Quote from: J ArcaneIce is fun, yes, but you must admit that "Kill it with ice" just doesn't have the same ring as "Kill it with fire."

FATALITY
Sub-Zero Wins!

Quote from: SosthenesFATALITY
Sub-Zero Wins!

Honestly though, my current favorite is "Kill it with death."

1) I like superhero comics, greek mythology, old-time sci-fi radio serials and D&D for the same reason: powerful characters create epic legends.

2) Roleplaying is primarily an escapist pastime. So even if I enjoy watching westerns and detective shows every once in a while, I don't often find myself wishing I were a cowboy or a detective. On the other hand, I think being a superhero or a guy who can cast spells would be awesome. Thus, my focus is on the fantastic.

3) I'm totally not interested in the college short story as a roleplaying medium. When it comes to 'exploring relationships' or whatever else, I can pretty much do that in real life. I don't mind if anyone else is into that sort of thing, but I'm not going to accept it as better.

4) Restrictive personality mechanics are fucking awful. I don't like being forced to play my character the way the GM tells me to... And I detest being forced to play my character according to the whims of some game designer.

5) I truly believe that many of the people who have been setting themselves up as "game design authorities" over the last couple of years are either completely incompetent, have actually failed at gaming yet linger on anyway, have bad motives, or some combination of all three.  I believe that anyone who accepts such a person as an authority is being duped.

6) Gaming isn't art.

Hi James! I see that many of your impressions may come from me writing thses rules from a GM perspective (I am almost always the GM).

Quote from: James J SkachExcept at cons, where I don't know the specific people mustered to a table, necessarily.

You got me here Maybe that's due to this fact: I've never ever had a bad experience at a con. Every people who went to my table were normal, well adjusted people. I liked some of them more than others, of course, but I've known no Catpiss Man. Maybe I forgot cons for that reason, but I think that my point stands.

Quote from: James J SkachOr you could be there to have fun or something. And then fudging is cheating and you should all go to hell and burn for eternity for even thinking of it...jeez...just to have fun you're going to fudge?  Were you raised in a barn?

Nope. You can fudge in your games and it's OK for you. Not for me. I think that if a game is well designed, you don't have to cheat. You may think otherwise, and it's cool.

Quote from: James J SkachIn a nutshell, if cool powers are your only motivation, you are a dysfunctional player, not a "true" roleplayer, or some crock of shit like that.

In a nutshell: you're a true roleplayer whose tastes are very different from mine, so you will do better playing with other people or playing other games (like WoW). That's it.

Quote from: James J SkachBecause I'm separating myself from all of you WoW players so I can feel smug and superior.

Nope. I separate myself from them because I don't like WoW. I also separate myself from a lot of people who do things I don't like or I don't care about.

WoW was just an example. You can change it for any oter activity that you like. For example, getting upset at what other people writes at an Internet board

1) We're all here to have fun, and the responsibility for ensuring that above all else is the GM's.
2) My table is not your table. My fun is not your fun. However, let's talk about those distinct kinds of fun and how we get there - it's possible we can learn something.
3) Cool powers are fundamentally on-demand special effects. They can be used to help create a compelling series of events or they can fuck everything up. However, I find things involving these special effects to be more exciting.
4) GNS is the roleplaying equivalent of Scientology; if the world were as it says, they'd have the perfect philosophy. Fortunately for the rest of us the real world is absolutely nothing like they suggest, and their theories remain nothing but a distressingly pervasive idiocy.
5) Oh god, the zombies are here! Run!
6) Mechanics that define and control a PC's personality are easily fucked up by ham-handed wanna-be Hollywood wankers, bullshit power tripping GMs, and other fuckwits of the gaming world.
7) Mechanics that allow a PC's personality and beliefs to enhance his ability to affect the game world rock on toast.
Superheroes are boring.
9) Fudging, like everything else, should be discussed with the whole group.
10) PC death is the most boring outcome of losing a conflict available, and its over-use is the tool of a lazy GM; thus, it should be reserved for appropriate circumstances. Your group should be in agreement on when it is appropriate.
10b) However, the absence of the threat of PC death cripples suspension of disbelief and should be avoided.
11) If at any point your roleplaying game starts to drift towards being therapy, seek the real thing.
12) The majority of Forge-loved microgames are fucking awful, presenting a feeling of filling in the details of some lackwitted frustrated author's short story. A few exceptions are made for those with some kind of capacity to provide a genuinely varied experience.
13) Rule #10 doesn't apply in the event of a disposable character monster horror game.

Quote from: Abyssal Maw6) Gaming isn't art.

And the crowd goes wild! How did this one slip my mind?

Quote from: James McMurrayIf I wanna see name calling followed by girly fighting I can drive by a grade school at recess. At least there the blood is real.

Three words for you:  Total Nonstop Action.  TNA only gets an hour a week, so they just don't have the time for lengthy histrionics.

Are the wrestlers out there to entertain or to fight?

My opinions in no particular order:

• Role-playing games are games first, everything else second.
• If I have to choose between the hobby and the industry, the hobby is going to win every time.
• Playing D&D without dungeons is as pointless as trying to play football without a ball.
• The hobby is a social activity.  Therefore, I have little motivation to play with people I don't like.
• Most of the people that we rail against around here are probably really cool in person.
• Just cause I don't get a particular game or style of play doesn't mean it's bad.

Quote from: James McMurrayAre the wrestlers out there to entertain or to fight?

It can't be both?  Either way, there's a lot of fighting.  Not as high of a punching to talking ratio as I would prefer, but way higher than Vince McMahon's product.

Yeah, it can be both, I'm just curious about which is the priority. If they're there to entertain you'll see moves being performed that would kill or cripple a man if they weren't staged, and people getting hit fifteen times with a steel chair and walking away. If they're there to fight what happens in the ring will, to me, be more entertaining.

Quote from: jrientsMy opinions in no particular order:

• Role-playing games are games first, everything else second.
• If I have to choose between the hobby and the industry, the hobby is going to win every time.
• Playing D&D without dungeons is as pointless as trying to play football without a ball.
• The hobby is a social activity.  Therefore, I have little motivation to play with people I don't like.
• Most of the people that we rail against around here are probably really cool in person.
• Just cause I don't get a particular game or style of play doesn't mean it's bad.

I agree with this, fully, specially the two last points.