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<blockquote data-quote="Orryn Emrys" data-source="post: 855752" data-attributes="member: 6799">As a radio personality, I've taken a lot of what I've learned about performance and applied to my game presentation.&nbsp; Principally among these attributes, I feel, is a basic but frequently misunderstood definition of 'entertainment.'A strong aspect of performance entertainment is the art of generating genuine emotional response in your audience.&nbsp; In our D&amp;D game, where the players tend to build powerful relationships with their characters, this is especially relevant.&nbsp; You see, comedy can be fun, but it requires little emotional investment on the part of the audience (or in this case, participants).&nbsp; Other emotions, particularly grief, sadness, or righteous anger, take a good deal more attachment to the event.&nbsp; Like a good novel or movie, it draws you in and heightens the suspension of disbelief.My games tend to be a veritable emotional rollercoaster.&nbsp; We've seen events like those described here... I've even seen player characters thrust themselves into certain doom to rescue those they care about.&nbsp; And a character who dies a hero is certainly mourned as a loss... but the player who acts in such a manner certainly feels like he/she has a great deal to be proud of.After a four-year campaign, it was hard to break away... but I knew that the players needed to get away from those characters.&nbsp; They'd been through a lot, and are very attached.&nbsp; But I have a feeling we'll be picking that campaign up again in a year or two.To summarize... though the mood of the game should be tightly controlled by the game master so as not to get out of hand... drama can enhance a game in ways that laughs and thrills can never touch.&nbsp; It's worth it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Orryn Emrys, post: 855752, member: 6799"] As a radio personality, I've taken a lot of what I've learned about performance and applied to my game presentation. Principally among these attributes, I feel, is a basic but frequently misunderstood definition of 'entertainment.' A strong aspect of performance [i]entertainment[/i] is the art of generating genuine emotional response in your audience. In our D&D game, where the players tend to build powerful relationships with their characters, this is especially relevant. You see, comedy can be fun, but it requires little emotional investment on the part of the audience (or in this case, participants). Other emotions, particularly grief, sadness, or righteous anger, take a good deal more attachment to the event. Like a good novel or movie, it draws you in and heightens the suspension of disbelief. My games tend to be a veritable emotional rollercoaster. We've seen events like those described here... I've even seen player characters thrust themselves into certain doom to rescue those they care about. And a character who dies a hero is certainly mourned as a loss... but the player who acts in such a manner certainly feels like he/she has a great deal to be proud of. After a four-year campaign, it was hard to break away... but I knew that the players needed to get away from those characters. They'd been through a lot, and are very attached. But I have a feeling we'll be picking that campaign up again in a year or two. To summarize... though the mood of the game should be tightly controlled by the game master so as not to get out of hand... drama can enhance a game in ways that laughs and thrills can never touch. It's worth it. [/QUOTE]

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