The top 100 'Sacred Cows' of Roleplaying

[Heathen72]

So, what are those sacred cows of roleplaying that get your goat?
I'm talking about those concepts, phrases or arguments that get rolled out as irrefutable answers in any discussion about a gaming issue or rules discussion. What bugs your bear? This is the spot for your rant!

Oh, one little rule - this isn't a thread for defending the sacred cows that you honour (that get's done enough elsewhere) so even if someone decries the roleplaying principle you hold most sacred, let it be. I don't want this to turn into one long flame war! You can however voice your agreement with someone elses nomination. It's just a venue for suggesting that some 'universal truth' might not be as true as all that.

Number 1. The almost slavish devotion to the mantra that the be all and end all of role playing is that it must be 'fun' (whatever that is). I hate how it get's trotted out to decry the value of 'games' that sound a little more 'challenging' than your average dungeon crawl. At the very least, it relies on a very loose and subjective definition of the 'fun'. "Geez, that doesn't sound like fun to me..."

 

[Whisper72]

Number 2: That some classes are 'broken'. In my opinion (and I state this as my opinion only) the DM can and should be able to adress any supposed unbalance easy in-game. Vast proofs with math that one class deals 0.0005% more damage on average than another etc. are meaningless to me and irritate me to no end. (That's why I avoid 99,9995% of such arguments like the plague)

 

[Crothian]

What's wrong with fun and why do you think people dismiss challenging as not fun? Fun isn't a sacred cow of gaming, in fact very few games actually state that the purpose of playing is fun.

Number 3: Campaigns: when did it all turn into a series of conected adventures? Games that promote one shots are rarely seen.

 

[Aus_Snow]

(re: Crothian's post.. the first part)

Yeah, that's usually a given.




You'd think.

 

[Heathen72]

Number 2: That some classes are 'broken'. In my opinion (and I state this as my opinion only) the DM can and should be able to adress any supposed unbalance easy in-game. Vast proofs with math that one class deals 0.0005% more damage on average than another etc. are meaningless to me and irritate me to no end. (That's why I avoid 99,9995% of such arguments like the plague)

Yeah, given that a GM can 'beat' any PC that the players throw at him anyway, what's the problem? Let PC's create what they like - then the GM can build monsters to challenge them with the same intent!

 

[Heathen72]

What's wrong with fun and why do you think people dismiss challenging as not fun? Fun isn't a sacred cow of gaming, in fact very few games actually state that the purpose of playing is fun.

I'm all for fun, but against the idea of it being 'the ultimate truth'. A lot of people seem to think of it as the be all and end all of role playing, "Is it fun?" being the only important point in evaluating a game.

But I don't want to defend my rant here.

 

[Hussar]

Number 4: Any spell which appeared in earlier editions must be vastly more powerful than any spell after it. Sleep as a save or die spell at 1st level anyone? Magic Missile?

Number 5: Elves.

 

[Nightfall]

Spunky then why play a game if you're not having fun?

I also suggest not opening your rant up so much to have to defend.

 

[Heathen72]

Spunky then why play a game if you're not having fun?

I also suggest not opening your rant up so much to have to defend.

I love fun. I'm mister fun. Fun is my middle name* It just aint everything.

Are any sacred cows the bee in your bonnet Nightfall?



* Which makes me Spunk Fun Rat

 

[Rystil Arden]

Yeah, given that a GM can 'beat' any PC that the players throw at him anyway, what's the problem? Let PC's create what they like - then the GM can build monsters to challenge them with the same intent!

Problems arise when that super monster you created to challenge the problematically powerful PC winds up being an epic and evenly balanced battle that you and that PC will talk about for years to come...but unfortunately all the rest of the PCs died on round 1.