The standard #ttrpg dungeon crawl is problematically colonial: "We want these treasures, and if the natives try to stop us, we'll just have to kill them in self defense."
How can the story be tweaked to avoid this, while maintaining the action/adventure idea of solving problems through personal violence?
I guess the obvious answer is to ally the player characters with the oppressed rather than with the empire. Perhaps more interesting would be to have them *start* allied with the empire, then slowly turn up the wrongness until they switch sides.
@peterdrake it also turned into a referendum on organized religion, which in the RQ system is quite consequential. Going against a powerful priesthood because they're allied with the state is no joke.
@mrcompletely ... or, y'know, when they have actual, functioning divine magic.
@peterdrake exactly - and religious cult avatars, warriors with powerful divine magic, are very much a thing, and getting a hit squad of those sent after you is a pretty big deal. Plus a lot of players rely on divine magic themselves, it's relatively powerful in the system (most RQ characters use at least basic combat magic, and there are a few flavors, divine being one of them). So if the deity you get your everyday utility spells from is part of the pantheon you're fighting, that's a problem
@peterdrake anyway if you really design a campaign around exposing and foregrounding some of the usually buried injustices, it can absolutely work. I'd just say lean all the way into it, take that idea seriously - where does the oppression come from? What is the class and economic system like? Is that really okay? It can lead to a pretty great Robin Hood dynamic a lot of players will really like
@peterdrake as a beginner player who didn't grow up with ttrpg, one thing that repeatedly struck me as odd is the fact that once combat is initiated, there's no going back. Like the phrase "roll initiative" is the very definition of "either you die or I die". There's no change of mind allowed, no going back allowed, no further negotiation allowed. (1/2)
@rosareven Huh. I see no reason why it HAS to be that way, although ttrpgs' roots in wargaming might make it the default. Either side could run away. Certainly it's common in movies for the fight to be interrupted and one side to learn things about the other before they meet again.
Of course, making peace is going to be difficult if you've been killing each others' loved ones...
@peterdrake @rosareven But it's also not just fight or run away. As a GM if a player wanted to use their turn to stop combat through negotiation or similar, I'd allow it with a role for persuasion or similar. DC could even be set based on what the player is using as an argument to end the combat. DC might end up being pretty high depending on circumstances but not necessarily impossible.
@hishamzerriffi @peterdrake it's also very likely that my dms have not been great lol
@rosareven @peterdrake sorry to hear that. maybe a conversation they are willing to have? Or bring it up at session zero next time starting a new game?
@peterdrake I could have accidentally started combat out of a pure misunderstanding, and I want to apologise and make amends. But everytime the phrase "roll initiative" is said, it's all over.
That makes it very hard to try to switch side in ttrpg even if I want to.
@peterdrake
I've ended up with a lot less of that than normal, quite by accident. The main reasons are:
- underground strongholds are used by malicious outsiders (who don't have much treasure). Humans are native to the land.
- not much 'dungeon crawl' (or treasure)
There's not much coinage to be had, because coins suggest someone who's part of the local economy. Why would a goblin bother to keep coinage? To go to market the next day?
@peterdrake yes, I ran a very political long campaign using the Runequest system that was just like that. I was willing to let the original party go either way with it, but they picked the underdog. The setting was one where an empire had fragmented into feudal states which were just kicking into competitive expansion mode. They started off chasing bandits, who turned out to be sympathetic, and they eventually became essentially an antimonarchist revolutionary "re-expropriation" team