Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[MNblockhead]

Say you weren't around for the edition wars without saying you weren't around for the edition wars...

As someone who wasn't, I've stepped in the poo quite a bit, mostly 10 years ago when I was getting back into the hobby.

Edition wars never made much sense to me, but I'm sure that has to do with the fact that the last D&D game I played before getting back into the hobby was 5e.

Even in the late 80s, when Warhammer became the main game I played, there was a minimal amount of pooping on other games, because the typical teenage nerd arguments comparing the mechanics of one system over another, but that led mainly to us creating our own game systems rather than rallying behind one or the other. I was also fortunate to have a large group of gaming friends and we played a lot of different systems. The feelings some expressed about 4e and others warning about the "edition wars" was alien enough to me, but the debates and some of the flame posts surrounding the 2024 rules changes is a whole new level of pettiness of small differences being put on display.

If it wasn't against the spirit of this forum, I'd be tempted to respond with laughing emojis on half the posts in some threads because I find it all quite silly. I don't want to feed my inner troll and make fun of what others obviously find important, but if these were real life arguments being made around my IRL life friends, it would be met with ridicule. I mean it may be ugly to pull out the adult real-problems card, and make fun of people who take unimportant things too seriously, but some people seem to need a reality check.

 

[MNblockhead]

What happens if you make a deal with a demon for your first born child, but you never have kids?
Are you obliged to have a child, or is this a loophole?

I'm thinking you could be obliged, since pledging your first born implies that you will be having kids and this fulfills that end of the contract. But I'm also thinking that since it's not explicitly stated in the contract (e.g., you WILL have at least one kid, and the first born is pledged) it could be a loophole?

What do you think?

I think the devils would be sending lots of temptation your way. And I picture a bard winking at a camera holding up a magical contraceptive.*

* And then @Snarf Zagyg poking holes in it when the bard isn't looking.

 

[CleverNickName]

What happens if you make a deal with a demon for your first born child, but you never have kids?
What do you think?

The thing about these contracts: they don't just cost you what you agree to. They don't even cost more than you think they will.

They always cost you everything.

 

[overgeeked]

Way more people in this community should have read fairy tales.

Demon bargains for your first born? Yes, you will have kids whether you want to or not. Whatever the surprise you think you’ve put in place, the demon will already have thought of.

In a weird twist I just started re-reading the original Grimms’ Fairy Tales about 30 minutes ago.

 

[Scribe]

What happens if you make a deal with a demon for your first born child, but you never have kids?
Are you obliged to have a child, or is this a loophole?

I'm thinking you could be obliged, since pledging your first born implies that you will be having kids and this fulfills that end of the contract. But I'm also thinking that since it's not explicitly stated in the contract (e.g., you WILL have at least one kid, and the first born is pledged) it could be a loophole?

What do you think?

You did have one, you just didnt know it and they ended up in the Abyss.

Adventure time!

 

[Maxperson]

In my defense .... have you seen some of my other posts?

When I was assigned an essay in school with a limit of 25,000 words, I asked the teacher, "Okay, but how many words for the rest of it after the introduction?"

When I was in school to be a paralegal, my professor told the class to go over a specific case and condense it down to the important facts for the attorney. She said to be concise. As most of you know from my posts, concise is my middle name. I rarely write posts that are even this long. Anyway, I brought the paper up to her and she looked at it and this was the back and forth.

Her: "You need to write more."
Me: "You said to be concise."
Her: "Yes I did, but trust me, there needs to be more here."
Me: "Everything the attorney will want to know is there and understandable."
Her: "Yes it is, but attorneys like words. I can't believe this. In 25 years you are the first student I've had to tell to be less concise."

Then since I abhor wasted space, I struggled for like a half hour to stick in filler words that didn't alter any of what I had said and doubled the number of words used. That apparently was good enough.

 

[overgeeked]

The thing about these contracts: they don't just cost you what you agree to. They don't even cost more than you think they will.

They always cost you everything.

You think a referee screwing over a player using wish is bad? Child’s play compared to demon pacts.

You did have one, you just didnt know it and they ended up in the Abyss.

Adventure time!

Your younger best friend, squire, younger “cousin,” the peasant you befriended on the road, etc. Someone you care for turns out to be your kid and bamf, they’re gone.

It’s all about the quest.

 

[Scribe]

It’s all about the quest.

I so badly wish this was more what was going on around here. Its just the quest. Its the game. Its the play.

It's all about the quest.

I'm going to think on that one.

 

[Umbran]

What happens if you make a deal with a demon for your first born child, but you never have kids?
Are you obliged to have a child, or is this a loophole?

...
What do you think?

I think that a demon with their salt won't have an issue finding a loophole in the loophole.

Simplest - if you don't have a kid, you get your deal, and it ends up splendidly, your dreams given form. Then, your life is rewound until before you took the deal, and without the deal you end up in the Darkest Timeline.^TM And, of course, you remember what you lost.

 

[overgeeked]

I so badly wish this was more what was going on around here. Its just the quest. Its the game. Its the play.

It's all about the quest.

I'm going to think on that one.

I had forgotten what an absolute gift the quest was until Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG reminded me of it. Quest For It is a cornerstone of the game. It’s not mechanical, rather a mindset shift. And a spectacular one that can and should be ported into every fantasy game.