Nov
28
Godmodding is taking control of another player’s character during roleplay. It’s usually frowned upon with the reason – you should only control your character and no-one else’s. Read More
Aug
6
I’m hoping to get a discussion going in the comments here. What are your opinions about godmodding?
I’ve seen games fall apart, and arguments caused because of a player godmodding (if you don’t know what godmodding is, see here). But I’ve also seen plenty of people realise their mistakes and learn from it, making them a better roleplayer and a better storyteller afterwards. Read More
Apr
18
I saw this Cyanide & Happiness cartoon and thought it was a great lesson for us roleplayers (and all writers everywhere actually). Characters without limitations are just boring (see our article about God-man and all our articles about god-modding). Read More
Feb
19
Bad guys, the antagonist, the villain, the creep, always the loser. No matter what it may be a super hero or hero in general always has a bad guy to fight. We all love playing the hero, the guy who gets the girl or the girl who gets the guys because we love to feel good. A bad guy is a major part in roleplaying but sometimes we forget that and we just want to play the good guy. We hate Mary Sue’s and Gary Stu’s right? Now imagine if there was no Lex Luthor, no Joker, no Green Goblin. A story of a hero would be pointless, the hero would have no bad to fight and everything would be just hunky dory, putting that super hero out of a job. You see that picture of Batman? On the outside, he hates the Joker. But, on the inside, he knows he needs him. This will give you a couple of tips and insight on a good balance with good and evil and why the bad guy is important. Read More
Dec
23
I found this comic recently which expresses perfectly why all-powerful characters are boring: Read More
Nov
10
There are many types of godmodders in roleplaying games, but for me it’s Q from Star Trek who represents the most dangerous type. I love Star Trek, and I especially love the character Q. He’s funny, he’s playful, and he’s all powerful, which is a very dangerous combination for a foe. But it’s the all-powerful that’s most dangerous to the integrity of the storyline on Star Trek.
When I was younger I would watch many Star Trek episodes where they got into danger, and used to wonder, what if Q showed up right now and just saved them by clicking his fingers – wouldn’t that just be awesome?
But no, it wouldn’t be awesome, it’d be boring. If that happened, the Enterprise would never really be in any danger, and the characters would never be in any kind or peril. There would be no tension or drama.
In roleplaying games you need that same sense of danger, which adds drama to the story.
Mar
14
If you’re a member of a text-based roleplaying game, or have ever been involved with one, you might have heard of the term God Modder. There’s an article explaining what this means here, but have you ever wondered where the term originated and why we use it in roleplaying games?
This article has been written by SMAndy, who is a GM of Reapers union and HMS Sovereign, and one of the moderators for Blue Dwarf.
Feb
28
God Modders can ruin a roleplaying experience for all other players, read my other article about godmodders here. But they’re most frustrating for the GM of a game, as they are the ones who have made the decision to totally ban these offenders, or help mould them into a decent player. The latter taking a lot more effort, and risking annoying every other member in the process.
For this article I’ve been helped out by several roleplaying veterans! Here are 12 tips for dealing with a God Modder:
Nov
8
Often God Modders use characters that are “too perfect”
God Modders have been a burden of text based roleplaying games for a long time, and they can really annoy other members who like to develop their story gradually at a decent pace, only for the story to be taken on an unusual sidetrack or finished prematurely and undramatically. In this article we’ll explain what god modding is, why it’s annoying, and some possible solutions to stop these members from ruining everyone else’s enjoyment.
In play by post games there usually aren’t usually about statistics and experience points like more traditional tabletop roleplaying is, play by post games usually have more in common with collaborative storytelling. Each character is portrayed through paragraphs of description alone, and therefore the strength, skills and abilities of the character are open to interpretation through the storytelling, and not a number on a stat sheet.
