Anarkitty's page

Here are two ways to think of it:

1) You and I sit together at the table. You have bought 'Awesome Character Guide 1', and I havent. But I built my character with rules from ACG1. Why should I get to use it for free, when you paid for it to get that right?

2) Your playing in a MtG/PokemonCCG/YuGiOh tournament. You invest a lot of money into your deck, cause you want to have winning cards. Someone else shows up with printed copies of scans of Black Lotus/Blue Eyes White Dragon/ Mewtwo and kicks your butt. Is it fair for that player to get to use those cards, just cause the images can be found on the internet?

1. Because I would be happy to loan you my book during that session, because we are working together towards a common goal. When you show up to the next session and I'm not there to borrow the book from, you're screwed, but that doesn't hurt me. I don't see any way that this affects me negatively.

2. In a tournament situation, it is competitive, while at a RPG table it is cooperative, so it is a completely different situation. I didn't pay for my character, or my sword, or my armor, or my potions, and while I payed for my rule book, letting someone else read it doesn't in any way deprive me of access to it, nor does someone having a photocopied version detract from my experience or make me less likely to "win".

You are making an argument that simply doesn't hold water in a cooperative experience.

Personally, I decide I want an animal for my character before I look at the stats for it. For example, I decided a Yak mount would be neat for my Half-Orc, and I bought it.

Then I looked up the stats and almost swallowed my tongue. Naturally it will be useless for 95% of all encounters (maybe 90% after it is combat trained), but on the rare occasion where I have the opportunity to hurl myself, my double-axe, and a ton-and-a-half of enraged meat at someone because they decided to engage the party across an open field, I'm going to damn well do it, and it is going to be awesome, and that is the point.

The rest of the time it is a horse that costs more to stable and looks really cool.