Who likes evil, raise their hand... *most people raise their hand*... *goodie-two-shoes look nervous*. Most people have a want to play an evil character in an RPG. Why is this? Because RPGs are an escape from reality! They're not real! People can pretend for a moment without the fear of actually doing 15 to life.
My beef is with the 90% of these people that don't seem to understand what evil is. Let them play an evil character and what happens? Psychotic random murderous rampage of blood orgies while laughing the entire time (maniacally)! This is even the result no matter the evil alignment choice. I can almost understand this action if they're Chaotic Evil. Evil = bad, Chaos = random. But back the truck up suckah! Chaotic Evil means in a nutshell that you do not like laws or being constrained by them, you believe in yourself first and foremost, and you don't have an accurate (according to those previously mentioned "goodie-two-shoes"... and hey, why do bad guys have to have only one shoe anyways???) moral compass. This does not mean you are a psychopathic fucking nut-ball murderous fiend from Hell!
Let's flip the evil-coin here for a minute. Lawful Evil. This is often misunderstood (especially by the new comer). The "Lawful" in Lawful Evil does not mean you have to obey the laws while having a devil on your shoulder talking to you. It means you believe that there should be a set of rules, laws, or a code that people should have to follow (although in this case they're usually of the evil variety). You usually desire to be on the top of this hierarchy so you can reap the full benefits of this order. You aspire to world domination; and all other manner of this kind of wonderful stuff. On a further Lawful note (and digressing slightly from Evil for a second), you can play a Lawful Good character that does not follow society's laws. "What???" you say? Think of Batman for example. He does not follow society's laws in the slightest; but he has his own set of very strict values and codes that he imposes on everyone around him.
OK, time to act evil! Get out there and stomp on some lesser folk to get ahead!... wait... *pushes the reverse button*... You don't have to act outwardly evil! You can even act good! I know I'm blowing some people's minds, but read ahead please. If you yourself are Chaotic Evil, and you are at work, working close with a group of people that are of the Lawful Good variety; would you constantly be pissing in their coffee, putting tacks on their chairs, or all out physically attacking them? No, you wouldn't. You'd be trying to at least somewhat emulate their Lawful Good behavior so that your Evil nature goes unnoticed. Especially if you have the penalty of being fired looming over your head. Let's apply this situation to D&D for a second. Say you're playing a Chaotic Evil Rogue. You are in a group with a Lawful Good Cleric, a Neutral Good Fighter, and a Chaotic Good Barbarian. You are traveling through a land where there are many local watchmen patrolling around, a strong grasp of power secured by the local Lawful Neutral King, and a penalty for theft of chopping off the offending hand. Would you given the chance, try to pick the pockets of the local merchant, rape and murder a helpless damsel left alone with you for you to protect, try to save a group of goblins that are attacked by your party? No, you wouldn't. You would be grinning showing your pearly-whites, acting all nice and proper but hating every minute of it and just waiting for your time to release some pent up evil energy.
Let's turn our attention to the DM/GM for a second. Yes, I'm looking at you! Why is it SO hard for some DMs or GMs to run a campaign with one or two (or even an entire party) Evil characters in it? If your players are playing their evil characters properly (see above), then there should be no problems; in fact, it should add to the campaign, making it more rich in flavor and making your job easier by adding awesome twists and turns and plot hooks! If they are playing them like the psychopathic killer on acid filled with rabies, then guess what... they'll soon die or be in jail. Problem solved. And to all you people who legitimately want to play the crazy shit brained murderous psycho and role play it properly: cool! Just know this, unless the campaign is designed to entertain such characters, one of two results will be the case. 1) You will die or spend the rest of your days rotting in the depths of the King's dungeon. 2) Your DM or GM can't handle characters like yours (DMs/GMs, see my previous rant about killing off problem characters as a solution) and you will take over their campaign. Bonus for you!
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Oct 16, 2009
Sep 11, 2009
Micro-Player Rant
By the topic you might be thinking that I'm going to be talking about really small players; but no, that is not the case. I'm talking about all those players that micromanage (when they're not the manager: DM or GM) your RPG games. This type of player (unless your group is entirely comprised of them and you as DM or GM are one of them) ruins campaigns. They ruin campaigns quicker than the DM/GM shouting, "Because I said so... ok fine, God shot down fifty f#@&ing lightning bolts and you're all f#@&ing dead!!! Now what?!"
Don't you just hate it when you're running an adventure and to keep things flowing at a good pace you omit some useless bogged down rules and one of your players (always the same one every time) says, "Oh, but what about this rule on page 136, paragraph 3, line 13?"
Then you try to explain to them that you don't always need every rule and sometimes some of them get in the way. They never understand though. Oh, and never, EVER forget about a rule. That always prompts this kind of player to immediately point out how you forgot something (usually only after they have calculated to take advantage of you forgetting about it) and then after the situation is over say something like, "A DM that doesn't know the rules; that's funny!"
Actually what's funny would be me planting a d20 up your flared nostril! The problem is, short of shutting down a campaign and never inviting this person again, it is very hard to deal with this.
If the person can handle this kind of confrontation (which most should be able to) I would suggest talking to them about it. Sit them down, without everyone else there, and just explain how their behaviour is getting in the way of the game. Explain that it's nothing against them personally, and you understand that they feel that they're just helping (and you appreciate the intent), but it is really getting in the way of the other players and you doing your job.
If the above does not work, or you know it won't work, I suggest the following:
Kill their character! This is fairly easy and does not shut down the campaign. This of course does not solve the problem if you are playing a campaign where people can just create another character. Might I suggest my favourite: the falling stone block of doom trap, now with bait! Have a crude stone block 10'x10' (really big and heavy) suspended from the ceiling in a 10' wide passage way right infront of a door leading to a room. The trap should be discovered (either have the party's rogue discover it, or make it bloody obvious). Now, in the room beyond this, put an amazing, obviously magical and obviously priceless item in plain sight lit by torches either side of it. Before the party can decide how to disarm the trap, announce that whatever baddies are in your adventure are about to take the Item of Awesome away! Oh no! FYI, this type of player always wants the best of everything and to have the most coinage so they WILL fall for this bait. Announce that anyone wanting to go for the treasure can attempt to jump underneath the stone block with the motion sensor trigger to get the treasure. It should be only the micromanager that jumps. Of course the difficulty to survive this si very hard. They will fail the roll, and they will die. This is enough to kill any character short of immortals. Should they roll something immaculate, you can always fall back on the baddies seeing the adventurers and shutting the door just as the character jumps... headbutt into the door and a stone block falling on his/her head! Problem solved.
Don't you just hate it when you're running an adventure and to keep things flowing at a good pace you omit some useless bogged down rules and one of your players (always the same one every time) says, "Oh, but what about this rule on page 136, paragraph 3, line 13?"
Then you try to explain to them that you don't always need every rule and sometimes some of them get in the way. They never understand though. Oh, and never, EVER forget about a rule. That always prompts this kind of player to immediately point out how you forgot something (usually only after they have calculated to take advantage of you forgetting about it) and then after the situation is over say something like, "A DM that doesn't know the rules; that's funny!"
Actually what's funny would be me planting a d20 up your flared nostril! The problem is, short of shutting down a campaign and never inviting this person again, it is very hard to deal with this.
If the person can handle this kind of confrontation (which most should be able to) I would suggest talking to them about it. Sit them down, without everyone else there, and just explain how their behaviour is getting in the way of the game. Explain that it's nothing against them personally, and you understand that they feel that they're just helping (and you appreciate the intent), but it is really getting in the way of the other players and you doing your job.
If the above does not work, or you know it won't work, I suggest the following:
Kill their character! This is fairly easy and does not shut down the campaign. This of course does not solve the problem if you are playing a campaign where people can just create another character. Might I suggest my favourite: the falling stone block of doom trap, now with bait! Have a crude stone block 10'x10' (really big and heavy) suspended from the ceiling in a 10' wide passage way right infront of a door leading to a room. The trap should be discovered (either have the party's rogue discover it, or make it bloody obvious). Now, in the room beyond this, put an amazing, obviously magical and obviously priceless item in plain sight lit by torches either side of it. Before the party can decide how to disarm the trap, announce that whatever baddies are in your adventure are about to take the Item of Awesome away! Oh no! FYI, this type of player always wants the best of everything and to have the most coinage so they WILL fall for this bait. Announce that anyone wanting to go for the treasure can attempt to jump underneath the stone block with the motion sensor trigger to get the treasure. It should be only the micromanager that jumps. Of course the difficulty to survive this si very hard. They will fail the roll, and they will die. This is enough to kill any character short of immortals. Should they roll something immaculate, you can always fall back on the baddies seeing the adventurers and shutting the door just as the character jumps... headbutt into the door and a stone block falling on his/her head! Problem solved.
Aug 28, 2009
D&D Rant
The premier rant is going to be about Dungeons & Dragons. This is by far my favorite role playing game (as I'm sure it is for most people). I think it is mainly my favorite due to the nostalgia aspect it has for me. I remember back in grade 8 playing D&D in "silent reading" time which was allowed because my teacher used to play D&D back when it first came out (it also helped that we were playing with the D&D Basic rules that she was familiar with).
What I don't get is all of the factionalism and heavy debate over 3.5 versus 4th! Here are a few quotes from a forum that I read:
Shut up for a second! :)
For all those people who say, "Why fix what isn't broken?" If corporations stopped coming out with new editions they would go out of business. Then after they went out of business, you would all be saying, "Stupid company going out of business, I'm bored now without any new modules or material!"
I feel there is a time and a place for BOTH systems (and even OD&D or Basic D&D Revised). Call me crazy, but I think this because in my view they work differently. I feel 4th is best if you want to play a high magic, high combat dungeon crawl. Nothing gets you through it faster, smoother, and with as much fun (and what wizard player doesn't appreciate NOT dying?). Now I think 3.5 is better if you want to play a campaign that is more diplomatic or stealth based. I just feel the rule mechanics (if the DM knows them well) work better in this edition for that type of campaign. Also, say you want to just play a few games for fun one weekend; pick up Basic D&D Revised in Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals and have a blast with all of the great simplicity it offers (good ol' elves being a class, and, "What do you mean my halfling can only advance to such a low level... he sucks!").
Why don't we all just get together and embrace the love of different systems and rejoice in the fact that D&D did not die when Wizards of the Coast bought it from TSR. I know not all of you will agree with me, but I guess if everyone agreed with me I would be Grand Emperor of the World... *imagines*
What I don't get is all of the factionalism and heavy debate over 3.5 versus 4th! Here are a few quotes from a forum that I read:
"why fix something that wasn't broken"
"4.0 is a land of over-simplified rules where common sense does not exist."
"how often have you read about fantastic fights, where Drizzt and Wolfgar are felling Furbolgs, or Giants with quick deadly accurate attacks... yet in D&D 3.5 it takes serveral hits to bring down big guys."So, as I'm sure you can see, there's griping on both sides. This is my stance on it:
Shut up for a second! :)
For all those people who say, "Why fix what isn't broken?" If corporations stopped coming out with new editions they would go out of business. Then after they went out of business, you would all be saying, "Stupid company going out of business, I'm bored now without any new modules or material!"
I feel there is a time and a place for BOTH systems (and even OD&D or Basic D&D Revised). Call me crazy, but I think this because in my view they work differently. I feel 4th is best if you want to play a high magic, high combat dungeon crawl. Nothing gets you through it faster, smoother, and with as much fun (and what wizard player doesn't appreciate NOT dying?). Now I think 3.5 is better if you want to play a campaign that is more diplomatic or stealth based. I just feel the rule mechanics (if the DM knows them well) work better in this edition for that type of campaign. Also, say you want to just play a few games for fun one weekend; pick up Basic D&D Revised in Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals and have a blast with all of the great simplicity it offers (good ol' elves being a class, and, "What do you mean my halfling can only advance to such a low level... he sucks!").
Why don't we all just get together and embrace the love of different systems and rejoice in the fact that D&D did not die when Wizards of the Coast bought it from TSR. I know not all of you will agree with me, but I guess if everyone agreed with me I would be Grand Emperor of the World... *imagines*
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