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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fox Lee" data-source="post: 8294612" data-attributes="member: 4346">I couldn't agree more. I have zero time for games where the GM considers it their job to be the adversary of the players (rather than to operate a narrative/world space that contains adversaries) and that includes the idea that they need to strike fear/paranoia into the hearts of the players or "keep them on their toes".I realise that's how a lot of groups have their fun, and good for them! I am a particular extreme on this scale—I'm so disinterested in fear/thrill as a core appeal that I don't even enjoy it in non-game media, like horror movies. So, a GM trying to make me feel afraid is a GM I would choose not to play with.I also don't enjoy play styles heavily coloured by fear/paranoia (the old "check every door/chest/corridor for traps"/"grill every NPC to see if they're lying") or an overall story primarily about/motivated by fear. To me, those are just boring ways to play. I came to play as a hero (or as a GM, I came to facilitate a story of heroes) and "paranoid grave robber" ain't it. I prefer a game where a player can have their character do something reckless and stupid, that's also fun and interesting and moves the story along, without being afraid of punishment.It's a big reason I still play 4e, which is very open about wanting to tell big flashy hero stories, and makes it quite difficult for PCs to die, even at low levels. (Like some other posters here, I won't ever kill off PCs without consent—but also I have literally never had it come up in a game.) That's the style I'm here for!Also, a slightly more objective consideration; In my experience, the high-paranoia/adversarial GM games also tend to exacerbate metagaming and rules-lawyering, since players are highly motivated to use every last scrap of their game mastery to keep their character alive. I don't actually think either of those things is bad in moderate amounts, but I find that the more pressure a player is under, the more these behaviours approach problem levels (defined here as "making the game not enjoyable any more"). Again, not going to be a problem for every group, but it's certainly something to keep in mind if you don't enjoy these behaviours.</blockquote>

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