Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mishihari Lord" data-source="post: 2401370" data-attributes="member: 128">I tried to figure out where my sense of wonder comes from and as best I can tell it's the realization that the there's more to experience in the world than I knew about and new avenues have opened up for me to explore.  I base this on the situations in which I've experienced it, which not only include gaming, books, and movies, but also real life experiences such as a) hiking, where I topped a mountain and found an area to explore totally inaccesible by carb) on my first scuba divec) spelunking,d) stepping off the plane in Manilla, knowing I would be there for years and knowing that I would have experiences with the people, culture, and places that I couldn't even guess what they would bee) discovering that calculus could be used to solve real-world problems, f)  my introduction to marketing theory, andg)  getting marriedKeeping this in mind, there are a couple of ways to promote sense of wonder in a game1)  Be a player, not a DM.  The DM has to know everything, while a player explores the world a bit at a time, experiencing the SOW over an extended period.2)  Be genuinely creative.  (that sounds pompous, but I can't think of a better way to put it)  My few moments of SOW as a DM have been when things have just be flowing for me creatively and when I look down to see what I've written I can't figure out where it came from.3)  Draw from sources your players are not familiar with such as real-world culture and obscure fiction.  4)  Promote versimillitude.  If it doesn't feel like there's someting real to be explored, you don't get the SOW.  To this end     a)  Provide lots of details - exploration requires data     b)  Have some rules as to how the world works and stay consistent with them.  The players will figure them out eventually.5)  Promote immersion.  If the world does no feel real, like you're actually there, there is no SOW.  To this end     a)  Provide a lot of sensory informatiion.  All 5 senses and details on each6)  Limit player access and exposure to the rules.  a DC 20 lock trap is a mechanic, not an experience.7)  Don't use baseline monsters.  Your players already know all the details -->  no SOW.8)  Use sympathetic characters.  This applies more to fiction than RPGs, but if people don't care what happens to the characters, they won't be sufficiently involved to experience SOW.From the point of view of GNS theory (yes I know it's flawed, but it's still sometimes useful) sense of wonder is IME a simulation phenomenon in that it's about experience and exploration.  It's inhibited by gamist play since focusing on the game aspect of RPGs (as opposed to simulation and narration) requires understanding the rules and circumstances.</blockquote>

Verification