Best Roleplaying Truism

[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.

[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.

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!