Subj : BATH] The game ends, resignation, and final wrapup
To   : HAROLD GROOT
From : Michael Brazier
Date : Sun Aug 27 2000 03:25 pm

"For the Snark was HAROLD GROOT, you see."

On Thursday August 24 2028 05:23, HAROLD GROOT wrote to SSTUBBS@SHOUT.NET:

 HG> I have already expressed a strong opinion against DMs unnecessarily
 HG> messing around with characters.  That was based on characters that
 HG> have been played and developed over years.  My objection is not as
 HG> STRONG for characters created out of thin air just for a specific game
 HG> - but I still think it is a Bad Idea for DMs to do it.  Now that the
 HG> background plot has been explained, what does it appear to be all
 HG> about?  Why, the DM is attempting to change the characters!  They are
 HG> all to be converted to Clerics of their respective dieties.

[...]

 HG> I'd just suggest that the next DM try a game where the players have a
 HG> reason to be together as a team, there is a specific problem to
 HG> solve, and let the players play their characters as-is.

     In short, you object to games that involve moral dilemmas and character 
development, preferring action, adventure, and puzzle-solving.  In that case, 
you're not likely to be satisfied with echo-style gaming.  Going by my 
observations of games in this echo, action scenes and puzzles are difficult to 
manage over an echo, while character drama is a special strength of the form.

     More importantly, the sort of game you favor is the sort in which, in 
essence, it doesn't matter what the players' characters are like -- and, 
therefore, there's no point in building complex and interesting characters to 
play in them.  There's something faintly comical in the notion of furiously 
protecting a walking cliche from the interference of a malicious DM...

Michael Brazier

--- GoldED 2.50 UNREG
 # Origin: Bellman's Island (1:397/6.4)
 * Origin: ConchGate (1:106/357.0)

.