Oy

[thebitterguy]

I'm sure everyone has stories of strange folks they've gamed with in the past (tfbretz has one that's fairly legendary).

I was just reminded of one recently while reading another overly long Lost article on EW.com that was subtitled "Lost: No Mo PoMo".

Anyway, about a lifetime ago (what, the early '90s? '91, IIRC) I was banished to Kingston, and met up with some people (Mike, Alison, and Sandra and Andrea). Anyway, after a Vampire game, we decided to give Werewolf a try.

So, YHB volunteered to run it, and made an open call for players. Oh, that was a bad idea.

Anyway, two of the players who applied were Sceff and Jott (not their real names). They were a pair of bad stereotypes of gamers (or possibly furries); they lived in a cluttered, filthy apartment. Sceff actually would growl at other players and show them his collection of (thankfully non-erotic) furry art on his laptop.

So they were members of the group; they bought a copy of Caerns: Places of Power for me, insisting that I allow them to play Kitsune Mages. I told them no, there would be no Bete characters and no mage PCs. Someone else wanted to play a Bastet, but I told them no, so there's that.

The game got started eventually (I had my accident shortly before it was to begin, but I started it anyway, bandages over the stitches. The first game went okay, aside from one small quibble.

Sceff and Jott insisted, quite enthusiastically afterwards, that the game was being run wrong.

First off, that's a dickish thing to do. Offering constructive criticism, sure, that's fine. But this passive aggressive whining shit, I got no time for. But these guys, they were dicks.

Secondly, they were actually wrong because of their own ignorance. The wrongness they were speaking of was the fact that the game was set in the current world of 1993. Sceff and Jott, you see, felt that it was set in the future. Are there not cyborgs, they said? Are there not laser guns?

Yes, I answered, in the Technocracy, where mad science tech is expected and normal.

But they said, it's set in the future! Look, here! They call it post-modern! Post, meaning after! So it's in the future!

Feh.

Eventually, the two of them left, but that was sort of the situation that the game was. Anyway, that's just one little story of my gaming life.

Comments

[uncut-diamond.livejournal.com]

I once played a vegan werewolf pacifist in a Age of Apocalpyse campaign.

[thebitterguy]

That must have been a fun 20 minutes.

[uncut-diamond.livejournal.com]

It really got bad when I broke out the ukelele.

[thebitterguy]

That's a really deep shade of 'bad', too.

[uncut-diamond.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, when I played with uber uptight super strict rules warriers, I designed characters around how easily I could make them want to cry.

[thebitterguy]

Man, you're like some kind of rules... WAIT A SECOND.

[uncut-diamond.livejournal.com]

Yes? :)

[thebitterguy]

Do you ever wear your wig and robe while designing characters? AND NOTHING ELSE?

[uncut-diamond.livejournal.com]

I don't own a wig.

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

Vampire and Werewolf: same universe, different appeal.

I've played both, but much prefer the former. A lot of the players who Werewolf appeals to are people I would rather not game with, sadly. Almost universally, they seem to gravitate toward Werewolf because D&D isn't violent enough for them.

Shame, really, as I think White Wolf did a great job designing Werewolf's setting and politics.

[thebitterguy]

I think W:tA was the preferable of the two, personally. They're both kind of goofy in retrospect, but too much VLARP has tainted my ability to enjoy V:tM.

[jkahane.livejournal.com]

I've had players like that in the past, only a couple, but to be honest, I remember almost giving up gaming at the time.

As for the two games, well...aren't VAMPIRE and WEREWOLF ones that appeal to a specific sub-set of gamers? (Admittedly, my only experience with either game was back up through 2nd Edition of each.)

[thebitterguy]

Every game applies to a specific subset of gamers. There's really nothing with universal appeal.

[jkahane.livejournal.com]

This is certainly true, otherwise there wouldn't be all these rpgs on the market these days, would there? :)

For me, W: tA always appealed to me more than V: tM, primarily because I found the vampires too stereotypical of what one sees in literature, and I preferred the angst of the vamps from BUFFY. W: tA was a more complete game than V: tM for the most part, too, and had a lot more to offer in a lot of different, character-oriented ways.

However, it's moot, since I gave up with both of them way back when. Rome and Pulp 30's beat that stuff out for me nine days out of ten; on the tenth day, I read a vampy or werewolfy book. :)

Btw, you gonna be up in Ottawa this weekend for CanGames at all?

[thebitterguy]

I can only suggest that you try the Mortal's/Core WoD game for the new WoD. It's quite enjoyable and a good, solid system.

I'm unfortunately gonna miss CanGames this year. I'm getting too deep in GX preperation.

[jkahane.livejournal.com]

Oh, I never had a problem with the basic WoD game engine and set of mechanics; heck, they were even used in a variant, cleaned up form when Bill Bridges went out and formed Holistic Design to do the FADING SUNS system. (Still love that rpg, too.) The real problem for me is that the whole basic atmosphere of the WoD doesn't appeal to me these days. Part of it also stems from the fact that a horror rpg is about battling and fighting the vamps, werewolves, etc. - not about being one! :)

Pity you're gonna miss CanGames. There's a lot of interesting stuff on this year's sched there. And I haven't seen you in a few years, so...

[thebitterguy]

Oddly enough, they didn't send me any info, even though I attended last year. I guess I just wanted to do Victoria Day weekend at home this year, too.

[jkahane.livejournal.com]

That's understandable. Victoria Day is one of the better holidays at this time of year, since the weather is not too hot yet, just right.

Still, the convention only happens once per year, so...and it's not like I go to dozens of conventions every year, even if I wish I could...

[neosis.livejournal.com]

I played a bit of vampire, werewolf and mage at various points. I never really enjoyed any of them that much. Then again, to play any of those games properly you need players and a game master who understand and can run political intrigue. Neither is really my forte.

But your anecdote about how they thought you were running the game wrong made me think of the players of DM of the Rings (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612).

[thebitterguy]

Oh, I think that was a close one. I enjoyed Werwolf because deep down it can be all about superheroes with fangs, heroic quests and fighting the purest evils that ever existed.

[ladystarstruck.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was not a bad call at all! That was how you met us, after all, when Michael answered it. As I recall, most of the characters were a little wonky, mine included.

[thebitterguy]

I'd already met you guys, though. I was in the AD&D game and the Vampire one.

Your Lupus Glass Walker was a good one, especially since you only decided to play half an hour into the first session.

[ladystarstruck.livejournal.com]

What D&D and Vampire? Because I vividly remember Michael resorting to writing his name on the back of your sign about Werewolf at Bookland, disappointed that it wasn't Vampire you were doing as that was all we knew from White Wolf thus far but willing to play something else if it meant he didn't have to run it.

Yeah, it was pretty foolish of me to think I could resist playing in a game held at my own house. All I knew about Werewolf was what I'd overheard in that half hour!

[thebitterguy]

I put up the sheet in Bookland around September, and went back thinking that no one had replied until I looked at the back. I played in the AD&D game (my character got left behind watching the horses) and then Mike ran a Vampire game and then I started getting the WW game together.