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Are people having trouble with Fantasy?
MisterK:
That's perhaps one side effect of video gaming that's often overlooked but pretty much prevalent: with the exception of PvP games, video games present situations where you can fail temporarily, but you're expecting to win in the end - "beat the game" as it is. Having to deal with a loss permanently is seldom an option - you try again, reload a save, or start an new game. You can even check several outcomes and "choose" the one you prefer. Walkthroughs describe the various possible endings and the "true endings" (supposedly the 'best' one) and you're supposed to go there and do that.
to be honest, having "adventure" format games where each scenario is independent from the other and the overall game world does not really care if you succeed or not in the long run also emphasises that aspect.
Vladimir:
--- Quote from: jdale on January 05, 2022, 08:45:26 PM ---I certainly have players who are ready to skip the social parts in favor of combat, but they would be appalled at the suggestion to skip the treasure! That's crazy talk. That's been true for decades.
I will say, though, that in the LARP (over 25 years) I think players have gotten less tolerant of losing. They're not any worse about roleplaying and story (some great, some not so much), but when the whole town gets streamrolled and dies, they are more whiny about it. Take what you will from that.
--- End quote ---
I GMed a mercenary campaign were everybody wanted to a god on the battlefield but nobody wanted to have social skills or command. Since none of them could negotiate contracts or even administer a unit, they wound up as (underpaid) hirelings for a NPC, which let me toss in a few curves, like modeling the unit after the cartoon "Archer", where the unit was made up of incompetent malcontents and sociopaths. I'd write more but the name of the unit, as well as the names of most of the PCs were not for a family site. One of the female NPCs was named Gloria Snockers, for example...
In one scenario, the commander was called away and left the PCs on their own...they tortured and executed prisoners, allowed infiltrators into the unit who later stole vehicles and one of the officers was kidnapped...and later paraded through an enemy city through jeering crowds.
They asked for it...
EltonJ:
The point is in a RPG, you can do anything you imagine. You can make your own story and world. Even toss out a few rules. Because everyone is competing with D&D, there are a plethora of RPGs out there that you can try. Computer games change everything, though.
A computer game gives you a set world, a set story, with scripted outcomes. And yes, if there is a bad end, you can start the game over again. Over time, a computer game can get boring -- you've been through the quests before and can do them without blinking. An RPG is more fluid, and if your game master is a good one, will never disappoint.
Vladimir:
--- Quote ---A computer game gives you a set world, a set story, with scripted outcomes.
--- End quote ---
There are a number of sandbox games that have open ended outcomes from getting along with the various factions or warring against all of them to a genocidal outcome. The alternate endings are only limited by the number of saves you wish to make.
I prefer thinking games while my players, not so much...So out go the puzzles, riddles and NPCs that don't give straight answers... I mean, they gladly accepted a NPC commander who dictated missions, conditions and strategy, which I never would have tolerated as a player...but those are the conditions they wanted, as long as I pointed them at an enemy and let them loose...until they chose to bite off more than they could chew by picking a fight (despite repeated warnings, not hints but warnings) with a unit of much larger size and losing. Cest la vie.
Hurin:
--- Quote from: Vladimir on January 06, 2022, 07:02:33 PM ---
I prefer thinking games while my players, not so much...So out go the puzzles, riddles and NPCs that don't give straight answers... I mean, they gladly accepted a NPC commander who dictated missions, conditions and strategy, which I never would have tolerated as a player...but those are the conditions they wanted, as long as I pointed them at an enemy and let them loose...
--- End quote ---
I've had a similar experience. I see a lot of criticisms of railroading, but my players not only don't mind it, they actually prefer it. The like to have clear missions and know what they're 'supposed to be doing'. Different groups are different!
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