kiznit
Explorer
The game simply kicks ass. I've finally gotten a new group together and have started playing again on a weekly basis, and it has given me some time to think on why it's so much darned fun, especially with all the discussions about it's success here recently. So check this out:
I see two primary facets of the game that are the reasons why we keep coming back to play, week after week, and why it holds such a cherished place in our hearts. To many of you these may seem obvious, but I felt the need to recognize them and write them down.
Facet One: The Rules
As Robin Laws so aptly puts it, the "crunchy bits". Reading an RPG book is like catalog shopping for super powers - "Ooh, multishot! I'll take one of those!" When it come to the actual gameplay, it's all about strategy and tactics, just spiced with a whole mess of flavor harkening to every cool action scene from every movie we've seen.
Like the DMG says, only the uber gamer geeks have every single rule memorized, the rest of us kind of make do and resolve our moments of drama and suspense the best we can, on the fly. And that's okay! Sure, there's something to be said for figuring out all the sexy little exploits in the ruleset, or calculating your to-hit chances to the third decimal place. But even if you're twelve years old and cracking the core rulebooks for the first time and don't know what the heck you're doing, there's still an inate strategic appeal.
This game is a powerful little exercise in excitement and triumph - a well-researched and well-balanced ruleset with the perfect blend of matching wits with each other over a table of miniatures with a nice little dose of randomness determining each and every action. Lots of times you win and it feels damn good, and sometimes you lose, which can make you nervous and excited and all the more enthusiastic when you win again. Even though it's all just numbers on paper.
Facet Two: The Roleplay
Is it dead, is it not dead? Whatever. No matter how dry your DM is with the flavor text, who doesn't get a little thrill crawling up their spine when their characters are looking down the foreboding entrance of another Dungeon? Even if you're just trading hit point damages back and forth, aren't you still imagining how much your character is a bad-ass in combat? Don't tell me that "style points" weren't a factor when you were picking your favored weapon?
My buddies and I definitely favor the beer-and-pretzels style of roleplay - we don't take things too seriously (Lord knows we all know what happens when we get too into our characters, don't we, BlackLeaf?) and the game can quickly devolve into jokes and anachronisms and people making light-hearted fun of each other. I think that that's just part of the role-playing too.
But the grins and anticipation are really visible when the DM's describing the dusky hush of a temple hall, or the snort and the scrape of a minotaur pawing at the ground in a deadly challenge. Or the chuckles at the crazy antics of a colorful NPC, or the cackle of the BBEG as he invokes his dark Gods in the height of combat; these too are the moments that make the game. I make it a point to make every player describe what happens when he makes a critical hit, or to explain what their character looks like and acts whenever someone new comes to the table. It's all part of the ambience - it has nothing to do with the feelings of winning or losing, it just makes the game seem richer.
So there it is. I think the real magic is the back and forth between the rules and the roleplay. I can't think of a single other pasttime that integrates both sides of the brain like this so well and so seemlessly. For those of you who constantly snipe on the lack of realism in the D20 system or whatever, I feel like that is where good roleplay comes in - the rules are purely an abstract of fantasy action. They're there for fun. Like playing chess or video games, that part of the game is just the thrill of succeeding within a set of defined paramenters. If you want realism, roleplay it. Be creative. Describe exactly what your character's doing and why he's doing it. If he fails the check, come up with an explanation as to why it failed, instead of looking to the rules to explain it for you. Have fun. play around with ideas. Let other players explain what's going on. Do the mind-share thing.
And for those of you harping on people who don't roleplay enough, or get into the world you're creating, remember that sometimes the combat and number-crunching can be a lot of fun by itself. Cut the guy some slack if he spends all his time figuring out exactly where to move his figure for maximum advantage, where to work the five-foot step and strategize his full attack, or at what exact hit-point level to strategically withdraw. It may not seem "realistic", but the guy's probably totally enjoying himself.
Action, problem-solving, strategy, flavor, creativity, prose and poetry, all in a single evening and for the low low price of a set of books. We, as gamers, are the blessed of the world. We get to have incredible amounts of fun with fairly little spent.
Share and Enjoy, baby!
I see two primary facets of the game that are the reasons why we keep coming back to play, week after week, and why it holds such a cherished place in our hearts. To many of you these may seem obvious, but I felt the need to recognize them and write them down.
Facet One: The Rules
As Robin Laws so aptly puts it, the "crunchy bits". Reading an RPG book is like catalog shopping for super powers - "Ooh, multishot! I'll take one of those!" When it come to the actual gameplay, it's all about strategy and tactics, just spiced with a whole mess of flavor harkening to every cool action scene from every movie we've seen.
Like the DMG says, only the uber gamer geeks have every single rule memorized, the rest of us kind of make do and resolve our moments of drama and suspense the best we can, on the fly. And that's okay! Sure, there's something to be said for figuring out all the sexy little exploits in the ruleset, or calculating your to-hit chances to the third decimal place. But even if you're twelve years old and cracking the core rulebooks for the first time and don't know what the heck you're doing, there's still an inate strategic appeal.
This game is a powerful little exercise in excitement and triumph - a well-researched and well-balanced ruleset with the perfect blend of matching wits with each other over a table of miniatures with a nice little dose of randomness determining each and every action. Lots of times you win and it feels damn good, and sometimes you lose, which can make you nervous and excited and all the more enthusiastic when you win again. Even though it's all just numbers on paper.
Facet Two: The Roleplay
Is it dead, is it not dead? Whatever. No matter how dry your DM is with the flavor text, who doesn't get a little thrill crawling up their spine when their characters are looking down the foreboding entrance of another Dungeon? Even if you're just trading hit point damages back and forth, aren't you still imagining how much your character is a bad-ass in combat? Don't tell me that "style points" weren't a factor when you were picking your favored weapon?
My buddies and I definitely favor the beer-and-pretzels style of roleplay - we don't take things too seriously (Lord knows we all know what happens when we get too into our characters, don't we, BlackLeaf?) and the game can quickly devolve into jokes and anachronisms and people making light-hearted fun of each other. I think that that's just part of the role-playing too.
But the grins and anticipation are really visible when the DM's describing the dusky hush of a temple hall, or the snort and the scrape of a minotaur pawing at the ground in a deadly challenge. Or the chuckles at the crazy antics of a colorful NPC, or the cackle of the BBEG as he invokes his dark Gods in the height of combat; these too are the moments that make the game. I make it a point to make every player describe what happens when he makes a critical hit, or to explain what their character looks like and acts whenever someone new comes to the table. It's all part of the ambience - it has nothing to do with the feelings of winning or losing, it just makes the game seem richer.
So there it is. I think the real magic is the back and forth between the rules and the roleplay. I can't think of a single other pasttime that integrates both sides of the brain like this so well and so seemlessly. For those of you who constantly snipe on the lack of realism in the D20 system or whatever, I feel like that is where good roleplay comes in - the rules are purely an abstract of fantasy action. They're there for fun. Like playing chess or video games, that part of the game is just the thrill of succeeding within a set of defined paramenters. If you want realism, roleplay it. Be creative. Describe exactly what your character's doing and why he's doing it. If he fails the check, come up with an explanation as to why it failed, instead of looking to the rules to explain it for you. Have fun. play around with ideas. Let other players explain what's going on. Do the mind-share thing.
And for those of you harping on people who don't roleplay enough, or get into the world you're creating, remember that sometimes the combat and number-crunching can be a lot of fun by itself. Cut the guy some slack if he spends all his time figuring out exactly where to move his figure for maximum advantage, where to work the five-foot step and strategize his full attack, or at what exact hit-point level to strategically withdraw. It may not seem "realistic", but the guy's probably totally enjoying himself.
Action, problem-solving, strategy, flavor, creativity, prose and poetry, all in a single evening and for the low low price of a set of books. We, as gamers, are the blessed of the world. We get to have incredible amounts of fun with fairly little spent.
Share and Enjoy, baby!
