Gaming the game, or telling a story?

[AIM-54]

Mmmm...Shadowrun...

Anyway!

I find that I'm much more of a "gamist" type. I like for there to be some story, but I'm mainly in it to play a game, overcome challenges and the like. Too much role-playing and I get bored and irritated (this is coming from someone with an acting background, no less!), but it really comes down to what people want. My current DM is a storyteller who wants everything to be cinematic and so on. It creates a bit of tension, but most of the time it works out fine.

I would also agree with Marek. I much prefer player-driven games than grand overall plots that tend to be common in fantasy gaming. It's always been how I've run my games and it matches my preference for playing...unsurprisingly.

Anyway, just my $0.02

 

[Mr. Kaze]

As both a player and a DM, I see it the same way -- it's an interactive story where the DM brings the the bulk of the world-at-risk that the players' protagonists have to survive with a fine combination of awesome power and ingenius creativity (with the ingenius creativity generally doing more for the "interactive" part of the storytelling than the "awesome power" solution). As a storytelling exercise, though, the world has to be cohesive and holding in continuity -- which makes me wonder "what happened to the 3e rule about shooting into melee and missing due to the cover of melee when we got to 3.5?"

::Kaze (loves role-playing bluff checks -- best part of the game)

 

[Laurel]

I've become curious.. How do other people view D&D (and D20 gaming as a whole).. Is it more of a game, or a story? While most people are somewhere in-between, I'm curious if there's something I'm missing..

I am in that in-between grouping, but my finace fall in the game side of things. He is okay with story being added to his character, but those are just additions and not really something he thinks for taking feats or skills. He is also on of the roll (not role) players though, and this may have something to do with it.

 

[Dogbrain]

"The terms theory and theoretical are properly used in opposition to the terms practice and practical.

Ah, so you mean that this alleged "theory" in this case means "something that is not actually done"--it's all theoretical, with no practical application.

 

[Dogbrain]

Abstract thought BAD! Everything must be concrete and quantifiable, like computer code! Whatever...

Remember, children, whenever one has no real basis for holding a dogma, retreat into constructing straw men and attributing them to whomsoever exposes your muddy-headedness and dogmatism. Whatever you do, do not actually address the arguments they have against your dogmas. Always make sure to make your attacks as personal as possible and charicature anyone who questions your dogma. This will sway many in the crowd who are not capable of or willing to actually notice that you have merely done a rhetorical conjuring trick in order to avoid answering the issue.

 

[Dogbrain]

Dude, what? It's 3 ways of viewing gaming, they are NOT claiming that they are rules of nature.

They are, indeed, making such a claim when they claim that all roleplaying games can be pigeonholed into their dogmatic model.

 

[Dogbrain]

It seems to me that the stuff at The Forge is rather out-done by The Breakdown of RPG Players.

This is some excellent work, and far superior to anything else I've seen, even if it has less cultlike adherence.

My favorite data point:

Marital Status
owns owns owns
computer console both
% Single: 52 65 76
% Partnered: 46 29 22

 

[Dogbrain]

I would LOVE to see a copy of this survey. I would be very interested in where my players rate on this scale (and myself for that matter).

Presuming that the survey was competently done and analyzed, you probably will not be able to just look at the survey and "rate" on a scale. If the survey was competently done, the "scales" used to present the results would not even exist when the survey was compiled. Instead, a very large number of factors would have been surveyed and then factor analysis would have been used to reduce the variables until the eigen vectors stopped sorting out. Then one goes back and puts names and labels on what you've found.

That sort of modeling is far superior to inventing a dogma and then hammering the entire world into it.

 

[Felikeries]

The 'classic' answer is that a rolling factor for what the DM uses should
entail a number of scenarios within a game,such as beyond the # of foes
encountered when they are,what number of NPC assasins etc,number of
special rings in a special treasure:with 1d6 this entails a low derivative
with 4d4 a better # chance,with 1d20 a totally random #

This can be pre-sworn as before the factor of players current power and
thusly be intriguing or may vary with the current status,rather than be
the bland pre-set numbers and encounters that were part of the campaign

With skills such as diplomacy or spells that determine if the truth is being
told or 'divination' questions,the accuracy of 'role playing' should have some
say and may lead to a modifier roll within this premise before all is on the table

 

[Pielorinho]

Moderator's notes: Knock it off, Dogbrain. You agreed, when you signed onto the board, not to engage in namecalling or insulting behavior; you agreed to keep it civil. I expect you to hold to your word. When you call people "children," "cultlike," "dogmatic," and "muddyheaded," you are breaking the user agreement for these fora.

Everyone else, do not respond to such insults in kind.

If anyone has a question about this, DO NOT ask your question here; email me or one of the other moderators.

Daniel