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I have been a Dungeon Master for over 25 years. I am also a longtime anarchist, and many of my regular players are not.
I have three rules if im going to DM: 1) I pick the game system. Sorry, non-negotiable. I'll play 5e (if I have to) but I won't run it. Luckily, I also don't have to run the same game my players are playing. Yall can use Worlds Without Number, Into The Odd, the Rules Cyclopedia, Mork Borg... what goes on on my end is my own thing (and involves plenty of the RC) 2) Party resources are communal. However you wanna work that out is up to you, but if you steal from The Party, The Gods will Curse You. And 3) You have to be willing to work in a group. This isn't Skyrim, its a party game. The whole point is social problem solving. If you're not up for that, its cool, I won't make you talk or anything - but you gotta be a part of the team. Part of that is on me to make the initial hook good enough, but part of it is on you not to run a counterproductive pain in my ass.
I almost never have any problems if I do my job right and make all this clear and understood off the bat.
Sorry for being off-topic, but I don't think I understand anarchism as a political philosophy. Isn't anarchism the absence of imposed rules? Communal resources seems to go against that, (it does make sense that the players get to divvy it up, though) and being cursed by the gods feels like a more theocratic thing than anarchist. Im not trying to be rude or anything, I just like to pick people's brains about this stuff.
I've got a second tho so I'll try:
- it means "no rulers", from Greek. Not no rules. You can't have more than 2 people without some rules, we just want to all be able to agree with them. Anarchists by and large are opposed to hierarchy, that's the focus. We tend to like direct democracy and communal organizational structures.
The stories I tell don't have to be purely anarchist in structure. If im DMing, and we all agreed to the God Curse if you screw over your party, and then one player does - who's responsible? The one with full knowledge of the consequences who then did the thing anyway, right?
Look: as a political philosophy, anarchism exists in the real world. There are people who've done it very successfully. But that's not why I call myself an anarchist. I do so because when I discovered anarchism, I found other people who thought the way I did. I'm an anarchist because my soul is anarchist and always has been. I also think its what we need to do if we're going to survive climate change, but fuck me for trying to convince anyone of that, so I keep to myself.
See my other reply re: "no rules"
Also, just read the first chapter or two of this. It's very, very accessible https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-the-conquest-of-bread
Communal resources seems to go against that
Mutual aid is a fundamental principle of (most types of) anarchism, as is freedom of association.
In other words: if the PCs don't like it, they can make their own game with their own rules.
Thank you. ✊️
I'm not hurting for players. I run my game exactly as often as I want to.
I think it's funny that I have the exact same rule zero: I'll reluctantly play 5e, but I won't run it.
Dude, dealing with 5e players is just the worst. I've spent so much time and energy learning how to deprogram them.
3rd edition was a mistake
Yeah. He has a lot of rules and demands for an "anarchist" lol.
Political anarchy is not inherently against rules. Anarchy does not mean that everything is on fire and everyone steals from others and do whatever they want, that's just a common misconception.
Also it's only 3 pretty basic rules, nothing particularly crazy about them
Thank you.
I've given a lot of thought to this. I want everyone to have fun, even if its not my kinda fun. But any player's right to do so stops when they make that impossible the rest of us.
Anarchism means "no rulers" not "no rules". If we all consent then what's the problem?
IRL consent is complicated by coercion - you can't disagree with your boss because if they fire you, you can't pay your bills.
DND is an asymmetrical activity. One person, the DM, has an outsized level of effort required. If im expected to create a whole world, NPCs, plots, and respond to all your nonsense, I think its totally fair to ask the players abide by a simple code of conduct.
Again, I've almost never had issues.
Your rules are great, I agree you deserve some privileges when acting as DM because rod the effort you put in. My comment wasn't on that front.
But if you are enforcing the rules, and receiving different treatment because of them, you deserve that. But if you are win control of the space, you set the rules and you enforce them. You're a 'ruler' in that context. My point is, your anarchism isn't really at play here.
The system where the enforcement of rules is delegated to trusted person who everyone agrees on is closer to "Democracy".
Please don't take this the wrong way, but you should read some anarchist political theory if you want to address their actual beliefs.
This is exactly the kind of communal structure that anarchists advocate for: a voluntary collective where everyone agrees to contribute to furthering certain goals, values, and objectives.
OP is not coercing players to be in their game or to do things their way; they're saying "this is the game that I run, take it or leave it," and the players can join if they share the same goals.
Thank you
Don't forget to hydrate. Must be tired after all that mental gymnastics.
I could tell by your first comment that you didn't care to know about how others think.
Ignorance is a lot easier than educating yourself, so I can see why you'd choose the easy path; I'm just disappointed that you decided to be incurious instead of learning something.
But I'm sure your "highschool rebel" understanding of anarchism is truly accurate, thanks for the notes. Or you could explain what mental gymnastics I'm performing? This is all basic anarchist theory that you can confirm with a five minute read of a wikipedia article summary.
Lol you have zero ground to tell me my own table isn't anarchist. I've been doing this for a long time. Go on out of here. I gave you enough of my day.
Go read the Bread Book I linked you instead of wasting our time.