Inspired by my previous post and its related conversation in the geek group, my friend Andrew and I have been talking, as we so often do, about our RPG experiences. He said I could share this one:
Our college group wasn’t big on subtle roleplaying. The anecdote that best exemplifies our attitude comes from a random night encounter.
The mage was on guard, heard a rustle in the woods outside the camp, and immediately unleashed a fireball.
“You aren’t going to wait to see who it is?” asked the DM (different guy; we rotated). “What if it’s one of your friends?”
“They can take the damage,” replied the mage’s player.
End of encounter.
There are times to take RPGs seriously (or so I’ve heard) but it’s time like these that I look forward to the most when I play a tabletop RPG. If you listened to the Penny Arcade D&D podcasts (JIM DARKMAGIC FOR THE WIN!) you heard something remarkably similar to my friends and me playing . . . well, just about everything, really. That’s sort of the whole reason we play games, isn’t it?
I’m going to PAX this weekend, where I’m sure I’ll engage in quite a bit of the video gaming. I’m especially looking forward to playing Rock Band 2 with the Enforcers, but more than anything else, I’m excited to spend some time in the Original Wireless Gaming area, which I missed last year. It’s nothing but classic RPGs and hobby games, all donated and run by volunteers. Last year, there were opportunities to do a one-shot dungeon crawl, and I can’t wait to get on the list for one of those if they’re doing it again.
Yeah, okay, I officially want a gaming group like Andrew’s college group. They can take the damage?! Best response ever.
Note to self: Get on list for one-shot dungeon crawl.
I played Call of Cthulhu with a group that is usually all guys (I’m a girl). We were attacked by a group of a half-dozen cultists. My friends failed their weapons rolls, so Incapacitated the cultists with fellatio.
That should read “I incapacitated them…” Yeah.
Rocketpants <- spaz
In our group we apply a “coolness bonus” if you were trying to do something cool, as voted by the group with DM having veto power, and you failed, you may try again. A few session ago that resulted in a bear with spider climb leaping from the sealing into an underground lake, transforming into a shark mid-flight, and saving one of our mages from a squid. Good times.
Hey Wil here’s the complete list of D&D (actually all WotC events)
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=welcome/conventions/2008pax
I’ll definitely be stopping by for copies of Dancing Barefoot and Happiest Days since I loved reading Just a Geek after getting it from you in Phoenix!
@rocketpants, I just giggled hysterically for several minutes….as a female geek and gamer of 25 years (um yes, I’ll turn 36 in about a week…), I can SO relate!
@Wil, that comment about “they can take the damage” sounded like one of my longest-running AD&D groups…and I played a halfling druid (don’t ask…)in that group that was every power gamer’s nightmare…
Always take having fun seriously.
Okay. It made sense in my head.
For as much as you’re pimping my Dire Rat Incident, you wouldn’t have happened to listen to the show, would you? 🙂 🙂
In one game I played we were riding a beast of burden with an incredibly loud roar. We passed through a large door to a cave full of stalectites, of which one was a switch to open a secret door on the other side somewhere. Upon discovering the amazing echo in the chamber we all went back to the entrance of the cave, dismantled the door and built an enormous megaphone out of them. We then had the beast of burden roar through the megaphone at ground shaking levels. Our completely confused GM asked, “And what is this going to accomplish?”
To which I replied, “The real stalactites fall. The switch doesn’t.”
-Animeraider
I could also throw in the game that involved a warrior in bunny pajamas (with feet) clinging to a VCR going over a waterfall – but that’s a tale for another time
Dude. If any of my friends said, “They can take the damage,” my other friends would surely call them out for meta-gaming.
DM: OK, what’s your name? Bill?
Wil: It’s Wil. Can I play the Rogue?
DM looks up.
DM: Wil. Oh. Um. You look familiar. So, sorry, all we have left is the Gnome Illusionist.
Wil: OK, well, that’s great, I’m just happy to be in a game.
DM: Oh Shit, you’re Wil Wheaton. Um. OK. Great to have you in my game.
Wil: Really, let’s just move along.
—
No pressure Mr. DM. No Pressure at ALL.
Julian
rabbitatrabbitcavedotcom
“The door opens revealing two silver drakes. Zar, what do you do?”
“I call ’em bitches in Draconic.”
The mage was on guard, heard a rustle in the woods outside the camp, and immediately unleashed a fireball.
“You aren’t going to wait to see who it is?” asked the DM (different guy; we rotated). “What if it’s one of your friends?”
“They can take the damage,” replied the mage’s player.
I served with Marines like that in Afghanistan.
It went something like this….
DM: As the door opens, you see…
Fighter 1 (interrupting): I draw my broadsword and charge into the…
Fighter 2 (interrupting): I’m right behind him with my +2 mace.
DM (after a few seconds): Okay. (To F1) You take (rolls 2d6) 7 points of damage as you crash your stupid hand on the low ceiling and stumble to the floor. And you (to F2), tripping over your fallen mate, drop your mace on him, causing (rolls) 4 points more damage. The room in front of you us empty, your friend is unconscious, and I’m going get some Ring Dings.
Your gaming group sounds like my gaming group!! Here’s how particularly funny night went:
DM: You are walking through the forest. You encounter a random group of travelers.
Player 1: I pull out my broadsword with one hand and my knife with the other.
Player 2: I’m right behind him with my bow.
DM: So you just kill them?(Clearly there were rounds of combat…but let’s skip that for now.) Okay…a little later you here rustling in the forest…
Player 1: i take an attack of opporunity, just rolled four natural 20s. We shoot them an move on!
DM: You surprise the snow.
That totally reminds me of my old game group of yore. If it wasn’t along the lines of “They can take the damage” it was “They shouldn’t have been in the way.”
My friend Steve and I made sure to always keep our game fun no matter how serious the other guys tried to take it.
Seeking out useless NPC’s to take with us, trying the “Chewbacca Manuever” too often to get into prisons or a personal favorite of our gaming group: beating each other up in order to hold the map.
I can’t tell you how many times during a regular walk or inn moment one of the guys would roll initiative just to attack the guy holding the map.
It was a great way to keep things fun if it started to drag 🙂
I GM a group who start every plan with this simple, stated goal: how can we best kick our foe in the junk? This has led to all manner of amusing anecdotes. In the homebrew world that we’re running, they’ve burned the same inn down twice. A classic moment just last week was this exchange:
Ranger: We need to question the leader of that guard patrol to get some information.
Cleric: We’ve got to somehow draw him out from the rest.
Wizard: Leave it to me…
The wizard then cast a spell that called forth a rain of lava and ice on the patrol, under the assumption that the one who lived would be the most experienced, and therefore the leader. I’ve been chronicling their adventures here, for the curious.
OMG! That reminds me of the time (of course!) when the rest of the group couldn’t see into the room I was in and one of the idiot mages cast disintegrate. I almost killed him….as well as his character!
Love the gaming references.
OMG! That reminds me of the time (of course!) when the rest of the group couldn’t see into the room I was in and one of the idiot mages cast disintegrate. I almost killed him….as well as his character!
Love the gaming references.
I was playing a half-orc barbarian, who had had permanent enlarge person cast on him. So he was just shy of 14′ tall and about 2500 lbs. There was a halfling in the party that liked to argue just a little too much. After listening to yet another extended argument, my half-orc got really tired of hearing the halflings annoying voice, so he picked him up in one hand by the neck (28 strength really helps with that) and proceeded to dangle him over a well. The DM, none too thrilled with the infighting already going on amongst the group, felt that my threatening the halfling wouldn’t improve the situation much at all. I assured him that I had no interest in threatening the halfling, and then proceeded to drop him down the very, very, deep well. Turns out halflings in plate can’t swim. The arguing stopped too.
Heh, we had a particularly agressive warrior in my old group. He would attack random NPCs at the drop of a hat, dragging us into fights that threw the whole plot of the evening out of the window. That is, until demons and the like starting shapeshifting into human form and began walking among the NPCs. That cut down on THAT real fast. 🙂
Olde School gaming? Excellent! It is making a comeback. Of course, I lost my magic user to a giant hell hound, missing the system shock roll to resurrect after being bitten in half. So, I am looking for revenge. 🙂
http://oldeschool.proboards105.com/index.cgi
“they can take the damage” <- priceless! I can say that I am looking forward to getting back into the "Living Realms" but I'm a bit guarded about this 4th edition. I poured over the Player's Handbook and found it to be intensely "cookie cutter". I can appreciate the desire to keep the game balanced, but it feels like they have gone too far. I mean, a bit of unfair bias is good, right? Well, I get my "trial by fire" on the 20th here in Philly so we'll see what a 4th edition - 1st level Dragonborn Paladin can do... Jolan Tru!
There is still a fair bit of controversy raging on the intarwebs over 4e. You can get some pretty good fan support on ENWorld, but most other forums are still rather divided. Even WotC’s official boards and Gleemax (before they went tits up <-Scottish accent) were not a bloc of whole-hearted support. Of course, there are grognards like myself starting forums and celebrating the early editions. There are people who, thanks to the OGL, are producing retro-clone products that have a solid old school feel and are immensely fun. I already pimped my forum above, but feel free to drop me an email if you want some more information or some websites for 4e or retro-clones. As Cmdr LaForge used to say, "But don't take my word for it..." 🙂 I know Mr Wheaton is pretty jazzed about 4e, but I have to say, the early editions are about as unsubtle as you can get with role-playing.
“They can take the damage,” replied the mage’s player.
ROTFLMAO!! Sounds just like my college group. We were the founding members of a (very) little heard of game called Darkus Thel, and we gamed nearly every Sunday. Thel is much more of story-telling type of roleplay, rather than slash & hack. We had epic tales, legendary characters, and continuing story arcs. Much fun, and sadly, much missed these days.
Man, was that really 20 years ago??? Geez, now I REALLY feel old …
Thanks for sharing about the Penny Arcade D&D podcasts. I downloaded them all last night and even though I’ve only listened to part one so far, I am already in love with “Jim Darkmagic” 🙂