RP gripes!

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There are plenty around. I run exclusively those most of the time because i feel comfortable in those.
 
Oh. One more. Classes in rp games.

WTF
This is not a vid game. Why must i conform to those restriction? Why cant i be a rogue that doesnt sneak but is a thug? Why cant i be a warrior in light armor and carried a rapier?
 
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Every RP game has rules and restrictions to help streamline games. I've found that having set classes with a bit of fluidity in case someone wants a little something extra can be really helpful. It also gives people a baseline for what characters can do. I've also discovered that it can help keep character from being OVER-9000 overpowered super gods.

Which brings me to my gripe... which may have already been stated, but when a character is essentially OVER 9000 in how powerful and awesome they're supposed to be. The uberest-badass-there-ever-was is a pretty obnoxious things to encounter in games. It's especially irritating when it's clear that everyone else has thoughtfully constructed their characters to be fallible and strong-but-not-overpowered. The only exception I can think of are games that are sort of making fun of themselves and request that all characters are like that.
 
But when it's almost exactly like a video game? Fuck that.

Especially when it's just the three basics. The rogue, the warrior and the wizard. The only exception I can make is the Wizard since the GM will probably not want a bunch of warrior wizards in full plate.
But when I would not be able to be a studded leather clad fighter that carries a bow and a longsword...that is just weird.

Edit: And I think the mention of uberness has been mentioned before.
 
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When you add a character to iwakus vault thing and you get twenty messages saying they want to RP with them.

90% of them were shit. There's only so much I can do with one lamia. It's made me worried about writing up more.

I'm sure this has been said, probably missed it: people who complain about rules for an RP. Don't like them? Don't bitch and moan about it. Either leave, conform, or talk to the GM about it.
 
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But when it's almost exactly like a video game? Fuck that.
Yeah! Role playing has absolutely no gaming roots! None, whatsoever!

Anyway, more seriously: People have no idea what the difference between a premise, theme, and plot is it seems. So here's a quick rundown.

A premise is the core issue of a story: John must defeat The Empire to free his people.

A theme is what the story is about: John must grow as a person and learn to tolerate those that are different and learn leadership skills. Themes are often, but not always, the gateway to aesops.

A plot is what happens in a story: It's the logical connection of events in the story that reach a conclusion. IE: John finds the Magical Macguffin, with it he begins recruiting people to his cause, he then goes after the Emperor's four generals one at a time before culminating in a final climactic fight...

"Bro, where's the gripe?"

Werewolf x Lycan
--What in the world does this tell me about your story? All this tells me is you have no plot, no premise, and no theme.

"I was thinking about like, a princess in a castle and a knight has to rescue her."
Okay, that's a premise. Where's the theme and plot?
"Oh that is my plot!"...
What? O.o

"MY PLOT IS THE BEST!1!"
So you've finished writing the series of events that connect your story from beginning to end in a coherent fashion then?
"Uhh... Noooo..."
Well, points for honesty, but all you've done is write a teaser drawing players in, which is likely just a premise, meaning you likely have no idea where the players are gonna go do you.
"Oh, they'll lead the way!"
Players can't do that. It's your world, you have to build the playground before anyone can ride the attractions in it.
"But I don't wanna railroad!"
First of all, look up illusion of choice. It's your most powerful tool as a storyteller making an interactive narrative. Second of all, how can players explore a world and a plot which doesn't exist yet.
"Yes it does!"
No it doesn't. You have no idea how players can reach the end game, so unless you want to be ass pulling the story, for the entirety of the story, leaving giant, cataclysm-inducing plot holes in your wake, you need at least a general idea of where players start, and what they need to achieve to accomplish the premise.
"But railroading!1!!"

See why this is irritating now? Knowing where players begin, what they can do to accomplish the end game, and what the end game is, isn't railroading. Railroading is when you take your players and force them down a single path without ever giving them a choice or say in the matter: Any good plot should have a flexible way of achieving the end goal anyway. "What if my story had no end goal?!" Then... What's the point to your story? "It can be like The Sims!" Even The Sims have goals: Accumulate wealth, develop relationships, procreate, and achieve their ultimate life's wish. At their disposal is a huge sandbox of tools to get there.

When even your Sims have more goals than your characters and stories do, you might need to stop and ask yourself what the point is, and then maybe try adding one. Otherwise, you can stop coming to me and complaining about how your stories always die and how everyone else sucks when you haven't the faintest clue how plots work.
 
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ALL THAT SHIT
I'm saving all of this when I get home and using it to better finding roleplaying partners and when joining stuff. And the off chance I make my own group thing again.

Now I can be pickier about more of the things!
 
The top one for me doesn't come until after the RP is established and then just fizzles out. It's generally annoying, but when you find someone you seem to click with really well and enjoy writing with, and then it just kind of ends. You've lost a great writing partner that you seem to click very well with (that's a task to find one of those in and of itself). So when it ends suddenly, it's like a kick in the gut. It's almost like a break up. You question what you did wrong, but in the end all you can say it "It sucks, but oh well."
 
@Brovo

Video game. I did not say Roleplaying tabletop. And in things like Pathfinder which i do play along with dnd and gurps and about to read up on shadowrun and cyberpunk2020, when a Forum game, completely narrative and does not involve dice rolls or just controlling an avatar through hall way, it doesnt excuse to me to only choose 3 roles. Hell, DnD and the such let you at least multiclass too.

And roleplaying is more THE roots ratherthan having roots so save your condescention for someone else.
 
And roleplaying is more THE roots ratherthan having roots so save your condescention for someone else.
My point was more that classes come with role playing in the same sense that knights come with fantasy settings, people tend to build around them. Even if there's no mechanics, it still establishes a general skill set your character has and confines it to prevent a jack of all trades and to encourage players to partake in certain roles. It's not particularly good or bad, it just... Kinda... Is.
 
My point was more that classes come with role playing in the same sense that knights come with fantasy settings, people tend to build around them. Even if there's no mechanics, it still establishes a general skill set your character has and confines it to prevent a jack of all trades and to encourage players to partake in certain roles. It's not particularly good or bad, it just... Kinda... Is.
I said it before. When it's just the 3 archetypes. I have run into this and it pissed me right the fuck off. Where the ONLY options were Warrior, Rogue and Mage. ONLY those with SPECIFIC. Such as saying that "Warriors wear plate and carry swords and shit and rogues prefer daggers and lurk in the shadows"

That is a bad class system for a narrative game. Hell, I have seen GOOD class system but those tend to either specified as guidelines. Hell, I LOVE playing a robe wearing mage that isn't good at combat but I HATE IT when that is my ONLY option. I HATE IT when I HAVE To play the plate wearing knight instead of someone with high mobility and offense.

So. The point is. Bad Class systems. Fuck that.

Hell, When people refer to rolls, in my experience, it is more to do with job such as maybe Gunner, Chef, Captain. That leaves for other expertiese.

Though I generally dislike when people ask for a "Class" that is my gripe. I get over it in some cases. Sometimes even most cases.
 
Aka: Tropes are Tools

I can agree with using confined classes is limiting for an RP, (typical knight, typical mage and typical thief) but that's what I personally dislike. Classes in itself is not bad but when the RP requires you to have a char fitting neatly into a small pre-made box I nope out of it.
 
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