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What are the biggest RPG crimes?
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7556529" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I would very strongly say that it is.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, for certain values of 'believable'... maybe... we could be playing 'Toon', 'Paranoia', or even 'Star Wars', none of which are particularly believable. But more to the point, an RPG is not supposed to represent a believable place. A "believable place" in and of itself is not an RPG. An RPG is not a setting. The RPG is what transpires in the setting, and that is a story.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There is no distinction between these two things. What happens is the plot. I mean "Infinite Jest" and "Ulysses" are just "a bunch of stuff that happens". The transcription of the things that happened is the plot of an RPG.</p><p></p><p>It's the difference not between "plot" and "a bunch of stuff that happens", but rather between a script and a transcript that is the real meaningful distinction. The difference between an RPG and most movies, novels, dramas, and other fictional text is that it is improvisational. That is to say, there is no script of the story, there is only a transcript of the story. RPGs are related in some ways to 'Theatre Games' like 'Whose Line is It Anyway?', where a director provides a setting for a conflict, and then leaves it to the actors to play out the scene in an improvisational matter. There is more to it than that, but there is that relationship. But a drama or even a movie may be improvisational. It is not unique to the medium of RPGs that they involve improvisational story telling. The Drill Sergeant introduction scene in 'Full Metal Jacket' and the scene where the characters in 'The Breakfast Club' explain why they have detention were done through improvisational story telling without a script. Yet, a story is produced and the transcript of the two scenes helps develop the plot. </p><p></p><p>Moreover, it is rare for an RPG to be fully improvisational. Quite often an enormous amount of mythic creation is undertaken by the GM to prepare for the game, so that the story will smoothly flow from scene to scene without the GM being stuck for interesting ideas (to say nothing of the fact that RPGs, unlike theater games or even storytelling games, have a close relationship to wargames with all the scenario setup that implies). </p><p></p><p>In short, RPGs have a plot. Certainly the adventure path I started last night has a plot and various story points it intends to check off, and it is without a doubt an RPG. If your definition of an RPG doesn't include D&D or Pathfinder, chances are your definition is the thing that is wrong, not the most iconic RPG of all time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7556529, member: 4937"] I would very strongly say that it is. Well, for certain values of 'believable'... maybe... we could be playing 'Toon', 'Paranoia', or even 'Star Wars', none of which are particularly believable. But more to the point, an RPG is not supposed to represent a believable place. A "believable place" in and of itself is not an RPG. An RPG is not a setting. The RPG is what transpires in the setting, and that is a story. There is no distinction between these two things. What happens is the plot. I mean "Infinite Jest" and "Ulysses" are just "a bunch of stuff that happens". The transcription of the things that happened is the plot of an RPG. It's the difference not between "plot" and "a bunch of stuff that happens", but rather between a script and a transcript that is the real meaningful distinction. The difference between an RPG and most movies, novels, dramas, and other fictional text is that it is improvisational. That is to say, there is no script of the story, there is only a transcript of the story. RPGs are related in some ways to 'Theatre Games' like 'Whose Line is It Anyway?', where a director provides a setting for a conflict, and then leaves it to the actors to play out the scene in an improvisational matter. There is more to it than that, but there is that relationship. But a drama or even a movie may be improvisational. It is not unique to the medium of RPGs that they involve improvisational story telling. The Drill Sergeant introduction scene in 'Full Metal Jacket' and the scene where the characters in 'The Breakfast Club' explain why they have detention were done through improvisational story telling without a script. Yet, a story is produced and the transcript of the two scenes helps develop the plot. Moreover, it is rare for an RPG to be fully improvisational. Quite often an enormous amount of mythic creation is undertaken by the GM to prepare for the game, so that the story will smoothly flow from scene to scene without the GM being stuck for interesting ideas (to say nothing of the fact that RPGs, unlike theater games or even storytelling games, have a close relationship to wargames with all the scenario setup that implies). In short, RPGs have a plot. Certainly the adventure path I started last night has a plot and various story points it intends to check off, and it is without a doubt an RPG. If your definition of an RPG doesn't include D&D or Pathfinder, chances are your definition is the thing that is wrong, not the most iconic RPG of all time. [/QUOTE]
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