D&D General "I make a perception check."

[Charlaquin]

i guess... I just don't see why someone would want to waste time like that

I don’t see why someone would want to “waste time” playing golf, but a lot of people do. Because to them it’s not a waste of time, it’s an enjoyable leisure activity.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

For sure. Not my style, as to me the player skill element is part of what makes it a game. You wouldn’t want to remove player skill from Chess, or Catan, or 40K, or Football. So it’s weird to me to want to remove it from D&D. But, a lot of D&D players do, and that’s fine. They’re welcome to do that in their own games. Without me.

well I didn't like 40k when I tried it (already told that story in the thread, I don't play football but I did play basketball for years... and I like board games (including chess and catan) but I have never thought of a roleplaying game the way I think about basketball or chess (or even pandemic or the Cthulu games) so i guess I just don't see the comparison.

when I play chess I am me personally matching wit and skill with the persona across from me on an even basiss (well unless it was my buddies Dad...that was not even ever)
when I run a game I am not trying to match my wit or skill i am trying to come to celebrative story. We are all taking on roles and trying to not think like us but like the people we are role playing as

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I don't know if you encounter the same or not but IME the players who chafe most under being required/expected to describe what their character does to accomplish something are the ones who metaphorically hold up their palm & look away ignoring everything not directly involving them when it's not their turn.

I don't ignore it... but I try to compartmentlize (as best I can) what I the player knows and sees and what the character knows and sees.

when we played in person if the DM put down 3 minis in the next room we didn't just say "oh looks like a fight is coming lets prep" we out of game knew a fight was coming but we tried our best to play our characters as not knowing...

infact the 'assassin coming out of the shadows to talk but not hug' everyone at the table knew the battlematt was set up, the room was made and the mini for a new assassin was on the field...

 

[Mort]

okay game night up date... 1 player said if I did it that it better be over roll20 cause he would hit me if I was in arms length... it is needlessly complex and hard for no reason.

2 other players came up with how they would run it (palying off each other) with the light fixtures being brass and the only ones lit in the dungeon and the wall being the only clean wall and lots of things people could notice... but even they said it was just too complex.

finally I said it was from stargate and the asked what I will now ask you... HOW DID THEY FIGURE THAT OUT IN THE SHOW?

Easy, Rodney McKay has the power of plot.

Though, this time, at least they knew there was a room, they had a record of a guy just disappearing down the corridor into it and they know the guy who built it was a techie who would do something like this. But mostly because the plot said so.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I don’t see why someone would want to “waste time” playing golf, but a lot of people do. Because to them it’s not a waste of time, it’s an enjoyable leisure activity.

I just mean why start off by saying you DON'T want to detail a scene (I guess a lie) then because you roll poorly you are going to then detail the scene in order to change the way the scene played out? how is that more fun then just being honest with what level of detail you are comfortable with?

 

[Charlaquin]

well I didn't like 40k when I tried it (already told that story in the thread, I don't play football but I did play basketball for years... and I like board games (including chess and catan) but I have never thought of a roleplaying game the way I think about basketball or chess (or even pandemic or the Cthulu games) so i guess I just don't see the comparison.

when I play chess I am me personally matching wit and skill with the persona across from me on an even basiss (well unless it was my buddies Dad...that was not even ever)
when I run a game I am not trying to match my wit or skill i am trying to come to celebrative story. We are all taking on roles and trying to not think like us but like the people we are role playing as

The way I see it, a roleplaying game is both a roleplaying exercise and a game. I understand roleplaying to be a process of imagining yourself as another person and/or in a fictional scenario, and making decisions as you imagine you would if you were that person and/or in that scenario. And I understand a game to be a leisure activity where you try to accomplish a goal or goals, with some sort of rules in place that restrict or otherwise structure how you can pursue the goal or goals, usually to make a that pursuit challenging. Accordingly, a roleplaying game, to me, is a game in which imagining yourself as a fictional character in a fictional scenario is part of that rules structure. The goals you pursue are things the character wants, and the gameplay is about overcoming obstacles in the way of those goals, as you imagine you would if you were that fictional character in that scenario.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Easy, Rodney McKay has the power of plot.

Though, this time, at least they knew there was a room, they had a record of a guy just disappearing down the corridor into it and they know the guy who built it was a techie who would do something like this. But mostly because the plot said so.

yeah we were afraid of that... lots of hand waving and not making the whole thing work... if it were a game I assume it would just stall out until the DM gave them the answer.

 

[Charlaquin]

I just mean why start off by saying you DON'T want to detail a scene (I guess a lie) then because you roll poorly you are going to then detail the scene in order to change the way the scene played out? how is that more fun then just being honest with what level of detail you are comfortable with?

You’ve lost me.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The way I see it, a roleplaying game is both a roleplaying exercise and a game. I understand roleplaying to be a process of imagining yourself as another person and/or in a fictional scenario, and making decisions as you imagine you would if you were that person and/or in that scenario. And I understand a game to be a leisure activity where you try to accomplish a goal or goals, with some sort of rules in place that restrict or otherwise structure how you can pursue the goal or goals, usually to make a that pursuit challenging. Accordingly, a roleplaying game, to me, is a game in which imagining yourself as a fictional character in a fictional scenario is part of that rules structure. The goals you pursue are things the character wants, and the gameplay is about overcoming obstacles in the way of those goals, as you imagine you would if you were that fictional character in that scenario.

I think I see it now... maybe some others can jump in... I don't see overcoming the obstacles or even reaching the goal as important as the fun we have at the table... heck sometimes you have MORE fun by failing to overcome an obstacle (as long as it doesn't end in death)

so do you think if your character slays the dragon that counts as a 'you won' moment like check mating someone in chess?

 

[Chaosmancer]

what does that even mean on a post... like in D&D it's an action but on the post?

I think it basically means he wants to ignore me and me never to use his posts as a springboard to discuss larger issues in the thread, like I was doing.