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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6063296" data-attributes="member: 42582">The posts on emotion are interesting. They show that when I said "emotional engagement" upthread I was speaking too broadly, because [MENTION=6688858]Libramarian[/MENTION] has clearly identified emotional engagement that (I think) is not related "story now". [MENTION=6668292]JamesonCourage[/MENTION] may have also, but I'm less confident of my grasp of the emotions involvedin JC's game.Ron Edwards <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/_articles/narr_essay.html" target="_blank">says</a>:The Now refers to the people, during actual play, focusing their imagination to create those emotional moments of decision-making and action, and paying attention to one another as they do it. . .  Think of the Now as meaning, "in the moment," or "engaged in doing it," in terms of input and emotional feedback among one another.But that is clearly too general a description, because of the examples given in the posts above.Here is another stab at it, but I don't know if it's any better: the emotional response in "story now" play is engendered by the thematic elements/issues put into focus by the game; and so isn't just the emotional response to vicariously experiencing the PCs' situations (although that should be there too, in an RPG) but is also a personal, non-vicarious response to the events of the game - the way the events unfolded and resolved meant something in an artisitc/aesthetic sense.A simple example from my own game was when the players elected to have their PCs <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?301282-actual-play-examples-balance-between-fiction-mechanics" target="_blank">tame rather than kill a dire bear</a> that was lairing in a ruined temple. Once the bear had been tamed, the player of one of the PCs <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?301282-Actual-play-examples-balance-between-fiction-and-mechanics&p=5463988&viewfull=1#post5463988" target="_blank">said[/rul] "I feel really good about not having killed that bear." The response was comparable to the response that might be invoked by an action movie or drama that is full of death and suffering, and then has a surprising scene in which one of the protagonists gets the chance, and takes it, to free a bird from a cage, or not shoot a little bunny rabbit, etc.</a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?301282-Actual-play-examples-balance-between-fiction-and-mechanics&p=5463988&viewfull=1#post5463988" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?301282-Actual-play-examples-balance-between-fiction-and-mechanics&p=5463988&viewfull=1#post5463988" target="_blank">The bear example also shows that there's no special connection between "story now" play and thematic depth or insight! A lot of my game is pretty hackneyed in its basic tropes and elements, and I think would not be very good at generating an emotional response from anyone but the participants (the author/audience unity of an RPG makes a big difference to the experience, I think).</a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?301282-Actual-play-examples-balance-between-fiction-and-mechanics&p=5463988&viewfull=1#post5463988" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?301282-Actual-play-examples-balance-between-fiction-and-mechanics&p=5463988&viewfull=1#post5463988" target="_blank">The discussion of pathos and of awe is also interesting. As a GM I'm not especially good at either. I'm better at outrage (often around injustice or betrayal), vengeance, and loyalty/reliability.</a></blockquote>

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