The top 100 'Sacred Cows' of Roleplaying

[Psion]

Sacred Peeve #__ (someone can fill in the blank later):

Referring to "characters" as "players".

Yes, yes, yes.

I just purchased a product by a company I otherwise liked. And it was riddled with instances of using talking about the "players" taking on all kinds of dangerous missions.

 

[Odhanan]

77 - As a RPG publisher, I can afford to be condescending with gamers. After all, I'm the one who gets the paycheck off these losers! (Not even speaking of hygiene, sheesh)

78 - As a gamer, I can afford to be overly critical with RPG publishers, even insult them and tell them they're morons if they don't think like I do or don't bow to my every wish, since I'm the one spilling cash for the crappy stuff they publish!

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Yes, yes, yes.

I just purchased a product by a company I otherwise liked. And it was riddled with instances of using talking about the "players" taking on all kinds of dangerous missions.

I am often sending my players on dangerous missions, "10 XP for whoever brings me a soda from the kitchen!"

Later
silver

 

[buzz]

Once again the inability of net humor to function rears it's ugly head.

Oh, duh!

I equated "players" with "characters". Holy Mazes & Monsters, Batman!

 

[Hussar]

55: the more spikes or serrations a sword has, the bigger the axe blade or hammer head the tougher and meaner the weapons. I'm so sick of an otherwise good painting or drawing ruined by 3' wide axe blades and 40 lb hammerheads and swords with more spikes than a cactus on steroids. Doubly so for any extra blades or striking surfaces...

QFT. This is something that has always bugged me. It was a real eye opener to my 12 year old brain when I went to the Royal Ontario Museum and saw real maces, warhammers, battle axes and the like and realized how bloody small most of them really are.

Or at least small in comparison to what I saw in fantasy art. Bili the Axe indeed.

79. There should be more Eberron content in Dragon and Dungeon.

((Sorry, just had to ))

 

[WarlockLord]

#77: DM's can do random, stupid stuff such as:

"You feel a fart coming up. Make a fortitude save. Oops, you failed. Now, make another Fort save. Oh, it's silent but deadly. The dragon down the hall smells it (my shadowcaster had been scouting out a dragon's lair). He breaths fire that misses by a long shot. However, methane is explosive, and your fart filled the air. Make a Reflex save!"

 

[VirgilCaine]

32: Your finces are universally accepted, reguardless of country of origin. Gold coins could spend thousands of years in a jug at the bottom of the sea, if you pull them up, they still spend the same.

I was going to say something about if the coins were pure gold, just like the modern coins, you could easily use them, since the value of gold doesn't change much...but then I remembered the Spanish treasure fleets and the pilgrimage of an African king to Mecca who devalued gold worldwide by distributing so much of it...

Actually, in many historical periods, precious metals were used as bullion currency, i.e. by weight, without any regard to what was printed or stamped on it. Thats why the Vikings for example used to cut silver or (much more rarely) gold artifacts into equal portions of "hacksliver" so they could divide up loot by weight. They also traded coins with established civilizations like the Khazars, the Byzantines and the Caliphate of Spain on the same basis (i.e. weight and relative (apparent) purity of the metal).

And apparently I was right in the first place.

68) Midieval European Fantasy - I'm bored to tears by it. Moreover, I'm irritated by worlds which dont jive with the system. If cure disease and raise dead are simple matters (which they are in D&D), the world should reflect that. Greyhawk is about the epitome of this garbage, which just drops magic in the world with little thought as to how it would impact things.

Here's one for me:

That you have to account for the effects of magic on society.

In D&D, this doesn't happen. Magic is based around individuals, not groups. It requires training and sacrifice. By the DMG demographics, there aren't enough spellcasters to radically change the world.

 

[Odhanan]

#77: DM's can do random, stupid stuff such as:

Warlock: that's #80, in fact.

 

[GMSkarka]

77 - As a RPG publisher, I can afford to be condescending with gamers. After all, I'm the one who gets the paycheck off these losers! (Not even speaking of hygiene, sheesh)

78 - As a gamer, I can afford to be overly critical with RPG publishers, even insult them and tell them they're morons if they don't think like I do or don't bow to my every wish, since I'm the one spilling cash for the crappy stuff they publish!

As a corollary to the above:

(Whatever Number We're Up To) - RPG Publishers are somehow separate from gamers, and not simply gamers themselves.

 

[Hussar]

#81 Any houseruled, homebrew setting is invariably better than anything anyone publishes.

#82 WOTC. Not WOTC anything, just WOTC. Touted as either the justification or the villainization of any concept/book/idea/ whatever.

#83 Any artwork which deviates from historical accuracy/European based fantasy is dungeon punk and to be derided.