Re: Whats a Munchkin?
My take on powergaming/metagaming/munching is this:
I like characters to be built kind of like a bell curve. They have one area that they are really good at, but then several others they get by at, and several others they are only familiar with. This gives them tools to work with in almost any situation. They have a collection of pegs for whatever shape hole I put in front of them.
A munchkin's curve is a vertical line. They have 1 peg, and it's the GMs fault if that one peg doesn't always fit the problem at hand.
An example of this would be the "combat twink". He has disads like no sense of humor, on the edge, stuff that gives him reaction penalties, etc. He cripples every aspect of his character not related to "move...aim...shoot...repeat"
A good roleplayer would look at this character and see handicaps to be overcome. His overcoming the obsticles that his past put in front of him make for a great story.
A munchkin says "what handicaps? I shoot people. <shrug>"
I gun for characters like this as GM. I take great pleasure in introducing them to law enforcement in (initially) non-confrontational settings. Shooting a cop is often like kicking an anthill. With 8-foot ants.
"Knock Knock... I am detective Smith, and this is detective Jones. we are investigating some recent burgularies in the area and were wondering if we could talk with you about them."
...3 minutes of awkward RP later...
"MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN! I NEED BACKUP! SEND SWAT! SEND EVERYBO-urk..."
<evil grin from GM>
|