What I want in a role-playing game
Aug. 16th, 2007 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissimaIt's been eight months since I joined that game club, and I've been to about ten one-shot RPG sessions run by them. I've also been in a continuing campaign since June, which meets weekly. I've drawn some generalizations about what I like and don't like.
I look for the same things in a role-playing game that I look for in a novel, a movie, or even a comic strip: a cohesive plot, well-paced exposition, character development -- all the things that make a good story. An internally consistent setting should go without saying.
Action and adventure make the story exciting. However, there should be a rationale for each escapade. One peeve I have with my ongoing campaign is that it seems to be a series of unrelated adventures, connected only by characters and setting. After each module (which is, of course, what they really are), the player characters basically have to think, "Well, what should we do next?" And then the GM brings in an NPC with an errand or some equivalent plot hook. A continuing campaign needs a central conflict to tie everything together. Television series, which are by nature episodic, still have an overall plot arc. The only reason I should be asking what to do next is because I am choosing between multiple options.
I want to be made to think. Rolling dice is not inherently interesting. Give me an adversary who needs to be outwitted or outmaneuvered, not just smacked around with a sword, and then watch me stew as I try. Making me think also yields character development. A new player character is like a cardboard cutout. That goes triple if it was created by someone else: then I'd compare it to a stick figure. Decisions that the character makes flesh out the form by shedding light on the character's attitudes and personality. So bring on the difficult choices, value judgements and ethical dilemmas.
One of the memorable challenges![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aristeros presented me with in the game we were playing a couple years ago was trying to convince my character's twelve year old kid brother not to accompany me fleeing the country but to stay safe at home with mother & dad. Reminding him of his responsibilities wasn't enough; as I recall, I had to write a note to the man who had trained me in use of a sword and ask him to train my brother as well.
I look for the same things in a role-playing game that I look for in a novel, a movie, or even a comic strip: a cohesive plot, well-paced exposition, character development -- all the things that make a good story. An internally consistent setting should go without saying.
Action and adventure make the story exciting. However, there should be a rationale for each escapade. One peeve I have with my ongoing campaign is that it seems to be a series of unrelated adventures, connected only by characters and setting. After each module (which is, of course, what they really are), the player characters basically have to think, "Well, what should we do next?" And then the GM brings in an NPC with an errand or some equivalent plot hook. A continuing campaign needs a central conflict to tie everything together. Television series, which are by nature episodic, still have an overall plot arc. The only reason I should be asking what to do next is because I am choosing between multiple options.
I want to be made to think. Rolling dice is not inherently interesting. Give me an adversary who needs to be outwitted or outmaneuvered, not just smacked around with a sword, and then watch me stew as I try. Making me think also yields character development. A new player character is like a cardboard cutout. That goes triple if it was created by someone else: then I'd compare it to a stick figure. Decisions that the character makes flesh out the form by shedding light on the character's attitudes and personality. So bring on the difficult choices, value judgements and ethical dilemmas.
One of the memorable challenges
aristeros presented me with in the game we were playing a couple years ago was trying to convince my character's twelve year old kid brother not to accompany me fleeing the country but to stay safe at home with mother & dad. Reminding him of his responsibilities wasn't enough; as I recall, I had to write a note to the man who had trained me in use of a sword and ask him to train my brother as well.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-18 10:37 pm (UTC)How many times over the course of a plot will you enter an underground place full of monsters and come out with goodies and new powers? How can you tie one coherent plots together when you've got five different characters of different professions, who all have their own aims?
Pen-and-paper RPGs more closely resembled Diablo because Diablo is what folks wanted. You can have good stories and good RP in any system, and there are systems sort of tailored to what you're after, but the most important thing is a good group run by someone who wants to and is able to weave a good story. It's really, really tough to keep things cohesive and at the same time manage the expectations of several (usually different) people.