Sean Reynolds rant about terminology

[jdfrenzel]

This article is way out of bounds. Magic items aren't enchanted? Sure they are, but they may not be "Enchanted", to follow Mr Reynolds' humble guidelines. Mithral?? Is that really different from mithril? And why the change?

It used to be that RPGs presented rules that mimicked fantasy fiction, but now it seems to work the other way around. Mr Reynolds' Orwellian revisions to the English language seem to be an attempt to claim fiction that use words in this way as "belonging" to the D&D worlds. This is a step in the wrong direction, and I'll let the conspiracy theorists take this to its logical conclusion.

I'm all for honoring the words' special meanings in the context of the rules, but no one may question one's use of the words in the context of a story.

--- John

 

[Wolfspider]

Well, if I'd tell my players the king is a "charming fellow", and they take that to mean he is a wizard and constantly charms everyone, that's their fault.

Except that "charming" isn't an official term used in the game.

 

[vox]

Reynold's rants

Was the audience for this supposed to be game designers? If so it makes a little more sense. But if this was intended for players and dms, it's pretty sad.

If my character says to an NPC, "You have proven yourself to be a capable warrior," I really don't want to hear him reply, "No, didn't you notice all my extra feats--I'm a Fighter not a Warrior."

Likewise, if my whatever class character joins a shadowy/magical gang called "The Shadowdancers" the he's a shadowdancer as far as normal conversation is concerned, regardless of whether he has a prestige class or not--maybe he's Fighter and is an enforcer for the gang.

I've read some opinion pieces by Sean K. Reynolds before and they've been needlessly provocative; now I look to see if the swords on his page have been updated and move on. If you also find his writing cocky and antagonistic, I advise you to do the same.

YMMV,
vox

 

[Wolfspider]

Mithral?? Is that really different from mithril? And why the change?

Perhaps trying to avoid being sued by Tolkien Enterprises?

 

[Pielorinho]

Fair enough, but what if your players assume (and rightfully so) that she is a member of the sorcerer class and take that into account in their planning--perhaps using magic on her to drain Charisma or using other tactics that would work against a sorcerer.

Heh - next time, maybe they'll realize that their senses are fallible.

If they see a wizard polymorphed into a monkey, I don't tell them, "You see a wizard polymorphed into a monkey." I tell them they see a monkey.

Likewise, if I tell them they see a sorceress, at the very least they should ask me, "Why do we think it's a sorceress we see?" Superficially, sorceresses don't look any different from wizards (technically, they don't look any different from paladins).

And, to be fair, if the figure in front of them were pasty-faced with big thick glasses and a big book at her side, I wouldn't describe her as a sorceress.

I guess my point is that I don't mix rules-speak with description-speak; in fact, if I'm describing rules, I do it sotto voce, so that people can tell what I'm doing. Spell descriptions, monster descriptions, item descriptions almost never have recognizable game-terms in them.

Hmm. Maybe that's part of why this rant rubs me the wrong way: I guess it'd be a lot more important to use game terms only for their rules-correct meanings if you spoke in game-terms to the players a lot.

Daniel

 

[KDLadage]

Damn...

I guess what I find sad is that a guy that in one sentence says:

I realize that "enchantment" and "enhancement" are very similar words, but good lord pay attention to what you're writing and at least proofread it!

yet opened his rant with a phrase like

It upsets me when they deliberately use different rules them wrong when they don't understand why the actual works and their variant doesn't (and was, in fact, abandoned during playtesting for that reason).

(emphasis mine). Then, he goes on to make gaffes like

...and D&D elves speak Orc.

Wow. here and I thought they had thier own language.

Normally I am not so touchy about proofreading online rants and such. But a rant that gets into the need to proofread, should be proofread.

(all errors in this post are there intentionally, as a matter of irony)

 

[Berandor]

Wolfspider wrote:
Perhaps trying to avoid being sued by Tolkien Enterprises?

But what's the difference if I use it thusly in my game.

You mean, Christopher Tolkien will come to Germany, and sue me?

--
"Take this. It is a charm against evil spirits."
"Don't heed him. He is a rogue wizard."
"Wait here. I will summon my court advisor."
"You arrive at the city gate."

Berandor

 

[Wolfspider]

You mean, Christopher Tolkien will come to Germany, and sue me?

From what I've heard of how zealous TE can be, I wouldn't doubt it.

Seriously, if Reynolds was directing this rant toward the D20 industry, then this would be a valid concern.

 

[Wild Karrde]

I found the article to be amusing. It's a RANT. His Pet Peeves. I would think if you spent the amount of time redesigning a game, and redefining the language that the GAME uses you would become irritated when people say it wrong, or use it in the wrong context. It's just like my irritation when someone calls soda, pop. I hate the word pop, I despise it. Although, that is a little different because it is more of a colloquial language that causes changes in that. What I get is that in the game rules, they define what words mean what and how to use them properly in the game. When you create material, make it correctly, with the appropriate language. And it's not like Sean is going to come knocking at your door if you use otherwise and proceed to pummel you.

*shrug* If you take offense to it, I'm sorry for you. Just remember, that in your game you are the creators of the world. You can modify rules, words, meanings the way you want for YOUR game.

Mearlus

Funny story about the use of the word pop. It used to bother me as well when my girlfriend would say it, so I started teasing her about it. I had this great idea to start saying it everytime I wanted a soda. Now I catch myself saying it all the time. Talk about being your own worst enemy.

 

[EOL]

Re: Damn...

yet opened his rant with a phrase like:

It upsets me when they deliberately use different rules them wrong when they don't understand why the actual works and their variant doesn't (and was, in fact, abandoned during playtesting for that reason).

That was the first thing I noticed as well. If you're going to pontificate on the need for proofreading it helps you're credibility if you follow your own advice.

Also, I'm still not entirely sure what he's trying to say in this phrase.