RPG Philosophy

[Agemegos]

Chi Wen Tzu always thought three times before declaring an action. Twice would have been quite enough.

Confucius — Analects

[Irish Wolf]

"He who battles monsters for XP must take care, lest he become XP. And know that as you gaze into the rulebook, the rulebook gazes also into you." - Nietzche's Advice To Gamemasters

[Rocket Man]

To every game there is a season, and a time for every system under Heaven,
A time to play GURPS, a time to play Toon,
A time for swords, a time for rays ...

---The Preacher (Ecclesiastes)

[Anaraxes]

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of gaming, where every PC is enemy to every mook, the same consequent to the time wherein PCs live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal... and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of adventurers, grouped, rich, nasty, brutish, and short.

[Rocket Man]

The fewer our Disadvantages, the more we resemble the Gods.
--Socrates


(Also noted for saying, in the midst of a campaign: "Crito, I owe 3 CP to Asclepius; will you remind me to pay the debt?")

[csm]

"He who is cruel to NPCs becomes hard also in his dealings with PCs. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of NPCs."

"It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge that begins with experience points."

"Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the GURPS Basic rulebooks I memorized over the weekend."

-- Immanuel "Not Really" Kant

[Nymdok]

"For what doth it profit a player to gain the whole world if the GM looses his Character sheet?"
--Mathew (Knight/Thief) 16th session, 26th encounter


"Once you force me to choose a template/class you negate me. I must find a character that is true for me."*
-- Søren Kierkegaard arguing against templates

Nymdok
*For the record, my daughter believes this devoutly.

[Rocket Man]

"To speak practically and as a player, unlike those who call themselves no-game-master men, I ask for, not at once no game master, but at once a better game master. Let every player make known what kind of campaign and play style would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it."
--Henry David Thoreau, arguing for a campaign prospectus after yet another RPG session descends into acrimony.

[zorg]

CPs are feminine in nature; they can only give after they have been received. Of itself they have nothing but the empty forms of their operation.

Schopenhauer, The Game as Will and Representation

[Sydney]

Let he who is with initiative cast the first die.