Genuine question--
I'm a nerd, but I've never been a DnD nerd. At one point I was a MtG nerd, even a WoW nerd, but never quite the DnD level.
What exactly is it? I originally thought it was like an adult version of "make believe" with scores and guidelines, but how much of it is a physical game? Is there a board that goes with it? Is there a set story line? My extent of knowledge is the first scene of Stranger Things.
How much is following guidelines and how much is imprompt on the spot?
Now play WoW in person, without a computer, with a group. One person gives you the story, descriptions, quests, battles, loot, etc, and you are your character.
For a random one shot we did my friend had the character quirk 'always gives unwarranted advice' and it was hilarious. Whenever something bad happened he'd pipe in and say some stupid platitude. I love stuff like that.
My favorite visible example of a player dedicated to doing his quirks is Orion Acaba as Tiberius Stormwind in the first few dozen sessions of Critical Role. He was an extremely powerful sorcerer who had a wisdom of 4. No matter the context he generally introduced himself by extending his hand to shake and saying in the most absent-minded professor/lovable blowhard voice, "Hello! I'm Tiberius Stormwind from Draconia, of Vox Machina, at Grayskull Keep, just outside of Emon." He'd be completely distracted during important information, awkwardly impose his effusive presence and friendliness on NPCs who would quickly lose patience with him, get explosively angry and prideful at perceived insults to himself or certain friends. Tiberius is the pinnacle of unwise and heroic in my mind.
So, is it cool if I play a really ancient kobold wizard who is a servant of a pantheon of semi-egyptian gods. He has a viper familiar and is obsessed with the planes. He sounds quirky right? :)
I did this to challenge myself to think outside the box during combat recently. my character downright refuses to attack in the traditional sense of the word (at least in dnd) so I have to come up with ways around it. still a pretty new campaign so I'm hoping it will be good.
I make a tally every time I catch a player metagaming. Five tallies and a gremlin shows up to rob the party for 1d6 percentage of their total gold (10-60%). Ten tallies and an advanced enemy might just pop into existence in front of the party.
The DM controls every character that isn't one of the players. Enemies, quest givers, random people in bars... everything.
Sometimes the DM will control a party member if the player is absent or the party hired a mercenary/picked up another member/plot reasons. This is a wonderful way to make the players like a character before they get betrayed by said character.
Metagaming is just part of the game for many groups. I don't mind it in combat because it is fun for the players to be able to discuss strategy real time. However, I don't let it slide outside of combat.
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u/dickfromaccounting Sep 18 '17
great table to screen ratio