Empire of the Petal Throne. If you've ever had the misfortune of playing EPT at a convention you know exactly what I mean.

Quote from: GeekEclectic;824167I still think the "rpg/storygame" split on this forum is utter bullshit -- if Candyland and Settlers of Catan can both be board games, then the RPG label can be broad enough for both D&D and Dogs in the Vineyard -- but after learning more about The Forge and its history and seeing some of the discussion of some of my favorite games over at TBP . . . yeah, I can have some sympathy. I still think it's bullshit, but it's somewhat understandable bullshit.

Actually some boardgamers dont consider Candyland a real game... aheh...

The loonybin antics of the 4e fans really turned me off that system. Hell even the regular fans have a tendency to come across as elitist balance worshipping pricks sometimes.

Seeing some of the cultist level spiel from GW fans hasnt exactly engendered any great urge to buy or play anything they make anymore. But then the company itself poisons everything they touch so it was downhill anyhow.

Quote from: Nexus;823976I have to admit this has happened to me a few times. I was interested in the game but nature of its fans and community were just too irritating to deal with so I avoided getting into it. I won't say which games; it might insult some of fans of them that post here. And it was rarely every single person that liked but what seemed to be majority of them.

Didn't someone Do this same basic question around 6 to 7 months ago on here?


- Ed C.

Quote from: Kellri;824215Empire of the Petal Throne. If you've ever had the misfortune of playing EPT at a convention you know exactly what I mean.

I've only heard good things about playing in the author's games. What was the problem?

I was only turned off if it was a local fan base. Internet bullshit doesn't affect me that way. However it does affect others, so that can be damaging to play styles or play style expectations locally.

I could see TBP (or other boards) turning people off to less popular games that became the flavor of the month. Dissuading them from ever even trying.

Quote from: TristramEvans;824224I've only heard good things about playing in the author's games. What was the problem?

No, I'm not talking about playing in MAR Barker's home game. I mean playing at cons with EPT super-fans.

Quote from: Kellri;824232No, I'm not talking about playing in MAR Barker's home game. I mean playing at cons with EPT super-fans.

Ah, well I could see a devotion to the minutia of the published supplements getting tedious. That's one of the reasons I stopped GMing Star Wars in the 90s ("in the extended universe it says...). If I wasnt a super comics geek who knows Marvel 616 history from silver age up to circa '93 like the back of my hand, I could have seen the same thing overtaking my FASERIP games.


Ran a Dark Heresy campaign last year and started with the caveat up front: "everything outside of the original Rogue Trader is apocryphal". Only way I could deal with a setting several of my players know way better than I.

For me:

• Vampire: pretty much the reasons expressed by people here who've heard similar stories and RP expectations.

• TSR-era D&D: The attitude shown from many gamers at my local FLGS, book stores where WotC and TSR books are sold, and many sites is often completely ridiculous. No common ground, no agreement on style or player options, completely different views on how to DM. However at least I'm willing to let bygones be bygones in person, not start throwing the usual and regurgitated insults that hold water like cheese cloth. The Internet is worse, by far, but personal confrontations add new perspective. And there's no "delete post" in face to face situations.

Quote from: Koltar;824222Didn't someone Do this same basic question around 6 to 7 months ago on here?


- Ed C.

If they did I don't remember.

I quit playing Warhammer 40k because the vast majority of players in my area were terrible players who tried to make house rules that always favored their army while forgetting basic rules.

I didn't play Vampire in the 90's because of the local players that I knew who did play.

Quote from: soviet;823987This makes no sense to me. I already have a gaming group. If I want to try a new game, I'll just play it with them. The state of the game's fanbase out in the wild makes no difference to me at all.

It makes no sense to me either.

Let me get this straight, because the premise just strikes me as so frigging ridiculous as to be nearly incomprehensible: some of you don't want anything to do with a published game because you've run into people on the Internet who (a) like that game and (b) are dicks?

Seriously?

Follow that insane premise to its logical conclusion, and you ought to not want to have anything to do with roleplaying games, because it's demonstrably the case that a lot of their players are disgusting whackdoodles.

Gods, grow a pair, some of ya.  People on the Internet being dicks.  (shakes his head)  Stop the freaking presses.

I categorically don't give a shit about the fanbase of a game. They make no difference to my enjoyment of, or intention to play any game whatsoever.

A positive, constructive and useful one can be helpful and ease the transition into a new game, a negative and snarky one I just ignore.

Quote from: Ravenswing;824255Let me get this straight, because the premise just strikes me as so frigging ridiculous as to be nearly incomprehensible: some of you don't want anything to do with a published game because you've run into people on the Internet who (a) like that game and (b) are dicks?

Online, in person, whatever. And yes, its quite serious. If I'm trying to learn about a game, gather some players and generally interact with people about them and the people I meet make it a horrible unpleasant experience, yeah it colors me opinion of the game and and also makes me wonder if I want to be associated with that fan base. Its just a game and its usually not worth hassle. Its not so much popularity. I player unpopular games with exciting and energetic if tiny communities. But dealing with and being associated with groups of that feel toxic can put off the game. Sorry that's not "manly" enough for some.

*

My first year in university I had the fabulous luck of having a really stunning girlfriend. I played D&D with her and her friends, started bringing her to my local gaming club and she would often spend time at my place reading my gaming books. She was an anthropology major and was really intrigued by Tekumel. There was no way I could have done that game justice so we never played ourselves, but she read all the books. Anyways, we went to this convention at OSU and at sign-up I got into a couple of miniature wargames and she signed up for a 6-hour Tekumel game and a shorter Toon game. The guy running the Tekumel game was a late-middle-aged bespectacled guy in a white shirt, tie and black slacks. He had this elaborate table setup with placards, a stack of reference materials, dice, and an illuminated 5-page character sheet at each place-setting. It looked kind of like an aging Mormon or John Bircher getting ready to brief the Presidential cabinet on Mesoamerican death cults. As it turned out, my girlfriend was the only player to sign up. For the first three hours he walked her through creating an obsessively-detailed 1st-level character for Swords & Glory - right down to the proper Tsolyani name, clan, familial titles, etc. The fifth hour, my minis game finished, I walked over to sit in with her. He spent nearly the entire hour reading this complex adventure background which boiled down to ..."You'd like to explore the Jakallan underworld but right now your clan-obligations dictate you go down to the docks and ensure that shipment of fish has arrived". The last plodding hour involved hiring some slaves to carry her palanquin through the streets to the docks and signing release forms for the goods. As the session ended she was completely brain-dead from the experience and was desperate to go out to the car and smoke a joint before the Toon game. As I'm shaking hands with the Tekumel-guy, he looks at my girlfriend and says to me...'I've been admiring these all afternoon. What do you call them? Oh yes, breasts.' Needless to say, she never asked to play Tekumel again. For the next couple of years I kept running into the same guy at other local cons - always with the same setup and always with only one, soon-to-be-a-Tekumel-hater, player. AFAIK, he never played anything but Tekumel. At another later con, I was talking with Tom Moldvay and pointed the guy out to him with a 'who is THAT motherfucker' kind of line. Tom smiled and just said 'Yeah, you should probably think about playing another game'.

Quote from: nitril;824208Online Exalted fans have put me off Exalted for good. Overzealous fans in general are a real pain and have on occasion colored my perception of a game in a negative way.

If the system itself hadn't done the job first, . . . nah, if it had a good system, I'd have liked it. I like what I like, even if other people who like the same thing are insufferable tools.