One thing I've noted when listening to people summarising their experiences in another roleplaying game, or even summarising books and movies, is that every plot is ridiculous. At least at first blush it is. It is exceedingly hard to give a short summary of something without making it seem silly, incongruous, or stereotypical because you lack context. Here's some potential examples from D&D:
If its rather unique, it'll likely come off as silly: "Our party involves a group of poets trying to find the best experiences to write war poetry."
If its a blend of the expected and the unexpected, it'll seem incongruous and strange: "Our party fight monsters, any monster we find, but we do it because we love monsters deeply and want to rally them to win."
If its what we would expect than it seems like a ho-hum stereotype: "We get paid to sort out monster problems for the townsfolk."
Its not so bad in print, I suppose, but I know there are many instances where someone describes a game I've run or played in and I'm inwardly wincing to myself, going: "It wasn't that bad!" or "It makes sense in context!" or "Its not that much of a stereotype - they forgot to mention this and this and this."
Does anyone else find the same?
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