Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9457414" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think RPGs have at least one important thing in common with a typical novel, TV episode/series, or comic. (I can't comment on video games.) Namely, they present the doings of a protagonist, or group of protagonists, roughly in time order with an unfolding "now" within the fiction.In this respect, they contrast with other forms of presenting fiction: say, a map with notes; or a timeline/chronology; or a painting of an imagined event. (The fact that RPGing can include flashbacks, or "prequel" episodes, doesn't undermine the basic points of comparison/contrast.)This means that certain devices/techniques that depend upon a protagonist and/or upon linearity of time with an unfolding "now", can be used in RPGing just as they can in the modes of fiction that it resembles. These include things like:*Presenting a protagonist with a challenge to their goal, or their value, to which they must respond; *Foreshadowing some "future" event, in the sense that, as the "now" unfolds, something in the now-"now" will be seen as reflecting on or resonating with or having some other meaningful relationship to something in the past-"now"; *Suspense, in the sense that something in the now-"now" suggests or implies that the future-"now" will include something that explains or resolves or is otherwise meaningfully related to the thing in the now-"now".These are all ways of establishing meaningful connections between events and elements within the fiction, that play upon the way time and the unfolding "now" are a key structuring aspect of the fiction.I think the single biggest difference in RPGing, compared to other "story-telling" media, is that there is no editing.  (Or virtually no editing, when compared to those other forms.) A second important difference is the distribution of authorship responsibilities, which is conventionally (in mainstream RPGs) best described in terms of "ownership" of, or control over, certain elements of the fiction. (Roughly, players control protagonists; the GM controls setting and antagonists and draws on them to establish situation.)These differences have implications. They mean, for instance, that not all suspense will be paid out/resolved. And that foreshadowing is normally achieved post hoc, by paying out one of many possible prior foreshadowing events: there can be no guarantee of any given event in the now-"now" that there will be some definite event in the future-"now" that it foreshadows.I have no strong view on how this relates to directing, which seems a bit of a separate thing. It's not really the role of the GM - at least in my experience - to coax some particular performance out of the players. But - again, in my experience - the GM may well have a role in coaxing play out of the players: that is, in provoking them to declare interesting/exciting/engaging actions for their PCs. The GM would not have this sort of role in a Gygaxian dungeon crawl; but in the sort of RPGing I enjoy the GM does have this sort of role. And it might be a little bit like directing.Likewise, in some RPGing (not dungeon-crawling, but some other approaches) the GM has an important role in controlling pacing, helping establish what is at stake in a situation, etc. As [USER=75787]@Gorgon Zee[/USER] posted upthread, that might be a bit like directing.I like Luke Crane's description of this role, in the Burning Wheel rulebook under the heading "Role of the GM" (Revised, p 268; the same text is in Gold and Gold Revised also):In Burning Wheel, it is the GM's job to interpret all of the various intents of the players' actions and mesh them into a cohesive whole that fits within the context of the game. . . . Also, the GM is in a unique position. He can see the big picture - what the players are doing, as well as what the opposition is up to and plans to do. His perspective grants the power to hold off on one action, while another player moves forward so that the two pieces intersect dramatically at the table. More than any other player, the GM controls the flow and pacing of the game. He has the power to begin and end scenes, to present challenges and instigate conflicts.This control-and-coordination function, at least to some extent, serves as an alternative to a single authorial voice, supplemented by editing, in fostering cohesion and meaningfulness in the events of the fiction.</blockquote>

Verification