Sitting on the dock listening to the crickets chirping and the peepers striking up a hell of a tune I found myself mulling over how damned foolish we tend to get in this hobby over wilderness exploration. As a group we take ourselves out of the reality that exists just outside our walls and create, often out of whole cloth, rules that no natural world could exist by just so that we can vainly proclaim our mastery over the mercurial games we play. It's a vanity game we're playing when we go down that avenue and as group we need to stop wasting our time pretending like it's anything else.
Look you can work on your game maps for decades and post them to your blog along with your countless pages of excel formulas that detail every minute detail of your world. I'm sure that someone out there will be really impressed with the volume of work you've put out and they'll probably fellate your ego. The problem is, you're just wasting your time.
I'm all for knowing the broad ranges of creatures that exist in your gaming region. I'm just not for wasting my time drawing out useless charts that will never get used by anyone - let alone me. See I'll make disease charts and invent crowd movement rules to simplify my life and to make my games run smoother, but I'm not going to spend my nights creating excel charts that will let me know when the buffalo herd is going to be hit with a massive sexy-time-tornado the likes of which will make Havana seem like a timid and sexually repressed area.
If what you're working on is not germane to the game stop wasting your time fooling with it. Put your efforts into avenues that will actually make things easier for you. The game is hard enough without adding complexity just to stroke your own metaphorical prick.
Trying to figure out which blog(s) you are referring to...I always got the impression that those guys who are really into big charts and tables must use them a lot at their games. For me: weather is something I decide based on mood, plot and setting, not a random chart. In fact these days I almost never roll randomly for anything unless I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas on game night.
ReplyDelete"Trying to figure out which blog(s) you are referring to..."
DeleteNo one blog or group of blogs in particular involved in this bitchfest.
"I always got the impression that those guys who are really into big charts and tables must use them a lot at their games."
I think that they just like excel. ;P
Ok, first, for some this complexity is part of the fun - and to argue about what is fun is rather pointless. And even if they just stroke their own metaphorical dick, and others are ready to fellate them for that, where is the proplem, as long as all are consenting adults? ;)
ReplyDeleteOk, I can see with certain blogs that their demanour of superiority is quite... enervating? But, hey, that is part of the personality of this certain blogger, and has nothing to do (probably?) with the use of minute detail to amuse himself... and if it amuses him or maybe sometimes me, that is no waste of time. Even if I think most of the time, this certain blogger does much too much to be useful at the table.
All in all, I agree with you, it is a waste of time regarding the game. But that does not mean it is a waste of time... ;)
Oh, and I roll randomly all the time, because I love to be surprised and having to improvise. Feels much more like gaming with friends, instead of having to entertain friends... :)
"But, hey, that is part of the personality of this certain blogger, and has nothing to do (probably?) with the use of minute detail to amuse himself... and if it amuses him or maybe sometimes me, that is no waste of time."
DeleteVery true, and there are people out there who put out some outstanding tables (Elfmaids & Octopi, Dungeon Donzen, et al) but then you have people who create countless pages in excel to randomly determine how many angels might be dancing on the head of a pin at any time . . .
"Oh, and I roll randomly all the time, because I love to be surprised and having to improvise. Feels much more like gaming with friends, instead of having to entertain friends... :)"
As long as it makes things more fun that it's completely useful and an outstanding addition to your game!
As said by rorschachhamster everyone has their own way of playing and this is also reflected in the rpg that are on market. From the most simplistic, see some indie RPG, to more complex ones, see RMSS. What counts, imho, is that all those around the table, real or virtual, enjoy the game.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do not agree with the need to have too many tables for the random generation of anything. I prefer single generic tables that gives me a simple track and then I invented everything else at the moment.
For the weather I create, through an app, a calendar already full with all the features every day, but if I decide at flight that on that day there's a storm I do not care of the calendar that I created. ;)
Righteous!
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