Hi, I’m an elitist roleplaying snob
Filed under Soapbox on May 13, 2004
Tagged: Dungeon Masters, Dungeons and Dragons, roleplaying
Why are good games so hard to find? I don’t mean products. I mean experiences. Of the last four play-by-post (PbP) D&D games I’ve joined, two have been lacking in any sort of organization and depth. The Dungeon Master does little to flesh out the world or incorporate player backgrounds (if they’re even requested), starts in the cliched tavern, and uses NPCs only as dispensers of the next “quest” or plot hook. Players worry more about dice rolls than alignment, use spell names when describing in-character actions, and think good roleplaying means screaming a battlecry before every encounter.
Yeah, so I’m one of those “elitist roleplaying snobs.” In my defense, I stick it out rather than immediately quit, hoping that I can somehow teach by example and help shape a new generation of roleplayers. I don’t preach or complain to the others in the game about the “correct” way to play, because I know there isn’t.
I also hold PbP games to a higher standard than my RL games. It’s like the difference between theatre and movies, to me. One is an art form, the other is pure entertainment. I get as much out of sitting around the table with my buddies as I do from actually playing the game. In PbP, I’m trying to tell a story, and I don’t want a bunch of hacks disrupting my suspension of belief or the form and flow of the tale.
Should I be thankful I can even find a good game, or a game at all? Sure. There is a way I prefer to play, however, and I don’t enjoy games that aren’t played that way. I’ll take as much as I can stand and then excuse myself. It is a game after all. If I’m not having fun, I shouldn’t be expected to continue participating.
Perhaps I’m just meant to be a DM. I’ve been dying to DM a PbP game, but I recently stepped down from the DM duties of my RL group due to writing commitments, so I’m hesitant to take on that role in this new format. I know first-hand how frustrating it is to have a good game stop mid-campaign because the DM disappears.
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