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Tharivious_Meliamne
Guest
Ok, I know what's being thought. Tharivious_Meliamne, long post, Thoughts in the title = rant. And that's right, sort of. I just thought I'd make this thread since it applies to so many of the other threads that have come up over the last year. What am I talking about?
Logic.
I know, I know; I'm talking about logic in regards to a fantasy setting. How can real world logic apply to a setting where demons, devils, dragons, and angels are present, and every other being you see is either one of the aforementioned things, or a vampire? Simple, try to see it from your character's point of view.
Your character may have been to the Nine Hells and back again, but when he goes to the Crossroads, he's still going to a humanoid tavern. (( Does this mean that other creatures shouldn't be allowed? Far from it, in fact I'd be a hypocrite if I said otherwise. )) Shouldn't even the most hardened individual notice when something out of the normal walks in through the doorway? When something different walks into a room filled with humans and elves, wouldn't they at least glance when that different something enters?
Let's look at it from a different perspective: Say you're in a club, or bar, or whatever, and you see, oh, let's say someone who is over seven feet tall walk into the room. It's a relatively well lit place, and you can see clearly. Wouldn't you notice someone unusually tall walking in? Would you at least glance to see if the view from the corner of your eye was accurate? I think most people would, and I know that I would. (( Note, I have nothing against the extraordinarily tall ))
Let me give an example from the chats from the other night to demonstrate, and no, I'm not bitter about it, just find it amusing and fitting to my point.
I brought in my Nocturan Deadfall character, anyone who has read over the Apathy thread (( Which I think is all of 4 or 5 people when it goes in multiple page per day posting sprees. )) knows of him. He's about eight and a half feet tall, and probably weighs as much as a mid-size car. He's a lizardfolk in general appearance, but he's also a sort of flesh golem/machine hyrbid, and covered in chains from head to toe almost. The sort of thing that is very much out of the ordinary in a human based tavern.
Now, when he got in there, the room was quiet, maybe four or five people in there tops, and very little was going on, three of the characters were almost silent the entire time he was in, which was about 20-30 minutes. Not a single of these humanoid characters even glanced at him, not even once. Now, this could be chalked up to laziness on the players' part, and to the usual 'I don't know you, so I won't acknowledge your existence' attitude that has been mentioned so often on these boards; except for one thing:
Within a minute of my entering, I was PMed by another player, asking if Nocturan was undead. I politely said no, and explained that he might look that way, and was informed that the description was why I was asked. Now, if a player reads the description, can pick out something that their character would take notice of on sight, and then proceeds to ask about it, wouldn't you think that said character would at least take a glance at that something?
I'm sure that many would suggest solving this problem by saying 'don't play something so different and your character might be more welcomed by others', but I personally would hate to think that is the only solution. It would stifle the vital creativity of the site to say that, and it could take some of the enjoyment out of it for others.
Obviously, noticing others isn't the only subject where Logic seems to be lacking at times, but I've gone into Combat and several other things on several other threads, so I won't cover them here.
And yes, I know I'm preaching to the proverbial choir here, the players that frequent these message boards are very seldom not the problem, but I just thought it should be said.
I'm also not saying that everyone has to notice every little thing that happens, but just think logically. When something unusual shows up, put yourself in your character's shoes. Would you notice what just walked in the door if you were there in person?
Logic.
I know, I know; I'm talking about logic in regards to a fantasy setting. How can real world logic apply to a setting where demons, devils, dragons, and angels are present, and every other being you see is either one of the aforementioned things, or a vampire? Simple, try to see it from your character's point of view.
Your character may have been to the Nine Hells and back again, but when he goes to the Crossroads, he's still going to a humanoid tavern. (( Does this mean that other creatures shouldn't be allowed? Far from it, in fact I'd be a hypocrite if I said otherwise. )) Shouldn't even the most hardened individual notice when something out of the normal walks in through the doorway? When something different walks into a room filled with humans and elves, wouldn't they at least glance when that different something enters?
Let's look at it from a different perspective: Say you're in a club, or bar, or whatever, and you see, oh, let's say someone who is over seven feet tall walk into the room. It's a relatively well lit place, and you can see clearly. Wouldn't you notice someone unusually tall walking in? Would you at least glance to see if the view from the corner of your eye was accurate? I think most people would, and I know that I would. (( Note, I have nothing against the extraordinarily tall ))
Let me give an example from the chats from the other night to demonstrate, and no, I'm not bitter about it, just find it amusing and fitting to my point.
I brought in my Nocturan Deadfall character, anyone who has read over the Apathy thread (( Which I think is all of 4 or 5 people when it goes in multiple page per day posting sprees. )) knows of him. He's about eight and a half feet tall, and probably weighs as much as a mid-size car. He's a lizardfolk in general appearance, but he's also a sort of flesh golem/machine hyrbid, and covered in chains from head to toe almost. The sort of thing that is very much out of the ordinary in a human based tavern.
Now, when he got in there, the room was quiet, maybe four or five people in there tops, and very little was going on, three of the characters were almost silent the entire time he was in, which was about 20-30 minutes. Not a single of these humanoid characters even glanced at him, not even once. Now, this could be chalked up to laziness on the players' part, and to the usual 'I don't know you, so I won't acknowledge your existence' attitude that has been mentioned so often on these boards; except for one thing:
Within a minute of my entering, I was PMed by another player, asking if Nocturan was undead. I politely said no, and explained that he might look that way, and was informed that the description was why I was asked. Now, if a player reads the description, can pick out something that their character would take notice of on sight, and then proceeds to ask about it, wouldn't you think that said character would at least take a glance at that something?
I'm sure that many would suggest solving this problem by saying 'don't play something so different and your character might be more welcomed by others', but I personally would hate to think that is the only solution. It would stifle the vital creativity of the site to say that, and it could take some of the enjoyment out of it for others.
Obviously, noticing others isn't the only subject where Logic seems to be lacking at times, but I've gone into Combat and several other things on several other threads, so I won't cover them here.
And yes, I know I'm preaching to the proverbial choir here, the players that frequent these message boards are very seldom not the problem, but I just thought it should be said.
I'm also not saying that everyone has to notice every little thing that happens, but just think logically. When something unusual shows up, put yourself in your character's shoes. Would you notice what just walked in the door if you were there in person?