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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7062535" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think that character is pretty important to story, and relationships are pretty important to characters.</p><p></p><p>In the fantasy genre one of my favourite films is Hero. Looked at through the lens of RPGing, it illustrates the extent to which external action, and what a character is willing to undergo, can express a character's innner conviction.</p><p></p><p>I think it is surprisingly easy for a RPG to allow the players to express their PCs' inner convictions through external action. Treat (say) social and combat approaches as equally viable (not more nor less - that turns the question into one of expedience, not value) - then by choosing one or the other, the players express something about their PCs' convictions.</p><p></p><p>If the PCs spare and ransom/parole their enemies, have those enemies keep their word. That way, the expression of inner conviction by the PCs becomes written into the gameworld.</p><p></p><p>I don't know if this is viable for adventure paths; but I know it is viable for some modules. Bastion of Broken Souls, as written, is full of injunctions that such-and-such a PC will only engage in combat. When I ran it, I ignore those bits of the text, and allowed the players to choose how to engage the module.</p><p></p><p>Instead of fighting the exiled god, they befriended him and he aided them. And to open the gate that led to his prison plane, instead of fighting the angel guarding it, one of the PCs persuaded her that the only way for her to truly fulfil her celestial mission was to allow him to kill her, so that the PCs could gain access to the plane of the exiled god and learn his secrets.</p><p></p><p>Persuading a guardian that to truly fulfil her mission she must relinquish her post, rather than stick to her instructions even if they are leading to ruin, tells us something about both characters. (As would an alternative outcome - say, that the angel can't be persuaded, and insists on upholding her duty even while recognising that justice requires that she fail in that endeavour.) It's something I still remember 10 or so years later.</p><p></p><p>Fetch quests, on the other hand; and MacGuffin-oriented plots where the opposition and their response is the same whether the PCs are trying to free the princess, collect the artefact or carry a message from NPC A to NPC B; where nothing changes based on the values and convictions the PCs bring to the situation; those are the enemies of story.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7062535, member: 42582"] I think that character is pretty important to story, and relationships are pretty important to characters. In the fantasy genre one of my favourite films is Hero. Looked at through the lens of RPGing, it illustrates the extent to which external action, and what a character is willing to undergo, can express a character's innner conviction. I think it is surprisingly easy for a RPG to allow the players to express their PCs' inner convictions through external action. Treat (say) social and combat approaches as equally viable (not more nor less - that turns the question into one of expedience, not value) - then by choosing one or the other, the players express something about their PCs' convictions. If the PCs spare and ransom/parole their enemies, have those enemies keep their word. That way, the expression of inner conviction by the PCs becomes written into the gameworld. I don't know if this is viable for adventure paths; but I know it is viable for some modules. Bastion of Broken Souls, as written, is full of injunctions that such-and-such a PC will only engage in combat. When I ran it, I ignore those bits of the text, and allowed the players to choose how to engage the module. Instead of fighting the exiled god, they befriended him and he aided them. And to open the gate that led to his prison plane, instead of fighting the angel guarding it, one of the PCs persuaded her that the only way for her to truly fulfil her celestial mission was to allow him to kill her, so that the PCs could gain access to the plane of the exiled god and learn his secrets. Persuading a guardian that to truly fulfil her mission she must relinquish her post, rather than stick to her instructions even if they are leading to ruin, tells us something about both characters. (As would an alternative outcome - say, that the angel can't be persuaded, and insists on upholding her duty even while recognising that justice requires that she fail in that endeavour.) It's something I still remember 10 or so years later. Fetch quests, on the other hand; and MacGuffin-oriented plots where the opposition and their response is the same whether the PCs are trying to free the princess, collect the artefact or carry a message from NPC A to NPC B; where nothing changes based on the values and convictions the PCs bring to the situation; those are the enemies of story. [/QUOTE]
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