Well, tbh, I’ve been there, and I’ve been one of them. And compared to actual pnp roleplaying, the difference is staggering, especially because you can’t force the game to do stuff it doesn’t want to. Even if it doesn’t make any sense (like regenerating mobs forever for instance, or preventing opposing factions to learn a common language…). I’ve really been there, you know, for years. I’m talking out of experience. 🙂
And I left this scene because it was a terrible hassle just to find players who just where looking for something else than mob bashing, and roleplaying ? now *that* was a strange idea 😉 And I’ve been in the computer games of all kinds for like a decade.
Regarding boardgames, well, my boardgame years are long gone so I can’t say what’s available nowadays (hence my original question for Fasold, btw 😉 ) but I can’t figure how a game with a board can work with roleplaying. If I see (I mean **See**, literally) myself as some kind of pawn on a board. No matter what I will just be a pawn on a board, and not a powerful warrior in a fantasy realm (or whatever). And my experience is that if you use tactical maps or such in RPGs, exactly the same thing happens : the players start thinking of themselves as pawns on a board and they forget that they are “The Queen of the Mighty Realm of Exsilya!”. So, I’m being cautious with tactical maps and boards, restricting them to the bare minimum.
And if I use boardgames, I expect them to be about a winner and a loser. I really don’t like that (I’m a roleplayer for a reason) but sadly, I’m usually right. :ohmy: :unsure:
This is *my* experience. Yours may be different. I respect that.