What first in your TTRPGing - Story, Game or Character?

[cranberry]

In my view, it should be story over character. Otherwise, the DM is going to have one heck of a time molding the story or the setting to everyone's background.

 

[Xamnam]

I think there's a difference between knowing the past of the character and knowing their future. I think it's similar to the difference between the GM knowing the past of the setting or the situation and knowing its future. I think the best experiences I've had at TRPG tables have come when everyone has been surprised.

I full-heartedly agree. I have had no trouble running into surprise as a DM, but it's been more sparse for me as player. Part of that is just the nature of the games I've had the fortune to be in, but I'd also point it at me not always finding how to satisfyingly and consistently embody the characters.

 

[Arilyn]

For me, it's definitely character first. My character gets me excited about the game. No matter how good the game rules are, if I don't like the character creation system, I'll probably not want to play.

 

[MNblockhead]

I have a hard time separating character from story. I guess that means I put story before character, because the characters are parts of the story.

But the means of building the story are the rules. That is what makes it a game. The rules help determine how a story emerges, but they also determine the feel of the game play. So, for me, I suppose that leads to:

1. Rules
2. Story
3. Character

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I mirror the sentiments of others here where if I am seeking gameplay above all, I will turn to something more consistent and direct than TTRPG play.

I agree with you, but also have to quibble a little. I think ...

A lot of us, including me, overlook the value of the G in RPG. If you look at other areas of life, people are asking how we can "gamify" them. How can we gamify exercise? How do we gamify learning math? How do we gamify personal finance? Why? Because games are fun. Really! People play games for a reason! People want to play games!

To go too deep down into the storytelling or character well is to basically do what people have already done before RPGs were invented- collaborative storytelling and acting exercises. There is a fine line, after all, between a freeform RPG and an improv class.

I think that a lot of people take the "game" part of the RPGs for granted, and you only notice it when it's absent. What makes some RPGs that much more compelling than others? More often than not, it's because they succeed as games. After all, I can do the character or story with just about any set of lite rules (or no rules) if I want.

Just something I've been mulling.

 

[Jack Daniel]

Game > milieu > setting > character > story.

 

[Xamnam]

I agree with you, but also have to quibble a little. I think ...

A lot of us, including me, overlook the value of the G in RPG. If you look at other areas of life, people are asking how we can "gamify" them. How can we gamify exercise? How do we gamify learning math? How do we gamify personal finance? Why? Because games are fun. Really! People play games for a reason! People want to play games!

To go to deep into the storytelling or character well is to basically do what people have already done before RPGs were invented- collaborative storytelling and acting exercises. There is a fine line, after all, between a freeform RPG and an improv class.

I think that a lot of people take the "game" part of the RPGs for granted, and you only notice it when it's absent. What makes some RPGs that much more compelling than others? More often than not, it's because they succeed as games. After all, I can to the character or story with just about any set of lite rules (or no rules) if I want.

Just something I've been mulling.

That's a very fair quibble! While I may not place above the other two, I shouldn't imply with short dismissal that it is some distant companion running a different race. If a friend came to me, and said that they wanted to play a roleplaying game, but that we'd make it up as we went along, that rules would only get in the way, well, I'd be filled with more trepidation than excitement. I find a good ruleset functions for me far more as scaffolding than limitations, or they're the good kind of constraints that focus and allow for creativity where its best served.

I think really all I should be saying by putting game last is that there are far more games that I'm interested in trying out than not, and that greater satisfaction will come from my engagement with the other two pillars as presented in the first post. And certainly, game matters a great deal if you're after a specific experience that one is best suited to creating.

 

[J.Quondam]

Story, I think, is most important to me, where I'm defining that as "the story of the all the PCs together in a campaign." The individual Character stories - from background to post-campaign destiny - are necessarily important elements of that, but it's sum total of those Character stories that make the game interesting for me, especially when I'm GMing.

I think of the Game as "the rules we use to navigate the conflicts/obstacles presented in each scene of the Story." That obviously has a huge influence on how satisfying the game experience can be.

But when all is said and done, for me anyway, it's usually the Story itself I remember rather than the rules of the Game* that used toward fleshing out that Story. It's that end that appeals to me more than the means to get there. (I suppose that's in large part because, if the Game rules aren't appropriate, the Story likely will never complete... though maybe that makes the Game the most important part, after all? Hmm....)

* Epic stories of tragic Nat 1s or miraculous Nat 20s excepted, of course.

 

[Voadam]

I focus on game first. Not the mechanics, but being there engaged and having fun. Story and character can be part of that, but the positive game aspects come first.

I would consider cops and robbers a game though even though there are no real mechanics rules and no winner or loser. As a kid I'd play Battlestar Galactica and Super Friends and such and consider it a game.

I also generally like D&D combat a lot with a bunch of mechanics engagement.

Character and story can turn it into art and craft and are important, but game is primary for me as both player and DM.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think I've valued different ones more at different points over my years of gaming. And I think that I may have one as paramount over the other in any given instance of play. It's hard to say for sure.

I think maybe I look at it as Rules shape the characters we play and how we play them, and then the Characters should shape whatever Story is produced... so I suppose I'd have to say Rules then Character then Story.

But that's likely more my ideal game or my preference than it is an absolute. I'm playing in one game right now that has very little to do with Character.