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Message: <blockquote data-quote="maddman75" data-source="post: 2049790" data-attributes="member: 2673">Oooh, I like that idea!  I'll even go one further.The first era could be referred to as the Wargame period.  This was the nascent period of gaming, which had just emerged from wargames.  Characterization tended to be light, because characters could and did get killed all the time.  Most DMing was done from the perspective of setting up an environment and letting the characters explore it.  Games tended to go for the wild and exotic - from adventures like Through the Looking Glass and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, to weirdness like Gamma World, if it was cool and interesting it was in.The second era I'd call the Storytelling period.  This is the age of 2nd edition D&D with its highly developed, internally consistant campaign settings, and when Vampire made a game that was meant to be more about playing a role than killing things and taking thier stuff.  (Until players dicovered katanas, mirror shades, and sawed-off shotguns that is)  The rule here is that if it makes sense its in.  Players were expected to make detailed backgrounds for their characters and play them to the hilt, while GMs created interesting stories for them to take part in.  Gaming continues to evolve, and I believe we're on the beginning of the Cinematic period.  Even 3e started off with 'Back to the Dungeon' - role playing your character's angst at the pointlessness of existance could be moving (and help you score goth chicks) but dammit, sometimes you just want to kick in the door and kill some orcs.  At the same time, there's still an emphasis on characterization.  To solve this most games take the approach of rewarding coolness and letting the players have input over the flow of the game.  This is apparent in the stunting rules for Exalted, the Drama Points in Buffy/Angel, Dramatic Editing in Adventure! and so on.  Even many varieties of D&D/d20 now have some manner of hero/actio/luck points.  This style is about looking good and being cool, while still keeping to resource limitations.  The players are not longer completely at the whim of the DM, but have points where they get to say what the world is like.  And I'm sure after we get tired of Cinematic games something else will capture the gaming public's attention.</blockquote>

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