Experiencing the fiction in RPG play

[Campbell]

@Tony Vargas

Third Edition started with a Back To The Dungeon aesthetic, but then gave us linear adventures and eventually the preplanned Adventure Path meant to tell epic stories while players futzed around with their DPR. The AP has been with us ever since.

 

[Tony Vargas]

. If they are playing Fifth Edition I would argue that GM as Storyteller is embedded in the game.
the advice in the DMG expects the DM to be a storyteller.

The case could be made it's encouraging, or at least open to, cooperative storytelling...
...but then there's that whole DM Empowerment thing.

... eventually the preplanned Adventure Path meant to tell stories while players futzed around with their DPR. The AP has been with us ever since.

So WWGS /and/ Paizo are to 'blame.'
Never thought if it that way.

 

[Campbell]

So WWGS /and/ Paizo are to 'blame.'
Never thought if it that way.

To be fair it pretty much started with The Sunless Citadel. The original series of adventures for Third Edition were meant to lead into one another and tell one long story although they could be used separately. Paizo just improved on the form.

Not my sort of play, but it makes some people very happy.

 

[Arilyn]

Humans are storytellers. Put a group of people together, tell them to create characters who are going to journey together and you will have story. It may develop during play, or after play, or it might be mostly set up ahead of time for the players to jump in, like actors in a script.

Novels, short stories, movies, plays, TV, all
use different techniques to tell stories, and I feel RPGs are another way to do this. How much game vs. story goes on will depend on the group playing. The beauty of RPGs are they are extremely diverse, and can contain a huge variety of playstyles. Constraining the hobby into "this is what rpging is, and people who do that are objectively not rpging" is pushy.

BTW, I'm sitting listening to a podcast, and D&D has just been described as a storytelling system.

 

[Tony Vargas]

.

To be fair it pretty much started with The Sunless Citadel. The original series of adventures for Third Edition were meant to lead into one another and tell one long story although they could be used separately.

Classic modules had done that too.

 

[Umbran]

This is textbook BAD DMing 101.

Yeah, um... they are in high school. Good GMs don't emerge fully-formed from the forehead of Gygax - they are made by way of first doing a significant amount of bad GMing, and learning from their mistakes.

A DM is not there to "create a story". RPG's are not "fiction", they are not a books or movies.

They are Games.

Embrace the power of AND.

 

[billd91]

@Tony Vargas

Third Edition started with a Back To The Dungeon aesthetic, but then gave us linear adventures and eventually the preplanned Adventure Path meant to tell epic stories while players futzed around with their DPR. The AP has been with us ever since.

We had APs back in 1e too. They were just shorter like the G-series and A-series.

 

[pemerton]

We had APs back in 1e too. They were just shorter like the G-series and A-series.

I think if yu look at the dungeon geography of some of those modules, it is more "exploratory" and less "story" than the 3E ones. I think I've read some more technical analyses of this online, maybe 10 or so years ago?

 

[Scott Christian]

Sorry, but I'm probably the last person from whom to seek such advice; as any campaign I ever start is undertaken with the stated intention of lasting as long as anyone still wants to play it or until I-as-DM burn out on it (or die). So far I've had three; of 10+ years, 12+ years, and 10+-and-counting years.

Oh my god, that is incredible! Best of luck, and thanks for the inspiration (that I, one day, will run a campaign that long).

 

[Scott Christian]

I agree with your sentiments, but my goal is to provide an inclusive, safe place for the students to engage the game in ways they want.

We have an open table policy and students are free to switch tables at any time. However, friends are the most important factor for teens - they value friendship much more highly than adults. It is the reason that out of five tables - I typically have the smallest number of players (4 or 5).

I cannot see this view of DMing being unique to my young DMs. There was no collusion in their viewpoints - this is how they view the campaign. I have to believe this is a trend among younger DMs - albeit I concede I have a limited local view.



The kids are having fun. We have between 30-40 showing up every week. So while I largely agree with your view - is it BAD DMing if they are enjoying the game with their friends?

Not games I would enjoy as a "mature" gamer, but there is a lot boisterous laughter and smiles every week.

Thus, my reluctance to intercede and 'teach.'

I ran our high school's D&D club for four years before moving. Had a great mix of age, economic, race, etc. They all had fun. I watched them play while grading papers. The three tables had fun, but in no way shape or form, would I ever run a campaign like they did. It was the DM's story, and the players went along with it: talking cupcakes, lobster people that were cannibalistic because they taste so good, fairies that rode super slow earthworms. So much of it didn't make sense. But they had fun. That's all that matters - especially for high school students.
I was simply there to tell them what page to look on to find the rule or to explain a rule.