Keeping Fun and Games in Their Place

Sometimes when we're talking about games, which ones we like, or ideas about rules for new games someone will say something like:

1. When I run a game I'll ignore any rule or dice roll that doesn't make the game fun
2. My gaming group cares more about fun when they play in our game

Here's the thing about fun though: game is virtually synonymous with fun. You can almost use them interchangeably.

Fun is also very subjective, which is why there are so many different types of games in the world. That means those statements are actually saying something like this:

1. When I run a game I'll ignore any rule or dice roll
2. My gaming group likes playing games

Which is probably not what they mean. Certainly the 2nd one is a bit like "I like money" and not much of a contribution to the discussion.

When talking about games we need to qualify "fun" a bit more. Such as:

1. When I run a game I'll ignore any rule or dice roll that takes a player out of the game, because I don't think that would be fun
2. My gaming group has more fun when it's a fast paced game than when we get bogged down looking up rules

You can still talk about fun in relation to games... but you need to use a few more words.

And now that my pet peeve has been shared (heh) and the blah blah blah stuff is done, here's a random chart for your game. This might be what the Orcs are doing to pass their time in the guard room, or what some of the local villagers are up to in the town square.

Random Medieval Style Game

d10	Game
1	Backgammon
2	Blind Man's Bluff
3	Bowling
4	Cards
5	Checkers
6	Cock Fighting
7	Dice Game
8	Foot Race
9	Wrestling
10	Wooden Swords