Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
Suppose we start playing the game, and I have not written up any detailed backstory for my PC.
Then the game starts chugging along, the PCs have a starting village and home base, etc, etc.
And I suggest to the GM that I might have family. Friends. Even a mentor. And given how my PC has started to turn out in play, I even suggest a little bit about what these people might be like.
Or, we get to a new town, and I suggest to the GM that a certain sort of NPC might be found there. The GM has not given that any though in the past, but thinks the idea is plausible.
Am I now story gaming rather than playing an RPG? Because in my experience that sort of behaviour - which is the player affecting the setting by direct authorship or authorship suggestions - is not uncommon. I think it would be possible to try and more formally describe it using some sort of notion about "locus of the character" (this would apply to Burning Wheel's Circe rules, also - the NPCs a PC can encounter via this mechanic are shaped by that PC's "lifepaths" established as part of character generation). But it goes beyond "affecting the adventure setting through the character".
Are you now story gaming rather than playing an RPG? You certainly are adding some storrytelling elements into the RPG you were playing. It largely depends on the approach. In a traditional RPG, the player doesn't decide what's up with NPCs, even the PC's relatives.
In an RPG, the traditional way to approach this would be for the player to ask the GM if the player has any living relatives. A lot of traditional GMs would roll some dice, might have some charts handy for the process or just mentally decide the odds before rolling. So, yes, it seems you are used to having some storytelling elements mixed in with your RPGing. It's not a problem, IMO, but some folks in the thread seem to find it troubling to recognize this as if identifying this circumstance is wrong.
It's like you telling me that you painted the kitchen but it happens you also wallpapered some trim work, around the top of the walls, then when I point out that you both wallpapered and painted the kitchen some folks got upset and claimed that you hadn't. They say you really only painted the kitchen, that it is troubling that anyone would point out that you sometimes used wallpaper paste for the job. They argue vigorously against the idea, differently phrasing the description of how the glue was applied much the same way as paint, even using a paintbrush in this case. It would feel strange in such a scenario that folks are troubled by the mention of wallpaper.
It may well be that some folks have used storytelling elements in their RPGing their whole gaming lives, even before the advent of storytelling games. The idea of making full-on storytelling games that are similar to RPGs, and even use many RPG elements, didn't spring up from nowhere. It's weird that some folks find this evolution in gaming troubling to discuss or even identify.
Last edited: