Friday DE: I attack the darkness

[bjornwilde]

As suggested by iprotectyou:
Your pup has just been introduced to Dungeons and Dragons! What do they think of the game?

Comments

[misslucyjane]

Sherlock is the nightmare DM who overpowers all the monsters and then gets upset when the players don't follow the adventure he's outlined.

Steve first plays a lawful good paladin, then decides that's boring and goes for a rogue instead, and merrily breaks laws and takes risks that make the DM have to scramble to rewrite the adventure.

[quick_clean_pure]

Graverobber immediately assumes its lame, but then starts actually playing and gets waaaaaaaay too over-invested in his Chaotic Neutral Tiefling Rogue.

[inlovewithwords]

This is making me sad I do not play Henry Mills any more, as he would totally have played D&D and I used to think about maybe him being in a gaming group in Bar, but ah well. (Apparently for me RPception is obviously the way to go???)

Eriond has fun and plays/DMs as whoever his group needs of him. He may also have some private opinions on the mechanics for deities, but like, that's just him being a professional. EDIT: He'd play whatever the party needed to fill out the ranks a little.

Lois thinks it's a nerd thing and she'll play with friends but like not something she's ever going to seek out. She's not likely to read the rules in-depth ever either. On the other hand, because social is really her focus with gaming (see: hanging out in a VR MMO not to play the game but to, uh, see her boyfriend) she would probably enjoy LARPing more. (Bonus: costumes >_>) EDIT: she'd probably play like a elf ranger or mage, or a halfling rogue--something pretty typical to start. Seriously, LARPing is more her style.

Evelyn mostly is like "why did someone decide to make a dice game out of reality???" For that reason, though, like with Lois, social with friends she might be willing to try it out sometimes. Actually, later era Evelyn might legitimately enjoy it, because it's a chance to maraud and rampage and pillage and be Evil or at least do all those things that she isn't allowed to in reality because of Actual Real Life Consequences. She would probably be the Bad Ideas Player that way, or the Leeroy Jenkins Player that way maybe. (And, honestly, she'd need games that don't mirror her life too much, or she'd have to walk away because no, too many feelings. lolmeta) EDIT: she would probably start off playing a human mage out of tentativeness, but branch out swiftly into the half-orc barbarian or something fun.

R2-D2 may not actually be Pete from Darths and Droids... but we know he likes games and plays to win. And he would optimize. Introduce him to D&D and he just downloads all the rules, maybe some of the extra source books, and starts running numbers to optimize. And plays to win. He is a good DM for something like Tomb of Horrors where numbers and cleverness might be relevant but bad for anything diplomancy. Look he's a minmaxer okay. EDIT: he would play a rogue. Check for traps.

Anakin honestly thinks it's kind of weird and childish (he'd've loved it as a pre-teen or early teenager), but he also has a thing about playing to win and he'd kind of get inevitably drawn in. He would also kind of not read the source book at times, get grumpy because his character can't do thinks he can do in real life, and then to prove a point would try to edge case his way through things. Also, he would still insist he thinks it's a bit weird and childish but he's way, way over-invested in his character. He would not make a good DM but he'd probably make a pretty good player as long as things are going smoothly OOCly, although I think he wouldn't always have the best time with IC/OOC separation until after he's dead. So... fun unless you piss him off? EDIT: Let's face it, starting off, he would not have the creativity (at least as an adult) to play anything other than a basic human ranger or warrior. Maybe paladin or monk if someone explained to him that--or swordmage, really--is what he's looking for.

In an AU where Tavi is native to modern Earth, he is an experienced DM who in fact does not prefer D&D because there are other systems, he has opinions on all of them and has a rules book collection about as large as he can afford to pay for and store, probably hangs out on forums discussing rules edge cases, he might prefer GURPs to D&D, and is generally a complete and massive dork.

(Milli-)Canon Tavi as he is, though? Near as I can tell he doesn't really have a precedent for this sort of thing, so he'd be very confused on the concept of 'role play' for a while. But on the other hand, he'd definitely read the rules book, and then start cross-referencing in it and asking questions and okay stylistically he isn't quite Twilight Sparkle's player from Friendship is Dragons but he is definitely the kind of player who has a habit of derailing the DM's plans with creativity. Including, say, he kept trying to build weapons and so the DM finally gave him a chance to only he remembered a bunch of talks with NPCs and diplomances his way through instead. Etc. Also regarding D&D specifically, he is kind of a theoretical magic specialist and would swiftly get frustrated with the lack of anything resembling consistency there and would start exploring other gameplay systems to see if anyone came up with something that makes more logical sense. Also, he is not an optimizer the way R2 is, exactly... but man does he optimize. Just with a different approach. He's a fun sort of nightmare for a DM in that he tries to keep things fun, he just also... derails sometimes.

It would take a while to stop seeming a little strange, but the appeal of Rules Lawyering and creative solutions would be undeniable. Look the point here is that Tavi is a massive nerd actually and would get so into this, if the idea got the chance to settle in there.

EDIT: Oh right and I have no idea what he'd start off playing. He'd read the rulebook a lot before picking a character and it would really depend on who else is playing. He probably would not play a healer as an initial character? Maybe, dunno. Depends on the group, really. Also god help his DM trying to handle battle tactics against him, I really do feel bad.

[bjornwilde]

Ahsoka...at first, she doesn't quite understand this is for fun and makes a ranger/monk multiclass which is a kill bot. After the first session, she gets this is for fun and not some lesson/exercise and so makes a chaotic good rogue and keeps getting the party in trouble due to jumping into things. She ends up having a blast!

Hank is a rules lawyer and can be annoying about it. He loves it and reads all the things. I think he'd make a wizard and would end up tryign to power game, but with the right DM would be a valuable force for the party. He would not make a good DM, at least at his present age. Later in life perhaps.

John isn't too sure about the game and feels awkward. He likely makes a ranger or fighter, as that's what he's more comfortable with. He ends up being a strong tank/support character, which pretty much reflects himself. I think he ends up liking it as it's a social thing and he doesn't get enough of that in RL.

Sabine is a danger to any DM. She knows the rules backwards and forwards and will use them to the party's advantage. She's not as aggressive a rules lawyer as Hank, though, and will let it go if it's getting in the way of the story and fun. She drafts long and well thought out back stories for her characters and her favorite is a rogue. She also keeps pushing for an alchemist class so she can craft explosives. Magic is too easy in her opinion.

Danny makes a monk cause he loves being one. I think he dives right into the game and gets emotionally attached to his character. Not Chick-track attached but he gets damned grumpy when the rolls aren't going his way.

Scrapper only plays as long as there's beer or other alcohol. She secretly likes the camaraderie but isn't about to admit it. She'd have to play barbarians or fighters, and maybe is scripting ballads of their deeds when not playing.

Sam plays a cleric and is in the game more for the camaraderie than the play. It's alright, he just likes people more than games.

[death_gone_mad]

Amascut would flip the table everytime on principle alone. Her canon began as a D&D-like game!
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Fairy Fixit, I think, is more into passive entertainment. So, she'll almost always politely decline. If she was roped into it, though, as a player, she would be aggressively neutral, to the point of balancing out the party's good/evil and chaos/law alignment and actions with her own PC, and even the story's own balance if she feels a bias. And the rules lawyering!
As a DM, though, there would be no shortage of interesting stories to tell, environments to explore, and critters/NPCs to meet/kill.

[oldmancreed]

Never played it myself, so I can't answer.

[feminine_menace]

YT gets to play a half-orc barbarian or she will start a one-woman riot.

[childofrebellion]

Cassian like Ahsoka would start off kind of confused by the idea but then get into the idea of not having to think about certain things. I think he'd start out making a fighter but then end up with something closer to a mage or a bard just to see what he can do. He'd be familiar with the rules and not be a rules lawyer, but find odd little loopholes.

Charles would love the idea and would probably end up running a game as a way to teach compassion. It doesn't work as well as he wants since his players are students and he's old fashioned and straight forward in his plotting. If he played, he would try being a paladin.

Oh my, I'm imagining a game in Toby's household that Quentin or Raj get the idea for, Toby and May get seriously into it, Quentin is too but doesn't show it as much. Jazz enjoys it and Tybalt watches then ends up creating a huge backstory for his character. I think May and Jazz would end up co-DMing, Toby would get frustrated by all the rules. Quentin would play I think a rogue to try it.

Sameth, hm, he'd be kind of curious but then he'd find out about all the model and board games and get really into what if the models could move. He'd be far more about the stuff than the game or into trying to understand the magic system.

Moist would see it as just another dice game and way to get someone's trust. Maybe a mark's child is playing a game, so he sits in then gets into gaming the system to work into his con. I don't know the details of how but he would.

At first William would be wary since its complicated then he'd realize its a way to play out adventures safety. He'd love being a mage to see what its like and be off exploring various paths.

Will S. would enjoy it and probably play someone like himself, a rogue then try out others.

Ivan, I could see Ivan and Miles play something like it on some mission. Ivan tries to pick something safe and boring, a monk or a knight, it doesn't work out that way. Miles takes the plot somewhere else, their poor GM, maybe Duv ends up despairing of them.

I'm trying to picture the Greek gods playing D&D and all I can think of is Discworld and the gods playing with mortals.

Tumnus wouldn't sure certain of it but he'd like all the built in history and end up spending more time reading the books than playing.

[explosive_artist]

OMG Tybalt would so play a bard and snicker at the joke every few minutes. He would totally okay in character as well and make horrible puns, many using archaic terms that would make the boys blush if they knew them. I think he'd not be shy about embracing the game as well as to him it'd be get another stage.

Sorry, on mobile and Sabine is logged in.

[childofrebellion]

Oh yes, it would be fun and embarrassing. Toby would give Tybalt such looks of why are you like this?

[explosive_artist]

And I think Maye would eat it up.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Aradia canonically played FLARP with Tavros, Terezi, and Vriska. The F presumably (and, I think, Millicanonically) stands for Fatal, and it seems to be run in two-troll GM/player teams; the game we see is Vriska GMing for Tavros, and presumably Aradia GMing for Terezi in parallel before everything goes wrong. Larger, round-robin FLARP groups are probably doable.

So, anyway, Dungeons and Dragons. She has experience with roleplaying games in general but the stakes are much lower than she's used to. I think she'd still be up for it after she adjusted her expectations; I don't think FLARP or similarly deadly RPGs hold the appeal they once did, since Vriska used it as a pretext to throw one of her best friends off a cliff and that started the cycle of revenge that got Aradia killed and Terezi blinded. She'd be the GM and have a blast setting up an adventure and then improvising her way to a conclusion when the players inevitably go off-script partway through.

Bastion has close to zero pop culture knowledge and has never tried doing anything remotely similar before, but they also love trying new things. They have to start from square one on learning the setting as much as the rules, which is a lot to digest but they are undeterred and read the rulebook very thoroughly. They might want to join a group that has a party role that needs filling instead of making a character first, since I think they'd want to play a PC who isn't too similar to themself but there are many, many possible options. (I'm not sure whether they'd rather play something like a Warforged or another artificial race for the familiarity of it, or try roleplaying as an organic being. Probably some kind of bird-person if they could swing it.)