Wow, I can remember complaints of a similar flavor from 25-30 years ago. Not exactly the same situations or examples, mind you, but the same whiney, rule-quoting, "It's not fair, it's not fair!" quality to them is there. Again, I will say "Garbage In, Garbage Out". If a person is a poor, un-imaginative, un-inventive, un-innovative player, their only recourse seems to be to whine about unfair the game is.
I think if my party ran into 9 succubi, and we made our rolls to see if they noticed us or not, the first thing we'd do is fade and hide after judging ourselves over-matched. No one says you HAVE to fight every fricken monster you come accross and you not allowed to RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. It ain't glorious, it might not even be considered honorable, but it's realistic. "Oh crap, I stumbled into a demon convention. I'd better get the hell out of here if I don't want to end up on a spit as the main course!" "Good choice, they'd have killed you. Discretion IS the better part of valor, after all. I award you 10 out of 10 exp. for good decision making." "What would you have done if I'd charged in and attacked?" "Dying isn't a bad enough penalty for poor judgement for you? Ok, not only would you likely have died, but I'd have to take away several 1000 exp. for bad judgement." (That's a reference to the old Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy BBC mini-series, for those of you who've never seen it.)
I mean seriously, where do these people come from? If they think they can do it so much better, let them make their own game with their own rules. But of course that would open them up to other bitching about how un-realistic and unfair THEIR rules are.
It's never the fault of the game, responsebility always rests with the people playing it. Really reminds me of all the times I heard "That game you are playing is horrible and evil! It was invented by the Devil! You're going to burn in hell if you keep playing it!" I'd always tell them the game could be whatever the players want it to be. The rules provide a basic framework, an outline, for creating settings (or worlds) for the game. Within that frame work, the players choices make the game good or bad. Bottom line, players who whine about how poorly written, or how unfair the rules are, or how unrealistic the game is, are poor players. Doesn't matter what edition or what game they play, it's only a bit of ink on a page in a book. If it doesn't work for ya, try something else. If it works, keep it. Kinda like life.
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ninetydegrees
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
on 2009-07-22 03:51 pm (UTC)I think if my party ran into 9 succubi, and we made our rolls to see if they noticed us or not, the first thing we'd do is fade and hide after judging ourselves over-matched. No one says you HAVE to fight every fricken monster you come accross and you not allowed to RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. It ain't glorious, it might not even be considered honorable, but it's realistic. "Oh crap, I stumbled into a demon convention. I'd better get the hell out of here if I don't want to end up on a spit as the main course!" "Good choice, they'd have killed you. Discretion IS the better part of valor, after all. I award you 10 out of 10 exp. for good decision making." "What would you have done if I'd charged in and attacked?" "Dying isn't a bad enough penalty for poor judgement for you? Ok, not only would you likely have died, but I'd have to take away several 1000 exp. for bad judgement." (That's a reference to the old Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy BBC mini-series, for those of you who've never seen it.)
I mean seriously, where do these people come from? If they think they can do it so much better, let them make their own game with their own rules. But of course that would open them up to other bitching about how un-realistic and unfair THEIR rules are.
It's never the fault of the game, responsebility always rests with the people playing it. Really reminds me of all the times I heard "That game you are playing is horrible and evil! It was invented by the Devil! You're going to burn in hell if you keep playing it!" I'd always tell them the game could be whatever the players want it to be. The rules provide a basic framework, an outline, for creating settings (or worlds) for the game. Within that frame work, the players choices make the game good or bad. Bottom line, players who whine about how poorly written, or how unfair the rules are, or how unrealistic the game is, are poor players. Doesn't matter what edition or what game they play, it's only a bit of ink on a page in a book. If it doesn't work for ya, try something else. If it works, keep it. Kinda like life.