BhilJhoanz
Mongoose
OK -- perhaps not Conan related but a Pict by the odd name of "Gorden" made the following comment:
There is a disservice to Role Playing done when a session plays out this way:
Grognar the Magnificent: "I grab the scoundrel by the collar and hurl him head first through the door!"
****SKKRREEEE****
GM: "Ok, lets look up the rules for grappling, what page is that again? I see, first he gets an attack of opportunity against you, then you have to make a successful melee touch attack, then a successful grapple check opposed to his, how is that calculated again?"
****Some time later****
GM: "Ok, now you've got him but you have no more actions this round. He'll attempt to escape your grapple so make another opposed grapple check"
****Still later****
GM: "Hey, it's your turn again. Now to move with the person you have grappled requires another grapple check. and then we have to determine how much damage you can do with an improvised weapon against the door. I'll make it easy on you and say it's a normal door -- Hardness 5, 10hp . . ."
Player: "Just nevermind . . ."
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I wrote all that out to show that what started as wonderful RP moment got derailed by rules -- and this isn't an uncommon situation! And I know that most people reading this thread will nod their heads and say -- yes, I hate when this happens too!
Conan, with its high adventure, spontaneous feel could suffer even worse from such a moment.
On the other side of the coin, discarding rules or letting players circumvent a low charisma or intelligence score by simply playing above their abilities causes an equally appalling situation:
Letting a player with no skill points in Bluff and a 8 Charisma fast talk his way past a guard penalizes the shy player who has a 18 Cha and max Bluff ranks!
Letting a weakling throw a guy through a door for the sake of removing complexity penalizes the player who has an 18 Str and Improved Grapple!
What's the answer? I'd like to hear other's response but will give mine to start things off:
1. Know the rules. There's a lot of them but the ability to state the grapple rules without having to look them up will make the process of a grapple check go much faster. If you don't know the rule, know where to find the answer quickly. Familiarity with your books can be a great time saver.
2. Don't be afraid to Improvise. This is even more important than rule 1. If a question can't be answered in 10 seconds the GM should make a best decision and get on with the game! It's very important that players accept these decisions and save questions/complaints until a less immediate time.
3. For the GM: Pick your moments -- ask yourself: Is this bar brawl a RP moment? Yes? then set down the rulebook and let people have their fun. Could the success of the adventure turn on this action? Yes? Ok, let's be a little stricter.
4. Reward players for thinking outside of the rules. If a player wants to leap from his horse onto the platform of a runaway chariot, don't penalize him with a battery of jump, balance, tumble and ride checks. Have him roll d20, add his highest of the 4 modifiers to it and if it seems reasonably high enough, let him do it! Or, if this is a RP moment, just let it happen!
5. For the Players: Give your GM room to be creative. If he wants to let the Bar Brawl take place without dice and books . . . don't pout, enjoy the opportunity to use your imagination and have fun with it!
6. Think outside of the rules. When seeking for options in what seems like a hopeless situation, don't stare at your character sheet for that overlooked feat or skill; Ask yourself: "What would Conan do?"
Thoughts?
My gaming group has been going over this same issue recently so I thought it interesting that others had the same feelings.I used to love role playing in the 80's as the games I played were more about adventuring and free creativity than charts and tables and ... you can't do that because rule 3142 p 445 says an Hyborian mercenary can't...we just used to make it up and rule it ok or not...I love the setting here but would like to have seen Mongoose streamline the rules not add to the already overly complex system...
There is a disservice to Role Playing done when a session plays out this way:
Grognar the Magnificent: "I grab the scoundrel by the collar and hurl him head first through the door!"
****SKKRREEEE****
GM: "Ok, lets look up the rules for grappling, what page is that again? I see, first he gets an attack of opportunity against you, then you have to make a successful melee touch attack, then a successful grapple check opposed to his, how is that calculated again?"
****Some time later****
GM: "Ok, now you've got him but you have no more actions this round. He'll attempt to escape your grapple so make another opposed grapple check"
****Still later****
GM: "Hey, it's your turn again. Now to move with the person you have grappled requires another grapple check. and then we have to determine how much damage you can do with an improvised weapon against the door. I'll make it easy on you and say it's a normal door -- Hardness 5, 10hp . . ."
Player: "Just nevermind . . ."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wrote all that out to show that what started as wonderful RP moment got derailed by rules -- and this isn't an uncommon situation! And I know that most people reading this thread will nod their heads and say -- yes, I hate when this happens too!
Conan, with its high adventure, spontaneous feel could suffer even worse from such a moment.
On the other side of the coin, discarding rules or letting players circumvent a low charisma or intelligence score by simply playing above their abilities causes an equally appalling situation:
Letting a player with no skill points in Bluff and a 8 Charisma fast talk his way past a guard penalizes the shy player who has a 18 Cha and max Bluff ranks!
Letting a weakling throw a guy through a door for the sake of removing complexity penalizes the player who has an 18 Str and Improved Grapple!
What's the answer? I'd like to hear other's response but will give mine to start things off:
1. Know the rules. There's a lot of them but the ability to state the grapple rules without having to look them up will make the process of a grapple check go much faster. If you don't know the rule, know where to find the answer quickly. Familiarity with your books can be a great time saver.
2. Don't be afraid to Improvise. This is even more important than rule 1. If a question can't be answered in 10 seconds the GM should make a best decision and get on with the game! It's very important that players accept these decisions and save questions/complaints until a less immediate time.
3. For the GM: Pick your moments -- ask yourself: Is this bar brawl a RP moment? Yes? then set down the rulebook and let people have their fun. Could the success of the adventure turn on this action? Yes? Ok, let's be a little stricter.
4. Reward players for thinking outside of the rules. If a player wants to leap from his horse onto the platform of a runaway chariot, don't penalize him with a battery of jump, balance, tumble and ride checks. Have him roll d20, add his highest of the 4 modifiers to it and if it seems reasonably high enough, let him do it! Or, if this is a RP moment, just let it happen!
5. For the Players: Give your GM room to be creative. If he wants to let the Bar Brawl take place without dice and books . . . don't pout, enjoy the opportunity to use your imagination and have fun with it!
6. Think outside of the rules. When seeking for options in what seems like a hopeless situation, don't stare at your character sheet for that overlooked feat or skill; Ask yourself: "What would Conan do?"
Thoughts?