Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8323882" data-attributes="member: 16814">I think this really gets to an important point -- when we're freeform roleplaying a social situation, it's very easy to elide or gloss over difficulties in the situation, especially if we're keenly aware that pressing those things and complicating the situation can lead to opprobrium from other players ("man, why'd you bring that up?").  A system where things are clearly established and have to be addressed can be very preferable if the goal is to actually inhabit the situation the PCs find themselves in.  Way too often I've had a freefrom RP encounter end up not addressing a point because the play just moved past it with how we were "yes, and"ing each other.  Sure, a dedicated GM can probably handle this, but this is putting the entire load on the GM to manage and push the situation, rather than the responsibility of all of the players, and actually engenders the "get the teacher on a tangent" approach where distraction from a problem is solid play rather than addressing it.There's also the issue that, quite often, social encounters are confrontational and/or heated between PCs and NPCs.  This is hard to do and maintain the atmosphere of a friendly gaming table.  If I allow myself to connect to the character, then I should be feeling angry/frustrated/scared/etc and this makes it very hard to not have it bleed into the play at the table.  Freeform RP has very little in the way of firebreaks or safeguards here outside the social contract to not go too far.  This is another area where system can step in and provide a structure so that I can connect with my character but it's not directed at the table at another player -- it more contained within the boundaries of the system because it's the system that's mediating the resolution, not Bob.You can get into all of these things with freeform RP, and it can work out wonderfully, but it's going to be very uncommon and require a very good set of table understanding and social contract rules to enable it, alongside some rather special players/GM.  When done this way, I'm sure the payoff is great.  But, I'm not in that situation, despite playing with friends and people I like and respect, and having tons of experience.  I find that I get closer to this when I'm using a system that enables it, and provides the feedback/firebreaks as necessary to keep it all in the game and off the table.  I've never once become frustrated with another player during a Blades game because I'm not competing with them for resolutions by playacting and being stymied by an immovable position -- instead, we all try our thing and find out what happens next through the mechanics.  Now, I still love my freeform RP, but I don't play games where I'm really trying to connect to a character or drive hard on character traits when I'm doing so -- I'm having a good time with friends playing pretend elves.</blockquote>

Verification