Some Thoughts on Playstyle

I tend to spend a good amount of my time over at the forums and chatroom of mydndgame.com.  Often a discussion will arise where we discuss a difference in playstyle and I’m often finding myself taking the side of the argument “Play the Game as it is” but with the reservation that you can reflavor elements within the game to work as you want without changing the rules.

I don’t know about you, but I find this stance is increasingly rare.  I read other blogs and also discuss games at gaiaonline.com and even there it’s rare.  Everyone wants to change the game from what it is to fit what they think the game should run like.  If you want examples of this, look at some of the previous posts I’ve made on this blog, but to give a few more recent examples (mainly from Dungeons and Dragons 3.5):

1. People want to use a 32 point buy for attributes while the game is under that assumption that it’s players will be using a 25 point buy.  Then these same players begin to complain that the game doesn’t work for them because the monsters stop being a challenge after a while.  This seems like it should be self explanatory but they just don't see why the game doesn’t do what they want it to do.

2. The skill system of the game allows for a great amount of versatility but people think about things like the RNG(Look it up on google or find the gaming den).  I think people are limiting there experience with a robust system so that they can play numbers games and metagame their way through the campaign.  These players to like to complain.

I guess the point that I’m trying to get at is that I’m tired of people saying a system doesn’t work and needs to be fixed when all the player has done to the system has caused the game to not function like it should.  I think this is why I prefer a rules lite system like the older editions of the game DnD, or I run a game that doesn’t stray far from the rules.  And that is my playstyle.