What Part Does the Role Play in the Role-Playing Game?

[Thomas Shey]

Its not an indictment, just an observation, I'm not judgemental about other people's way of playing. Most are not some great thespian, I'm not.

Its not an issue of whether its an indictment. Its that I think its, on the whole, wrong.

 

[dragoner]

Its not an issue of whether its an indictment. Its that I think its, on the whole, wrong.

So? That doesn't change my opinion.

 

[Thomas Shey]

So? That doesn't change my opinion.

Is your opinion somehow sancrosanct here? If not, there's no reason for me not to have challenged it.

 

[dragoner]

Is your opinion somehow sancrosanct here? If not, there's no reason for me not to have challenged it.

Yeah, it seems like you have something against me.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah, it seems like you have something against me.

No, I have something against your opinion on this, in that I think its incorrect. You seem to be taking that personally for some reason. I don't make it a habit of attacking people, but I feel no such inclination against attacking positions.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Yeah that's why I can't play or run CoC. The 20's were super-duper racist and sexist and it was everywhere in the U.S. But I object because ALL of the CoC actual play streams I've watched or listened to had ZERO racism ZERO sexism. How? It's either the 20's or it isn't

I love historical settings. Not in the least because its fun to watch some players struggle with the norms of the time, while others fully embrace them. We're currently playing in a campaign set in 1889 Mexico (altered to where the Mexican Revolution kicked off in 1888), and watching them deal with the complex web of prejudices of that period is awesome. And a great source of material.

But more to the point, I do not award XP (or its system equivalent) for kills, regardless of the system. You get it for role-play, both in-session and in Discord IC chat, ideas, participation, pointing out rules that hurt another player or the party, and (hefty amounts) for adjusting Role20 PC sheets.

I also deduct for direct or indirect cracks about my age.

 

[MGibster]

I ran a Legend of the Five Rings many years back where the PCs all played Imperial Magistrates serving in Ryoko Owari, the City of Lies. As you might guess, Imperial Magistrates enforce Imperial law, and they're endowed with powers that that any fascist police officer would love to have. One of the PCs arrested a ronin samurai named Jaw and wanted to get some information from him. Jaw wouldn't talk, so the PC brought in a torturer and had him do his thing. The player of course isn't pro-torture. But he was playing a character in a setting where there was a designated torturer available for use, so he took advantage of it.

I started this thread because I was curious to see how many people were interested in roleplaying a character with fundamentally different values and outlook on life. Of course there's no right or wrong answer here, a preference is just a preference.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I ran a Legend of the Five Rings many years back where the PCs all played Imperial Magistrates serving in Ryoko Owari, the City of Lies. As you might guess, Imperial Magistrates enforce Imperial law, and they're endowed with powers that that any fascist police officer would love to have. One of the PCs arrested a ronin samurai named Jaw and wanted to get some information from him. Jaw wouldn't talk, so the PC brought in a torturer and had him do his thing. The player of course isn't pro-torture. But he was playing a character in a setting where there was a designated torturer available for use, so he took advantage of it.

I started this thread because I was curious to see how many people were interested in roleplaying a character with fundamentally different values and outlook on life. Of course there's no right or wrong answer here, a preference is just a preference.

I expect a good number of folks would have a problem with that, but my focus is always on the setting, and so setting fidelity is important to me. I would likely do the thing as your player did in that situation.

Big fan of L5R by the way (pre-Fantasy Flight anyway).

 

[Thomas Shey]

I started this thread because I was curious to see how many people were interested in roleplaying a character with fundamentally different values and outlook on life. Of course there's no right or wrong answer here, a preference is just a preference.

In my case it depends on how fundamentally off-putting I find the specific views. I connect with a character a bit much to be able to do extended play of someone who's attitudes I find outright repulsive.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I ran a Legend of the Five Rings many years back where the PCs all played Imperial Magistrates serving in Ryoko Owari, the City of Lies. As you might guess, Imperial Magistrates enforce Imperial law, and they're endowed with powers that that any fascist police officer would love to have. One of the PCs arrested a ronin samurai named Jaw and wanted to get some information from him. Jaw wouldn't talk, so the PC brought in a torturer and had him do his thing. The player of course isn't pro-torture. But he was playing a character in a setting where there was a designated torturer available for use, so he took advantage of it.

I started this thread because I was curious to see how many people were interested in roleplaying a character with fundamentally different values and outlook on life. Of course there's no right or wrong answer here, a preference is just a preference.

I have found that player resistance to more unsavory tactics fades very quickly when rewards and/or advantage come into play.