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*TTRPGs General
Is RPGing a *literary* endeavour?
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7605948" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>Nope. You are wrong. It's as simple as that. The point of a letter is to communicate information. That it moves you is because it's from a family member, not the fact that it's a letter. The identical letter, with identical words, written by a complete stranger likely won't engender any emotional response. Since I don't play with family members, it's very unlikely that my friend will engender an emotional response simply because they are my friend. The will, however, engender an emotional response through various techniques - ie. how they present. </p><p></p><p>And, of course, this ignores the various literary techniques used in an RPG - one doesn't foreshadow in a conversation, for example. One rarely has enough control over reality to use pathetic fallacies (the weather or the environment matches tone and mood). And a host of other literary techniques that we use when crafting scenarios in order to convey mood and tension.</p><p></p><p>So, no. An RPG is not like writing a letter to a family member, nor is it akin to conversation. Playing an RPG is far, far closer to an improv performance where the players (including the GM) use various techniques to convey feeling, tone and mood - all those things [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION] writes off as non-sequiturs since, apparently, it's only important if it's tied to mechanics.</p><p></p><p>Now, where [MENTION=85555]Bedrockgames[/MENTION] is wrong is that he's insisting that I'm saying that there are better and worse ways to present. That's not true. Every table will have to make a choice as to how that information is presented. And, hopefully, the table will come to some sort of consensus on how that information is conveyed. Granted, I prefer a particular style, but, that doesn't make it better. But, at some point, that table will have to figure out what presentation style works for that table.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 7605948, member: 22779"] Nope. You are wrong. It's as simple as that. The point of a letter is to communicate information. That it moves you is because it's from a family member, not the fact that it's a letter. The identical letter, with identical words, written by a complete stranger likely won't engender any emotional response. Since I don't play with family members, it's very unlikely that my friend will engender an emotional response simply because they are my friend. The will, however, engender an emotional response through various techniques - ie. how they present. And, of course, this ignores the various literary techniques used in an RPG - one doesn't foreshadow in a conversation, for example. One rarely has enough control over reality to use pathetic fallacies (the weather or the environment matches tone and mood). And a host of other literary techniques that we use when crafting scenarios in order to convey mood and tension. So, no. An RPG is not like writing a letter to a family member, nor is it akin to conversation. Playing an RPG is far, far closer to an improv performance where the players (including the GM) use various techniques to convey feeling, tone and mood - all those things [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION] writes off as non-sequiturs since, apparently, it's only important if it's tied to mechanics. Now, where [MENTION=85555]Bedrockgames[/MENTION] is wrong is that he's insisting that I'm saying that there are better and worse ways to present. That's not true. Every table will have to make a choice as to how that information is presented. And, hopefully, the table will come to some sort of consensus on how that information is conveyed. Granted, I prefer a particular style, but, that doesn't make it better. But, at some point, that table will have to figure out what presentation style works for that table. [/QUOTE]
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