ericcoleman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ericcoleman) wrote2009-03-24 04:21 pm
ericcoleman) wrote2009-03-24 04:21 pm
Entry tags:
Bad Gamers - The Sequel
I didn't like the way that went.
My friend Matt and I were looking for new people to game with. Much of the old game group had ended up in Chicago, but most of them moved away after awhile. We talked to a guy who used to come into a game store I worked at and decided to give his game a try. We met up on a Saturday afternoon and went through a kinda odd scenario. We were in a border fort that was about to be under attack, but it was unlike any border fort I had ever seen. The walls were about the area of a large football stadium but only about 15 feet high. There were a couple dozen people there to guard this enormous place. And they were all sick. Matt and I (mostly Matt) worked out a plan where we pulled everyone into a central keep, undermined the walls of the entry hallway so they would collapse when we fired a cannon (there were cannons) through them and left the outer walls to the invaders. This all took most of the afternoon. After a certain point it was agreed that the day was over, and we would meet again the next weekend. The GM started the session by saying "I didn't like the way the last part of the session went last week, so we're going to do it over". He didn't like that we had basically set things up so we were going to be able to defend the people there, apparently there was going to be some big rescue scenario, and we had ruined it for him, so he wanted us to go back and do it his way. Matt and I looked at each other, looked at him, and without a word to him or each other ... we got up and left. He actually asked me a few weeks later if we would consider coming and playing again.
My friend Matt and I were looking for new people to game with. Much of the old game group had ended up in Chicago, but most of them moved away after awhile. We talked to a guy who used to come into a game store I worked at and decided to give his game a try. We met up on a Saturday afternoon and went through a kinda odd scenario. We were in a border fort that was about to be under attack, but it was unlike any border fort I had ever seen. The walls were about the area of a large football stadium but only about 15 feet high. There were a couple dozen people there to guard this enormous place. And they were all sick. Matt and I (mostly Matt) worked out a plan where we pulled everyone into a central keep, undermined the walls of the entry hallway so they would collapse when we fired a cannon (there were cannons) through them and left the outer walls to the invaders. This all took most of the afternoon. After a certain point it was agreed that the day was over, and we would meet again the next weekend. The GM started the session by saying "I didn't like the way the last part of the session went last week, so we're going to do it over". He didn't like that we had basically set things up so we were going to be able to defend the people there, apparently there was going to be some big rescue scenario, and we had ruined it for him, so he wanted us to go back and do it his way. Matt and I looked at each other, looked at him, and without a word to him or each other ... we got up and left. He actually asked me a few weeks later if we would consider coming and playing again.
Not just in RPGs
In 2002 the military did this huge war-game thing that was supposed to simulate the US going up against a Mid-East despot. The US had massive troops, many war ships, and modern computer technology. The despot, played by retired Marine, Lt. General Paul Van Riper, had...cunning, and not much else.
Of course cunning trounced the US forces. He did a pre-emptive strike using civilian boats, communicated via motorcycle messenger(so the US couldn't use evesdroppig technology) and generally played to win.
The war-game organizers didn't like that. They re-set the game to the beginning, told him what he could and couldn't do, and scripted his forces movements.
He got fed up and quit. They wanted to prove their new toys worked and when they didn't work they set up the game so that they did work.
It's a fascinating read, fun too.
Re: Not just in RPGs