Munchkin (role-playing games)
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A Munchkin is a player who plays a normally cooperative game (usually a role-playing game) to amass as much power and as many kills as possible, whatever the costs to role-playing, the storyline, fairness, logic, or the other players' fun. The term is also frequently used in reference to powergamers and to immature players in general.
The term reputedly originated on BBS and Internet forums in the late 1980s as "muchkin," to describe someone who wanted his character to have as much of everything as possible. It subsequently gained an additional N via misreadings and mistypings. [link]
Munchkins are infamous for twisting rules and min/maxing. This often leads to exceptionally unrealistic or unusual characters.
Munchkins are often accused of roll-playing, a pun on 'role' that notes how munchkins are often more concerned with the numbers and die rolls than with the roles that they play.
A more neutral use of the term is in reference to novice players, who, not knowing yet how to roleplay, typically obsess about the statistical "power" of their characters rather than developing their characters' personalities.
A game master who constantly awards players magical or "broken" (overly powerful) items without proper backstory or justification can also be called a munchkin master. Many on-line roleplaying games, such as Diablo II, Final Fantasy XI, and World of Warcraft, foster this sort of roleplaying due to the limitations of MMORPGs in terms of personality. The stimulus created by improving one's equipment and stats can take the place of the emotion that is sometimes attained in "real life" roleplaying.
The Munchkin File
The Munchkin File is any one of a number of variations on a text file circulating on the Internet, a long list of roleplaying stereotypes and how they relate to each other, different games, and different settings. They generally involve four stereotypes:- the Real Man (the guy who usually plays rough-and-tumble fighter types)
- the Real Roleplayer (the guy who gets the most into 'playing' their character, and also tends to be the brains of the group)
- the Loonie (the guy who comes up with ridiculous character concepts, makes lots of wise-cracks, and generally plays for laughs)
- the Munchkin (the aforementioned power-gamer).
- When encountering a powerful sleeping demon...
- * Real Men wake it up and then attack it.
- * Real Roleplayers sneak away quietly.
- * Loonies tie its shoelaces together.
- * Munchkins call into play some optional rule they read in an intangible sidebook neverbefore heard of by man, and argues when the Gamemaster denies it.
At least one version of the Munchkin File divides Real Roleplayers into Thespians (dedicated role-players) and Brains (smart guys).
Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming
The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming ISBN 1-55634-347-7, December 1999, by James "Grim" Desborough (author of the "Slayers Guide to ..." series) and Steve Mortimer, is a satirical book about munchkinism in role-playing games, written as a how-to guide. It covers different genres of role-playing and ways to exploit each.Munchkin Games
- Steve Jackson created a card game called Munchkin in parody of munchkins in various genres of role-playing games.
- An actual Munchkin role-playing game has been based on this card game, using the d20 System and mostly satirizing Dungeons & Dragons. It includes 5 hardcover volumes, and a science-fiction sequel, Star Munchkin.
External links
- [Munchkin File]
- [Munchkin Index (by RPG system)]
- [The Five Gamers]
- [An RPG Cliche list]
- [Munchkin RPG] by Steve Jackson Games
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