Going to church? Don't forget your sawed-off shotgun!

[Holy Bovine]

I have to say, I completey agree with your girlfriend, your average person in DnD, unless expecting an attack, does not sleep in his full battlegear. It's incredibly unrealistic, and kills the setting.

I find this an extremely amusing attitude to take. In the typical D&D setting every PC should be expecting an attack at every moment. I mean, there are wandering monster tables fer gawd's sake! Check every hour - oh a Red Dragon?! Here it comes! NOT wearing full battlegear is a fast track to suicide in your typical D&D game.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I find this an extremely amusing attitude to take. In the typical D&D setting every PC should be expecting an attack at every moment. I mean, there are wandering monster tables fer gawd's sake! Check every hour - oh a Red Dragon?! Here it comes! NOT wearing full battlegear is a fast track to suicide in your typical D&D game.

I agree. It's silly to NOT sleep in armor. Think about it: you're an adventurer. It's your JOB to get into fights with horrible monsters. Sometimes those monsters fight back when you don't expect them, like at night. Of *course* you'd sleep in armor.

Heck, when I participated in a 72-hour LARP in Nottingham *I* slept in my chainmail. Totally sucked, but on the other hand it totally saved my skin when we were ambushed overnight.

-z

 

[Numion]

Had I played the Doctor, instead of the PI, guess who would not be packing his 38 revolver to the church? Me.

Sure. Whatever.

No, wait. Get off the high horse

You clearly think you had a justification to bring heat into a church. But so did the doctors player. Your justification isn't any stronger than his. Each player only controls his own character. Maybe everyone doesn't have as immersive RP skills as you, but it doesn't make it ok for you to claim to know 'what his character would d. Only one who knows what the doctor would or would not do is the doctors player.

Anyway, the whole argument is quite flimsy if you're pretending to play serious CoC and the first hint of mythos is a friggin' zombie priest eating another. That's just as subtle as a buckshot to the head at point blank range. Which in my mind makes the shotgun justified

 

[Vocenoctum]

I posted this hoping to hear more amusing stories about differences in player expectations regarding campaign "realism". (And thanks to those who replied, I'd love to hear more.)

We were playing in a Haunted House in CoC. The team was me, my brother, his GF and a friend. They all had entered the house, I was doing research. (Modern Day btw).

Spooky things were happening in the house, so they all had guns drawn, one emptied into a hot water heater, another reloaded on a moving bed. When my brother got tossed out the window, he moves to the car to get out his Barrett 82.

I'm driving up as this is happening, pop the car in reverse and start to drive away.

"Wait, where are you going!"
"I don't know what's in that house, but if it requires that gun, I think the case can solve itself."

We grabbed everyone else out and did more research before returning, rather than trying to kill furniture one bullet at a time.



But, none of us had a problem with the guns, except of course the Barrett. Most of the guns our characters had, were stuff we all carried on daily basis' anyway, and we're no where near as paranoid as our Paranormal Investigators were. Heck, we would have had the M82 also, if we could have afforded it in real life.

 

[Vocenoctum]

She, on the other hand, often mentions that her characters turns up in a nightie, or wearing rollers, or some other obvious "got out of bed" motif that makes her perhapos less combat-effective but more obvious fitting the scene.

If it happens often enough for her character to "often mention" that she's unprepared...


Maybe it happens enough she should start getting prepared? I've had plenty of DM's that felt like midnight ambushs were "fun" and after the first time we all had Nighttime Armor.

 

[Kidarcane]

Prepared to sleep

If it happens often enough for her character to "often mention" that she's unprepared...


Maybe it happens enough she should start getting prepared? I've had plenty of DM's that felt like midnight ambushs were "fun" and after the first time we all had Nighttime Armor.

Or she prefers to play a character that when in a reasonably safe setting will relax. She sounds like a person I'd be happy to RP with. She and I are willing to play with the disadvantage of not being "Prepared", thinking we just got back from killing kolbolds for a week and now we're in town to refit and recharge. This also allows or forces us to think creatively on how to get out of the sticky situation, find an alternative to slugging it out. It may be blaspheme, but you do not have to stand and fight in every situation. You could try and make an escape, test those chase rules! You can fight super defensively and hope rescue comes in time, lots of heroes do that, you can try and use improvised sheilds and weapons and test those rules and penalties.

How about when faced with true monsters, horrors, and strange happenings...you scream and run away....?

 

[GQuail]

Or she prefers to play a character that when in a reasonably safe setting will relax.

That's probably more it, yeah. SHe makes a point of some detials the rest of my group don't really think about, like coming into town and fashion shopping as well as magic item shopping - that she apepars with a face mask on when woken up in the middle of the night is part of the fun for her. ;-)

As for my previous comment about it happening a few times: there have been a few occasions of middle of the night attacks, but not all have been "KOBOLDS COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS!" In one, a party member's significant other was kidnapeed from her house, and the party were roused to track her at night - and they're hardly going to kidnap in daylight hours, are they? :>

 

[iwatt]

PCs been paranoid before they've ever had a chance to be victimized kind of bothers me. Not enough to make a big deal out of it, but still somewhat jarring.

With respect to the gun packing to church:

You crazy americans and your guns!

Believe me that if someone spotted you packing a gun in any church in Chile, the cops would be all over you. The same is true for Argentina and Ecuador, which are other South American countries I can speak for. You'd have to ask Klaus for his opinion on Brasilean churches.

 

[Wraith-Hunter]

PCs been paranoid before they've ever had a chance to be victimized kind of bothers me. Not enough to make a big deal out of it, but still somewhat jarring.

With respect to the gun packing to church:

You crazy americans and your guns!

Believe me that if someone spotted you packing a gun in any church in Chile, the cops would be all over you. The same is true for Argentina and Ecuador, which are other South American countries I can speak for. You'd have to ask Klaus for his opinion on Brasilean churches.

It is part of our culture and herratige.

Moderator note: It is also a part of our politics. As such, most of this is really not appropriate discussion-fodder for EN World. Sorry, but this portion of the post was asking for an argument.

Back to topic, a preparedness mindset in game depends on alot of factors. Mostly how your DM runs things. If you have no reason in campaign to be specifically prepared then unless it is in the characters background it might be out of place. Some DM's throw encounters at you that are VERY hard/impossible without your equipment when you are sleeping, and they do it all the time, so in games like that EVERYONE will sleep in the best protection they can find.

Actually in most of the games I have been in the DM was not a sticker about not sleeping in armor, if ambushed most of the party that wore armor kinda just played like it was on, wasn't a big deal.

But as a DM and as a player I'd have no problem with typical adventures sleeping in armor if they are out in the wilderness. Possible having a spare set of light armor to sleep in. If they are in town and not expecting attack it would depend on the characters in question. Though it could be fun, like another player said, to do an encounter with improvised weapons and little equipment. But NOT if the DM is out to get the party, and not all the time which frankly some dm's like to do. In games like that it is just an escelation and the players get ticked and so does the dm.

In one campaign we were all low level 3rd or so and we kept getting attacked by this minor demon at night. Only my character (2e bladesinger) had a chance to kill it. (If I rolled max damage with longsword and shocking grasp channeld through the sword - house ruled). And I needed a 20 to hit it. No one else could even damage it iven if they did hit it. And if I hit it, it would just teleport away, heal up and get us again some other time. Sometimes it was 1 day sometimes 2 weeks. Sometimes in barracks or inn sometimes on the road. Almost TPK the party a few times. After while it was NOT fun.

 

[iwatt]

But as a DM and as a player I'd have no problem with typical adventures sleeping in armor if they are out in the wilderness. Possible having a spare set of light armor to sleep in. If they are in town and not expecting attack it would depend on the characters in question. Though it could be fun, like another player said, to do an encounter with improvised weapons and little equipment. But NOT if the DM is out to get the party, and not all the time which frankly some dm's like to do. In games like that it is just an escelation and the players get ticked and so does the dm.

See, I agree that most of the Character Paranoia is actually player Paranoia due to having been burnt once too many times by GMs abusing the night ambush. Travelling at night through wilderness, it makes sense for whoever is at guard to have his armor out and for those with light armor to actually sleep in it. But doing the same in town is ridiculous. Personally, when I get home I can't wait to take my shoes and socks off. I'd ratehr think that removing armor would be even more preferable.