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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 3:34AM
#41
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Date Joined:
Jan 15, 2007
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Now you're getting the 4e paradigm Gomeztoo...
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 5:49AM
#42
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Date Joined:
Feb 16, 2008
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Which is unfortunately out of character for the FR dragonborn...
Gomez,
who picked Tempus paladin from the get go, and now wonders if he should have made one from Sune...
I have a Dwarven BattleCleric of Sune. 
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 7:16AM
#43
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Date Joined:
May 19, 2004
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So essentially, we stop playing a roleplaying game and interacting with NPCs, and instead revert to miniature battles.
No, but if you care so much about roleplaying as you profess to care, then you do your research. If you don't do you research, you aren't roleplaying, you are just actively making the game less enjoyable for your players. The primary goal of the RPGA is fun. Top priority. More important than roleplaying. More important than miniature battles. More important than any rule in the book. Keep that in mind and you are much less likely to go wrong.
Oh, and Metz, I hope that was sarcasm, because otherwise you are being a troll.
-SYB
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 7:21AM
#44
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Date Joined:
Jan 21, 2003
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So essentially, we stop playing a roleplaying game and interacting with NPCs, and instead revert to miniature battles.
No, you just stop applying unfair and unfounded biasedness in roleplay. You consider where they are at, who is around, and what sort of races these people have met.
For instance, there is a nation that has done much to change the way people view Orcs, and Orcs are starting to be seen in a better light. Most people who don't know this about the FR would play all villagers afraid of Orcs. When in actuality there is a well known nation of Orcs that, while still a bit crude and barbaric, has shown that all Orcs arn't evil.
Gnomes, despite being a monster race, are seemingly more known for being curious and well versed in magic. Not feared.
So the point is...you can't so much use common sense. You need to know the area. As what common sense would dictate (this guys a monster..means everyone must hate and fear him!), is thrown out the window. Especially when you consider many normal villagers you meet, don't know which race is who or what. Have only heard passing tales of the evil monsters, prob get conflicting and widly different descriptions of said evil monsters, and due to the setting, is generally suspicious of those who adventure (IE the players) as a whole in the first place.
Sure 'that' guy might look like a dog person...but that guy has long pointed ears that might draw the souls of people into them! Or that short fellow with the long beard...what the beard hides is what you truly fear...for those who have seen a beard removed..have never lived to tell the tale.
And even this normal looking human? He's been adventuring..see that glowing sword and its scabard? That's magic from a long forgotten dungeon..what if its already taken over his mind? He might go crazy and start to kill us all!
If your villagers arn't that spooked by adventurers and accept them redily. Then they are also smart enough to know that among the "monster" races, many a time there is good found.
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 7:34AM
#45
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Date Joined:
Jan 15, 2007
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No, but if you care so much about roleplaying as you profess to care, then you do your research. If you don't do you research, you aren't roleplaying, you are just actively making the game less enjoyable for your players. The primary goal of the RPGA is fun. Top priority. More important than roleplaying. More important than miniature battles. More important than any rule in the book. Keep that in mind and you are much less likely to go wrong.
You do realise you are talking to Pierre van Rooden, LFR Dalelands Writing Director right? Pretty sure he does a *bit* of research...
Oh, and Metz, I hope that was sarcasm, because otherwise you are being a troll.
And what if it wasn't? What if I genuinely agreed with and believed with that view? Then that would be form of the 'fun' that you are so forcedly endorsing.
I was being sarcastic, however I am not sure how to respond to your clearly inflammatory post.
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 7:40AM
#46
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Date Joined:
May 11, 2005
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I have a Dwarven BattleCleric of Sune.
Didn't I adventure with that cleric?
I definitely recall a dwarf that liked to groom his beard a bit much...
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 7:59AM
#47
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Date Joined:
May 11, 2005
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No, you just stop applying unfair and unfounded biasedness in roleplay.
I don't see anything unfair in roleplaying a NPCs' reaction to what appears to be as slavering wildebeast, be it curiosity, suspicion, fear, or indifference. This is a roleplaying game. Interacting is what the game is about, and I feel that interaction is made interesting if it actually takes into account what kind of characters is played.
The implication that such interaction is a waste of time (in a roleplaying game) and should be shelved for making time to roll dice in combat does not humor me much.
And yes, some places look more friendly on certain races, and others look more hostile, but that doesn't mean a DM shouldn't be able to make deductions when that info isn't available.
That is something that should, imo, be noted in and adventure (I mean, I am told to provide information on the Core FR gods when I list a name, so I expect that an adventure will note that, say, orcs in Thesk are treated fine een though they are generally not so welcome elsewhere).
For some races,part of the fun of playing them IS that they are a bit odd and considered 'monstrous'. I would think it is more appropriate, and also more fun, if the shopkeeper is nervous around my gnoll PC rather than when he is all jolly.
As long as you keep it to flavor, and apply penalties in only special cases and within limits, a DM should be able to make some deductions on how NPCs view certain races, and act out NPCs accordingly.
Gomez,
who indeed does research, but that is besides the point
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 8:12AM
#48
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Date Joined:
May 19, 2004
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You know, I am going to use one of my favorite examples to make a point.
Imagine you are a bunch of aliens playing Humans & Technology, a roleplaying game set in 21st century Earth. As the DM, you are only somewhat familiar with the setting. You know Humans come in multiple skin tones and that humans tend to be afraid of other skin tones. You also know that the primary three skin tones on Earth are black, asian, and middle eastern (sorta like humans, elves and dwarves).
You are running a game for the Alien Gamers Association titled "Fun with Politics in Washington, DC" and decide to use your "common sense" to apply racism to the "scary" PCs. Your players have all read the canon on the setting and know the cultural views of every area very well. Your players are going to be VERY upset when the white PCs are being treated very badly while the middle eastern PC is being treated like royalty.
The parallel is true for LFR as well. The generic prejudices can't be applied universally, because it is a shared world with documented canon. It is much more frustrating when you violate canon negatively towards PCs then when you violate canon positively towards them. The solution is: read a book (adventure descriptions count as a book). I am amazed I am receiving so much resistance to that solution, especially by someone who should be encouraging that (and who has the power to include local racial prejudices in adventure descriptions).
-SYB
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 8:23AM
#49
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Date Joined:
May 11, 2005
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I am amazed I am receiving so much resistance to that solution, especially by someone who should be encouraging that (and who has the power to include local racial prejudices in adventure descriptions).
You would be surprised how little leeway we have in including racial prejudice or tension in our adventures.
And I am definitely in favor of people reading the books. The more the merrier. But some people don't, and I feel that in those cases a DM should be able to go by what he does know (such as the MM entry that says gnolls are demon-worshipping forces of destruction).
Gomez
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4 years ago ::
Feb 17, 2009 - 8:43AM
#50
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Date Joined:
Jan 21, 2003
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If a DM goes by what he 'does know' then I say the monster races also need the villagers to roll a knowledge check..to know what they are.
Also..wierd on the quoting system..I didn't say that o.O
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