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<blockquote data-quote="lordabdul" data-source="post: 7913699" data-attributes="member: 6994956">I'm not quite sure what the OP is looking for... of course a bunch of random nerds semi-improvising a story where there's no clear main protagonist and half the time they're busy looking up rules is not going to come remotely close to a carefully and professionally crafted novel, at least in terms of thematic significance and character arcs. But it can be as satisfying and fun, or even more, because RPGs are way more than telling a story about a bunch of characters -- they're also a board game and an improv' show and a social gathering and so on. They're as much related to reading a novel as they are to playing in a free-style jazz band.The thing about character arcs is that you tend to design them. Knowing where you want your character to be at the end of the campaign isn't so much what I envision roleplaying to be -- I see it more as playing your character and seeing where he ends up. It's like throwing a pebble without knowing which way gravity points or whether there's wind, and watching what happens. You know the starting point and starting parameters, but you don't know quite what happens next. If you did, or if you were trying to force the end point (to get the arc you wanted) then it's... I don't know what it is. A kind of RPG equivalent to the &quot;Once Upon A Time&quot; card game (an awesome storytelling game where each player is trying to twist the tale to their ending card... try it!). For me on of the joys of RPG is that there's no character arc -- or only in retrospect, maybe.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="lordabdul, post: 7913699, member: 6994956"] I'm not quite sure what the OP is looking for... [I]of course[/I] a bunch of random nerds semi-improvising a story where there's no clear main protagonist and half the time they're busy looking up rules is [I]not[/I] going to come remotely close to a carefully and professionally crafted novel, at least in terms of thematic significance and character arcs. But it can be as satisfying and fun, or even more, because RPGs are way more than telling a story about a bunch of characters -- they're also a board game and an improv' show and a social gathering and so on. They're as much related to reading a novel as they are to playing in a free-style jazz band. The thing about character arcs is that you tend to [I]design[/I] them. Knowing where you want your character to be at the end of the campaign isn't so much what I envision roleplaying to be -- I see it more as playing your character and seeing where he ends up. It's like throwing a pebble without knowing which way gravity points or whether there's wind, and watching what happens. You know the starting point and starting parameters, but you don't know quite what happens next. If you did, or if you were trying to force the end point (to get the arc you wanted) then it's... I don't know what it is. A kind of RPG equivalent to the "Once Upon A Time" card game (an awesome storytelling game where each player is trying to twist the tale to their ending card... try it!). For me on of the joys of RPG is that there's no character arc -- or only in retrospect, maybe. [/QUOTE]

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