Post originally by Roy Morgan at 2003-12-25 12:49:29
Converted from Phorums BB System

Competitions are an excuse to show off? Maybe. Remember, though, this was at a time when many campaigns were still played in the old style, with player prowess measured in XP and war stories. In other words, /competitively/.

Personally, I hate that approach. Last convention game I played was a Deadlands game with several other con-goers. Rather than compare notes on past campaigns, other than in a joking way, we put together our characters and got straight into the game. And I got to see some fantastic roleplayers in action. We laughed, we rolled quite a few polyhedrons, and frankly we had a helluva good time. And we all learned something from each other, too, ways to improve.

Maybe it's not what Gygax had in mind, but it's just as valid a reason to get out and play a few games with some people you might not otherwise meet. Saber rattling? I didn't get that impression.