Rat Bastardry: Is there an equivalent for players?

[takyris]

Well, steveroo, several of the people in the group are telling you differently. I don't think I'd swear on a bible that they're utterly mutually exclusive in every way, shape, and form, but I do know that popular sentiment on the RBDM board is that killing a PC is just about the least inventive thing you can do to him.

An RBDM can make his players scared, anxious, and excited without killing half the group.

And, as nemm implied, there's nothing inventive or fun about a falling-block trap that drops from the ceiling and kills the rogue and the sorcerer.

So... they're not the same thing, and while they might not be 100% mutually exclusive, I think that the overlap is slim.

As for the nomenclature, I've gone with RB-Player a fair amount, and I've lobbed Plotbreaker at one of my players more than once.

 

[Macbeth]

The Ultimate rat Bastard Player: Brian, from Kinights of the Dinner Table. Now we just need to see what happens when Brian ends up in a game with a real Rat Bastard GM

 

[Pbartender]

It's all been said already, so I won't repeat it, but...

An RBDM never designs a trap that can't be bypassed. It might be tough. It might be unpleasant. The players might not figure that trap out. But if they get frustrated, it's with themselves and not with the DM, because they KNOW that the RBDM doesn't get any particular enjoyment out of killing them -- they're frustrated because they KNOW that there was some way to disarm the trap, bypass the trap, or never need to go into the hallway with the trap in the first place.

This is a lesson my players learned fairly quickly. Often, I play my tricks very straightforward, but sometimes they I'll try to pull a sly one on them. It encourages them to think outside the rules a little... Even when they run across the ordinary traps and tricks. As a result, they've come up with some rather ingenious solutions on occasion. (PC: Agh! The fighter is charmed by a succubus! Quick! Use your Stone Shape to encase him in stone! DM: Sure, but he gets a Reflex Save to avoid being trapped.)

Personally, I love it when players take their characters off in a slightly unexpected direction (but only if they have a good reason... Much like DMs who are arbitrary PC-killers, PCs who completely avoid an adventure just to spite the DM are jerks). With a decent DM, those forays can turn into some of the most interesting and memorable adventures.

During a recent session, when the party reached the City, the party cleric started checking out the local temple, just to see how things were going. A rival religion treated her very hospitably, and as a congregation were quite cheerful. She latched onto it, and became a bit paranoid about them. She began snooping around the temple, listening into conversations, everything short of breaking into locked doors to figure out what was wrong. Now, I just need to decide exactly what is wrong... At the time, I couldn't help thinking, "When they begin suspecting the friendly, happy people, I know I must be doing something right."

Steveroo... The general sentiment on the RBDM boards is, "Though PC deaths are sometimes an unfortunate result of Rat Bastardry, it should never be the goal."

Anyway... I kind of like Plotbreakers. Though I've more often used "Goddamned Players" (one of my personal favorites).

As many headaches as they give me, this RBDM loves his GDPCs. Nothing makes me prouder than to be able to give one of them bonus XP for an extraordinary thought... Even if it doesn't work.

 

[hong]

And, as nemm implied, there's nothing inventive or fun about a falling-block trap that drops from the ceiling and kills the rogue and the sorcerer.

OTOH, there's something to be said for a trap that drops the rogue into a pit, where he lands on the spring-loaded plate, throwing him back into the ceiling, where he falls back into the pit, and then piles of rubble land on him as the ceiling caves in.

For bonus points, the floor of the pit then collapses, revealing the way to the next level of the dungeon.

BTW Takyris, your namesake guildmaster thief IMC is going quite well. However I see a confrontation with the assassin's guild in the near future, which you might need some assistance from a certain band of ragtag adventurers to get out of.

 

[nameless]

When I think of a rat bastard player, I think of someone who exploits loopholes in the game world. If the ruler of a nearby kingdom is a level 8 fighter, and he doesn't have any defense against those who are individually more powerful, for instance. (i.e. no alliances or powerful hired help) A clever player (who is higher level than the king, of course) would probably find it not too difficult to arrange a coup, and with some good social skills and disguise magic, even have the people of his new country hail him as a savior. With the backing of a nation's treasury and entrenched nobility, a great many problems become not a problem.

If the rat bastards aren't exploiting the political situations, then other things are easy to find. Most living things need food and water, if the PCs can prevent an enemy from finding adequate rations (which gets easier as the enemy's numbers grow), they can wipe out a big force without even rolling a die.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Ah Rat-Bastardy in a player...

...tis a glorious thing often complemented by the loopy player. You know the ones who pick up all the merits and flaws, not to create a min-maxed character but because they will enjoy the challenge of playing an armless mute acrobat.

 

[ConnorSB]

I was the rat bastard player once. Basically the whole party was yet to be a party, and we had all made plans to, uh, steal this famous sword.

So I decide to take out the leader of the sword's guards (i'm working alone), so that I can pretend to be him, and jack the sword when i'm suposed to be putting it back into its vault (it's being auctioned).

Meanwhile, the rest of the party basically pretends to be the maker/auctioner of the sword, and sets up a ruse such that the sword appears broken. Well, really they tried to remotely teleport it, but unfortunatly it was chained to the wall, and that didn't work at all.

In any case, they convice the guard to take the sword from the wall so that it can be "fixed at my shop", and then the guard gets hit by the poison I put in his food, and goes to the privy, where I kill him and take his place. Then I go after the fake auctioner. and tell him to give me back the sword, or at least accompany him to his shop.

Things come to a head when just then the REAL auctioner shows up, as does the rest of the party, which had high tailed it to the big open square where this was happening. They remotely steal the sword out of the fake auctioners hand. She motions to them, which I notice.

I basically figure out what just happened, realized how increadibly screwed I am, and try to figure out how to get out of there. So I "arrest" the fake auctioner, and somehome convince the other guards that it would be good for me alone to escort him away to jail. Then I basically blackmail her, and get some money and the names of the people she is helping.

A day later, the party has already fenced the sword to thier master (and had cleverly figured out who he was, or at least who one of his lacky's was). Anyway, I basically show up and say "no hard feelings, want to help me with a shakedown job?"

They agree, and after the job I ask if they want introductions to the local thief guild, run by my adopted father, The Beggar King. So they say sure, I take them down, show them around, and then talk to my father alone, and basically say that we are gonna double cross the party, kill them and take thier stuff. He agrees, and so I let the rest of the party in to his office.

Then things get intersting. My rat bastard DM decides that my daddy is gonna shoot me, and STILL betray the party. My character dies, theirs are poisioned, one is taken hostage, and general evil mayhem ensues. All because my character wanted a sword.

It was the perfect moment of crazy rat bastard backstabing RP.

 

[Dirigible]

there's something to be said for a trap that drops the rogue into a pit, where he lands on the spring-loaded plate, throwing him back into the ceiling, where he falls back into the pit, and then piles of rubble land on him as the ceiling caves in.

Oh, you've got the preview of Slapstick and Sillyness : Three Stooges d20 ?

As has been said before, it's cheese-bastards who make the game worth playing. There's nothing better than the plot taking an outrageous turn due to player brilliance.

My personal favourites :

1) The PC, the Lord Baron of the land, was the subject of a highly unflattering play at the local theatre. He tries negotiating, but the radical playwright and director wants no part of it. So, the PC buys up every last seat in the house, every night, for a week. And sits there. Every night. Doing paperwork, not paying a scrap of attention to the lonely actors on stage, but insisting they continue ever time they stop the performance. He wanted his moneysworth, after all.

The play director relented, eventually.

2) While exploring the Underdark, a party member was grapped by an amphibious underground-sea serpent beastie. As it reared up out of the water to attack again, the PC drew a scroll from his belt...

*THWACK*

And hits the serpent over the snout. Repeatedly.

Possibly the first time in RPG history the major bad guy has been defeated by the words "Bad frog-thing! Bad! Bad! Bad!"

3) See my MN storyhour. Never has shooting an ally in the foot been more amusing.

 

[Norfleet]

Rat Bastard players are people who do things like applying Disintegrate to load-bearing structural members supporting many tons of rock, create monofilament meshes and bisection planes out of Wall of Force, and otherwise apply legitimate tools in ways which are perfectly logical, but not at all covered by the rules, generally in ways which completely derail or upset the intended balance of the encounter. Much as a rat-bastard DM forces players to think outside the box, the rat-bastard player confounds the DM by forcing the DM to think outside the box. The world becomes a truly warped place when a rat-bastard DM is pitted against a rat-bastard player.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Mr. Norfleet, I like the cut of your jib.