I’m a very easily amused guy. I liked both “Daredevil” and “Electra”. I got a kick out of “Spiderman 3″, and have even been known to watch “Phantom Menace” with delight. Hell, I was mildly amused by “Catwoman”.
Why is this?
Well, simply put, I like to be entertained. The movie doesn’t have to be phenomenally written or have the best special effects. I’m able to overlook flaws in things so as to enjoy them more. I can ignore Jar Jar if it means I get to watch Senator Palpatine steadily work his political power in the senate, finally turning the Republic against his hated enemies.
Why do I bring this up?
Because I haven’t met a roleplaying game I didn’t like. Any game I’ve seen I desperately want to play in and immediately begin thinking about what type of character I’d play, or how I’d run it.
The way I see it, it’s not about the mechanics, it’s about creating a story. A lot of people complain about 4e being “just about combat”. Sure, the rules only focus on combat, but when I play, we have maybe one encounter per session. There’s nothing keeping you from playing like you have in every single other RPG you’ve played before.
The mechanics of the game are there to help guide you, but ultimately, it’s you who make a game what it is.
5 comments
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May 13, 2009 at 9:43 am
Marcel Beaudoin
I think that it all comes down to this for me:
While a system and its mechanics can have an influence on how much I enjoy playing the system, a much, much greater proportion comes from playing it with my friends.
May 13, 2009 at 10:35 am
Tom
Wow, takes a lot of guts to admit liking those movies.
I admit Phatom Menace was easier to watch the 2nd time; I knew waht to expect from jar jar and Anakin , so I was prepared. The first time was quite a kick in the teeth.
The other 3, no I couldn’t stomach those again! What movies do you not like?
May 13, 2009 at 12:43 pm
occultsearcher
Well said, well said…
One can roleplay with chess. If he wants to… Forget the system, play your character.
May 13, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Swordgleam
I love Elektra. It’s like they wrote a script for a movie, and then went, “Eh, this scene looks boring. How can we fix it?” “I know. Let’s add ninjas!” “Sounds good to me,” and then repeated that conversation for every single scene. None of my friends will watch it with me, though.
I think an awful lot more of liking and RPG has to do with who you game with than the game itself. That sounds like it should be obvious, but I think people lose sight of it. I’ve loved every game I’ve played because I play with fun people.
May 13, 2009 at 8:17 pm
GameGorilla
Hey, I’m the same way. If I’m forced to go into a movie I feel below me, I’ll go with the plan to enjoy it. I remember as an older teen being taken to Herculese. Was not planning on enjoying it, but chose to go ahead and enjoy it, and I did. In hindsight it was a good movie. But overall, I “chose” to like it. The same thing has to happen when I go to an awful play. I know it’s going to be bad, but I just have to choose to enjoy it, and grit my teeth until Golem comes out and makes a terrible stage play of the Hobbit really worth seeing.