The Culture: Death To The Get Along Gang

First, if you haven't seen the Dunder Moose stream with Jeffro and BDubs, fix that now.

After that, go read Jeffro's post-stream blogpost because he's throwing it out there and I'm catching that pass to run it downfield.

It's time to kill a cancerous trope. Again.

Face the wall!

Now that I have your attention, it's time to define the term: "Get Along Gang" is the result of a Longhouse-borne nagfest where everyone at the table is meant to always be together on the same side. I've bolded the keyword there, because cooperation--as it is in proper wargaming--has to something a player chooses because it is better than defecting.

Yes, that's right, straight up Prisoner's Dilemma stuff.

Conventional Play and it's anti-game presumes that Get Along Gang is all but hard-coded into the game. That's not how the real game works.

What if “playing your role” meant pursuing a set of objectives that necessarily set you at odds with the other players in your campaign? If that’s so, then 40 years of rpg history has been wasted delving into an approach to gaming that is intrinsically unfun.

Some people suggest we are blowing this Braunstein thing out of proportion. Citing Boot Hill is just not enough to persuade them. Vague recollections from people who were obviously high when they were playing D&D with Gary Gygax back in the day are supposed to be a completely iron clad counter.

It’s stupid.

--Jeffro Johnson, from the above-linked post.

He points out the obvious Player-vs-Player elements in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition from there that supports this position.

The conclusion is obvious: This is not only a wargame, it is driven by Player-vs-Player conflict from top to bottom.

Domains are meant to be as contentious as pre-Modern domains were in real life. Gods are meant to content in the world for power and influence. The very structure of the game is set up to foster conflict over both the short and the long term. All of that conflict filters down to the lowest level of play because it is only those with the will to win that are going to reach the pinnacles of power, prestige, and influence in any campaign and thus in the hobby as a whole.

As I have said for a while now: Show Up With A Plan.

You will need to cooperate with others at times. Just as you are not married to your character sheets, and thus can freely rotate through a stable of characters as you like, you are also free to cooperate or not with others as you like- and that will be, should be, driven by the ambitions that you have for that character.

Yes, even if you're playing a shitpost of a character, that remains the case. Today Bob the Weasel scrambles to filch a pursue from some Normie twat in the markets. Tomorrow he's wormed his way into the leadership of the Thieves' Guild, and if you have no clue what to do with that car bumper you just caught then it's your man's ass- and you had better hope that he merely gets murked instead of something worse.

What does this mean? It means that a lot of long-standing tropes about Player Dickery need to get tossed out the window as they stem from false premises.

This is that Diplomacy influence I mentioned previously making itself felt, and with this restored perspective everything about the hobby changes, for the better. Time to replace the Get Along Gang with a more suitable idea, one ready-made for memeing.

Play To Win, Gamer!

Now you see why the real hobby is anti-commercial. Now you see why you don't need to Consume Product. Players provide all the content you will ever need BECAUSE THEY NEED IT TO WIN THE GAME! Who needs modules when players scheming against each other does that far better and for free? Who needs Yards Of Books with toys galore when players will make them up to gain a competitive advantage? Who needs to be Forever Referee when running the campaign compels having multiple people rotating through the Big Chair as play progresses, something that also guts Referee Dickery and strings offenders up by their own intestines because that damages campaign integrity.

Conventional Play's biggest poison pill will be forced out, and this exposes that well over 90% of "RPG" product is utterly worthless and pointless.

With these receipts in hand, it is now conclusive. Real RPGs are games. Games are there to be won, and therefore good play means learning how to win at the game. You can #winatrpgs. You can earn your place at the Clubhouse if you can win at D&D.