How Would You Reinvent Roleplaying?

[twwombat]

For years now -- since the mid-80s, at least, I've thought it might be fun to play a game in which the players actually didn't have character sheets (although the GM would) or know their stats -- just a pretty good idea of what they were good at, what they were marginal at, and what they sucked at. GM would make all dice rolls too. The hope was that this would be a more immersive experience, with the players putting the metagame out of their heads, and concentrate on what's really happening in the way that their characters would.

I ran a couple of games this way. It's a wonderful thing, especially when the players understand that they're not tied down by a set of rules.

I had a modern-day Hero game that I let the players create their characters, then hand me their sheets and that was the last time they saw their stats. I still let 'em roll pretty much everything. It worked really well - everyone focused on the story and exploring their characters rather than stupid metagame-influenced stunts like, "Hey, I have 2 ranks in Handle Animal! Stand aside, Druid, and let me calm the wolves!" (Yes, this actually happened once. Don't ask.)

The other game was back when I had time to dream things up in college. I had a single d20 (the only die I used), a notebook for notes/names/descriptions, and my brain. That was it. No rules. No character sheets. I focused on the look and feel of the world and let "does this make sense?" guide me in every game adjudication. Everyone knew what they were playing and there was a sense of exploration and wonder.

That's one of the challenges I'm running into with my current game: magic just plumb ain't magical any more. There's very little curiousity; the PCs identify and categorize and decide if they can use whatever it is. Not much experimentation with things that they don't really understand, because that's a vanishingly small part of the game.

D&D is turning into an arms race - GMs need to buy supplements or create new rules/items/spells/things just to keep players on their toes. I'm figuring out ways around this, but most of the solutions require a certain amount of throwing out the rules, which can't be consistently explained with game balance in mind. Hmph.

ANYway. Much verbiage to simply say, "Yep. Done it. It's a Good Thing(tm)."

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

It's not that there needs to be more advertising as such - what is needed is hieghtened awareness (and more ACCURATE awareness) of what roleplaying gaming is, was, and could be. You can plaster all of NYC with ads for "Eberron Widgets - the last RPG supplement you'll ever want or need!" but it'd be like seeing those ads for new medicines that don't tell you what they're supposed to cure (though the side-effects always include dry mouth...). Nobody will know or care except the few gamers who would very likely know or find out about it anyway in the same ways they do now - magazines, websites, and game stores. MORE advertising means nothing.

Advertising is about making people aware of and interested in your products/services. People know that D&D exists. What they don't know is what roleplaying games like D&D actually are or why they might be fun or interesting to THEM, and that's what you need to communicate.

I think roleplaying games are quote close to experiencing something of a revolution because of what we can do with computer games - but we're not quite there yet. I think WotC was actually looking to MAKE that next big step forward with what they were trying to get with the first replacement for the Character Generator after 3E was released. It was going to have mapping capabilities, adventure design capabilities, 3d modeling of monsters, etc. etc. It failed because it was just WAY too much too soon (at least to also be profitable and functional).

Right now you could take a FPS engines like from Doom3, or Half-life2 (or even earlier versions) and with enough level designs actually RUN a campaign within it - and I think that's where we'll actually end up heading. A very user-friendly level-design/editor to work within a FPS engine that would be used to at least run the encounters in the game three dimensionally, if not also provide physical ambience for purely roleplaying situations. Currently, level design (or adventure design for a game like Neverwinter Nights) is a VERY limited resource operation, so to speak. There just aren't enough people who want to take the time and develop the skills to actually create enough 3d space for truly running a weekly D&D campaign as we would around a kitchen table. But the games are getting better graphically all the time and eventually the level-editing/creation software will become easy enough to use that an AVERAGE DM could create as much of a 3D RPG environment as he might cannibalize or buy from other sources online.

Then there's what can be done with individualizing characters in computer games. Look at the costume and body-shape changes that can be done in a game like City of Heroes and realize how easy it would be to design not only individual player characters but all the individual NPC's you need as well as monsters. Complete with combat and roleplaying (read facial expressions) animations you could want.

You know what this is called - it's virtual reality. While we're not in danger of having holodecks anytime soon I think we ARE getting closer all the time to being able to three-dimensionally create our own reasonably complete RPG game worlds with about as much effort as we currently expend to prepare games with paper and pencil. Again, we're not QUITE there - but it's heading this way...

That step is how I personally would "reinvent" roleplaying. Not by turning D&D into a computer game. We can and have done that already and you can judge for yourself whether the results are anywhere close to the tabletop gaming experience. But what we can do is to explore OTHER means of exercising our imaginations - give DM's even more tools for presenting the game world to the players other than voice description. I mean, wouldn't it be fun to actually move a virtual character into a room or down a street and see for yourself exactly what your character sees?

 

[Glyfair]

It would be a shame if technology eventually does away with the need for imagination to envision the scene though. That's one part of classical roleplaying that I (personally) would miss.

You mean like if movies were to move from using your imagination to visualize what's happening off camera vs. incredibly realistic special effects so you can see exactly what's happening on screen?

I think what would happen is what happens now with movies. The movies that have the special effects are mainstream, those that force you to use your imagination are either considered low budget, or elitist "artsy." The computer simulations are mainstream, the tabletop "use your imagination" are either elitist or low budget (depending on percieved quality).

 

[snarfoogle]

This is a really off the wall idea, but having a really authentic Irish pub that catered to roleplayers would really be interesting. Yeah, I know the economics might not necessarilly pay out, but I imagine private booths for games, stained glass windows, celtic music in the background, quality pizza, etc.

Mmm, with an inch square grid system painted on to the tables...

As long as it was a FLGS sort of thing and not a big chain. Don't tell WotC.

 

[Glyfair]

Mmm, with an inch square grid system painted on to the tables...

As long as it was a FLGS sort of thing and not a big chain. Don't tell WotC.

You know, there is at least one retirement community that is centered on bridge playing. They have sanctioned tournaments regularly, open card rooms, etc.

I wonder if there would be enough of a market to do something for that with roleplaying, once the average gamer reaches that age. Imagine retiring to a community with nightly roleplaying games and related games every night.

 

[Wraith Form]

Imagine retiring to a community with nightly roleplaying games and related games every night.

That's my dream come true, and I hope to make it happen some day.

 

[VirgilCaine]

The main issue I have is the extreme asymmetry between the time investment on the DM's side and on the players' side. IMO, this is the main cause of such aberrations as heavy railroading, pet NPCs, incoherent plots, etc. I'd like some sort of paradigm shift which moved part of the duty to make everyone have fun and the work that is needed for it from the DM to the players. I don't know what could do that, though.

Very good insight! If this was corrected there might be fewer bad DMs in the world.

 

[Cherub]

Very good insight! If this was corrected there might be fewer bad DMs in the world.

i think what wouldve been far more accurate to say would be: if this was corrected there might be fewer over-worked and under-appreciated DMs in the world - IMO!

 

[STARP_JVP]

Three words.
Monkeys. With. Swords.

 

[Felon]

How about RPG's that actually don't have emphasize combat much at all?

I've often thought that there should be RPG's out there specifically for younger audiences. Think of the Narnia or Harry Potter books as a game. The emphasis is more on odd, imaginative characters, settings, & situations, with very little rules coverage on hacking and hewing flesh.