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View Full Version : How common are 8-bit styled game sessions?



krossbow
2009-10-24, 01:08 AM
Am i the only individual who constantly has their game sessions end up looking somewhat like an episode of 8-bit theater after a while? By this, i don't mean specifically comedic, or similiar in plot.


I merely mean ending up with a swath of carnage and destruction in their wake. maybe its just the chaotic neutral inclinations, but the campaigns i often find myself in usually end up with doom artifacts or spells used to try and destroy villiains or foes (usually causing just as much damage as them in the process, though technically defeating evil), and motivated by looting towns and individuals for as much gold as is possible.

does anyone else have it be a common occurence for, though unintentional, one's group to end up looking like a roving plauge of sentient bad luck?

Zaydos
2009-10-24, 01:11 AM
When I allowed evil alignments it happened... And not necessarily because they were evil, just because somehow they managed to destroy everywhere they went into. They encountered village of starving peasants threatened by evil baddie. They killed the baddie (he had something they wanted) but left his hungry and now uncontrolled wolf pack and stole the peasants' food.

When they did find a prosperous town they performed a magical ritual to exorcise a cthulhian spirit from a kitsune in the center of it releasing a massive wave of evil energy and shattering their own souls. They succeeded in saving the soul of the one creature they were trying to, but also released a magical T-virus in the city.

LibraryOgre
2009-10-24, 08:54 AM
does anyone else have it be a common occurence for, though unintentional, one's group to end up looking like a roving plauge of sentient bad luck?

Happened a bit when we were younger. Now, we're far more likely to say "My, what a nice shiny hook. We are going to conveniently bite it, since that's how interesting things happen."

Cedrass
2009-10-24, 09:43 AM
It kind of does, but at the same time, not really...

We are the type of guys who think that getting into trouble is how the fun comes to us. So basicaly, when the DM gives us a plot hook, we go there, but more often than not, not the way he thought we would.

Now that I think about it, it does make for some "Opps I destroyed this town" moment...

oxybe
2009-10-24, 10:08 AM
it should be kind of expected to a certain extent.

i mean, generally speaking, you're heroes. your entire existence is based on the fact that "bad stuff happens"(tm) and you're there to "fix it"(tm). you are living weirdness magnets. if there is ever a time for a zombie infestation, it's because you guys happen to be in town on that spooky night.

other times it's more of a well-meaning act that ends up dropping a Locate City Bomb onto some poor idyllic back-country thorpe. oops. or accidentally cause the Day of Mourning. heh heh... :smalleek:.

remember that as the PCs become more powerful, the scope of the enemies they can encounter becomes bigger and bigger, sometimes destroying the evil doomsday weapon via "large flashy explosion" isn't the best idea. burning debris + low HP commoners does not a nice equation make.

sonofzeal
2009-10-24, 12:07 PM
My last session was rather like 8-Bit, less because of the reasons you stated and more because it was completely dysfunctional in every way and, as a rest, kinda awesome. I think we did more straight damage to eachother than to the enemies.

Brendan
2009-10-24, 04:17 PM
A party I was in went from meeting to pointing weapons at each other in less than 2 minutes. However, we decided to restart the campaign so we could actually go on a mission.

Temet Nosce
2009-10-24, 04:28 PM
I merely mean ending up with a swath of carnage and destruction in their wake. maybe its just the chaotic neutral inclinations, but the campaigns i often find myself in usually end up with doom artifacts or spells used to try and destroy villiains or foes (usually causing just as much damage as them in the process, though technically defeating evil), and motivated by looting towns and individuals for as much gold as is possible.

does anyone else have it be a common occurence for, though unintentional, one's group to end up looking like a roving plauge of sentient bad luck?

Wait, are you implying this isn't what's supposed to occur in D&D? Bizarre!

No, seriously. The PCs are by their very nature focuses for traumatic events, even ignoring their own actions (which are almost invariably of a destructive nature). It'd be stranger if this kind of thing failed to happen.

mostlyharmful
2009-10-24, 04:50 PM
8-Bit is funny for a reason.... and it's not just the hats.:smallsmile:

Tyndmyr
2009-10-25, 02:19 AM
Happened a bit when we were younger. Now, we're far more likely to say "My, what a nice shiny hook. We are going to conveniently bite it, since that's how interesting things happen."

My players routinely congratulate themselves when they notice and manage to avoid a plot hook. Bastards. I've developed a habit of making obvious hooks that, if taken, will lead to handy information/support about the eventual goal, simply to distract them from the less obvious hooks. One day, they'll mess up and realize that stabbing random helpful people to death is only making life more difficult for them. One day...

Starsinger
2009-10-25, 01:03 PM
My players routinely congratulate themselves when they notice and manage to avoid a plot hook. Bastards. I've developed a habit of making obvious hooks that, if taken, will lead to handy information/support about the eventual goal, simply to distract them from the less obvious hooks. One day, they'll mess up and realize that stabbing random helpful people to death is only making life more difficult for them. One day...

Players are like children, when they do something bad, even if they had fun doing it, it was still wrong and they need to be punished.

Totally Guy
2009-10-25, 01:35 PM
I think that the right kind of social mechanics used in PVP can be very good for avoiding a session that would otherwise just end up all talk and no action.

JonestheSpy
2009-10-25, 03:52 PM
I merely mean ending up with a swath of carnage and destruction in their wake. maybe its just the chaotic neutral EVIL inclinations, but the campaigns i often find myself in usually end up with doom artifacts or spells used to try and destroy villiains or foes (usually causing just as much damage as them in the process, though technically defeating evil), and motivated by looting towns and individuals for as much gold as is possible.


Fixed that for you.

Seriously, when a bunch of people's reaction upon entering a town is "Let's pillage!" they have left neutral far behind.

mostlyharmful
2009-10-25, 03:55 PM
Fixed that for you.

Seriously, when a bunch of people's reaction upon entering a town is "Let's pillage!" they have left neutral far behind.

Unless they're green of course....:smallamused:

krossbow
2009-10-26, 02:08 AM
Fixed that for you.

Seriously, when a bunch of people's reaction upon entering a town is "Let's pillage!" they have left neutral far behind.



capitalism is merely pillaging with less fire and pointy hats after all; what wrong with negotiating with a superior position after all? :smalltongue:

Myrmex
2009-10-26, 02:23 AM
capitalism is merely pillaging with less fire and pointy hats after all:

It really isn't. It isn't at all.
Capitalism is the mutual exchange of goods & services.
Pillaging is taking things because you have the ability to.

Capitalism depends on a lawful society; pillaging does not. I see the two as more on the law-chaos axis, though the ramifications for both pull good & evil into it.

Pillaging is not evil because you are stealing; it's evil because you can hurt someone by depriving them of food or whatever. At least, that's how I understand it. In a world where scarcity isn't an issue, personal property becomes unimportant.

Capitalism is lawful, as it is dependent on mutual agreement and contracts. Selling guns to orcs could be seen as evil, because they are going to go out and hurt someone. The actual act of transaction, though is not evil. The orcs agree to give you gold in exchange for your boomsticks. That is a lawful action with evil ramifications.