The following isn't necessarily me trying to be rude, but...it may be a ittle ranty because, I'll admit, I'm kinda frustrated. I don't mean to offend anyone, however.
On August 15th, the following was posted in the Rhy'Din Post of 'Who are all of these people"':
So there's absolutely nothing wrong with cat people talking about sex or a perfectly polite alien creature" but a sphinx is suddenly worrisome" A sphinx telling riddles is practically the most ordinary thing EVER. Who knows why Vera got all tizzy during a sphinx's entertaining Q&A recently, but at least the group she hangs with (Jake and Lola " not Lola Granger. A different Lola) is fairly grounded. Come on, Vera. You've been to RhyDin before! You can't let these things faze you. RhyDin may not be anywhere as crazy as it once was, but I'll be damned if I don't look both ways for suicidal carnies riding vampire ostriches before I cross the street.
As a player who plays a lot of monsters and creatures, I find this kind of attitude amazingly, remarkably frustrating. The entire idea behind RPing, in general, is about fantasy. I understand, of course, that it doesn't have to always be literal fantasy and thus, doesn't always have to include dragons and unicorns, but...I found this particular piece of the column almost a little rude.
To chastise - even in IC - another character for finding something fantastic...well, fantastic" What's so wrong with that' What's so wrong with characters still finding strange, amazing beings outrageous, bewildering, and awe-inspiring" When did sitting around drinking beer and talking about ridiculously mundane things become the expected and, from the way this particular blurb comes off to me, the demanded"
If I wanted to sit around in a bar and be surrounded by humans" I'd log off my computer and leave the house. But there's a belief that seems to run rampant in DM/RDI, that we've 'seen it all, we can't be shocked anymore', that is amazingly frustrating for people who still enjoy playing creatures. Creatures who do not conform to the norms, who are not cat people talking about sex or friendly aliens, acting like relatable creatures(because that gets more attention, of course) - when they're clearly not.
If another player decides to act on that, and have their player be surprised/delighted/terrified...is that such a horrible thing" Does it have to be called out and, from the way this reads, ridiculed" I understand that not everyone wants to get involved with things like that, and that's fine, (though I don't understand it personally; you can't meet most fantastic creatures in real life, and if they're well played, why wouldn't you want to interact with them"), but was it really necessary to belittle someone else having a good time, who wasn't sitting around drinking tea and eating crumpets"
I'm pretty sure that's not what Gary Gygax had in mind, really, when he decided to make D&D.
It's bad enough that most people ignore fantastic creatures, but others literally go out of their way to be upset and annoyed when said characters are around. Of course, if those creatures instantly start to humanize themselves, that's fine, that's perfectly acceptable, but if you play a creature that doesn't, that seems wary or doesn't fit into the societal norm of the room, at that moment' People start sighing, start rolling their eyes, start talking about how it's nothing new, nothing surprises them anymore, et cetera.
Look, if you don't want to play with fantastic creatures, maybe you shouldn't be RPing in a setting that is literally defined as the meeting places of all times and realms, where fantasy happens. But seeing as that's not going to happen....
Can we please try not to belittle and ridicule those players that DO still want to play with the odd, the strange, the fantastic? Who still have their imaginations firmly intact' Because when you publicly humiliate people like that' They no longer want to play in scenarios such as that, which leaves those of us who DO like playing the odd, the strange, and the obscure with no one left to play with.
