On 8/1/2016 4:46 PM, Richard Aiken wrote:
> No startown bars? No startown whores? Not even any meals off-ship? What
> are these guys? Warrior monks?
>
> If they really do behave like that, then you are missing out on TONS of
> Referee Evilness.

In fairness, I submit that one possibility is that this a learned
response - deliberate or not - *to* past experiences with "Referee
Evilness".  That is, they are staying buttoned up so that the GM can't
**** with them.  I've seen this happen, in games/groups where any
vulnerability, any lapse, any "human" action is exploited.

I further note that the immediate response of several people on this
list, upon hearing of this group's behavior, was to start coming up with
ways *that* could be used against them.  There's really no way for the
players to win, is there?  (In the sense that "winning" is defined, in
this context, as not having the GM throw additional complications and/or
obstacles at them while they're simply trying to complete their
narrowly-focused objectives.)

Players have their PCs do ridiculous stuff like sleep in their armor
because they've been in games where if they didn't, the GM would murder
them in their sleep.  In worlds like that - where "God" hates you and
wants to make your life a Job-like string of misery - paranoia is
*sane*, *justified* and/or a *survival skill*.

You cannot *force* players to loosen up; that requires trust, not the
application of further pressure, which has the opposite effect.

--
---------------
Kelly St. Clair
xxxxxx@efn.org