Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Thomas Shey]

That's as it should be! It's a game about building a dynasty of knights and dying gloriously so that your descendants can achieve even greater heights of glory. A single wizened plotter living in a cave for decades is not really in line with the gameplay the mechanics are designed to encourage, and probably won't be as fun for the player as a result.

In my case, it was more a player who regularly comes up with characters designed to break whatever campaign the group had in mind. "We're playing spies in Faerun? I want to play an honorable paladin!" "We're playing standard dungeoneering murderhobos? I have created a spy character." Like, not completely out-of-genre, and certainly within the constraints of the system, but designed to require different handling in common situations so that the gameplay which involved several players suddenly must revolve around only his character.

Yeah, its either spotlight-hogging in disguise, or just contrarianism.

 

[Gradine]

Did hell freeze over, or did a ragebait thread actually get derailed into talking about a legitimately interesting discussion about rpg game mechanics?

 

[CleverNickName]

Did hell freeze over, or did a ragebait thread actually get derailed into talking about a legitimately interesting discussion about rpg game mechanics?

It's like finding a four-leaf clover, or seeing a double rainbow. It happens, but not very often.

 

[dragoner]

youtube has gotten weird, kind of a bummer.

 

[Gradine]

It's like finding a four-leaf clover, or seeing a double rainbow. It happens, but not very often.

 

[trappedslider]

An Ohio dealership repossessed her car, so she took their name and then sued

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In my case, it was more a player who regularly comes up with characters designed to break whatever campaign the group had in mind. "We're playing spies in Faerun? I want to play an honorable paladin!" "We're playing standard dungeoneering murderhobos? I have created a spy character." Like, not completely out-of-genre, and certainly within the constraints of the system, but designed to require different handling in common situations so that the gameplay which involved several players suddenly must revolve around only his character.

I still grimace when I remember the two players who, after being told that our next campaign was going to be Ravenloft-style gothic horror in tenor, decided to make characters who were tag-team luchador wrestlers. One spoke in faux-Spanish, and the other talked in a Hulk Hogan accent. The GM bent over backwards to try and make it work, but it struck me as one of those times that being accommodating was the wrong thing to do.

Confession: I do this occasionally, but not often. And when I do, I take pains to make the character fit nonetheless, so that the burden ISN’T solely on the GM.

Example: I was part of a playtest for GURPS: Vampire the Masquerade. My character was a Brujah (the monstrously strong & fast clan). The GURPS build points went into making him as strong & fast as possible and he had been turned by a fairly ancient & powerful vampire to boot. IOW, he was a monster among monsters.

I took the edge off by making him comedically insane- a PI in life, he reacted to his Embrace by “rationalizing” he was a superhero, based on Blade…and The Tick. He hunted vampires, but his Embrace also gave him a blind spot about vampires (himself included). He had vampire hunting gear & body armor (despite his toughness!), and surgical steel crime straws.

He was extremely trusting of the other members of the party.

So, you had a vampire-hunting vampire who could take down most of the campaign’s NPC vampires 1-on-1, but couldn’t find any (including his buddies) without being pointed at them in particular. 90% of the PC’s actions were roleplaying conversations & (sort of) following instructions like “Go over there and look menacing.” Or “Act natural.”

IOW, he was less the center of attention than a walking, talking “In Case Of Emergency, Break Glass” plot device. A Character of Damocles.

The stars of the party were the Malkavian leader/mastermind and the other Brujah who told my character what to do and when.

 

[trappedslider]

Some times i wish the internet had stayed as ARPANET