Odd Peeves [2002 Thread]

[buzzard]

I was at the con in Denver, but I decided not to do Living Greyhawk (my brother did though). I was in the 24 hour marathon game instead. It was a blast! It had some darn good players combined with some very skilled GMs. A rare combination in my brief experiences at convention roleplaying, and it made the entire day not only bearable, but I was kinda sad that it ended so soon.

sotmh

Now the player quality thing I may agree with. Players at cons tend to be all over the map. However I have been lucky here in that the vast majority of DMs have been pretty good. Of the four games I played at this con, I had 3 different DMs and 2 were quite good. The third was OK, just not as good as the others.

Buzzard

 

[Crispy Critter]

Curious

Pielorinho said: "The guy playing the goblin monk with a flaming morningstar"

Not to take this too off topic, but how did this guy get away with playing a goblin. You're only suppose to use the standard PC races in Living Greyhawk. Did he win a contest to get a special PC? Just wondering.

As for the comments by die_kluge about Living Greyhawk players, I'd say my experience has been quite the opposite. But then again maybe as a devoted Living Greyhawk player, I wouldn't know any better.

 

[bondetamp]

Re: carried?

Well let me ask you my question then- what does this guy actually contribute to the party?

Maybe he makes the game more fun by taking some of the focus away from the number crunching.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Frankly, I don't understand why you are so annoyed by people playing half-orc bards. Personally I'd much prefer that to seeing the no-brain decision to be a half-orc barbarian.

Deciding to pick a class where your race gets a -2 makes for a challenging character to play, because he isn't all strengths, but he in no way has to be "carried" by the party. Who would you respect more, someone who used his "18" to get a CHA of 16 or a STR of 20?

It's no worse than someone playing a dwarven sorcerer, a halfling fighter or an elvish psion-savant. It's no better either. Its just a choice.

Chill out, brother!

 

[GravyFingerz]

It was then and there that I decided that my elf liked to eat horses

OMG that is so comedy!!!

 

[buzzard]

Re: Re: carried?

Maybe he makes the game more fun by taking some of the focus away from the number crunching.

Ok, I'm choosing a number of people to go out with and risk our lives in pursuit of adventure, and possibly wealth. Do I pick:
A) a big strong fighter who can hold his own in battle
or
B) an angst ridden half orc bard who will hang around telling stories while the rest of us get hacked up, and then will expect a share of the loot. He's not particularly talented, and seems fairly incapable of talking his way out of tight spots.

Of course all of those special forces teams in Afghanistan all made sure they had a ugly, stupid, amateur entertainer with them to help with their productivity.

You want to talk about meta game knowledge? That comes when you have a bunch of people forming a band of adventurers which is willing to carry around deadwood which only serves to cause more danger. A rational adventurer would send said deadwood merrily on his way to tell more stories and not risk getting killed.

Buzzard

 

[bondetamp]

Re: Re: Re: carried?

Ok, I'm choosing a number of people to go out with and risk our lives in pursuit of adventure, and possibly wealth.

But you're not. You're sitting down with some friends to have fun playing a role-playing game.

Or, at least, that's what I'm doing.

 

[Zappo]

Ah... the 'true roleplayer' syndrome. I know it well. Apparently, sometimes a player, after having heard one too many times that powergaming is bad, decides that the opposite of powergaming must be good, and plays the most crippled character available.

Another variant is the one who takes absolutely no fighting skills, sneers at the players who lust after a +3 keen vorpal sword, totally munchkins out the diplomatic skills, and lusts after his character's party winning the next election (though this is more often seen in the World of Darkness area).

Interestingly enough, both of these types don't make a personality or background for their characters any better than the average powergaming twink, and when they do they subsequently ignore it in favor of just acting tragic or cowardly (in the first case) or scheming (in the second).

 

[buzzard]

Frankly, I don't understand why you are so annoyed by people playing half-orc bards. Personally I'd much prefer that to seeing the no-brain decision to be a half-orc barbarian.

If I'm in life or death situations do I want a well trained professional, or a rank amateur?
Does my character want a big strong half-orc barbarian who can hold up his end of a battle, or a mediocre bard who contributes little fighting alongside him?

Deciding to pick a class where your race gets a -2 makes for a challenging character to play, because he isn't all strengths, but he in no way has to be "carried" by the party. Who would you respect more, someone who used his "18" to get a CHA of 16 or a STR of 20?
[/B]

Then again, you appear to still be min-maxing. The highest stat is still the utility stat. Where's the depth of roleplaying in that? Why not have the bard with the 20 str, and the 8 chr, and play that out?
Gee, why doesn't the person just ask to make his character with a 10 point buy? He's already discarded a few points on a lark. Why not a 0 point buy? A set of 8's across the board would make for a so much more fulfilling roleplaying experience don't you think?

I'm curious, why am I supposed to respect someone for sub-optimal character design? Is there some accepted stimga attached to being good at something, or god forbid, the best even?

It's no worse than someone playing a dwarven sorcerer, a halfling fighter or an elvish psion-savant. It's no better either. Its just a choice.

Chill out, brother! [/B]

It is in fact no better, no worse, and equally pointless. It certainly is a choice. It is also obviously a bad choice. As I will state, I am not playing a character who hangs around in bars to drink beer and meet interesting people. I am playing an adventurer. This is someone who goes out and risks his life. He may well decide that the half orc bard is an entertaining person to sit in a bar and swap stories with, but when it comes to his butt on the line, he will find another person to travel with.

Mind you, in LG games I will not have that choice, and will likely someday have a half orc bard inflicted on me, but I certainly won't decide that they are optimal companions.

Buzzard

 

[buzzard]

Re: Re: Re: Re: carried?

But you're not. You're sitting down with some friends to have fun playing a role-playing game.

Or, at least, that's what I'm doing.

Well, gosh darn it you mean this isn't real life? I'm not really a dwarven fighter?!? Thank you for revealing the truth to me.

The roleplayers who love to harp on metagaming are exhibiting the worst form of it, by making their characters accept irrational choices. That's what it really comes down to.

However, have fun. I certainly don't care what you do in your campaign. what I do dislike is getting a disfunctional character glommed onto my party in a LG game where I don't get to choose.

Buzzard