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Role Playing Myths and Legends

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Or, The Urban Legends of RPGs

Every gaming group has their individual stories of goofs, strangeness and sheer idiocy. Most gaming groups have at least one story to illustrate why role playing should be a private matter, shared among friends, and not aired in public.

And of course, stories get shared.

Some of the stories here probably date from 1st edition D&D, others are newer gems that haven't yet reached the status of true gaming legend.

Some are funny, some are sad, some are a little scary.

Enjoy, laugh, learn. And try not to do anything amazingly insane enough to earn you a spot among the Role Playing Myths and Legends.

Sphinx

An Ancient Tale of Role Playing Glory

Or, Why the Dusty Tomes of the Town Library Do NOT Create Atmosphere

Long ago, in role playing ages past, before Dungeons and Dragons had truly made a mark on the world, a group of gamers met at the town library to game in peace for an afternoon.

The party was a typical adventuring party, meaning that not every character was good, and at least one of them was a thief.

For better or worse (in game, we shall never know), someone in the party lost a ring of some importance. Magical? Expensive? Personal? We do not know. However, the subject became heated, and apparently some form of threat was made. In game, all was set for a splendid afternoon.

However, in game happenings must bow to out of game difficulties. So when a pair of police offices approached the table and interrupted they received the complete attention of the party. Especially with this introduction:

"Alright, we know one of you took the ring, and we know there's a knife involved."

The ending of this tale has been lost in the mists of time, but we may hope, for the sake of player and character alike, that the police were persuaded not to drag the entire group to the police station to 'sort everything out.'

Where Do You Role Play?

The hazards of public libraries aside, there are a lot of options for where to set up a game.

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Leeroy Jenkins

If Only It WAS a Myth

Most of what's on this lens may or may not have happened.

Unfortunately, this one did. Leeroy Jenkins has gone down in role playing history, and thanks to youtube will be remembered for years to come.

Leeroy has in fact become quite famous over the years, and even has his own Leeroy Jenkins Squidwho page.
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Have Your Own Story of Role Playing Mayhem?

Share it Here!

  • scaguy Sep 11, 2011 @ 9:43 am | delete
    We actually met at the local library from '79-'82. yes I date myself. Other then the noise level, the librarians were thrilled to have us. We never had a police incident though. good lens!
  • Actiongames Sep 3, 2011 @ 3:00 am | delete
    Their once was a man as crazy as heck. As a teen he almost broke his chaotic neutral neck. Was only tamed by a knightly pact, as squire to nobles that kept good in check. Saved twice by lord Helm, the church called for its due. Two kingdoms formed another made a-knew. From horse to dragon he did ride, a faithful hound always seen always by his side. Man I love Gaming
  • GoodBug Oct 31, 2009 @ 1:25 am | delete
    The Public Library is not a suitable venue for quite a lot of things but I hadn't thought of gaming. What a hoot!
  • Mike-Reid Jun 22, 2009 @ 3:36 pm | delete
    I wrote about several stories on my lens on Fantasy Role Playing. www.squidoo.com/Fantasy_Gamer
    The beauty of these types of games is the open-ended nature whee anything can, and usually does, happen.
  • susannaduffy Jan 6, 2009 @ 4:34 pm | delete
    Urban legends are an amazing phenomenon in modern life. They can spread so quickly in our time because of instant global communication. The story about the library reached Australia ages back and was set in my home town!
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Some People Don't Understand, Role Playing is a GAME

This story may or may not be true. If it is, there is probably a news report somewhere on the matter.

Not everyone really understands role playing, and some people are simply really unbalanced and can't tell reality from fiction. Some people are just a little bit off in the head.

In any case, there is a cautionary that makes the rounds of a new gamer, who in his first game session, when he was asked what his character did, pulled out a shot gun and shot the rest of the gaming party.

Be careful who is invited to join a game, and be careful of what games you join. Not everyone understands gaming. Not everyone is sane.

Why Equipment Lists are Valuable Things

And Why Game Masters Need Note Books

Well, the entire gaming group was having a bad night. It was the second night of the campaign, and they were attempting to sneak past the enemy cavalry. Three people on foot, and one on a (rather forgettable) horse.

They slipped behind a rather large boulder to hide, and the character on the (extremely forgettable) horse, failed his stealth role rather miserably.

Approximately halfway through the ensuing combat, the character with the (practically invisible) horse, was trying to determine his next action. After some thought, his head jerked up, his eyes went wide and he exclaimed

"I have a HORSE!"

No wonder he failed the stealth role!

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Vote for your favorite role playing myth, or add your own to the list.

1

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Weapons of Opportunity

For the bar fighters among us.1 point

2

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An Ancient Tale of Role Playing Glory

Do you love police action and surprise endings?0 points

3

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If ONLY It Was a Myth

Does the classic tale of Leroy Jenkins leaving you more...0 points

4

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Some People Don't Understand, Role Playing is a GAME

Are horror stories more your thing?0 points

5

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Why Equipment Lists are Valuable Things

Do you love invisible horses?0 points

6

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D-Day

Mayhem, Melee, and Monsters, what's not to love?0 points

D-Day

or Why You Should be Nice to your Dice

Once upon a time, there was a (very) new GM running the first session of an old World of Darkness Werewolf game.

Now, in WoD, as in most role playing games, there is such a thing as a catastrophic failure, known colloquially as a 'botch.' A botch general occurs when a player rolls one or more '1's on a die roll.

In this game, a character was attempting to 'step-sideways' - to enter the Spirit World, when the player botched the roll.

The GM, not knowing the actual rules for this situation, decided that he would get flung into a random part of the Spirit Realms.

So, the GM had him roll a luck die to figure out where to send him.

He botched.

The GM, being a soft hearted soft, decided in spite of the botch not to send him to anywhere the character would automatically be dead - no resurrection, no retrieval, do not pass go on your way out. Instead, she sent him to the Battlefield.

Now, the Battlefield was a Spirit Realm where every battle in history was perpetually replayed. Choosing which battle to dump him in would require thought. So instead, the GM had again roll a luck die.

He botched.

Welcome to D-Day.

Another luck roll.

He botched

As a paratrooper.

At this point, the GM decided to take some pity on him, and with a wave of the GM wand decreed that he would land safely. Now roll a luck die to see where you land.

He botched.

Smack in the middle of the beach, where he was in the line of sight of every soldier in both armies.

With some thought, the player decided that he was going to transform into the monstrous man-wolf of the werewolves, and go screaming down the beach (In hindsight, assualting a German bunker might have been wiser - might.)

One last luck hie.

He BOTCHED.

And a mortar landed smack on the top of his head, blowing him to pieces.

What's Your Favorite RPG?

2

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The World of Darkness by White Wolf Game Studio

The World of Darkness by White Wolf Game Studio

Where the Shadows Grow Long We live our days completely more...0 points

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GURPS Basic Set: Characters, Fourth Edition by Steve Jackson

GURPS Basic Set: Characters, Fourth Edition by Steve Jackson

GURPS Basic Set: Characters combines information f more...0 points

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Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition by Wizards RPG Team

Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition by Wizards RPG Team

All three 4th Edition core rulebooks in one handsome more...0 points

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L5R Roleplaying: Third Edition Revised by Alderac Entertainment

L5R Roleplaying: Third Edition Revised by Alderac Entertainment

Return to the Emerald Empire, where honor is a force more...0 points

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Traveller RPG Core Rulebook by Gareth Hanrahan

Traveller RPG Core Rulebook by Gareth Hanrahan

Traveller is back, and it is better than ever! Bas more...0 points

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Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Saga Edition by Owen K.C. Stephens, Rodney Thompson

Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Saga Edition by Owen K.C. Stephens, Rodney Thompson

Immerse yourself in the excitement of the greatest more...0 points

New and Interesting Role Playing Lenses

I'll be updating this module with a new and different lens on role playing every few weeks, or possibly less. Have fun!
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Role Playing Mind Freak

or Dead Adventurers Should Stay Dead

My thanks to Mike-Reid for this and the following tales. Here's your taste of immortality Mike.

One day an adventuring party went out. It was a well balance party containing a fighter, a cleric, a thief and a mage. With in a few hours, 3 of them were dead. The fighter, being a loyal sort, took their bodies to a local temple, and set out to find a way to resurrect them.

It must have been something of a surprise when they started talking to him - somehow all three ended up stuck in his head.

Well, the fighter was presumaly somewhat pleased with this - having a thief in your head giving a step by step on lock picking can be helpful after all. And borrowing a clerics 'magic' to take down a few zombies was probably a good thing as well.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't shut UP. And it is a bit hard to fight off a group of bandits when three people are shouting in your head telling you what to do - distracting somewhat.

Which is how the whole party ended up dead.

Until the next resurrection.

What's for Dinner?

or why pissing of gods is a bad idea.

It was a fine and beautiful day in the D&D realm of choice.

The birds were singing, the clouds were floating majestically by, and two gods, old friends, were debating proper cuisine. Specifically, they had a fine rabbit to cook up for dinner, and couldn't agree whether a red or white wine would go best with it.

One assumes that character who had been transmuted into the rabbit was quite traumatized by the whole thing. The character who was turned into the red wine - not having ears to hear anything, was probably blissfully ignorant of he potential fate. Not so the player of course.

Still, the thing that I can't stop wondering is, where did the white wine come from?

This image is courtesy of André Karwath under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

Weapons of Opportunity

What's the Crit Range on a Kobold?

The kobold story is a classic "WoP story" I have heard from several sources, and is probably nearly on par with the public library in terms of how well known, and old, it is.

A weapon of opportunity, for anyone unfamiliar, is any random thing a fighter picks up and uses as a weapon. Tire irons, broken beer bottles, and frying pans are the well known stereotypes, but gamers do tend to get creative. For instance:

The Kobold
A fighter in a D&D game loses his weapon. In a burst of inspiration, he grabs up one of the kobolds that are attacking his group, and begins using the monster as a weapon. Much to everyones surprise, he does very well with his improvised weapon. So well that he has to ask the GM

"What's the crit range on a kobold?"

The Tie
Sometimes, a weapon of opportunity isn't all it's cracked up to be.

A group of superheros burst through the door of the criminal's hideout. They were instantly rushed by three suits. One of the superheros had super-strength. He ran forward, grabbed one of the suits, and began swinging him around by his tie. The character had super-strength.

The tie . . . did not.

It snapped, and the suit sailed across the room, the smash into the rest of the super hero team, knocking them down like ten-pins. Chalk up 1 failed ambush.



The Brick
And sometimes, a WoP can just be so overpowered, it's downright sickening.

A mage, working as an undercover police agent, was acting as the buyer for a drug deal. He got made. He got made big time.

The minute the drug dealers start reaching for their guns, he throws up a mage shield and grabs up . . . a brick of uncut cocaine. He smashes it into the nearest face, and it bursts, filling the room with loose powder, and giving everyone, except the mage inside his shield, an instant overdose.

Seriously, don't do drugs. That shit can kill you.

I Attack . . .

Fighters can be idiots

The GAZEBO!Two very similar stories, each that I had forgotten about until they were referenced in a recent game.

A group of mercenaries in a modern fantasy game is in pursuit of their enemies. The bad guys have escaped out the back of the house and the mercenaries race after them, bursting through the back door. They are faced with a quiet backyard, empty except for a large gazebo. The mage, not one to wait to be attacked, immediately looses a fireball at the dangerous structure, hoping to destroy it before it can kill them all. It was a very, very dangerous gazebo.

A group of adventurers was exploring a cave system, looking for treasure. As they enter the next cave, the GM describes what they see - 'You see darkness.' One bold and fearless adventurer steps forth and declares 'I attack THE DARKNESS!' before charging into combat.

by

Jessica_Burde

I'm a gaming fanatic whose been making the rounds for nearly ten years.
In that time, I've collected some odd stories.
Enjoy.

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