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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ulrick" data-source="post: 3928302" data-attributes="member: 775">Remember back when you first played D&D? For me, this was the tale-end of 1st Edition. I was so excited about playing dwarven fighter--just like a dwarf out of Tolkien. I couldn't wait to start playing. I got to battle orcs! "Same orcs as in the Lord of the Rings?" I asked my brother who was the DM. "Yes." "Sweet!" I was addicted. I had already been a reader of fantasy and sci-fi. And I thought D&D was great way to play out those stories. My early attempts at DMing were haphazard at best. I didn't really read the rules--I wanted to tell a great story! Dammit! I soon moved on and mastered the rules for 2e and enjoyed the game. 3e started off as something great for me to DM...but soon made DMing a chore. I wanna tell a great story dammit! Having players poor over the rule books during a session to tweek out that extra little bonus gets old. Having players sit there and ponder for an hour on what feat their character should take at next left gets old. Having players argue with me about why I don't allow such-and-such splatbook get very tiresome. So-called "dead levels," unbalanced characters, babble-babble-babble-blah-blah-blah... just shut up and play the game. I'm trying to tell a great story dammit, and you're angry about not getting a cookie at your next level. What ever happened to "just playing the game and enjoying the story?" 3e seems to encourage both players and DMs to over-analyze the rules.  Whatever happened to thinking up a character concept and then translating that into the rules, instead of thinking up rules and translating them into a character concept? Whatever happend to thinking up a story and translating that story into the rules, and vice versa?It seems like more ruleslawyers have come out of the woodwork since 3e appeared. Armed with their PHBs, DMGs, and MMs (you shouldn't even consult the DMG or MM during the session! Don't you like surprises?) they nag about game balance, whine about being shorted on XP because a CR should be higher for a monster, bitch about power attack, remind me of the ghoul's multiattack penalties, and often the first word out of their mouths at the end of session is "experience?" (Before even I had a split-second of a chance to calculate it).Fortunately, I'm very picky about chosing the players I DM for. But this mentally of "rules before story" occasionally sneeks in. I wanna tell a great story dammit! Would you just let me entertain you? Please? Has anybody else encountered this phenomenon? It has gone beyond the simple ruleslawyering, it's like there this entitlement mentality permeating the gaming culture (maybe coming from video games, though I hate to blame one source).What have you done about it? What will it take to going back and sitting down and playing the game and telling a great story?</blockquote>

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