know who REALLY loves gunpowder weapons in fantastic settings? Fire mages of any kind.

 

[MNblockhead]

Agreed. I've never felt the desire to mix muskets or other black powder weapons with my wizards and dragons.

I'd much prefer to play a modern or sci-fi game where guns are more fitting, rather than shoe-horn guns into fantasy land.

I think Warhammer Fantasy handles this quite well. But I'm not sure exactly where I draw the line. For example, I don't think I would enjoy and old west era fantasy game. And I best like call of Cthulu when it takes place in the early 1900s.

 

[ART!]

I won't play games where my character has thralls or has to feed on humans - or any other animal, for that matter. It just weirds me out.

Or at least I won't play them and take them seriously. I ran what was basically Count Floyd in a VtM game once, and it was not appreciated for the high art it was. I was in that game for maybe two sessions, tops.

In another game we weren't vampires per se, but we had thralls whose life power we partially drained to fuel our own powers. I did as little draining as possible or maybe none, and was the weakest character in the game. I played because that's what our group was playing at the time.

 

[Guest 6801718]

I think D&D is actually bad for gaming. It's caused a lot of the toxic ideas that I've encountered at the table and in discussions. Ideas like the DM is the be all, end all and the players are just lucky to be there for the DM's glorious vision. That and it's actually a really boring game. Anytime you really get going with role playing, you get derailed with long, drawn out combat. Honestly, combat crashes everything in D&D. You stall out to set up a mat and then spend a few hours calling out numbers. Lame.

I don't like stories about villains. Villains are only interesting to me for what they say about the hero that opposes them. So I have no interest in a movie, book, show or comic about a villain. I won't ever watch Joker, for example. Villains just don't appeal to me.

I like indie comics a lot more than than Marvel or DC comics now, and I was always a big superhero guy. Now I have a pile of current issues of the superheroes I love from the big two, just sitting next to my chair. Though I got the omnibus for Sweet Tooth and the night I got it I devoured 200 pages of it. I'm almost finished it and I love it. I've enjoyed indie supers like Black Hammer or Local Man far more than the mainstream stuff.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think D&D is actually bad for gaming. It's caused a lot of the toxic ideas that I've encountered at the table and in discussions. Ideas like the DM is the be all, end all and the players are just lucky to be there for the DM's glorious vision. That and it's actually a really boring game. Anytime you really get going with role playing, you get derailed with long, drawn out combat. Honestly, combat crashes everything in D&D. You stall out to set up a mat and then spend a few hours calling out numbers. Lame.

I don't like stories about villains. Villains are only interesting to me for what they say about the hero that opposes them. So I have no interest in a movie, book, show or comic about a villain. I won't ever watch Joker, for example. Villains just don't appeal to me.

I like indie comics a lot more than than Marvel or DC comics now, and I was always a big superhero guy. Now I have a pile of current issues of the superheroes I love from the big two, just sitting next to my chair. Though I got the omnibus for Sweet Tooth and the night I got it I devoured 200 pages of it. I'm almost finished it and I love it. I've enjoyed indie supers like Black Hammer or Local Man far more than the mainstream stuff.

DM or FM is God that's not limited to D&D.

They're the ones who are running the game and telling the story regardless of system. They're probably the one spending the money as well and organizing things.

Unhappy player they leave. Unhappy DM/GM no game. D&D may not be everyone's cup of tea that's fine. Any other RPG is gonna struggle to fit in a phone booth for a convention comparatively.

 

[Smackpixi]

I’ve been reading, watching, and gaming in sci-fi and fantasy universes for decades, and yet, it’s just not possible for me to care about them. High magic or low magic, FTL travel or post apocalyptic, whatever. It never occurred to me until I started DMing for my kid, and wanted to tune up some of the adventures. I couldn’t care what new monsters to introduce. I certainly was able to find some, based on the adventure’s theme and kid’s taste for weird, but everything was based outside stuff, I give zero Fs what color the dragon is, or if it’s some other monster.

Don’t get me wrong, I care about mechanics, stories, and personalities, but the set dressing and history of the universe, town, tribe, place whatever, the color or appearance of anything, and whether the baddies are yuan-ti or ettins or xenomorphs, I can work the interesting parts of a game with any. All that stuff is arbitrary.

And I should point out, I love all the minutia of settings and monsters, I just can’t “prefer” one over another.

Drives my kid nuts, “what’s your top 5 favorite monsters?” And I list by how interesting his encounters with were with them were. “But what’s the coolest?” Oh, stirges obviously, cause you and you’re mom think they’re so stupid and pointless.

 

[Guest 6801718]

DM or FM is God that's not limited to D&D.

They're the ones who are running the game and telling the story regardless of system. They're probably the one spending the money as well and organizing things.

Unhappy player they leave. Unhappy DM/GM no game. D&D may not be everyone's cup of tea that's fine. Any other RPG is gonna struggle to fit in a phone booth for a convention comparatively.

Thank you for proving my point.

Also, I couldn’t disagree more. GM as God is a laughable concept. The GM is another player at the table. They just chose a different role. Nothing more. I say that as a GM of decades. There are games where the GM changes every round or throughout the session, games that say no to prep and come up with something at the table with your players, GMless games and all sorts of alternatives out there. You can fully collaborate on any game in the market, if you want to. Some people like to GM more than play. Some don’t like to GM at all. Different strokes and all. Though if someone doesn’t want to be GM anymore, anyone else in the group can do it. A game doesn’t work without players. Players contribute to the stories just like the GM does. They actually drive it by engaging the game, solving problems and making decisions. So yeah, I don’t buy into this egotistical and toxic idea that the GM is God. How absurd.

 

[Zardnaar]

Thank you for proving my point.

Also, I couldn’t disagree more. GM as God is a laughable concept. The GM is another player at the table. They just chose a different role. Nothing more. I say that as a GM of decades. There are games where the GM changes every round or throughout the session, games that say no to prep and come up with something at the table with your players, GMless games and all sorts of alternatives out there. You can fully collaborate on any game in the market, if you want to. Some people like to GM more than play. Some don’t like to GM at all. Different strokes and all. Though if someone doesn’t want to be GM anymore, anyone else in the group can do it. A game doesn’t work without players. Players contribute to the stories just like the GM does. They actually drive it by engaging the game, solving problems and making decisions. So yeah, I don’t buy into this egotistical and toxic idea that the GM is God. How absurd.

And yet most players don't want to step up. Took me 5 years to train one.
DMs god because ultimately they have final say over who gets to play when and where.

You're an idiot if you dont listen to your players but ultimately you're the boss.

Peak tyranny was when I organized the game store across multiple DMs 30 players a night. Games store had tables left over from a decade earlier that I helped pay for from the Magic the Gathering group. Organized events with 40 odd players.

Peak tyranny I didn't have to pay for my 5E books.

Peak tyranny I could kick the other DMs out of the store and permanently ban them. 0 booted btw.

Peak tyranny I didn't have to pay for my board games either.

Just saying.