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What is the "role" in roleplaying
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6936765" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Just out of curiosity, what's your favourite anecdote from the DMG? (I don't recall there being any anecdotes in the PHB, other than the illusionist with 20 orcs.)</p><p></p><p>Mine is the example of the fighter Celowin Silvershield trying to purchase the services of the wizard Llewellyn ap-Owen, but being turned away from Llewellyn's tower by his henchman Tregillish Mul. A close second is Party B, especially Gutboy Barrelhouse (a version of whom figured as a NPC in my 4e game) and Balto the monk.</p><p></p><p>But I don't see that this changes anything about how Gygax was conceiving of the game being played.</p><p></p><p>OK - but nowhere does Gygax talk about anything like this in his presentation of the game. Nor does Moldvay.</p><p></p><p>I'm saying that if someone writes up an example of roleplaying, and tells me a lot about the stuff the characters are doing in order to succeed at their dungeon-exploration goal (eg poking things with poles, stabbing things with swords, whatever it might be) but tells me nothing about their motivations (it is assumed, per p 96 of Gygax's DMG, that they are looking "to find the place they are to seek their fortunes in"), their feelings, their appearance, even their names - then that person is presenting the playing of a role as being a matter of assuming a certain set of functions rather than developing and acting out a distinct personality.</p><p></p><p>OK. That doesn't mean that I'm wrong about how I think of roleplaying, though.</p><p></p><p>Nor does it mean I'm wrong in my reading of Gygax.</p><p></p><p>As far as I can see this is orthogonal to the OP and the poll question.</p><p></p><p>I had a player play a cleric, in the first B/X game I GMed, because he rolled a high WIS. The other character was a halfling because that player enjoyed The Hobbit.</p><p></p><p>There are any number of ways of choosing what character to play, what party to field, etc. But that's not what I was asking about. I was asking about what you think of when you think of roleplaying a character. Do you think of occupying a certain role (broadly speaking, a role defined by your character's mechanical components which then give your character a certain function/capacity etc within the game), or of acting out a certain role (broadly speaking, a role defined by an imagined personality)?</p><p></p><p>My assumption in starting the thread is that not everyone will think the same way. It hadn't occurred to me that so many posters would think that there's only one reasonable or legitimate way to think of roleplaying, though.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6936765, member: 42582"] Just out of curiosity, what's your favourite anecdote from the DMG? (I don't recall there being any anecdotes in the PHB, other than the illusionist with 20 orcs.) Mine is the example of the fighter Celowin Silvershield trying to purchase the services of the wizard Llewellyn ap-Owen, but being turned away from Llewellyn's tower by his henchman Tregillish Mul. A close second is Party B, especially Gutboy Barrelhouse (a version of whom figured as a NPC in my 4e game) and Balto the monk. But I don't see that this changes anything about how Gygax was conceiving of the game being played. OK - but nowhere does Gygax talk about anything like this in his presentation of the game. Nor does Moldvay. I'm saying that if someone writes up an example of roleplaying, and tells me a lot about the stuff the characters are doing in order to succeed at their dungeon-exploration goal (eg poking things with poles, stabbing things with swords, whatever it might be) but tells me nothing about their motivations (it is assumed, per p 96 of Gygax's DMG, that they are looking "to find the place they are to seek their fortunes in"), their feelings, their appearance, even their names - then that person is presenting the playing of a role as being a matter of assuming a certain set of functions rather than developing and acting out a distinct personality. OK. That doesn't mean that I'm wrong about how I think of roleplaying, though. Nor does it mean I'm wrong in my reading of Gygax. As far as I can see this is orthogonal to the OP and the poll question. I had a player play a cleric, in the first B/X game I GMed, because he rolled a high WIS. The other character was a halfling because that player enjoyed The Hobbit. There are any number of ways of choosing what character to play, what party to field, etc. But that's not what I was asking about. I was asking about what you think of when you think of roleplaying a character. Do you think of occupying a certain role (broadly speaking, a role defined by your character's mechanical components which then give your character a certain function/capacity etc within the game), or of acting out a certain role (broadly speaking, a role defined by an imagined personality)? My assumption in starting the thread is that not everyone will think the same way. It hadn't occurred to me that so many posters would think that there's only one reasonable or legitimate way to think of roleplaying, though. [/QUOTE]
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