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Author Topic: Roleplaying Irks, Quirks, and other Oddities  (Read 799 times)

Crüesader
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Roleplaying Irks, Quirks, and other Oddities
« on: May 21, 2016, 09:34:11 PM »
So, since I've done a lot of traveling over the years it's hard to find one group to play RPG's with for a long time.  Most of the time, I find myself roleplaying in an MMORPG for some tavern talk or using various chat/forum roleplay.  That's kind of why I'm putting it here, though this can usually apply to tabletop roleplaying.  That being said, I think if you're going to state something you dislike or take issue with- then you should at least be more than willing to provide a 'suggestion' or something.  Also, this is an opportunity to perhaps speak on some of your own quirks.

I get irked when people play modern military characters like brainwashed mo-tards (that means 'so motivated they're retarded').  Not only that, but the people who do tend to play characters whose entire military promotion system is based on how many Cobras you kill or something.  I don't really get angry- I'm not expecting them to be experts or super-realistic about it- but I can't help but try to tell these people military guys and gals are like any other guys and gals- just a bit louder and with awful haircuts. A lot of people practically roleplay a 'bully' or a guy that just barks orders all the time and has no actual leadership skills.  Believe it or not, if you're a dick to everyone you don't get promoted.  Sure, there are some jerkoffs with bad attitudes in the ranks... but rest assured, if you're just a complete self-centered asshole you're a prime candidate for a uh... 'broadening assignment', which sometimes means "we're putting you away from actual units that do things so you can't rack up as many complaints from the people that have to work with you". So my guidance to people who want to play this sort of role is... well, be 'a person'.  Most level-headed and sane guys in the service after a few years usually just wants to be treated like everyone else and enjoy what I like to call the luxury of normalcy.  Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen all do normal guy stuff.  They watch movies, play D&D (that was pretty much all I did in OIF 1 until we pushed), play video games, read comic books... or whatever it was that holds their interest.  

Tavern/Bar plots.  A mob of people sit down and start discussing battle plans.  In front of other people.  That they don't know.  Sadly, even politely mentioning it to someone has gotten me rude responses... so now, when I do social roleplaying I just... brush it off.  It also happens a bit in D&D groups- people go into a tavern and start talking about their quests... I mean, doesn't anyone in D&D go have a drink to relax (Yeah, I know it's not fun Roleplaying).  FUN FACT:  In one game I mentioned this in-character politely.  The players' response was to spam me with PvP challenges and claim it was 'PvP RP' to try and kill my character.  In broad daylight.  In a public area.  Yeah.  When I do say something, I try to hint that I'm not trying to 'mess up' their roleplay or cause a problem- but a good GM or enterprising player could leverage that opportunity as an invitation to sabotage in the game setting.  Who knows, maybe someone will say 'that would be awesome'.  

I can't comfortably play with someone who's roleplaying a child character.  It's nothing against people who do that.  I'm not saying that it shouldn't be done.  I'm not saying it's dumb.  I'm also not saying that it's some weird pedo-thing.  There's just something in my mind about an adult pretending to be a kid that makes me uncomfortable.  I don't be rude to these people, I don't run away from them, I don't ignore them.  I just... politely find somewhere else to be.  At the tabletop I have never had this issue, but I kinda think it would be the same.  And by 'child' I don't mean 'minor by modern standards but expected to function as an adult in the setting', I mean like someone playing a little kid.

One of my biggest discomforts was roleplaying in City of Heroes/City of Villains... and people would play as outright knock-offs of established characters.  I don't mean some guy thought Batman looked cool so he made a Batman-looking avatar and just played the game... I mean people actually roleplaying as 'Totally Not Batman But Named After A Flying Animal And Is an Orphan Millionaire With Boomerang Weapons And Also Coincidentally A Detective Hero Man'.  Some people would mishmash two characters together and try and pass that off as an 'original' idea.  At the same time... I get it, people want to make a nod at a hero or two that they like.  And it's really hard to say something to someone about this, because it's their character... even if it isn't very creative by my own standards, y'know?  Usually, I've only talked with people like this when they're wondering why people are brushing them off and dismissing them... and sometimes I find out it's a kid or something, and I have to take a brotherly approach to it... maybe ask "What is it you like about Batman?" and try to help them refine their idea if they ask for help.  I call this a 'discomfort' because it was really me just kind of assuming this was probably a kid or a new person, and I was watching people be a dick to them.  I don't really 'hate' this... it was just always hard for me to sit through, because... sometimes it's a kid, sometimes it's a guy that'll go off about how it's pure coincidence and he thinks everyone else is stupid to think the aforementioned 'Winged-Animal Superhero Detective Orphan' is anything like this 'Batman' you guys keep talking about.  (You think I'm exaggerating that, but it's happened with heroes that are just about as well-known).

Bren

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Roleplaying Irks, Quirks, and other Oddities
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2016, 10:16:50 PM »
Quote from: Crüesader;899369
Tavern/Bar plots. A mob of people sit down and start discussing battle plans. In front of other people. That they don't know.
Yeah I see that a lot. I think one reason for that is that the NPCs in the tavern tend to be a lot more in the background and a lot less ‘real’ than are the PCs so it is easy to forget that the NPCs are there. As a GM I might have an NPC comment on what the PCs are saying or just be obviously listening and watching. Or I might have some enemy of the PCs have someone spy on them at the tavern. That person would be less obviously listening and watching. After all it would be helpful to know what the PCs’ battle plan was before planning an ambush.

I’ve also seen a similar response where players in a town, village, or populated countryside don’t think that their movements and actions are likely to be noticed by the NPCs around them. Doubly so if the PCs are strangers. Quadruply so if the PCs are heavily armed or armored strangers. Would you and your neighbors pay attention to half a dozen people in body armor, helmets, and combat gear and carrying rifles and squad support weapons walking through your neighborhood? And if you live on a military base, try putting those half dozen people in jeans and flannel shirts or uniforms you don’t recognize. Would any service people pay attention to them then?

Quote
It also happens a bit in D&D groups- people go into a tavern and start talking about their quests... I mean, doesn't anyone in D&D go have a drink to relax (Yeah, I know it's not fun Roleplaying).
Not playing D&D, but yeah the PCs go to their favorite taverns to relax or to a good inn to have a celebratory meal. We only occasionally spend more than a few minutes doing that, but it’s something that happens. And they do need to go somewhere to plan their quests, listen to rumors, etc. Though I’d think a private room at the tavern or inn would be a better location for any planning that is more than a few muttered sentences to your friend sitting next to you.

One solution for D&D would be to use an experience point system that requires (or at least incentivizes) spending cash and time relaxing, celebrating, carousing, etc. to get the benefit of experience points.
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Crüesader
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Roleplaying Irks, Quirks, and other Oddities
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2016, 10:42:45 PM »
Quote from: Bren;899375
I’ve also seen a similar response where players in a town, village, or populated countryside don’t think that their movements and actions are likely to be noticed by the NPCs around them. Doubly so if the PCs are strangers. Quadruply so if the PCs are heavily armed or armored strangers. Would you and your neighbors pay attention to half a dozen people in body armor, helmets, and combat gear and carrying rifles and squad support weapons walking through your neighborhood? And if you live on a military base, try putting those half dozen people in jeans and flannel shirts or uniforms you don’t recognize. Would any service people pay attention to them then?

I explained it in a similar way once- a military commander sits his guys down in a coffee shop in Kandahar to discuss the security escort for the next day's convoy.

Quote from: Bren;899375
Not playing D&D, but yeah the PCs go to their favorite taverns to relax or to a good inn to have a celebratory meal. We only occasionally spend more than a few minutes doing that, but it’s something that happens. And they do need to go somewhere to plan their quests, listen to rumors, etc. Though I’d think a private room at the tavern or inn would be a better location for any planning that is more than a few muttered sentences to your friend sitting next to you.

If I remember correctly, there used to be a system in some of the 2nd Edition books for picking up on rumors in the local town.  The last place I saw a similar system was the Diablo 2 supplement for 3rd Edition.

Quote from: Bren;899375
One solution for D&D would be to use an experience point system that requires (or at least incentivizes) spending cash and time relaxing, celebrating, carousing, etc. to get the benefit of experience points.

We always just kinda factor downtime into it; because it's assumed even in science fiction games that they're rotating shifts performing maintenance on the ship/vehicles and equipment and waiting on re-supplies for ammo (because I've always played it as 'street' ammo tends to be shitty and gunks up the gun, and 'adventuring sci-fi heroes' tend to buy more ammo in bulk than the average guy that's just buying ammo for sportsman or defense purposes), and general things like laundry, recovery from injuries, and personal hygiene.

In Exalted I played as an Alchemical, so downtime like you're talking about is a must- not only for the Vats to re-calibrate stuff (though we drastically shortened the time), but because high Clarity isn't really fun to play.  We just had a roll based on your points to see what happened and the Storyteller gave you a general idea of how 'great' your night went based on your character's general personality.  What was important is that you interacted in some productive way with regular folks.  Of course, there's nothing like an overwhelmingly successful roll and your GM saying, "Well... you drank a keg, motorboated a city official, had a bawdy sing-along with some workers, and you've woken up in your quarters to find three naked ladies in your bed and your presence is requested regarding some 'dick graffiti'."

jeff37923

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Roleplaying Irks, Quirks, and other Oddities
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2016, 02:44:15 AM »
"Alone in a bar full of ears" happens in my Traveller game too.

Last game, the party has been co-opted into doing some work for the Covert Survey Bureau on the bleeding edge of the Imperial/Zhodani frontier. They have just come back from a mission and are at the local scout deep base bar (the only one on a world with a population of around 8000) where they are letting off some steam. Getting drunk and joking around was not enough for these guys, so one player whose PC has been nicknamed "Psychic Space Hobo" for various reasons starts getting really graphic and ribald with his joking. Loud statements like, "I had to give blowjobs to the staff of an entire Astroburgers just for a moldy cheeseburger! I had let them do a train on my ass just to earn enough for a low passage!" were expected to just go unnoticed by the rest of the bar patrons (the player is in his early 20s and relatively new to RPGs). In spite of the internet meme that claims that Traveller never left the science fiction of the 70s, a common ubiquitous piece of equipment is the comm which is equivalent of today's smart phone. Of course, some of the bar patrons began to record Psychic Space Hobo's public tirade and upload it to the tiny public infonet.

Now, part of Psychic Space Hobo's background is that he managed to swindle the Bedu Tong criminal gang and is hiding from them, one of the reasons why he is on the frontier. For the three previous games, I have been strongly hinting that the Bedu Tong are moving an operation into the area*. Video of the tirade got back to the Bedu Tong and the rest of night's adventure was the kidnapping and recovering of the Psychic Space Hobo by the rest of the party.

I'm hoping they got the hint from this, because there were several other adventuring possibilities there in the bar. Two of which had actually walked up to them and introduced themselves, but then decided not to make job offers to the table with the guy loudly offering sexual favors for food or drink.

*Want to grow illegal drugs for sale? Offer a cut of profits to a struggling colony in exchange for some prime farmland on a world that is not part of the Imperium.
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JesterRaiin

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Roleplaying Irks, Quirks, and other Oddities
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2016, 10:55:26 AM »
Quote from: Crüesader;899369
Also, this is an opportunity to perhaps speak on some of your own quirks.

I'm not sure whether it counts, but this little thing always manages to get under my skin - I simply hate when players attempt to recreate certain "it totally happened during my session" stories.

You know, some armchair theorist pretending to be a gamer claims that during his session he managed to [some pretentious, angsty bullshit here along the lines of "I outwitted everyone and everything including gods and the GM, the mechanics didn't apply, dice were all nat 20s & shit"]. Some time later you start a session on roll20, skype or some forum and guess what, some guy follows same story. Since it was a bullshit to start with, it can't obviously work. Enter the disappointment, accusations of "no fun" follow, and the session is ruined.

I swear on God Almighty, idiots attempting to pull Old Man Hendersson or Assassin Stalker deserve instant "rock falls, no save" death.
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Roleplaying Irks, Quirks, and other Oddities
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2016, 06:14:53 PM »
Quote from: JesterRaiin;899620
I'm not sure whether it counts, but this little thing always manages to get under my skin - I simply hate when players attempt to recreate certain "it totally happened during my session" stories.

You know, some armchair theorist pretending to be a gamer claims that during his session he managed to [some pretentious, angsty bullshit here along the lines of "I outwitted everyone and everything including gods and the GM, the mechanics didn't apply, dice were all nat 20s & shit"]. Some time later you start a session on roll20, skype or some forum and guess what, some guy follows same story. Since it was a bullshit to start with, it can't obviously work. Enter the disappointment, accusations of "no fun" follow, and the session is ruined.

I swear on God Almighty, idiots attempting to pull Old Man Hendersson or Assassin Stalker deserve instant "rock falls, no save" death.

I understand what you're saying here.  This was regular shit in Exalted, too.  

I used to have an online roleplayer in one that I despised for a similar reason, and this person's characters were just as obnoxious.  They would sit and go on for hours- in character and out of character, gloating about Magic/Mercenary/Meta/Mutant Mary Sue's amazing conquests.  The funny thing is they were never, "I fought the bad guy for like 9 turns and then finally landed a critical blow" (we had dice systems).  It was always, "I found a way to hand-wave away the threat".  This player was also constantly looking for 'loopholes' in the system to try and create an unstoppable character.

We let it slide, but then this same player was complaining to our GM about some of our characters (like, how my character kept 'changing guns and weapons' despite us using the armory system rather than standardized gear lists, or how another player's character 'should not tolerate' certain things, despite the situation being handled in-character long before, etc.)... this was when I found out what 'Worfing' was.

Since this player's characters were always 'the badass', our GM would just find some way to mop the floor with them.  

And if you don't catch the reference to Worf, in Star Trek tNG if they wanted to show how badass a threat was, they'd just kick Worf's ass or blast him away.  I'm pretty sure in one episode one guy just randomly aims a beam at Worf and blasts him when he was just there minding his own business.  I can't back that up.