how do you play games?

[Lanefan]

For me, it depends on the character. If I'm playing a kill-first-ask-questions-never Fighter, then role-playing largely goes out the window. (I mean, how many ways *are* there to role-play "Enemy? Draw sword and charrrrge!")" But if I'm playing something more diplomatic, it's much different.

That said, characters without character are beyond boring, so I guess that puts me a bit more in the RP camp.

Lane-"Charrrrrge!"-fan

 

[the Jester]

I prefer it about 50/50.

We occasionally have games that are all rp or all combat, and those are fun, but I think they'd get old old OLD if we had tons either way. A good mix in most games is just perfect for me.

 

[Hussar]

50/50 seems good for me. I've done high rp, and I've done pure hack. I think I like a bit of both with maybe an extra side of hack once in a while.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Hack and slash with heavy strategy. I think the second option is kind of weak but closest to what I would say. The poll implies that strategy is part of roleplaying. We roleplay but we aren't trying to be an ameture theater troupe.

 

[Wombat]

when our group plays something other than D20, Paranoia, or superhero games, we have one combat per session, max. This has held true with Ars Magica, Burning Wheel, Unknown Armies, and several other systems over the years.

D20 is geared towards combat. All characters and NPCs are rated in terms of combat. Treasure (with a few notable expections and the ubiquitous gold piece) is geared towards making you a better combatant or preserving you during combat. Character stats are primarily combat-related. Skills are written with an eye towards how you use them in combat, again with a few exceptions.

D20, first and foremost, is a combat-oriented game.

That's fine, if that's what you want. I can certainly enjoy a game of it now and again, but it is not my first choice. I prefer games that place less emphasis on combat. This does not make these other games superior in some overarching sense, but it does mark them as closer to my tastes in gaming.

So, yeah, I prefer 75% roleplay, 25% (or less) combat. Just my happy tastes.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

My character has three pages of backstory - and I prefer at least 60% combat (at least with D&D). Too much talking, IMX, does get boring fast, because in most groups I've been in the talking is focused on uninteresting details if it goes on too long; on the flip side, possibly the most enjoyment I ever had was in a three month nightly 'fanplay' with no mechanics and very little of even narrative combat.

 

[The Cardinal]

This depends on the genre:


When playing a "D&D" genre game: 66% of kill 'em & take their stuff


When playing other RPGs (GURPS, AFMBE, UA, nWoD, Savage Worlds, CoC, DG, etc.): 66% of "roleplaying the story"

 

[Arnwyn]

Less yak (25%), more hack (75%).

 

[Aaron L]

How do I vote when my My D&D character has 3 pages of back story as well as pictures of him and his items, AND I love lots of combat, too?

I love every aspect of the game: character development, roleplaying, and knock-down drag-out fights. I love combat, but to me a game is really hollow without a deep roleplaying foundation and reason for the fighting. Pointless dungeon raiding without character motivation or background story is really uninteresting to me. I've played entire several hoour long sessions without a single combat and had tremendous fun.

Of course, I always make characters who WANT to adventure, so motivation isn't a problem, but a game that is nothing but a string of dungeon crawls broken only by trips to town to resupply would completely turn me off. I enjoy having my characters go to balls and fancy dinners and schmoozing with nobles almost as much as a good brawl.

I like to have deeply immersive roleplaying with well defined characters that leads to epic fights and bloody conflict. My current character is a Grey Elven Duskblade, a noble and former artist who turned to the life of the warrior after falling in love with and marrying a female Elven Knight and wanting to go to battle alongside her, only to lose both his wife and his daughter (who had also become a warrior) in a battle against Dark Elves in which they were all 3 fighting side-by-side. Since then he's been adventuring to increase his skill and acquire magic to increase his prestige and position among the nobility and to continue his vendetta against the Drow.


A good fight is meaningless without a good story to back it up.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

The closer to 50/50, the better.