by Formendacil » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:26 pm
With regards to the brick-built creatures debate, I don't feel entirely comfortable with making a "ruling", since I'm more or less of the opinion that the Roleplay should direct its own course. However, I will give you my opinion, based on past experience:
It seems to me that be a stickler over whether or not non-human creatures should be allowed in the Roleplay is a bit peculiar. Now, once I reason it through, it makes sense that since this particular roleplay is really striking back to its LEGO roots that you would want to excise anything not too close to LEGO, but I'm kind of having the opinion that this might be too vigilant on your part.
The LEGO-ness of the Roleplay, in my opinion, should be important but not absolutely necessary. I've always seen the ethos of the roleplay being such that it was basically story-telling in a framework that builds off the official LEGO factions and could be illustrated using LEGO--but need not otherwise be imagined using LEGO. In that case, it seems entirely consistent to me to important further fantasy monsters and goblins beyond the ones currently offered by LEGO, especially in this case, since the ability to illustrate them is certainly available, since we are talking about brick-built beasties, after all.
My instinct, then, is to say "yes". That being said, however, I appreciate Matt BeDar's point about the potential for such beasts (dragons, especially) to outweigh the balance of power in the roleplay world. This is, however, a general problem of fantasy roleplays: one has to be very careful that the powerful wizard, powerful magic sword, powerful fantasy animal--while powerful and dangerous--doesn't so horribly overwhelm conventional tactics and weaponry (arrows, spears, and horses) that they seem to have no point in the story.
So, if you want an official ruling, my suggestion is: yes, they are applicable, but anyone planning to use them should really consider what kind of a delicate balancing act you have to go through to make things seem both reasonable and fun to everyone. Obviously, that's not so easy to make a RULE about, and then police it, but needs to be a matter of caution and everyone should be willing to dialogue and reach compromise--just as in any situation of disagreement.
~Michael A. Joosten - Gaming Moderator~
P.S. I must agree with Fire... however DID you and he become friends, Matt? You guys seem to sit on opposite ends of the internet island, throwing coconuts at each other... (okay, silly analogy... but it's late...)