[POLL] What style of game do you prefer? (please respond!)

[Creamsteak]

I agree with Gnomeworks 100%, but I also would like to see 1 or 2 random encounters out of every 10. In most fantasy-settings I'm used to playing in, that's something like a group of bandits/pirates/sea-monster or some such to make the game have that extra little side-bit. They add that little bit to the story that makes it seem like your not stagnantly following some path that was set before you and you can't do anything about it. It's even better when the battle results in things the DM would never suspect, like when I had a character run into his old best friend (by sheer randomness on a random name generator) when bandits attacked. That was truly something that added to the story through a random encounter (or the time we slayed a kraken!), but I definitely hate being bogged down with random battles.

Also, damnit I read the last paragraph of gnomeworks post. I didn't mean to do it, I swear! Sucks to be one of the three.

 

[GnomeWorks]

Also, damnit I read the last paragraph of gnomeworks post. I didn't mean to do it, I swear! Sucks to be one of the three.

Heh... sure, you didn't mean to read the last paragraph...

Of course, is it really you that is one of the three? And even if you are, what part of your history did I do that with? Mwahahaha...

 

[Hand of Evil]

The very hard to find "perfect balance" of hack and role. It is a myth!

 

[Al]

Though the poll seems to say something entirely different.

Myself, I prefer a mix of the two. Role-playing is good, but I like to roll dice and throw my character into combat as well. I wouldn't want to play in a game where there wasn't any combat, any more than I'd want to play in a game that was only combat.

I should have clarified. The theory I postulated is that ENWorlders have a greater propensity to roleplay than average casual gamers (i.e. relative terms) and not necessarily in absolute terms.

The other problem is: what defines a 'balance'? If the intention is really to market products commercially, some more specific parameters ought to be introduced. Most people will say that they like a 'balance' (as the poll demonstrates) but a 'balance' for one person may be radically different to 'balance' for another. Perhaps if the poll was 'What % of play time is involved in combat as opposed to roleplay', you could get better absolute results. Just a thought.

 

[Sixchan]

I went for mainly roleplay, since heavy roleplay would seem to suggest that skills such as bluff and diplomacy aren't used so often.

 

[GameWyrd]

It's a trick question.

Just to be clear, I'm one of those who are lucky enough to be a part of gaming groups who can go for weeks without getting involved with character sheets.

It's a trick question because you can't decide who or what the players attack. You can't decide which scenes turn nasty and how.

If you're going to have monsters randomly attack the players for little or no reason then you're already up there in the hack'n'slash category. Mind you, it's easy to have a reason to attack the characters. They might be somewhere dangerous. If you decide have a group of bandits ambush the players then in order to keep up with your share of "roleplaying" you need to know why the bandits are oppertating the area, where they might retreat to and how your game might progress if your players decide to hunt them down afterwards or ask the farmer further up the road how often he's bothered by the bandits.

 

[Carnifex]

I voted half-half, though I believe it to be incredibly difficult to really be able to judge a balance in written adventures, since the writer cannot really predict just how each individual group of players will react to the situations he presents in his adventure.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I voted with the majority on this one. I like my game half-n-half.

 

[Gargoyle]

Wow, a poll with a bell curve. Roll 2d6, 2-5 you're a powergamer, 9-12 you're a roleplayer, 6-8 you're both.

If you think all this dicerolling is nonsense, you actually rolled between 9-12.

If you rolled multiple times to get the "best" roll, you actually rolled between 2-5.

If you rolled "cheater" dice after whining to your DM about not getting enough dice to roll or any bonuses, pretend you actually rolled a 1.

If you don't own any dice to roll and asked your DM, in character, what your character's motivation is, well, just pretend you rolled a 13.

 

[Conaill]

Woohoo! The "more RP than H&S" camp beats the "more H&S than RP" camp by almost 2 to 1 (40 to 22 right now). Myself I voted for "mainly RP". Kinda hard to figure out exactly where the 50-50 line is, but I definitely prefer more RP than I've seen so far in the majority of D&D games...

edit: Is it just me, or does the D&D community seem to be somewhat more hack&slash oriented than other systems?