[UA] BEG FOR MERCY, NPC SCUM

[Royal Minister of Stuff]

--- WingedCoyote at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Yeah. To use Tynes's words, the "gamer living the
> unexamined life" is just 
> going to keep doing so if he perceives you as
> insulting him or calling him a 
> psycho. I'm not talking about hypnotizing people out
> of playing D&D, 
> necessarily, just how to keep the game going without
> fistfights.
> 

Precisely.  I tend to be kinda anti-violence, but not
because I think there's anything WRONG with pretending
to be violent.  I just don't think violence should be
portrayed as mechanical or easy.  The idea of UA being
based on "emotional realism" was very inspiring for me
and something I wanted to emulate.  It even impressed
my wife, who generally despises RPGs (although she
loves painting miniatures.)

There's a novel by Will Shetterly called "Witch Blood"
and it's, well, it's High Fantasy Ninja crap.  But it
has several redeeming qualities.  Among other things,
the violent martial-arts-master-on-the-run main
character has a kind of self-effacing humility which
keeps you from hating him and there's a scene where
he's picking off people with a bow and arrow trying
not to think: "Hey, there goes somebody's brother. 
Oh, and I think maybe that's an uncle or a cousin
gargling with one of my arrows in his neck.  Maybe
I'll get a mom or a daughter with this next shot."

Sometimes you gotta kill, but you can only call an RPG
a "humanity" if you gotta pretend to care sometime
during the game as well.

=====
-- Rp Bowman, Royal Minister of Stuff
The Electronic Nation of Yokeltania:
http://www.geocities.com/yokeltania/

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