Cooperation, Sympathetic Associations, Wonder, and the Practicing of Heroism

[Jack7]

I really haven't had much time for anything lately other than work, and a very few other odds and ends like getting my daughter into the CAP. I haven't even had time to go back and respond to old threads here I've been meaning to respond to.

But this morning, after a somewhat grueling couple of weeks of work and physical training (100 degree heat takes a real toll on an old fart like me) I found in my in-box this morning, along with the usual assortment of requests for contract bids and analysis papers, work projects, and letters from old buddies and friends the first edition of the EN World D&D/RPG Newsletter. Wanting a few minutes of distraction from other concerns I read part of it (I liked it, thought it a little overdone and busy in some respects, namely layout - I think it could be a little better organized - then again it is the first edition and I'm still reorganizing my newsletters a decade or more later, but interesting, fun, and informative) and clicked on a link to an article.

After reading the article and one of the associated articles I had to admit I either agreed for the most part, or, almost completely agreed, with the conclusions of both writers.

Statements that struck me as interesting and worth considering in these articles were such as these:

When I create a campaign, I encourage my players to use what they know about the campaign to build their characters. More importantly, I usually ask them to create relationships among the characters. Ultimately, since the D&D game is cooperative, character building is really party building.

(I agree with this to an extent, and for the most part, but not entirely.)

But it didn't work as well as campaigns I've run in which the party members have ties that bind. The PCs had no reason to stick together after they survived their escape. The game just works better if the characters have similar goals and interests.

It's easier to trim the fat from detailed character stories than it is to work with a PC who has no apparent motivations or history.

It certainly is. Measure twice, cut once.

and...

I don't want to sound too much like some New Age self-help guru, but I think that most games run into problems when the sense of wonder and surprise is leeched from the game. And usually the leech occurs when DMs try to limit rather than expand their toolbox. How can you stop this from happening? You really have to just tap into some childlike wonder.

The game is really about building heroic experiences among friends.

(I think it is about more than this, I think it is about encouraging real world heroism in real people through the game as just one example of how people can mentally and psychologically practice the ideals of heroism, after all you become in life what you train for, even if the training scenario is really just an imaginary exercise, but I thought that article line was a good, general statement about the role play game experience.)


Anywho I found both articles interesting.

I thought some of you guys might like to discuss some of the ideas presented in these articles.

I for one am glad to hear game designers and those working in the gaming industry once again talking about heroism, history, and wonder. As opposed to just mechanics and math.

Well, it's back to the mill.