Best Roleplaying Truism

[GradonSilverton]

While searing the other day, I came across a survey on WebRPG entitled "Top Twenty Role Playing Clichés"... I gave it a good look and found it truthful and funny..... not wanting to completely plagerise, I changed the name for this thread....

Here's an example from the page :
Therese (PC): "I'd like to try to negotiate with them."
Lizard (GM): "By all means. Did anyone bring the combat map?"
http://www.webrpg.com/survey/results43.phtml

So here it is....whats the one thing (serious, funny, stereotype, etc) that seems to always be there in the games you've played?

[Blue Angel]

The more important the die role the more likely it is to fall off the table or land against a book with a corner facing upwards.

Not exactly an event within the game but a truism nonetheless.

[Agent Escafarc]

If your not looking for a fight don't let any player named Woody do the talking:rolleyes:

[Blue Angel]

Altered Truism:

If you have a stack of books the one you want is neither at the top nor the bottom, nor the middle. It is the last one you look at.

[GradonSilverton]

The one character most unlikely to survive a attack by himself is the one that always runs off alone in the direct of the bad guys.

[Derek Hiemforth]

When you make a great die roll, it will be in a meaningless situation. When you really blow a die roll, it will be in a crucial situation.

...or maybe that's just me. ;)

[Bazza]

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth
When you make a great die roll, it will be in a meaningless situation. When you really blow a die roll, it will be in a crucial situation.

...or maybe that's just me. ;)
Derek that's just you and hopefully all GMs. Hopefully.

Never trust a smiling GM

[Supreme]

The more you put into planning the campaign setting, the less the players will ask you about it.

[Tasha]

No matter how much planning that you put into an adventure. The players will always find a way to do something unexpected. Even if you have played with them for years and "know" all of their habits.

Tasha :)

[Bazza]

If Forest Gump was a roleplayer:

"my GM always said that dice rolls was like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get" :)

never trust a lone kobold
never trust a lone kobold with a booming voice
never trust the GM bearing 'gifts'
a dragon's breath weapon is worse than it's bite

[Victim]

Whenever someone says "No problem, I only fail on a one," or something to that effect, the character in question is doomed.

[JohnTaber]

Here are some Hero ones...

The one skill that your PC really needs in a dire situation is the one you cut because you did not have enough points.

That warm up Fantasy Hero/Danger International combat that you throw at the PC kills half of them.

[JohnathanChance]

GM: I'll let you have it if you roll an 01 (on d%)
Player: (Rolls dice) You said 01 right?

This one happened just the other night while we were making Rifts characters, the roll was to see if the player's character would get supernatural strength (he already had a 41)

[Evil Steve]

Originally posted by JohnathanChance
GM: I'll let you have it if you roll an 01 (on d%)
Player: (Rolls dice) You said 01 right?

This one happened just the other night while we were making Rifts characters, the roll was to see if the player's character would get supernatural strength (he already had a 41)

An old GM of mine used to do that sort of thing, but he would demand a letter.

"You can live if you roll a 'Q'"

Man, was he pissed when Fred brought a Boogle die. He rolled a Q

[Bazza]

true friendships can be formed while gaming. (or on the HERO boards)

[Tasha]

As a player your dice will always turn up the worst result for the players. (Never hit and low damage)

When you GM your dice will also always turn up the worst result for the players. (Always hit with almost Max Damage)

The GM dice Paradox :)

Tasha :)

[GradonSilverton]

Originally posted by Bazza
true friendships can be formed while gaming. (or on the HERO boards)
In response...

On in gaming does looting the newly slain body of your best friend not turn a few heads!

[lemming]

Originally posted by Tasha
As a player your dice will always turn up the worst result for the players. (Never hit and low damage)

When you GM your dice will also always turn up the worst result for the players. (Always hit with almost Max Damage)

The GM dice Paradox :)


What's wierd in my current campaign is that that's mostly true except for one glaring area.

None of my NPC's have made a Perception roll yet!!! :eek:

If it's a 16-, I roll a 17. gah. So far, 11 games, 0 successes.

[Bazza]

Originally posted by GradonSilverton
In response...

On in gaming does looting the newly slain body of your best friend not turn a few heads!

"It's OK to take stuff off the body of a buddy, 'cause you know he would have wanted you to have it anyway."

[Zeropoint]

Never open the coffin.

That goes for sarcophagi, too.

Zeropoint

[GradonSilverton]

In a horror game (espically anything Cthulhu)...

The only character who lives is both blind and deaf from the beginning.

[Vondy]

Never play poker with anyone whose last name is Von Zarovich -- the system is irrelevent.

At least one player will doggedly insist that a completely out of character action is "what my guy would do", even if his lims go completely the other way.

Players won't believe you when you tell them the challenges are relative to the characters abilities and will sulk when you tell them you're running a skilled normals campaign. At least one of them will mutter "this is bull$hit"

The one player who uttered the sentiment about bovine fecal matter will do something stunninglly stupid, get killed even though the GM was trying to fudge in their favor, and insist their concerns were justified.

[CourtFool]

PCs would rather die than be captured.

D&D players will check each and every door in the campaign world for traps.

50% of GMs believe the object of the game is to kill the PCs.

50% of PCs believe the object of the game is to kill the GM.

[Blue Angel]

PC MO

If it moves kill it

If it doesn't move, provoke it, then kill it

[GradonSilverton]

Originally posted by CourtFool
PCs would rather die than be captured.

D&D players will check each and every door in the campaign world for traps.

50% of GMs believe the object of the game is to kill the PCs.

50% of PCs believe the object of the game is to kill the GM.
I think you might be low balling your %'s there! :)

[Jhamin]

Originally posted by D-Man
Players won't believe you when you tell them the challenges are relative to the characters abilities and will sulk when you tell them you're running a skilled normals campaign. At least one of them will mutter "this is bull$hit"

The one player who uttered the sentiment about bovine fecal matter will do something stunninglly stupid, get killed even though the GM was trying to fudge in their favor, and insist their concerns were justified.

Sing it brother!

[Jerry A!]

GM's and Player's definition of subtle are radically different. True story... A group of characters in a spy/thriller normals campaign, needs to leave a car behind and run and hide.

They decide to leave it at a gas station and catch a bus on a nearby corner.

Not bad. Until they decide that subtle also means blowing up the gas station right before the bus arrives. :confused:

[Bazza]

You know your a gamer when...
You failed English at school but you can speak fluent Orcish. :)

[Thirdbase]

When the mage says "Don't touch the EVIL artifact." Don't.

... but there is alway s someone that doesn't listen to the mage.

[Syberdwarf2]

There is ALWAYS at least one player at every game who will quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[Jerry A!]

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2
There is ALWAYS at least one player at every game who will quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Or the Simpsons.

[Syberdwarf2]

Originally posted by Jerry A!
Or the Simpsons.

"Your Father was a drunkard and your mother stank of elderberries!"

:D

[Syberdwarf2]

Once said as Our Heroes travelled thorugh the Canadian Wilderness....

"Mind you, moose bites can be very nasty"
"My sister was bitten by a moose"

[Derek Hiemforth]

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2
"Your Father was a drunkard and your mother stank of elderberries!"Actually, it's, "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!"

...Not that I'm one of the Monty Python-quoting guys, or anything... ;)

[Syberdwarf2]

Back on topic, now...

If everybody else is on time, the GM is late.

The same player that espouses the "no-rules-lawyer-at-all-whatsoever" policy, is the first one to try to convince the GM that he should have a VPP and Desolid.

[starblaze]

Originally posted by GradonSilverton
In a horror game (espically anything Cthulhu)...

The only character who lives is both blind and deaf from the beginning.

Reminds me of a KODT strip where they were playing said game. "Gee Brian, sanding in the back with your eyes closed does work".

[TheImperialKhan]

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth
Actually, it's, "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!"

...Not that I'm one of the Monty Python-quoting guys, or anything... ;)

"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time, silly english koniget!" (phonetic spelling on that last) :D

Well if you're gonna do it, do it all. ;)

And I'm not one of the Monty Python-quoting guys either :D
.
.
.
.
Much!

[CourtFool]

Players won't believe you when you tell them the challenges are relative to the characters abilities and will sulk when you tell them you're running a skilled normals campaign. At least one of them will mutter "this is bull$hit"

The one player who uttered the sentiment about bovine fecal matter will do something stunninglly stupid, get killed even though the GM was trying to fudge in their favor, and insist their concerns were justified.

The GM will insist challenges are relative to the characters abilities and will refuse to show you the NPC write ups.

When your character is killed, the GM will claim it was your own fault for doing something stunninglly stupid.

[archermoo]

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Heck, ours rarely survive contact with us. :)

[Captain Obvious]

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Heck, ours rarely survive contact with us. :)

"LEEEEEEEROOOOOOOY JENKINS!"

[rebeccared50]

The best laid plans of GM's and men get screwed up by PC's who can't swim..

[McCoy]

GM: I'll let you have it if you roll an 01 (on d%)
Player: (Rolls dice) You said 01 right?

This one happened just the other night while we were making Rifts characters, the roll was to see if the player's character would get supernatural strength (he already had a 41)

An old GM of mine used to do that sort of thing, but he would demand a letter.

"You can live if you roll a 'Q'"

Man, was he pissed when Fred brought a Boogle die. He rolled a Q
Back in my RuneQuest games I had a million sided die, 6 d10's. Any time the players wanted to try anything I thought was less than a one in a million chance they could try to roll a 000001. One player always tried. Succeeded twice in the course of about four years.

[Ian Mackinder]

Also from KODT, referred to as 'Gary Jackson's Fourth Law of Game Dynamics'.

If there is a nuclear weapon anywhere in the scenario. the Player-Characters will somehow set it off.

[Ian Mackinder]

Back in my RuneQuest games I had a million sided die, 6 d10's. Any time the players wanted to try anything I thought was less than a one in a million chance they could try to roll a 000001. One player always tried. Succeeded twice in the course of about four years.

What I call Pratchett;s Law (after Terry Pratchett - specifically, his book 'Guards! Guards!', in which the following appears).

Million to one chances occur nine times out of ten.

[Pariah]

In any game session, no matter what the genre or location, there will be a van or similar vehicle somewhere near the scene of the action.

The adventure cannot truly be considered a success until this van is destroyed.


(Or maybe that's just our campaigns...)

[Captain Obvious]

In most of the games we've been playing lately, we can't seem to finish a session without someone getting kicked in the groin, and a building being set on fire or blown up.

[Comic]

Yeah, I was in a game group like that, too, once.

But no one ever was seriously injured, and it was an ugly sofa, anyway.

Come to think of it, several gamers I know have had relationships like that.

[CrosshairCollie]

Fantasy Truism:

If your party finds itself on a boat, it will sink.

[input.jack]

Too smart...is dumb.

(Players can out-think themselves, coming up with (a) ludicrously overcomplicated plans for something simple, or (b) torpedoing every perfectly good plan they come up with, because of something that "might" happen).

[Hugh Neilson]

Too smart...is dumb.

(Players can out-think themselves, coming up with (a) ludicrously overcomplicated plans for something simple, or (b) torpedoing every perfectly good plan they come up with, because of something that "might" happen).

So true. Similar to this is players seizing on irrelevant data. If you put in throwaway background info, they will seek to derive meaning from it. I once watched a group discuss for at least half an hour the significance of multi-character codes labeling stops for the monorail on the villain's island HQ. The module mentioned there were such codes, but not what they were. I got to make them up on the spot. I think the discussion would never have ended if I hadn't finally told them that.

[Ghost Archer]

The odds of a friendly character being hit by War Eagle's plasma gun is directly proportional to the number of times War Eagle pulls the trigger.

[steamteck]

Too smart...is dumb.

(Players can out-think themselves, coming up with (a) ludicrously overcomplicated plans for something simple, or (b) torpedoing every perfectly good plan they come up with, because of something that "might" happen).


I've got one guy just like that in our group. the problem is then he comes up with plans with way more obvious holes in them ( "But what if one of the bad guys read this mornings newspaper")

[Curufea]

One-offs (or single session adventures) - aren't.

[Comic]

Players see their own characters as if drawn by Frank Miller and written by Allan Moore.

Other players see the same characters as if drawn by Byrne and written by Quesada.

Nonplayers see splotchy doodles tagged with misspelled graffiti by some guy skulking around their property late at night.

[Vondy]

The GM will insist challenges are relative to the characters abilities and will refuse to show you the NPC write ups.

When your character is killed, the GM will claim it was your own fault for doing something stunninglly stupid.

I let my players see the npc write ups after the fact ; often the PC outclassed them.

The other players generally agreed the action taken was stunningly stupid.

[Vondy]

The campaign you are blase about and forgot all the details of is the one your players consider legendary. Sometimes the opposite is true.

[Vondy]

Players will complain about GM PCs, and then go looking to recruit them when the adventure starts.

[Lord Mhoram]

Players see their own characters as if drawn by Frank Miller and written by Allan Moore.

If I get to the point that this is the way I see my characters, someone please shoot me.

Drawn by Brent Anderson, and written by Busiek or Geoff Johns. :)

[Curufea]

Mine are drawn by Drew Hayes and written by David Kemper

Hmm, I should start a new thread on this...

[AdamLeisemann]

"There is ALWAYS a Combat Monster in Every Group."

"When one player starts a fight, the other players MUST join at the behest of the fight-starter."

"'Gritty-Realism' always favors the Combat Monster because of his tactics, while Role Players are always the first killed because they can't fight."

[Curufea]

"'Gritty-Realism' always favors the Combat Monster because of his tactics, while Role Players are always the first killed because they can't fight."
... "because they somehow still think they should get involved in the fights".

(As a GM I cannot seem to teach players that if they have a character best suited for things OTHER than combat, then perhaps it would be in their best interest to actually attempt to begin to try to perhaps consider actually avoiding combat now and then)
(sigh)

[gamerz123]

This happened at a game I ran last Friday.

"When a location obviously has a "hidden/secret" door or trap, everyone in the party will fail whatever roll is necessary to find it, no matter what level of character skills/stats/etc..."

[Cancer]

Man, CourtFool. Five-year thread necromancy is serious stuff.
... "because they somehow still think they should get involved in the fights".

(As a GM I cannot seem to teach players that if they have a character best suited for things OTHER than combat, then perhaps it would be in their best interest to actually attempt to begin to try to perhaps consider actually avoiding combat now and then)
(sigh)

The flip side of this is: "Avoiding combat because your character isn't suited for it means that character is going to be, on average, hiding for 3 hours and 56 minutes of every four-hour session."

[Vondy]

Man, CourtFool. Five-year thread necromancy is serious stuff.


The flip side of this is: "Avoiding combat because your character isn't suited for it means that character is going to be, on average, hiding for 3 hours and 56 minutes of every four-hour session."

Can I have a mountain dew? Hey, where are the cheetos? Are there any girls there?

[Curufea]

The flip side of this is: "Avoiding combat because your character isn't suited for it means that character is going to be, on average, hiding for 3 hours and 56 minutes of every four-hour session."

...if playing superhero genre. Or some other setting that requires lots of combat. Amazingly there are roleplaying games where there is even no combat at all for the entire campaign. There are of course settings in between from 0% combat all the way to 100%.

[AdamLeisemann]

... "because they somehow still think they should get involved in the fights".

(As a GM I cannot seem to teach players that if they have a character best suited for things OTHER than combat, then perhaps it would be in their best interest to actually attempt to begin to try to perhaps consider actually avoiding combat now and then)
(sigh)

I find in my experiences that this situation (RPers getting into fights) is usually because of Party Loyalty. The Combat Monster starts a fight and everyone else is pulled in because they perceive no other choice. In a lot of ways, games like The Riddle of Steel are more ideal for combat monsters than the designers likes to think they are.

[archermoo]

...if playing superhero genre. Or some other setting that requires lots of combat. Amazingly there are roleplaying games where there is even no combat at all for the entire campaign. There are of course settings in between from 0% combat all the way to 100%.

I've played any number of superhero games with no combat for entire sessions. It isn't the genre that decides such things, it is the Ref and to a lesser extent the players.

[Curufea]

I've played any number of superhero games with no combat for entire sessions. It isn't the genre that decides such things, it is the Ref and to a lesser extent the players.

I would argue that it is unusual though - the superhero genre is all about conflict. The superhero being an iconic fantasy representation of some ideal or other (usually at least the impulse to be a vigilante and take the law into your own hands). The whole genre centres around a PC being in conflict with either society or supervillains and will, sooner or later, require combat.
If you have PCs playing non-combat superheroes (say, super hackers or something) - then it really stops being the superhero genre and starts being science fiction or fantasy.

[archermoo]

I would argue that it is unusual though - the superhero genre is all about conflict. The superhero being an iconic fantasy representation of some ideal or other (usually at least the impulse to be a vigilante and take the law into your own hands). The whole genre centres around a PC being in conflict with either society or supervillains and will, sooner or later, require combat.
If you have PCs playing non-combat superheroes (say, super hackers or something) - then it really stops being the superhero genre and starts being science fiction or fantasy.

You and I define the genres differently then. It is easy to say that the superhero genre always centers around conflict if the way you define it includes conflict.

I'd say the superhero genre only requires that the protagonists be super-powered. Or possibly just that super powered persons exist. Conflict is certainly common in most games, but no more so than in SF or Fantasy.

[Curufea]

You and I define the genres differently then. It is easy to say that the superhero genre always centers around conflict if the way you define it includes conflict.

I'd say the superhero genre only requires that the protagonists be super-powered. Or possibly just that super powered persons exist. Conflict is certainly common in most games, but no more so than in SF or Fantasy.

I wouldn't say the superhero genre just requires super powers - it's more than that. The Matrix has superpowers, as do many martial arts movies. Resident Evil 2&3, Underworld, the X-Files series, Buffy, Firefly, Farscape - all these movies and series contain super powers but I wouldn't think of them as superhero genre.

[archermoo]

I wouldn't say the superhero genre just requires super powers - it's more than that. The Matrix has superpowers, as do many martial arts movies. Resident Evil 2&3, Underworld, the X-Files series, Buffy, Firefly, Farscape - all these movies and series contain super powers but I wouldn't think of them as superhero genre.

As I said, you and I define the genre differently. I don't accept your definition that has it centering around conflict. I don't see conflict being any more a required part of the superhero genre than it is of the SF or Fantasy genre. Or really any other genre.

To some extent, any game is all about conflict. Whether that is physical fights, or trying to outsteath the guards, or outhack the computer system.

[teh bunneh]

To some extent, any game is all about conflict. Whether that is physical fights, or trying to outsteath the guards, or outhack the computer system.

Or getting the Countessa to marry you instead of that scheming Baron Dastardly, or negotiating a peace treaty between the Greater Earth Autonomy and the High Holy Slithereen Empire, or...

It's always about conflict. It's only sometimes about fighting. :D

[archermoo]

Or getting the Countessa to marry you instead of that scheming Baron Dastardly, or negotiating a peace treaty between the Greater Earth Autonomy and the High Holy Slithereen Empire, or...

It's always about conflict. It's only sometimes about fighting. :D

Yup, exactly my point. :)

I'm just saying that fighting isn't necessarily any more a part of the superhero genre than it is of any of the other genres. Taking out the fighting doesn't stop it from being about superheros.

[teh bunneh]

I'm just saying that fighting isn't necessarily any more a part of the superhero genre than it is of any of the other genres. Taking out the fighting doesn't stop it from being about superheros.

Indeed. I think Heroes is pretty clearly about superheroes, but they've had all of ... what, maybe 2 actual superhero fights in total?

My lovely bunny wife ran a superhero game (a no foolin' costumes-and-secret-IDs superhero game) some years ago where we hardly ever got into any battles (at least until late in the campaign, where we got involved in a major war). Before that happened, I can only think of maybe two fights we ever got into, in the course of about two years of regular playing. But we did have plenty of conflict.

[Captain Obvious]

To some extent, any game is all about conflict.

If you remove all conflict, count me out of that game. There are more interesting situations in preschool TV.


Swiper, no swiping!

[Curufea]

Hmm, you have a different view on the definition of combat than I do - I regard conflict as being things other than just combat.

[Captain Obvious]

Hmm, you have a different view on the definition of combat than I do - I regard conflict as being things other than just combat.

Is that to me? If so, I agree. Swiper the fox taking away a sock from Benny the Bull and tossing it in the bushes is conflict, not combat. There are very few stories of any sort I've ever seen with no conflict, and they are wholly bland kids' stories, not worth the paper they're printed on.

But really good stories can be made of combatless conflict. "To Build a Fire" comes to mind immediately.

[archermoo]

Hmm, you have a different view on the definition of combat than I do - I regard conflict as being things other than just combat.

You were the one that conflated the two. I mentioned that I've played any number of superhero games with little or no combat, and you replied that that was unusual as the superhero genre is all about conflict.

I agree that combat is just one form of conflict. Any game in any genre will have conflict of one type or another in it. If there isn't some sort of conflict there isn't any gaming going on. Frequently in most genre a large percentage of that conflict is combat. I don't see it as being any harder to have a superhero game without combat as it would be to have an SF or Fantasy game without combat.

[AdamLeisemann]

More truisms:

The male player with a female character is inevitably playing a lesbian, so his old-fashioned (read; homophobic) male buddies do not think he's gay.

All the really cool character concepts are impossible to play within the game's limitations because they'd be "munchkin."