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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dremmen" data-source="post: 2778409" data-attributes="member: 30977">Thank you allI appreciate all the replies, positive and negative, with the exception of the useless replies that call for a repost of this elsewhere. I realize some folks can't properly verbalize their opinion or disagreement so I guess that's why they chose to interrupt some very insightful commentary. Everyone else - I wanted to make clear again that I was stating my opinion. It is what it is, and others will have different ones and I understand and respect that. Despite all the arguments against, I still do believe that a narrative style is what RPG makers intended their games for and folks that play that style are "qualitatively" playing the game. Can folks play without that and have fun? Absolutely. Do I believe that, despite the fact that they are having their own fun, they are missing the point of this particular and very beloved hobby? Yes. Me and a buddy could grab fishing poles and spar with them. Would that be fun? Yes, and probably a little dangerous. Am I missing the point of the fishing poles? A hard edged fisherman that loved the sport would be mortified. Well, the point is that, in my opinion, the narrative is as intrinsic to the game as dice rolling. In the game as I invision it players put as much into the game as the DM, in effort of making detailed characters and in time they spend talking during a game. With narrative players they guide the action as much as the DM and the DM just needs to interject to describe the surrounding, play NPCs or resolve conflict. Some of you say I'm bitter - and yeah, I'll admit to it. Nine out of ten players out there scuff at narrative style, or at least in my experience they have been. I've met maybe 2, 3 players that can pull it off, and another few that were genuinely interested in stepping their game up. The rest could care less and they have the effect of peer pressuring the rest of the players to a mechanical miasma. They glare at them into piping down because narrative players among nonnarrative players will hug much more game time. So they eventually bend to the masses. And this indeed was written for selfish reasons. As a DM I very simply enjoy narrative players SO much more than this hack and slash glory hounds that are a dime a dozen. In my games I will always encourage RPing and I'm about done making everyone around the table comfortable - time to step their game up and I will help them and encourage them to do so.So those that differ in opinion, more power to you. Those that feel my pain to some degree - thanks for speaking out so I know that indeed there are those out there that value the art of the RPG over just the thrill of the kill. And mechanics are important and if you can be both narrative and mechanical in your description then that's all gravy with me. The Exalted game actually does reward players for good descriptions and narrative, but then again White Wolf has always weighed more towards the storytelling and plot and characters.So in the end, I am sorry if I offended anyone. I still feel that players that can pull off a narrative style consistently are better at playing RPGs and hence why they are more rare, and this is purely based on the essence of the game we are talking about. Hack and slash in, say, Diablo, or Hero Quest, is just fine. RPGs are different from these for that very reason. I don't want to come off as hard headed, this is far from the first time in the last decade that I have discussed this topic with others, and for a long time I was of the camp - play it however you enjoy it. But then I realized that it was hack n slash over and over and over. Narrative is quality and if my having a strong opinion and sticking to it makes me an arse well then so be it.Thanks all for at least reading this and having an informed opinion</blockquote>

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