[Just for fun] Not used as reccommended, but still fun.

[AdamLeisemann]

An addenda to the "Games as Art" thread...

Has anybody else out there taken an off-beat approach to thinking about how to play a particular game?

I'm speaking in terms of playing a game in the manner the designers (mostly those with a "One-True-Way-To-Play" mentality) had clearly not intended, yet your group clearly enjoyed it. Examples might be a Cyberpunk 2020 or oWoD game played for comic value, or some comedic game played as an all-out cathartic assault on the emotions, or even (one idea that I think might be an interesting experiment) playing Sorceror in the same vein as Pokemon or Digimon (admittedly, the "Intense" bit and the pretentiousness in the writing kinda makes it hard for me to take it as seriously as I should).

Only the following things matter for this thread:

The game itself must normally require a particular play-style or have a tight focus (such as most Forge games).
As a corallary (sp??) to the above, this "required" play style should not be based on criticisms, but on the way it is written to show the author's intent (so D&D with actual roleplaying does not count in this manner).
The game itself is to be played outside the primary focus for the game (like ignoring the theme of your typical Forge-made game).
And most importantly, the group has to have had fun being unconventional in this manner.
If you can also describe your game, and some of the things that happenned, that would be great but not mandatory.

[Diamond Spear]

An addenda to the "Games as Art" thread...

Has anybody else out there taken an off-beat approach to thinking about how to play a particular game?

I'm speaking in terms of playing a game in the manner the designers (mostly those with a "One-True-Way-To-Play" mentality) had clearly not intended, yet your group clearly enjoyed it. Examples might be a Cyberpunk 2020 or oWoD game played for comic value, or some comedic game played as an all-out cathartic assault on the emotions, or even (one idea that I think might be an interesting experiment) playing Sorceror in the same vein as Pokemon or Digimon (admittedly, the "Intense" bit and the pretentiousness in the writing kinda makes it hard for me to take it as seriously as I should).

Only the following things matter for this thread:

The game itself must normally require a particular play-style or have a tight focus (such as most Forge games).
As a corallary (sp??) to the above, this "required" play style should not be based on criticisms, but on the way it is written to show the author's intent (so D&D with actual roleplaying does not count in this manner).
The game itself is to be played outside the primary focus for the game (like ignoring the theme of your typical Forge-made game).
And most importantly, the group has to have had fun being unconventional in this manner.
If you can also describe your game, and some of the things that happenned, that would be great but not mandatory.

I played in a Rifts game once where the Coalition States were the good guys; no anti-human/magic/psi bias. Those things were in fact encouraged as long as they were used to fight evil. The population was literate and patriotic. It was a great game but when it was brought up on the Palladium boards we were harshly derided as "not playing it right." Who cares, we had tons of fun.

[AdamLeisemann]

Who cares, we had tons of fun.

And that's what matters in a game. ^.^

[teh bunneh]

We once played a Faeries' Tale game (intended for younger gamers) with some very adult humor. References to Catherine the Great and her horse, fairy tale characters becoming pr0n stars, that sort of thing... ;)

[Thia Halmades]

I played in a Rifts game once where the Coalition States were the good guys; no anti-human/magic/psi bias. Those things were in fact encouraged as long as they were used to fight evil. The population was literate and patriotic. It was a great game but when it was brought up on the Palladium boards we were harshly derided as "not playing it right." Who cares, we had tons of fun.

Crap, he took mine. No, seriously. I had written an entire campaign where the PCs were "good" coalition soldiers, who towed the company line. They had armor, a transport, the whole nine yards. They had to fight Kaiju, demonic threats and other horribly nasty supernatural monsters. It was the very first prototype for what would eventually become The Halliruch Campaign. It didn't last very long, though; the game was ahead of its time & age group (myself included). No one had caught onto the idea of a full military campaign and I was confused of making higher-ranking officers "ub3r NPCz" which of course, they were. It was RIFTS(tm). But it never got off the ground as I intended.

So then I took d20 and made IT into a hardcore fantasy/military campaign, and it didn't handle that well. The structure of the game was overshadowed by the forced level & item development, so I had to ditch d20 for HERO.

[TygerLily]

We once played a Faeries' Tale game (intended for younger gamers) with some very adult humor.

Along the same lines, with the right players and a little adult humor, the game "Run for Your Life, Candy Man" can become very R - X rated. :o

[proditor]

I played in a Rifts game once where the Coalition States were the good guys; no anti-human/magic/psi bias. Those things were in fact encouraged as long as they were used to fight evil. The population was literate and patriotic. It was a great game but when it was brought up on the Palladium boards we were harshly derided as "not playing it right." Who cares, we had tons of fun.

:tsk:

You were having BAD WRONG FUN!!! Aren't you glad some pencil-necked mouth breather showed you the error of your ways? And to think, they found the time to be that helpful while still macking on their sisters.

Amazing the selflessness.

Add to this, my own experience with pretty much the entire World of Darkness. Rarely used as designed, and fun when played that way.

[teh bunneh]

I played in a Rifts game once where the Coalition States were the good guys; no anti-human/magic/psi bias. Those things were in fact encouraged as long as they were used to fight evil. The population was literate and patriotic. It was a great game but when it was brought up on the Palladium boards we were harshly derided as "not playing it right." Who cares, we had tons of fun.

One of my buddies used to hang out on the Palladium boards. He used to argue that the Coalition were the good guys of the setting -- sure, they persecuted mutants and sorcerers, but they were the only force on the planet strong enough and organized enough to stand up to the demons, the vampires, the Atlanteans, the bugs, and all the other truly evil, rapicious beings that populate the Rifts world. So the common man doesn't have very many civil rights -- so what? At least he's not being eaten by whatever horror just dragged itself out of the dimensional well over there. He caught so much s**t for his (well-founded) opinion that it turned him off Palladium forever.

So I guess the story has a happy ending after all. :winkgrin:

[Thia Halmades]

:tsk:

You were having BAD WRONG FUN!!! Aren't you glad some pencil-necked mouth breather showed you the error of your ways? And to think, they found the time to be that helpful while still macking on their sisters.

Amazing the selflessness.

Add to this, my own experience with pretty much the entire World of Darkness. Rarely used as designed, and fun when played that way.

*blows whistle*

BADWRONGFUN(tm) is a product of Palladium Games; you cannot use BADWRONGFUN(tm) unless you are speaking specifically of how other people are playing Palladium games, and even if you are, you can only do so in our pre-approved manner. Ergo, you are in violation. Please take down your entire post, disable your boards and turn in all your books.

Immediately.

[proditor]

*blows whistle*

BADWRONGFUN(tm) is a product of Palladium Games; you cannot use BADWRONGFUN(tm) unless you are speaking specifically of how other people are playing Palladium games, and even if you are, you can only do so in our pre-approved manner. Ergo, you are in violation. Please take down your entire post, disable your boards and turn in all your books.

Immediately.

Nah, I'm good.

After all, White Wolf said it first, and that's a p^$$^&* contest I would LOVE to see. :thumbup:

[Thia Halmades]

Nah, I'm good.

After all, White Wolf said it first, and that's a p^$$^&* contest I would LOVE to see. :thumbup:

That'd be great. We can watch two pretentious idiots knock themselves out of contention at once. Leaving WOTC and HERO.

Of course, anything that reduces the availability of product is bad. It's lose/lose. Crud.

[FireTiger]

That'd be great. We can watch two pretentious idiots knock themselves out of contention at once. Leaving WOTC and HERO.

Of course, anything that reduces the availability of product is bad. It's lose/lose. Crud.

There was a sort of minor attempt at that back in 1995. In book seven (New World Order) for the Robotech game (which Palladium used to publish) there is this line:


Dedicated to Foucault and Chomsky ... just to prove that it is possible to be more pointlessly pretentious than White Wolf.

:eg:

Nothing ever came from it that I know of, though.

[Blue Jogger]

The BEST WoD game was played (unintentionally) for laughs.

First off, the city was called Dark Haven. This should have been our first clue. Then, for reasons unknown, what the mortals called reality was ripped a new one.

The entire city was transformed, practically overnight, into Mages, Vampires, Werewolves and Wraiths.

My character had a kinship with wolves, and an understanding that werewolves weren't just legend... However, due to an unlucky roll, my character was killed in Sabot Vampire ritual. (Sound of a shovel hitting the back of the head) Her entire time was spent trying to hit on the female werewolf, her response, "Look, I know you think you're a werewolf at heart, but face facts, you're a vampire. And the rest of the pack isn't going to understand." (Big soulful puppy eyes from the vampire)

[Killer Shrike]

Yes, I do this often. I find a lot of creative impetus from twisting things a bit in unintended ways. Unfortunately it doesn't always go down well; a lot of people don't like having their preconceptions messed about with. Depends on the group.

Some of my most memorable:

I played a hardened, almost brutal cyborg mercenary in Tales From the Floating Vagabond, which was a fun little un-serious RPG from the early 90's. No matter how absurd things got, I always played it straight and serious with an emphasis on extra-crusty. Years later some friends got me to watch the Venture Bros cartoons (or whatever its called); it was very similar to the difference between Brock and everything else in that milieu.

In a D&D 3e game I played a Priest of Kord, god of Athleticism and Strength, who I modeled using levels from a combination of classes but mostly monk, sohei, and some monk pClass from somewhere. Anyway, I played him up a lot like a great white ninja from an overdubbed Shaw Brothers film, completely with body language and gestures like thumb pointing to nose and other shtick. He was a really fun character, but it was love or hate. The group was about a 70 / 30 split on that one.

I ran a short lived Mage campaign from the perspective of the Technocracy being basically well intentioned and bringing civilization to the world. This was before WW published the Technocracy books; just going off the mentions from the original rules. I actually liked most of the official Technocracy books (especially The Syndicate), so I abandoned my very different version of the T in favor of theirs. IIRC I worked in some of the defined elements into the "grey men" concept of the official version but its been a looooong time and I don't recall the details any longer.

Anyone remember Top Secret / SI? I ran a campaign where the PC's were representatives of various (sometimes opposed) countries who were part of an unofficial initiative to subvert ORION from within and stop their unwanted meddling in the affairs of nation states. The overarching goal was to sabotage from within, figure out the members of the Zodiac, report intelligence, and of course do so while appearing to be loyal members of the organization and perhaps even get promoted to positions of greater access. Of course, the PC's each thought they were on their own except for a couple who knew about each other by semi-accident. It was a killer concept, but this was like 1989 or so; we were 15ish. It was beyond my ability to run at the time, much less my players abilities.

And so on. I really like coming at things half a degree off center.

[teh bunneh]

Along the same lines, with the right players and a little adult humor, the game "Run for Your Life, Candy Man" can become very R - X rated. :o

Never heard of that one... do you have a link? :)

[TygerLily]

Never heard of that one... do you have a link? :)

http://www.smirkanddagger.com/candyman.htm

[input.jack]

I once got to play in a seven session run of a Paranoia game, played absolutely seriously and NOT for laughs. The GM not only kept the character sheets, he also wrote them up for us (basically they were pre-gens).

The story involved the computer that controlled the city becoming more and more obviously deranged, and our characters, who were all members of various city-support groups, like the Vulture Troopers and Electronic Maintanence, for example< eventually had to decide what to do about it.

In retrospect, it had a very cool kind of Blade Runner / Logan's Run feel to it.

I wish Id been able to play more of it, but the game was halted when we broke for Christmas Break, and somehow over the break I ended up deciding not to go back to that college.

[AmadanNaBriona]

I once got to play in a seven session run of a Paranoia game, played absolutely seriously and NOT for laughs. The GM not only kept the character sheets, he also wrote them up for us (basically they were pre-gens).

The story involved the computer that controlled the city becoming more and more obviously deranged, and our characters, who were all members of various city-support groups, like the Vulture Troopers and Electronic Maintanence, for example< eventually had to decide what to do about it.

In retrospect, it had a very cool kind of Blade Runner / Logan's Run feel to it.

I wish Id been able to play more of it, but the game was halted when we broke for Christmas Break, and somehow over the break I ended up deciding not to go back to that college.

I can totally see how that'd be quite a cool game.

[Midas]

Call of Cthulhu:

We played it as a combination of early DnD/Ghostbusters.

"You see a horde of Deep Ones charging you!" :eek:
"We grab our baseball bats and countercharge!" :eg:

Great fun :p

Midas

[Comic]

Call of Cthulhu:

The party won.

They won every encounter.

Their secret: dynamite by the truckload, and shoot anyone on sight who shows the least sign of curiousity, intellectualism, or interest in anything they didn't already know.

Worked like a charm.

[FenrisUlf]

I played in a Rifts game once where the Coalition States were the good guys; no anti-human/magic/psi bias. Those things were in fact encouraged as long as they were used to fight evil. The population was literate and patriotic. It was a great game but when it was brought up on the Palladium boards we were harshly derided as "not playing it right." Who cares, we had tons of fun.

I like your version better. I got tired of the "Evil Palladium Racist Culture" in every single game, sepecially since they were always humans, preferably white.

And more on-topic, whenever I played any WoD game (especially Werewolf), it usually ran more upbeat and even with a few laughs. Hope existed in the universe. That did not go over well when I said as much on the WW forums.

But it was as nothing compared to the frothing tirades I got when I innocently stated in response to a question, "In my version of the setting, female werewolves have breasts in Crinos [the half-wolf form]."

I meant it as a joke at worst, and the way they responded, you'd think I had whizzed on the Constitution and wiped my butt with Old Glory at a VFW meeting.

[FenrisUlf]

Nah, I'm good.

After all, White Wolf said it first, and that's a p^$$^&* contest I would LOVE to see. :thumbup:

Does anyone else remember a brief time when it seemed like every Palladium book had some snarky and pretentious dedication, followed by the line, "See, White Wolf? We can be smarmy jack@$$e$ too!"

What the heck was that all about?

[FenrisUlf]

I played a hardened, almost brutal cyborg mercenary in Tales From the Floating Vagabond, which was a fun little un-serious RPG from the early 90's. No matter how absurd things got, I always played it straight and serious with an emphasis on extra-crusty. Years later some friends got me to watch the Venture Bros cartoons (or whatever its called); it was very similar to the difference between Brock and everything else in that milieu.

Yes, someone else remmbers that game! Say, what did you think of the artwork by Vicky Wyman? To me it was usually the best part of the book.


I ran a short lived Mage campaign from the perspective of the Technocracy being basically well intentioned and bringing civilization to the world. This was before WW published the Technocracy books; just going off the mentions from the original rules. I actually liked most of the official Technocracy books (especially The Syndicate), so I abandoned my very different version of the T in favor of theirs. IIRC I worked in some of the defined elements into the "grey men" concept of the official version but its been a looooong time and I don't recall the details any longer.

Hey, for my money, the Technocracy were the heroes in the WoD. They might have been arrogant at times, but they at least seemd to have some concern for "mere mortals", and even at their worst they had people trying to clean the organization up. That put them head and shoulders above every other organization, human or supernatural, in the WoD universe.

[Vondy]

I ran a three month game using VtM that used a lot of super-hero tropes. The players were a group of powerful ancillae and younger elders who decided they were cracking down on criminals, supernatural freak-jobs, and the local prince (a malkavian comic writer-artist who was a batman-verse sensation) who I played off as a mastermind villian/doctor evil type with grandios schemes, death traps, henchmen and the like. He got worse as things went along because he became convinced he was living in his comics. It was a blast.

The heroes were:

1) A bored elder (toreador) who regarded it as counter-undead-culture performance art. Costume: Poison Ivy.

2) A schitzophrenic malkavian awho was following his sire... Costume: TV Batman.

3) An elder malkavian (the previous one's sire) who had decided it was time to drive the prince really crazy. Costume: TV Robin.

4) A tremere who just wanted to stick it to the prince. Costume: Harley Quinn.

5) An ancillae brujah, but with very old blood, who was seeking Golconda. Costume: Superman.

One of the fun parts was that they had secret identities within their secret identities as being creatures of the night. I played that trope with other members of their clans to good effect.

[FenrisUlf]

WooHoo! Von D-Man lives!

And I so wish I could have been there when you posted the tale of that V:tM chronicle to the WW forums.

[L. Marcus]

. . . You can almost hear the popping of the capillaries already. :)

[tkdguy]

I almost never use a published setting as is. I may keep the flavor of the setting, but I usually customize it to suit my needs. I sometimes make my own setting by taking bits and pieces of different settings and putting them together.

[L. Marcus]

. . . Frankensettings. :)

[tkdguy]

Frankensystems also applies if I use use bits and pieces of different systems, or even different editions of the same system. I've used some AD&D 1st Edition stuff with 2nd Edition stuff. Of course, the older editions are compatible.

[L. Marcus]

No?!

[AdamLeisemann]

I like your version better. I got tired of the "Evil Palladium Racist Culture" in every single game, sepecially since they were always humans, preferably white.

I'll admit, in one game I'm working on, there is a "Racist humans" element, along with a "Racist other side" element. That's admittedly most a personal bit of social commentary that would just be part of the background to use as the players desire, and not everyone is so $#!t-headed.


And more on-topic, whenever I played any WoD game (especially Werewolf), it usually ran more upbeat and even with a few laughs. Hope existed in the universe. That did not go over well when I said as much on the WW forums.

Yeah. Never talk about having fun to the Emo-Crowds.


But it was as nothing compared to the frothing tirades I got when I innocently stated in response to a question, "In my version of the setting, female werewolves have breasts in Crinos [the half-wolf form]."

I meant it as a joke at worst, and the way they responded, you'd think I had whizzed on the Constitution and wiped my butt with Old Glory at a VFW meeting.

Okay...

Second Edition (with the claw-like holes on the cover), page 152. There's a werewolf in Crinos form and she has boobs! They're blacked out in shadow, but they're boobs!

Sheesh...

I feel Dirty now...

[FenrisUlf]

Okay...

Second Edition (with the claw-like holes on the cover), page 152. There's a werewolf in Crinos form and she has boobs! They're blacked out in shadow, but they're boobs!

Sheesh...

I feel Dirty now...

When I said somethingto that effect, I was told that I was wrong. Period. And if I had evidence that supported me, then it was wrong too, because the forum mod/game designer said so. All said with a tone of vast sneering at the "stupid fanboy", with more than a few of the other WW:tA forum members adding in like Beavis & Butt-head.

You'll notice that I have said I am a former WW gamer.

[AdamLeisemann]

When I said somethingto that effect, I was told that I was wrong. Period. And if I had evidence that supported me, then it was wrong too, because the forum mod/game designer said so. All said with a tone of vast sneering at the "stupid fanboy", with more than a few of the other WW:tA forum members adding in like Beavis & Butt-head.

You'll notice that I have said I am a former WW gamer.

Yeah. I know. But I'm starting to learn that while the company itself was little better than newts in the early days, they are starting to get better with their Exalted and Scion lines, both good games with the text feeling much more relaxed about how you play. Exalted even suggests alternative playstyles that would be Bad-Wrong-Fun in most of their other games.

[rebeccared50]

. . . Frankensettings. :)


I once started a group in ShadowRun, transistioned to Morrow Project, then transitioned again to Rifts..my NPC was a Highlander...