Is David Noonan blessed or am I cursed?

[James Heard]

I think anyone who twinks out their character enough to prompt me to try to escalate the opposition to compensate pretty much voluntarily takes a time out just to save themselves the hassle of dirty looks from the rest fo the group. If they don't I think someone talks to them, and they tend to do things like give up adventuring to take over the family farm suddenly without comment.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Last night, I was feeling bad because I was feeling like the mean old DM because I felt like, after the previous session, that the players must be stacking some AC wrong because their ACs were ridiculously high, and I was going to have to force them to go through a "character inspection."

Sounds almost as HackMaster-y as an "encumbrance audit"... :mischief:

 

[Psion]

Sounds almost as HackMaster-y as an "encumbrance audit"... :mischief:

Yup, yup. I was thinking of this particular foray as an "AC audit." And on occasion, I do impromptu "prepared spells audits". Of course, I'm not all that mean. The conversation usually goes something like:

Player: I cast another enhanced Razor Rain
Me: Whu... don't tell me you seriously prepared two razor rains.
Player: (looks at spell sheet shyly)
Me: I didn't think so. Spend an action point* and roll your spell penetration check.

* - I let players bend the "emulate feat" action point rule pretty far.

 

[Henry]

Ironically, some of these guys finally understood, when they started GMing.

As Aloïsius says, there you have your answer, in my opinion. It's also why I recommend at least a trial stint DM'ing to all players; seeing both sides of the coin makes for more well-rounded players, IMO. It doesn't take long for someone to recognize the effort involved in making sure everybody has fun, and if someone doesn't have consideration for all aspects before, they tend to get a sense of it afterwards.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I actually encourage this behavior at my table.

My group doesn't have a lot of big D&D book purchasers so I permit powergaming in an effort to get them interested into the greater world of D&D.

It's been mildly successful. The Japan-ophile became more interested in the game when I told him he could use stuff from Oriental Adventures, a book he had never even heard about.

 

[hbarsquared]

There are two types of gaming groups.

The casual group, composed of friends/acquaintances that get together at the local hobby shop, make it when they can, and have a constant influx of new players as old players drop off.

The intense group, composed of longtime friends that have been gaming together for years, once a week without fail (barring natural disasters, weddings, and graduations).

Neither type of group is worse or better than the other, but it does make for two very different type of reactions to "nuclear weapons." David Noonan's group must very obviously be of the second type.

Longtime friends will want the game to be enjoyable for all, and so will have no problem restricting their characters or refuse to exploit a loophole if it will detract from his other friends (PCs and the DM).

Those of the first group will tend to seek personal enjoyment, sometimes at the expense of others in the group, if they can. Without the personal connection or expectation to remain in the group, player's might tend to take advantage of what they can.

My thoughts, anyway.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Longtime friends will want the game to be enjoyable for all, and so will have no problem restricting their characters or refuse to exploit a loophole if it will detract from his other friends (PCs and the DM).

Those of the first group will tend to seek personal enjoyment, sometimes at the expense of others in the group, if they can. Without the personal connection or expectation to remain in the group, player's might tend to take advantage of what they can.

I agree with some of this. In my case we have families so we can't meet often. I recently had to tell one guy that he was welcome to show up "whenever". 6pm. 8pm. 10pm. If he's willing to make it he's welcome to play. Four hours late is not a concern. This would obviously not be acceptable in a regular, weekly group.

The powergaming isn't an issue. The odds are very strong that one guy who might be a combat monster will just forget his character and roll up a social character. Again, this isn't acceptable in a regular group but if you only play once every other month, it makes more sense.

 

[diaglo]

Where did he get these players?!?

it takes some culling. use the parable of the wheat and the tares as a guide

 

[Von Ether]

As Aloïsius says, there you have your answer, in my opinion. It's also why I recommend at least a trial stint DM'ing to all players; seeing both sides of the coin makes for more well-rounded players, IMO. It doesn't take long for someone to recognize the effort involved in making sure everybody has fun, and if someone doesn't have consideration for all aspects before, they tend to get a sense of it afterwards.

My worst offender didn't even get to run a game. He threw up his hands and quit DMing, claiming it was unfair because he was new and we were trying to be too difficult.

He rode that one for a while and then I think he stopped doing RPGs, figuring they weren't his style.