Mary K. Kuhner wrote:
> gleichman wrote:
>
> > And I find the assumption that difficult adventures allowing no time
> > for role-play somewhat foolish. Make time. It isn't hard of that's
what
> > you're interested in.
>
> This to me is a counsel of perfection. There is some player out there
> who can face consistently very difficult scenarios and not suffer any
> loss of her ability to roleplay. But it isn't me. I have been playing
> long enough to know that. Maybe I am a fool. I thought, though, that
> we had a kind of agreement not to spend our time on ad hominem?
Most people I know who find it difficult to roleplay in a campaign have
difficulty with the frequency of the challenges, not with the
difficulty of the challenges. If every day in character is a grind of
fighting, planning, problem-solving and then fighting again or, worse,
fighting, fighting and fighting again, it would be very difficult for
anyone to roleplay.
My friend Andy used to run campaigns that were all encounters. The
encounters were not super-tough. In fact, he never did have a climactic
encounter with a major enemy, just one slog against Orcs or Ogres after
another. But The PCs never had any time to talk to one another, plan or
interact with non-hostile NPCs. He said he didn't want to bore people.
After a couple of campaigns broke up he asked people to just tell him
what he was doing wrong and everyone gave their opinions. He has since
run some campaigns that didn't shatter.
>
> If my characters have to act extremely precisely in order to live, I
> do not personally find myself capable of good roleplaying. Consider
> the situation where a PC spends a round to save the life of an
> honorable foe. The whole party dies, becuase that PC's input could not
> possibly be spared for even one round. Speaking only for myself,
whatever
> satisfaction I might have felt in that small detail is swamped by the
> massive impact of failure, and *failure caused by my character*. If
> there are other players, I shrink under the impact of their pain and
> disappointment, and possibly their anger with me.
Well, that is outside the scope of what I was talking about above.
Roleplaying your character's choices in action situations can be tough
if the encounters are difficult. I can sympathize with your unhappiness
with the situation. If you KNOW that your action is going to be costly,
I could even see refraining from playing the character that way.
However, with no guarantees, I think I would take the chance.
> Next time I won't do it. There exists a perfect player who can keep
> roleplaying excellently through many experiences like this, but I'm not
> her. I play for fun, and this is not enough fun.
If things like this happen _often_ it must be an extremely tough
scenario.
> I also stop experimenting with new tactics. It's too dangerous to try
> anything new if every scenario is close to the killing edge. So I stop
> learning, and eventually I play very badly. We had this in SCAP. At
> 8th level my PCs were no more competent than they had been at 5th;
partly
> because I had not had time to learn to play them, but partly also
because
> without easier scenarios, there was no op****tunity for experimentation
and
> refinement of tactics. I could not afford to try something new that
might
> not work out.
Don't you ever get a chance to roleplay practice and asking advice from
fencing masters or whomever your character would consult? While the
campaign I am in right now, and the one that I run, features very tough
scenarios, the fighting occurs in a minority of sessions and I have
time to learn and practice.
> <sigh> What this conversation is doing for me is constantly rubbing
> salt in wounds. I wish I were a stronger person and able to shrug it
> off, but right now I'm not. I feel as though I'm being blamed
(personally
> and as a representative of a group) for the Decline of Modern
Roleplaying
> and probably the Loss of the Heroic Ideal, and it hurts. I didn't
> really expect this response from .advocacy. Elsewhere, yes, but not
here.
> I think I have to beg off. I might come back in 6 months or so when
> things improve, or I might try ruthlessly killfiling everyone who
> jumps on me. But I am not able to deal with the status quo. I've got
> severe issues with depression in RL and I need not to be adding more
pain
> to them.
Well, I am sorry to hear about your RL problems but I don't think
gleichman did an ad hominem and you are taking offense that was not
given. On the other hand, you never talk to me anyway. That, of course,
is not offensive at all.
Will in New Haven
--
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail
better."
Samuel Beckett, "Worstward Ho", 1983
> Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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