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4 years ago ::
Jul 28, 2009 - 7:37PM
#1771
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Date Joined:
Jun 25, 2009
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Not so much as a response than a story here. When I was in High School (or skewl as I prefer to spell it) a few years ago, the librarian of the school wanted to start a D&D group. However...get this. Here's the kicker of it all. We weren't going to fight monsters. We were going to fight our inner demons...and use our characters to change ourselves so we could become better people.  The game she intended for us to play didn't even call for the rolling of dice!  She completely misunderstood the concept of the game regardless how many times we explained it. I suspect that she didn't even really care about how it was supposed to be played. She had this manner about her that seemed like she had a hidden motive. After talking to another person I know, we kind of came to the conclusion that she was trying to impose some sort of Christian message or belief on us (which for most of us was completely unnecessary, and later on I found out that she was one of those Christian folks that DID like to impose their beliefs on others). Needless to say, during the second session we all signed a note saying that we're not going to be playing anymore when she left the room for a moment and then proceeded to leave the school. We formed our own group after that.
My username should actually read: Lunar Savage (damn you WotC!)
*Tips top hat, adjusts monocle, and walks away with cane* and yes, that IS Mr. Peanut laying unconscious on the curb.
http://asylumjournals.tumblr.com/
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4 years ago ::
Jul 28, 2009 - 8:16PM
#1772
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Date Joined:
Feb 26, 2004
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Not so much as a response than a story here.
When I was in High School (or skewl as I prefer to spell it) a few years ago, the librarian of the school wanted to start a D&D group. However...get this. Here's the kicker of it all. We weren't going to fight monsters. We were going to fight our inner demons...and use our characters to change ourselves so we could become better people. The game she intended for us to play didn't even call for the rolling of dice!
She completely misunderstood the concept of the game regardless how many times we explained it. I suspect that she didn't even really care about how it was supposed to be played. She had this manner about her that seemed like she had a hidden motive. After talking to another person I know, we kind of came to the conclusion that she was trying to impose some sort of Christian message or belief on us (which for most of us was completely unnecessary, and later on I found out that she was one of those Christian folks that DID like to impose their beliefs on others).
Needless to say, during the second session we all signed a note saying that we're not going to be playing anymore when she left the room for a moment and then proceeded to leave the school. We formed our own group after that.
Y'know, the base concept is sort of neat. It's fun to kill kobolds and all, but I like more mature themes in gaming. Rabid Christians are seldom much fun, but with a guy like me at the helm, a game where you battle manifestations of your own psychoses in order to gain greater self-control and confidence and such could be really deep.
My New Phyrexia Writing CreditsMy M12 Writing CreditsAs far as the benefit of the rest of Magic is concerned, gold cards in Legends were executed perfectly. They got all the excitement a designer could hope out of a splashy new mechanic without using up any of the valuable design space. Truly amazing.
--Aaron Forsythe's Random Card Comment on Kei Takahashi 
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4 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2009 - 4:46AM
#1773
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Not so much as a response than a story here.
When I was in High School (or skewl as I prefer to spell it) a few years ago, the librarian of the school wanted to start a D&D group. However...get this. Here's the kicker of it all. We weren't going to fight monsters. We were going to fight our inner demons...and use our characters to change ourselves so we could become better people. The game she intended for us to play didn't even call for the rolling of dice!
She completely misunderstood the concept of the game regardless how many times we explained it. I suspect that she didn't even really care about how it was supposed to be played. She had this manner about her that seemed like she had a hidden motive. After talking to another person I know, we kind of came to the conclusion that she was trying to impose some sort of Christian message or belief on us (which for most of us was completely unnecessary, and later on I found out that she was one of those Christian folks that DID like to impose their beliefs on others).
Needless to say, during the second session we all signed a note saying that we're not going to be playing anymore when she left the room for a moment and then proceeded to leave the school. We formed our own group after that.
Actually, that could have been a good concept if done correctly (which she obviously wasn't). Having combat on the mental plane is very different from the real world. I'd assume some kind of Wisdom check to manipulate the setting.
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4 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2009 - 8:50AM
#1774
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Date Joined:
Jun 25, 2009
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In a way, I agree with you guys...well, NOW I agree. But back then...I was in high school. lol How else would kids in high school react?
Anyway, as long as the game didn't involve the whole rabid Christian aspect, I might actually play. However, it would be hard to change my real life breathing self via my character (which is what she intended). If I could play a game where it's more about how my character develops without killing (...or a lot of killing lol) monsters, then it could be a great game.
My username should actually read: Lunar Savage (damn you WotC!)
*Tips top hat, adjusts monocle, and walks away with cane* and yes, that IS Mr. Peanut laying unconscious on the curb.
http://asylumjournals.tumblr.com/
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4 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2009 - 9:53AM
#1775
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Date Joined:
Jun 28, 2005
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...We weren't going to fight monsters. We were going to fight our inner demons...and use our characters to change ourselves so we could become better people...
I can't be totally sure, but it sounds like you were playing 'character' versions of yourselves. I've steered clear of such experiments in any form, because unless you have a very mature group of people, it's awkward at best.
And that's from a guy who's played long running characters, through which I've realized things about myself and matured thereby. I think I can safely say, she was doing it wrong.
Now, creating 'inner demons' for fictional characters to combat and plot against -- that has potential....
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4 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2009 - 10:58AM
#1776
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Date Joined:
Apr 11, 2007
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She shouldn't have even been attempting that sort of thing. She's not your psychotherapist, so she should have just steered clear. I know how zealots can get, though.
I try to avoid psychoanalyzing the PCs in-story. Unless it's absolutely screaming "PLOT HOOK!", the PCs backgrounds are generally a retrospective look into his/her personality. In our game, Ronin's issues with his first kill combined with the story of Sir Kegan made a great character motivator (by redeeming Sir Kegan he was redeeming himself as well), but I wouldn't have set up a story around it. I just feel it would have been too much "The Ronin Show".
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4 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2009 - 6:16PM
#1777
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Date Joined:
Jun 25, 2009
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I can't be totally sure, but it sounds like you were playing 'character' versions of yourselves. I've steered clear of such experiments in any form, because unless you have a very mature group of people, it's awkward at best.
And that's from a guy who's played long running characters, through which I've realized things about myself and matured thereby. I think I can safely say, she was doing it wrong.
Now, creating 'inner demons' for fictional characters to combat and plot against -- that has potential....
Yeah, that's exactly what she intended. She meant for our characters to be ourselves, and we were to change ourselves in real life via our characters.
The funny part is that none of us made characters that reflected who we really were. So obviously, she did not understand the game nor did she even really try to IMO.
I wish some of you could have been there...it was funny, disgraceful, sad, and disappointing all in one go. :/
My username should actually read: Lunar Savage (damn you WotC!)
*Tips top hat, adjusts monocle, and walks away with cane* and yes, that IS Mr. Peanut laying unconscious on the curb.
http://asylumjournals.tumblr.com/
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4 years ago ::
Jul 30, 2009 - 3:42AM
#1778
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Date Joined:
Feb 26, 2004
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I can't be totally sure, but it sounds like you were playing 'character' versions of yourselves. I've steered clear of such experiments in any form, because unless you have a very mature group of people, it's awkward at best.
I've never done it for other people, but I frequently play characters that are thinly-disguised Expies of myself. I consider it an immensely satisfying form of self-analysis; it's neat to look back at the old notes and see what I thought my Charisma score was back then, compared with my current opinion. So maybe I'm just "very mature", as you put it, or maybe it was just that I wasn't sharing the experience with anyone else and thus could be as honest as I wanted to.
Now, creating 'inner demons' for fictional characters to combat and plot against -- that has potential....
Greatly agreed. It's already standard fare to have the characters fight someone who reflects themself (an evil twin, a renegade mentor, a doppelganger, a mind-controlled family member, a rival sect of your church, whatever); this is just taking that to the next level. You'd have to know your characters quite well, but I think I already have that good an understanding of at least one character in my game after only a few months.
Yeah, that's exactly what she intended. She meant for our characters to be ourselves, and we were to change ourselves in real life via our characters.
That sort of thing could theoretically work, but only with great difficulty. For instance, if she wanted to teach the lesson that it isn't nice to disembowel people (not one that really needs teaching with or without D&D, but just as an example), she couldn't just describe what the extracted entrails look and smell like, because either she does well and makes it sound cool, or does it poorly and is dismissed as a crappy GM and her lesson ignored. So to convince people that people are really gross on the inside and cutting them open is a good way to lose your lunch, rather than to gain macho points or whatever, she'd actually have to show you some entrails and let you lose your IRL lunch over them, and even that would fail if you had the kind of strong stomach that people who survive medical school and the like are capable of developing (or, of course, are actually a serial killer rather than just a wannabe who thinks serial killers are cool or something - and by the way, ugh that our society even contains such things).
My New Phyrexia Writing CreditsMy M12 Writing CreditsAs far as the benefit of the rest of Magic is concerned, gold cards in Legends were executed perfectly. They got all the excitement a designer could hope out of a splashy new mechanic without using up any of the valuable design space. Truly amazing.
--Aaron Forsythe's Random Card Comment on Kei Takahashi
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4 years ago ::
Jul 30, 2009 - 10:52AM
#1779
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Greatly agreed. It's already standard fare to have the characters fight someone who reflects themself (an evil twin, a renegade mentor, a doppelganger, a mind-controlled family member, a rival sect of your church, whatever); this is just taking that to the next level. You'd have to know your characters quite well, but I think I already have that good an understanding of at least one character in my game after only a few months.
I was thinking a bit more literally. Something along the lines of the battles taking place inside the characters' minds. I guess it would involve the "lucid dreaming" rules or something similar. Would be an interesting way of RPing a possession.
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4 years ago ::
Jul 30, 2009 - 11:05AM
#1780
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Date Joined:
May 27, 2005
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I was thinking a bit more literally. Something along the lines of the battles taking place inside the characters' minds. I guess it would involve the "lucid dreaming" rules or something similar. Would be an interesting way of RPing a possession.
I haven't done something like that in D&D, but I have in other RPG's. It's actually quite interesting, in my experience.
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