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Message: <blockquote data-quote="molonel" data-source="post: 3505700" data-attributes="member: 10412">No, because in order to enact a power fantasy, you must actually have power. In that particular sort of campaign, the only person enacting a power fantasy is the GM. I'm not moving the goal posts. I'm simply looking at the whole picture instead of focusing on the player's perspective.It's all very much a power fantasy. There are people trying to deny this, and act like we're out to write a novel, or create a work of art, or get into the Julliard School, or pass the qualifying exams for MENSA. Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.I never identified Frodo as a 1st level commoner, so if you're going to lecture me on not reading meaning into other people's posts, then lead by example, sport. The payoff for Frodo came at the end, and let's face it, if you took out the Battle of Helm's Deep, and the siege of Minis Tirith, and Merry and Pippin's comic relief, and Treebeard, and focused entirely on Frodo and Sam trudging for mile after mile of wasteland and swamp, as an adventure that would be boring as hell. The whole "saving the world" schtick is still a power fantasy, but that sort of adventure would suck. And most people wouldn't play it.I'm sure someone, somewhere, sometime might derive vast joy and satisfaction from it, and God bless them. But it would be a boring book, it would be a boring game and it would STILL involve a power fantasy on some level. The vehicle of delivery, though, would be a bitter pill indeed.I fully grok that some people get off on all kinds of things. I have asserted, however, that RPG is largely a power fantasy. People scratch that itch in all kinds of ways. I've had the guy sitting next to me at a Con who rolls his eyes when I show up with a half-orc barbarian I threw together five minutes ago. I've also sat next to the guy who plays the deliberately nerfed bard and shows up decked out in his costume to emphasize his acting skills.Whatever. I can occasionally poke fun at those guys, and I'm sure they occasionally poke fun at me.And that is where we differ. I see an ego tripper, and I call him an ego tripper.If he wants to view himself as somehow superior, well, that kinda puts another log on the whole "RPG as a power fantasy" thing, now, doesn't it?You insist on seeing a difference where there is none.They are two roads to the same destination.So have I. But the "powerless characters" always seem to require an extra double-dip helping of stage time and DM bones covered with whipped cream and cherries thrown to them in order to feel complete, don't they? Just like the big dumb half-orc needs fields full of enemies to practice his backhand Cleave, the Problem Solver wants puzzles, mazes he can track with graph paper and riddles that require endless pondering in order to get his gaming ya-ya's satisfied.And that's fine. But don't tell me he's a better breed of roleplayer. Or really all that different.Or those who know how to grin mischievously, and those who don't?Oh, right! THOSE people. Wink wink nudge nudge.These threads drawn contention like flies to honey. That's why I can nearly always expect you and Hobo, and several others, to show up. Shh! You're ruining my "You only play high fantasy powergaming munchkin twinkfests!" rep!(This is the guy who ran one of the "Break out of jail and poke people with sharp sticks" game.)If you don't enjoy it, then you certainly seem to inflict a lot of needless suffering upon yourself.</blockquote>

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