Players that just don't *get* the genre

[fanboy2000]

The only time this really sticks out in my mind was a pitch I did for LUG's ST:TNG game. I pitched the game to my regular group, and they seemed open to the idea. So, I discussed possibilities with each of them.

One guy wanted to be a sergeant who was drafted in Starfleet.

Obviously, Starfleet doesn't have sergeants. If that was it, I'd simply talk to him about being a chief or somesuch.

But when I tried to explain to him that Starfleet doesn't have the draft, he seemed skeptical and sugested that his character could have been told to either join Starfleet or go to prison.

Nope, that really doesn't work either I told him. Starfleet doesn't operate like that.

At that point, he seemed really skeptical. As though perhaps his entire willing suspension of disbelief snapped in two.

I choose not to run the game.

That said, I've more often seen the opposite of this: the players assign the game/setting a genre and won't play with it.

Ever.

Under any circumstances.

Examples:

Paranoia is zap. The game cannot be played straight at all. Ever. I'm not allowed to try.

Call of Cthulhu is fatalistic. PCs can't survive anything. Don't even bother.

I think I might take this to the next group I put together as a reminder to myself. Although, I'm now curious as to what would happen if I gave everyone a copy of it...

That's the fun part of psychology. Knowing what's going on doesn't make you immune to it!

For example, I know all about bias confirmation and rationalization. I still do it. I try not to, but I know I'm not always successful. I was talking to someone I respect very much about rationalization, and she said that she never does that anymore since she learned about it years ago. I later saw an example of that it that same day. I didn't bother pointing it out because it's not like starting a fight was going to help.

That said, knowing what's going on can help if someone's open to examining their own behavior and changing. Of course, someone could easily decide to it's just a bunch of hewy and it doesn't apply to them.

It would be an interesting experiment.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Off-beat characters were a common thread with this guy.

I resemble that remark.

Though, for me, part of the fun of an RPG is the fact that I can resolve contradictions like this. The point isn't to thwart the genre (Marvel has made superheroes that were more idiotic than "Fabric Man" in their time), but to see how the system handles outliers, and how I can handle playing this contradictory character.

Part of the fun is not fitting the mold!

(I'm saying this as the dude who is currently playing a dwarf bard in 4e who is inspired by rappers and def poets...and it's working pretty well! Though it's not as eccentric as the warforged barbrian who "malfunctions" instead of rages and who treats inanimate objects as living things, and living things as squishy obstructions)

 

[Rel]

To get off track a bit... I pretty much learned to read by reading comics, and my last job was in a comic/gaming/sf shop. So I definitely 'get' superheroes. I just think they're frikkin' stupid! "Oh look, the Joker has escaped from Arkum for the 2,873rd time and killed another dozen people. Here, lock him up again. Until next time."

As for the OP, I've been very fortunate in that almost all of the people I've played with over the years have been mature and well read. But I have seen one or two younger newbies who just didn't 'get' something. We managed to get them on track eventually though.

I think that this is one of the places where the GM needs to make sure that he works with the players to keep things moving in such a way that they don't have to feel dumb about the choices they are supposed to make for the genre.

I mean if the GM specifically says that he's running a very four color cartoonish style of superhero game where the villain's plan is always this zany scheme to kidnap the Statue of Liberty and stuff like that, where it's very unlikely that civilians ever get killed, then it's ok if the villain escapes and does it again because hey the heroes need something to keep them busy, right? But if the villain is typically committing violent crimes where people are killed then I think it is the GM's responsibility not to make the players feel like a bunch of saps for handing him over to the authorities only to escape time after time. Otherwise I think it is perfectly reasonable for them to be asking themselves, "Is our code of justice costing lives that we could otherwise be saving?"

I'm not saying that you can never have a recurring villain in those situations. I'm saying that it's probably best if the villain escapes before the PC's ever capture him in the first place rather than if the villain escapes the authorities while out of the control of the PC's.

Then again I've never been much for running superhero games in the first place. But I've played some that were done by GMs who really knew what they were doing and us players always felt like we were supported in our mode of play.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Let's see, it happened a lot in World of Darkness:

A mage who saw the broken world and tried to fix it and got upset when all her plans failed and burned to the ground.

A vampire who kept doing horrific things but still thought and tried to act like a good guy with a humanity of 2. He even uttered the line "Aren't we heroes?"

 

[pawsplay]

In a completely unrelated vein, is there a scifi setting that uses weftdrives instead of warpdrives?

Yes, but only for their shuttles.

 

[pawsplay]

The only time this really sticks out in my mind was a pitch I did for LUG's ST:TNG game. I pitched the game to my regular group, and they seemed open to the idea. So, I discussed possibilities with each of them.

One guy wanted to be a sergeant who was drafted in Starfleet.

Obviously, Starfleet doesn't have sergeants. If that was it, I'd simply talk to him about being a chief or somesuch.

But when I tried to explain to him that Starfleet doesn't have the draft, he seemed skeptical and sugested that his character could have been told to either join Starfleet or go to prison.

McCoy does get his commission involuntarily re-activated...

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I think that this is one of the places where the GM needs to make sure that he works with the players to keep things moving in such a way that they don't have to feel dumb about the choices they are supposed to make for the genre.

I mean if the GM specifically says that he's running a very four color cartoonish style of superhero game where the villain's plan is always this zany scheme to kidnap the Statue of Liberty and stuff like that, where it's very unlikely that civilians ever get killed, then it's ok if the villain escapes and does it again because hey the heroes need something to keep them busy, right? But if the villain is typically committing violent crimes where people are killed then I think it is the GM's responsibility not to make the players feel like a bunch of saps for handing him over to the authorities only to escape time after time. Otherwise I think it is perfectly reasonable for them to be asking themselves, "Is our code of justice costing lives that we could otherwise be saving?"

I'm not saying that you can never have a recurring villain in those situations. I'm saying that it's probably best if the villain escapes before the PC's ever capture him in the first place rather than if the villain escapes the authorities while out of the control of the PC's.

Then again I've never been much for running superhero games in the first place. But I've played some that were done by GMs who really knew what they were doing and us players always felt like we were supported in our mode of play.

Oh, absolutely. Its not like I've ever refused to play a supers (or any other) game, or even that I wouldn't enjoy it. But like watching 'bad sf movies', which I also enjoy, I feel perfectly entitled to point out the absurdities. Then we usually all laugh and shake our heads, and get on with the game. Or watching the movie.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

McCoy does get his commission involuntarily re-activated...

That's stoploss, not a draft.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Wasn't the chakotay in voyager effectively drafted? I seem to remember him being handed an ultimatum that he sign up as first officer or else...

 

[Elf Witch]

Wasn't the chakotay in voyager effectively drafted? I seem to remember him being handed an ultimatum that he sign up as first officer or else...

No he chose to serve as Voyager's first officer after his ship was destroyed.

Paris had been in prison and was given the choice of helping Voyager track down a missing Maquis ship. He was just supposed to be an adviser but after the ship got pulled into the Delta Quadrant and the pilot killed he was offered a commission.