The Real Man: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

These players are most interested in the parts of the game that involve fighting. Their strategies tend to be simple; run up to the enemies and hack them to bits (or blast them with [[BFG|the big guns]] in a modern setting). However, the more imaginative among them may employ some killer stunts, such as shield-surfing or swinging on chandeliers. Unlike [[The Loonie]] (whose stunts are [[Rule of Funny|played for laughs]]), this guy is doing it purely for the [[Rule of Cool]].

The real man is handy to have around when a fight breaks out. He'll support his teammates when it counts (unlike the [[Munchkin]] who typically looks out for number one), and usually has a grasp on basic combat tactics. However, he's not as adept in situations where violence is not the answer. While some 'real men' are also skilled [[The Roleplayer|roleplayers]] (who just happen to enjoy a good brawl), others tend to stay silent when it's time for talking, relying mostly on well-worn archetypes (the [[Badass Longcoat|trenchcoated]] [[The Stoic|stoic]], for example), rather than the more original characters of the typical [[The Roleplayer|Roleplayer]].

 

* [[Leeroy Jenkins|The Leeroy]]: The guy with no patience for long-term strategy, deliberations, or diplomacy. He usually has one tried-and-true solution to every problem: the headlong charge. This may even work, on occasion, depending on how strong the Leeroy is. However, more often it leads to him getting in over his head (and even getting the [[Total Party Kill|entire party killed]] trying to bail him out) or getting mauled by a trap. Even worse is if he gets bored and starts a [[Bar Brawl]] during delicate negotiations because it's been more than ten minutes since the last fight. Named after the [[Trope Codifier|most famous recent example]], [[Leeroy Jenkins]].

* [[Munchkin|The Munchkin]]: Maligned as he is, the [[Munchkin]] may simply be a form of Real Man who stopped caring about the action alone and fixated on "winning" at any cost. This may be why most Real Men hate him so much; because of [[Not So Different|the fine line between them]] (some [[Fan Dumb|especially extreme]] [[The Roleplayer|Roleplayers]] may see little difference between the two, equating any love of combat [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|with munchkinism]]).

*** For some people, the mechanics of DnD 4e make it hard to enjoy oneself while "Real Manning". Instant gibs have been pretty much restricted to minions, and there's nothing awesome in killing a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]] in one hit. It would be much more fun if everyone was easier to kill.

*** There are some classes and builds than can dish out so much pain in such a short time that even Boss enemies can fall or at least become serioulsy crippled within one turn. A two-weapon Ranger using Blade Cascade (even the errataed version) with a few build-ups beforehand can easily instagib most lieutenant level mobs, and with a bit of luck rolling the dice sometimes even bosses. The major disadvantage is that this only works once a day, so it'd best be saved for that one big enemy.

* In large part the appeal of ''[[Exalted]]'', an RPG that specializes in being over-the-top awesome, that will actually let you jump 100 feet in the air, while whirling two blades around you to parry a hail of incoming arrows, then land head-first on the bad guy to smash him literally into the ground.

** Exalted pioneered the Stunt Bonus concept ([[Awesome but Practical|cool actions work better when you describe them in detail]]) which ''[[Scion]]'' and ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' later used.