Gamer Girl
2011-07-07, 10:24 PM
Both my son and daughter had baseball games the other day. And sitting and watching both games and how they were played made me think of D&D.
1.First was my daughters(age 6) game: Now this is a 'baseball' game in only the loosest sense of the term, as it's full of special rules to maximize the fun and participation of all the girls. First is the score, no matter who scores, both teams get the point. Or in other words, every game is automatically a tie and both teams 'win'. The coach pitches to the girls, at least if by 'pitching' you count that they stand about three feet in front of the girl and drop the ball. As long as the ball is hit, or tapped, by the bat, it's considered a fair run, no matter where the ball goes. The girls take forever to pick up the ball, but it does not matter much as you can only get one base on a hit. Each girl is automatically given two 'home runs' a game, at the whim of the coach. So twice during the game, the coach can call any hit a 'home run' and everyone will stand there while the girl runs all the bases and comes back home. The end result is that all the girls participate and have fun. Not a single girl leaves the game in any way sad or unhappy. In fact all the girls are quite joyous and happy and they won!
2.Second was my sons(age 13) game. Now this was what most people would consider a 'normal' baseball game. They keep normal score, have foul balls, the boys pitch fast balls and the coaches argue over plays. Now naturally each boy wants their team to win, but they have to really put in some effort to do that. And every boy wants to hit a home run. They will be barley content if the get a base hit, but won't really be happy unless they hit a home run. The spirits of the boys can go up and down quickly, depending on what happens in the game. Of course, only one team can win, and they are normally quite happy and the loosing team is a bit down. But even if a boy is on the winning team, unless he hit a home run(or at least one scoring run), he still feels a bit down and that he did not contribute to the team winning. So at the end of the game, win or loose, somewhere around have the boys will be bummed out and down.
3.And then there is D&D. I can see two parallels between the two games and the Old School and Safety School(or as I like to call it Nerf) D&D styles. One type of D&D has an 'anything goes' philosophy where anything can happen, and the other has all sorts of safety rules to make sure the game is fair, fun for all and where everyone gets to contribute equally.
See the parallels......
1.First was my daughters(age 6) game: Now this is a 'baseball' game in only the loosest sense of the term, as it's full of special rules to maximize the fun and participation of all the girls. First is the score, no matter who scores, both teams get the point. Or in other words, every game is automatically a tie and both teams 'win'. The coach pitches to the girls, at least if by 'pitching' you count that they stand about three feet in front of the girl and drop the ball. As long as the ball is hit, or tapped, by the bat, it's considered a fair run, no matter where the ball goes. The girls take forever to pick up the ball, but it does not matter much as you can only get one base on a hit. Each girl is automatically given two 'home runs' a game, at the whim of the coach. So twice during the game, the coach can call any hit a 'home run' and everyone will stand there while the girl runs all the bases and comes back home. The end result is that all the girls participate and have fun. Not a single girl leaves the game in any way sad or unhappy. In fact all the girls are quite joyous and happy and they won!
2.Second was my sons(age 13) game. Now this was what most people would consider a 'normal' baseball game. They keep normal score, have foul balls, the boys pitch fast balls and the coaches argue over plays. Now naturally each boy wants their team to win, but they have to really put in some effort to do that. And every boy wants to hit a home run. They will be barley content if the get a base hit, but won't really be happy unless they hit a home run. The spirits of the boys can go up and down quickly, depending on what happens in the game. Of course, only one team can win, and they are normally quite happy and the loosing team is a bit down. But even if a boy is on the winning team, unless he hit a home run(or at least one scoring run), he still feels a bit down and that he did not contribute to the team winning. So at the end of the game, win or loose, somewhere around have the boys will be bummed out and down.
3.And then there is D&D. I can see two parallels between the two games and the Old School and Safety School(or as I like to call it Nerf) D&D styles. One type of D&D has an 'anything goes' philosophy where anything can happen, and the other has all sorts of safety rules to make sure the game is fair, fun for all and where everyone gets to contribute equally.
See the parallels......