Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xamnam" data-source="post: 8819659" data-attributes="member: 7037765">Stated that way, I absolutely understand and can agree. I think put too much emphasis on 'mostly' (or maybe 'might') in "setting might be mostly irrelevant" as opposed to considering the improved weight of details when they stand alone. Subtraction is absolutely valuable tool for creation. I also know that it can go too far for me.I think that's a fair assumption. I tend that way with complex mechanical systems, things that ask me to be processing decisions constantly (this will come back up), but keeping contextual information at the ready is a much more background process, so it doesn't increase my cognitive load nearly as much. Reading, comprehending, storing, and recalling details has always been something I have seemingly had an easier time with than others. I've seen friends at the table with much more of your approach, so what you're saying here makes a lot of sense.I've not seen Super Eight, but yes to Ghostbusters, and both read and watched No Country.  Now, here, I'd say I'd actually place myself much closer to you! I love films that can imbue very small moments with great weight, and as you mention, showing rather than telling is a aphorism with a lot of truth to it. Artful direction that doesn't waste time on needless exposition or set-up and trusts the audience to be invested and active in the watching process is a treat.However, I'd say that's true for me specifically in the context of movies (and as another example, video games), as opposed to ttrpgs, and if I had to answer why, I'd say there are two reasons for that. First, they are providing enough ambient sensory detail that I do feel weighted in the world. While I wouldn't characterize it as full aphantasia (as I've learned one of my players does have), visualizing things has always been a struggle for me. When I read, I rarely have a picture in my head of what any given character looks like unless it is plot relevant. So, for example, in a western, things like the remoteness of a town, how lively it is, how strangers are treated, are all baked in to a much greater degree. It's hard to not show that ancillarily in the process of detailing the important.Second, and I think this carries more weight in regards to this discussion, when in the process of viewing and interpreting someone else's fiction, my job is to pay attention and interpret. I can devote my full mental energy towards understanding, and thinking about what necessarily must be true for the scene to exist, and what it implies about the situation, characters, and world.  However, in the context of playing a game, and I'll state this intentionally hyperbolically, I am always worried about what choice I need to make next, and if it's the wrong one. This is a pattern throughout a lot of my life, and I'm not surprised to see it play out here. With this activity, my actions both determine the course of the game, and to some degree the engagement and fun of everyone else at the table (not even to mention my own). I'm juggling trying to be mechanically sound, narratively appropriate, tonally fitting, and do it with the speed the scene demands, while respecting the desires of the rest of the table, and worst of all, trying to come up with something interesting.Now, I know, I don't need to make the "right" choice.  The game will carry on, there are other players who are also responsible for steering it, what different players want will occasionally be in conflict through no fault, sometimes the "wrong" choice can end up being more interesting, sometimes/in some games there's not really any such thing as a wrong choice, and the point here is to have fun more than it is being successful. But as much as I know that, and it's something I'm trying to work on in several arenas, something that actively helps me when confronted with this stress is the ability to think "Well, at least I have the relevant information to make it." In games, what that readily available relevant information is, to me, is the setting details. One less unknown factor to complicate the decision making process. Even better if it's the sort of thing I can gather on my own time, away from the table. Hence, my favor for setting books.That makes sense. I always want to engage with a game as it desires, so as to best showcase its strengths or unique qualities. DitV does sound like one I might struggle with a bit initially, but given its history and influence in the hobby, it's one that I want to give a fair and honest shot. I'm sincerely hoping that as I grow, both as roleplayer and more generally as a person, the concerns above are ones I'm able to move away from.Thank you for the stimulating response!</blockquote>

Verification