non-rpgers responses to rpg concepts

[daremetoidareyo]

I'll start with my story and I'd like to hear some of yours.

My girlfriend never played and RPGs, despite hanging out with people who had hefty gaming experiences. She knows that women tended to get pigeon holed into healers and elves, generally speaking. At least that was the regional dynamic we witnessed routinely. I told her that if she were to be a D&D character, that she'd probably enjoy druid the most. In retrospect, I wasn't wrong, but not for the reasons that I thought.

I ran down the nature theme and ideas and mentioned the animal companion as part of the stuff associated with the druid. She immediately said, "I want a human animal companion." I tried to slow her down, explaining how it introduces a balance issue by virtue of speech alone. She responded with, "I'll keep a ball gag in his mouth." I tried to talk about how the levels and stats wouldn't be commensurate with an animal and she responds, "Humans are animals, can I want to treat my human pet as an animal. He'll crawl around the woods on his hands and feet, he won't talk unless he's commanded to. If I need him to fight or whatever, I'll unlock him from the chains. I'll be this badass nature priestess who is so good at what she does that she controls the human animal."

Now that I think about it, that sounds like an awesome pair of characters.

So what are your stories about non-gamer reactions to gaming concepts?

[Kid Jake]

Did she name her companion The Gimp?

[Geddy2112]

This...this is glorious. I think I would not mind being the gimp as a PC either...

I thought I got meta when I was a wizard and my arcane bond was the stone heart of another PC. This is some next level nonsense, and I love it.

Did she name her companion The Gimp?

You were referencing?

[Eloel]

Call him Reek instead?

[erikun]

You could give them a pirate hat, put an S on their shirt, and call them Chunk.

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[supergoji18]

Call him Reek instead?

The way she described it, I think she has plans for her companion in mind. Plans that I don't think would be possible with reek because, well...

[Anxe]

Of course there would be sausage on the grill in that photo. Of course there would...

[Alikat]

I'm picturing that Jet Li film Unleashed.. Also your girlfriend might be a Domme, lol.

[Kid Jake]

You were referencing?

Naturally.

[A Tad Insane]

I don't know if I should envy you are say a prayer for you if you have a girlfriend who wants to show other real people her gimp

[REVISIONIST]

Cry havoc and let loose the gimps of war!

[oxybe]

They're Gimpy and the Sage
They're Gimpy and the Sage
One is a preistess, the other's enraged.
To prove her divine worth,
She'll naturalize the earth.
They're kinky, they're Gimpy and the Sage, Sage, Sage, Sage,
Sage!

[Kane0]

They're Gimpy and the Sage
They're Gimpy and the Sage
One is a preistess, the other's enraged.
To prove her divine worth,
She'll naturalize the earth.
They're kinky, they're Gimpy and the Sage, Sage, Sage, Sage,
Sage!

Congratulations, you just made me do a spit-take. Someone sig this quote, or at least put it in the no context thread!

[Ralanr]

I can only imagine how NPC's react.

This is just too awesome.

[Jormengand]

I think she's just an RPer of a different sort.

[Anonymouswizard]

I think she's just an RPer of a different sort.

To go with this, never mention to people who don't know of the hobby that you're a roleplayer. Especially don't mention your character's fetishes (as in the magic items).

About 5 times where I almost got into the 'dressing up as a maid and...' style of conversation, it's up there with whips and chains for in-jokes among my group.

[Seto]

So what are your stories about non-gamer reactions to gaming concepts?

"Wow, that sounds like such hard work, I thought gaming was supposed to be fun or something ?"

[MrZJunior]

The people in my office don't seem to understand the concept of open ended gameplay. They kept asking me "how do you win?"

[Killer Angel]

"Wow, that sounds like such hard work, I thought gaming was supposed to be fun or something ?"

"What kind of game is this? do you also bet money on it?" ()

[Milo v3]

"Wait, so a Dm is basically a playstation?"

A common one for me, after trying to explain Pathfinder with an elder scrolls analogy.

[Irennan]

"Wait, so a Dm is basically a playstation?"

A common one for me, after trying to explain Pathfinder with an elder scrolls analogy.

LOL!

When asked about what D&D/whatever is, I answer that it can somewhat be compared to a theater, where the actors are the players, they impersonate a certain individual in a (generally) made up, detailed world, interacting with it and its people and crafting their own story (or changing the story/fate of said world -or parts of it-). The main difference is that the actions of the characters are simulated through a given set of rules, instead of being free form. The reactions I get are of curiosity and quite positive, sometimes a bit discouraged, because all of this can sound a difficult thing to put up.

[MesiDoomstalker]

"So, wait. Why did you kill him? That doesn't sound very fun!"

After telling another gaming friend of how I killed one of my PC's for the first time and a coworker overheard. I tried in vain to explain that death does not mean loosing, nor does it mean un-fun.

[Anonymouswizard]

"Wait, so a Dm is basically a playstation?"

A common one for me, after trying to explain Pathfinder with an elder scrolls analogy.

Considering I'm currently playing SMT3, that's not that far off.

[goto124]

"So, wait. Why did you kill him? That doesn't sound very fun!"

After telling another gaming friend of how I killed one of my PC's for the first time and a coworker overheard. I tried in vain to explain that death does not mean loosing, nor does it mean un-fun.

To be fair, some of us RPGers still don't understand.

[Kalmageddon]

I find it's surprisingly hard to explain that tabletop rpgs and Monopoly are not the same thing.

[Perturbulent]

I find it's surprisingly hard to explain that tabletop rpgs and Monopoly are not the same thing.

I've had the misfortune of having to explain it in the opposite direction. I tend to explain the open world-ness as "endless possibility" sort of spectrum...This of course resulted in one non-rpger asking "so I could make a character with a dozen arms?" to which, although I told him, "well yes, there are character concepts that do that...but generally they fuse them later to hit things harder" he keeps trying to find the limit... which makes it sound less like a game and more like random shenanigans. He has yet to offer something that isn't actually useful to a build.

[MesiDoomstalker]

To be fair, some of us RPGers still don't understand.

Not to belabor the point, the incident in question was enjoyed by all involved, including the now dead PC. Its a reality of the game, just like in any Video Game where losing is an option (read: nearly all of them). Just unlike Video Games, death does not mean Game Over or Respawn.

[Cealocanth]

My grandfather of all people was actually quite innovative when I tried explaining to him what D&D was. After we got past the "how do you win?" and the "so the GM is an omnipotent opponent that tries to kill the players all the time?" he decided he would try to come up with a character. Inspired by LOtR, likely, he suggested a "hobbit" that is an expert wizard, and he rides around on a large shambling "zombie bear" as his mount and pet.

A new set of uninitiated eyes does seem to have some creativity that long-time RPGers lack sometimes.

[Sith_Happens]

They're Gimpy and the Sage
They're Gimpy and the Sage
One is a preistess, the other's enraged.
To prove her divine worth,
She'll naturalize the earth.
They're kinky, they're Gimpy and the Sage, Sage, Sage, Sage,
Sage!

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[Seto]

A new set of uninitiated eyes does seem to have some creativity that long-time RPGers lack sometimes.

That's true. The very first time I played, we were in a swamp. Our Fighter poked inside with a stick and when he pulled it back up, there was some mud larva thing attached to it. Our DM was delighted because instead of having the "how much can we sell it ?" gamer-reflex, I said "Duh, we poked with a stick and got one out, it almost certainly has no value".