History Main / Munchkin

* The original version of ''TabletopGame/{{Hackmaster}}'' was specifically designed to encourage this behavior, with admonitions against changing a single rule or fudging a single die roll, and directly positioned the GameMaster as the opponent for the players to outwit and defeat. It's full of vicious little traps like weapon maintenance and honor points that almost require players to be munchkins just to survive. Given that this is the game the ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' play, examining the rules show that the person playing the game wrong is actually ''Sara''.

* '''The RulesLawyer:''' This Munchkin has memorized every loophole in the game manual and uses it to dispute every ruling by the GameMaster - but only when doing so would be to his advantage. The GameMaster's best tactic against this guy is RuleZero; what the DM says, goes, no matter what page 54, column 2, line 41, word 5 of the book says. The LawfulGood variety of RulesLawyer hates this kind of Munchkin for missing the point of having rules in the first place. Other players hate this guy for grinding play to a halt every ten minutes to argue over pointless rules minutia.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', and ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' takes the above quote and [[InvokedTrope runs with it]]. The story of the three games takes place in [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance 17th century Italy]], and [[Characters/AssassinsCreedEzioAuditore our protagonist]] is for all intents and purposes, a ninja.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' is ostensibly a game about exploration and construction ("mine" and "craft") with a side of SurvivalHorror. In part because of its [[WideOpenSandbox pure-sandbox roots]], though, players are rarely averse to using scummy tactics to "win" (both literally and in the form of acquiring excessive quantities of valuable items). The most common is "strip mining," where instead of spelunking through monster-infested caves to get ore and loot, you simply tunnel your way to nearly the bottom of the world, where diamond ore spawns, and dig long tunnels and/or grid patterns. This is usually more efficient than caving and almost always safer, though it's pretty monotonous. More enterprising players will build farms--not just crop farms (an intended part of the game), but also ''monster'' farms, which trick the game into spawning enemies directly into your custom-built deathtrap, generating endless loot and/or experience. They're not shy about exploitable bugs, either; one of the most common (seemingly an AscendedGlitch at this stage, as dropping water onto static lava gives obsidian while doing the opposite gives solid stone but mobile lava and mobile water touching gives endless cobblestone) is arranging lava and water in a particular way so that limitless cobblestone can be mined out of their intersection point.

* '''The Murderhobo:''' The player with no [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan roots or connections whatsoever]], just a wanderer who runs around stabbing things. Perhaps this Munchkin simply wants the freedom to do whatever he wants without any other characters to stop him, and what he wants is usually to kill things and take their stuff. Or they assume that the GameMaster will use the character's family and friends against them by [[BigBadFriend turning them evil]], [[StuffedIntoTheFridge killing them to force a revenge quest]], or otherwise using them against them (because if ''they'' were GM, it's what they would do, or because all of their [=GMs=] [[KillerGameMaster actually]] ''[[KillerGameMaster did]]'' do this). Either way, his unoriginal characters can irritate both TheRoleplayer and the GameMaster, because they're left with so little to work with. This type of Munchkin is often combined with the Psychopath, which is where we get the descriptive moniker "murderhobo".

* '''The Murderhobo:''' The player with no [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan roots or connections whatsoever]], just a wanderer who runs around stabbing things. Perhaps this Munchkin simply wants the freedom to do whatever he wants without any other characters to stop him, and what he wants is usually to kill things and take their stuff. Or they assume that the GameMaster will use the character's family and friends against them by [[BigBadFriend turning them evil]], [[StuffedIntoTheFridge killing them to force a revenge quest]], or otherwise [[CosmicPlaything using them]] [[AndYourLittleDogToo against them]] (because if ''they'' were GM, it's what they would do, or because all of their [=GMs=] [[KillerGameMaster actually]] ''[[KillerGameMaster did]]'' do this). Either way, his unoriginal characters can irritate both TheRoleplayer and the GameMaster, because they're left with so little to work with. This type of Munchkin is often combined with the Psychopath, which is where we get the descriptive moniker "murderhobo".

* '''The Murderhobo:''' The player with no [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan roots or connections whatsoever]], just a wanderer who runs around stabbing things. Perhaps this Munchkin simply wants the freedom to do whatever he wants without any other characters to stop him, and what he wants is usually to kill things and take their stuff. Or they assume that the GameMaster will use the character's family and friends against them by [[BigBadFriend turning them evil]] (because if ''they'' were GM, it's what they would do). Either way, his unoriginal characters can irritate both TheRoleplayer and the GameMaster, because they're left with so little to work with. This type of Munchkin is often combined with the Psychopath, which is where we get the descriptive moniker "murderhobo".

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' plays straight and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] the "murderhobo" and "psychopath" variants; played straight in that, cutting off potential questlines and getting in a ''lot'' more fights aside, there is nothing preventing you from playing the game in this manner. Where the deconstruction comes is in the form of a PlayerCharacter exclusive origin, the Dark Urge. An amnesiac who is constantly beset the desire to slaughter whoever happens to be closest to them at a given moment, you will ocassionally have to make skill checks to avoid succumbing to your base impulses, and both the party and potentially the Urge themselves can react with appropriate horror at your innate desire to kill. [[spoiler:Finding out in Act III that the Dark Urge is Bhaalspawn, a child of the Forgetten Realms' resident god of ''murder'', shows just what kind of corruption or influence would be necessary in-universe for a person to behave like this, much less treat it like a game as most Munchkins of these varieties do.]]

''VideoGame/BaldursGate3'' plays straight and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] the "murderhobo" and "psychopath" variants; played straight in that, cutting off potential questlines and getting in a ''lot'' more fights aside, there is nothing preventing you from playing the game in this manner. Where the deconstruction comes is in the form of a PlayerCharacter exclusive origin, the Dark Urge. An amnesiac who is constantly beset the desire to slaughter whoever happens to be closest to them at a given moment, you will ocassionally have to make skill checks to avoid succumbing to your base impulses, and both the party and potentially the Urge themselves can react with appropriate horror at your innate desire to kill. [[spoiler:Finding out in Act III that the Dark Urge is Bhaalspawn, a child of the Forgetten Realms' resident god of ''murder'', shows just what kind of corruption or influence would be necessary in-universe for a person to behave like this, much less treat it like a game as most Munchkins of these varieties do.]]

The Munchkin is the TabletopRPG player who plays the game to win at any cost, even if that isn't the point of the game. Perhaps the most ridiculed {{Player Archetype|s}} of all time, this player is rarely interested in the ''story'' behind the game. The Munchkin's characters are usually either [[AuthorAvatar little more than extensions of his own personality]], [[FeaturelessProtagonist a completely blank ball of sentient death]] (known among roleplayers as "murderhobo"), or [[MinMaxing whatever personality would give him the most bonuses]].