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Suspense in RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 7449208" data-attributes="member: 85555"><p>Again, I am not too worried about every beat being from a story here. You might have anti-climax, dead heroes and the like, but you'll also generate suspense that is meaningful. If I know my character can really die, or easily die, the suspense of that die roll when I trigger a blade trap is palpable. I also find this a much more exciting mode of play. Obviously I don't want my character to die, but when those are the stakes, there is more of a rush of excitement when it is clear a roll might result in death. There is a lot in between of course. Every single die roll won't be 'live or die'. But you will get to those points more if you are handling die rolls honestly and fairly. </p><p></p><p>I'm also talking much more about organically having things arise between die rolls. This isn't about laying out a plan in advance. It is more like, the players decide to go to a casino and bet all their haul on cricket fights. I don't know how they are going to navigate that situation, but I know from experience I can bring that situation to life and respond believably as they do. And that interaction is where a lot of the interesting details will unfold. I may be resolving each cricket match with a die roll between the handlers or the crickets themselves (I actually have a system for handling cricket fights). The excitement and suspense comes from all sorts of things leading up to the rolls. First, they'll probably spend time figuring out which cricket to bet on. This can be as quick or as drawn out as they need. They might just eyeball them, they could examine them more closely, or they could spend an hour investigation the handlers and trying to gather intel. Each step is going to be like that. But I don' know what the steps are until the players start talking and doing things. </p><p></p><p>And here the die rolls are important. When those happen, they are big moments that everything can hang on. Stuff they've done will certainly have an influence, could even circumvent a roll. But I think the big suspense is going to be felt around that roll as everything gets revealed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 7449208, member: 85555"] Again, I am not too worried about every beat being from a story here. You might have anti-climax, dead heroes and the like, but you'll also generate suspense that is meaningful. If I know my character can really die, or easily die, the suspense of that die roll when I trigger a blade trap is palpable. I also find this a much more exciting mode of play. Obviously I don't want my character to die, but when those are the stakes, there is more of a rush of excitement when it is clear a roll might result in death. There is a lot in between of course. Every single die roll won't be 'live or die'. But you will get to those points more if you are handling die rolls honestly and fairly. I'm also talking much more about organically having things arise between die rolls. This isn't about laying out a plan in advance. It is more like, the players decide to go to a casino and bet all their haul on cricket fights. I don't know how they are going to navigate that situation, but I know from experience I can bring that situation to life and respond believably as they do. And that interaction is where a lot of the interesting details will unfold. I may be resolving each cricket match with a die roll between the handlers or the crickets themselves (I actually have a system for handling cricket fights). The excitement and suspense comes from all sorts of things leading up to the rolls. First, they'll probably spend time figuring out which cricket to bet on. This can be as quick or as drawn out as they need. They might just eyeball them, they could examine them more closely, or they could spend an hour investigation the handlers and trying to gather intel. Each step is going to be like that. But I don' know what the steps are until the players start talking and doing things. And here the die rolls are important. When those happen, they are big moments that everything can hang on. Stuff they've done will certainly have an influence, could even circumvent a roll. But I think the big suspense is going to be felt around that roll as everything gets revealed. [/QUOTE]
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