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General Tabletop Discussion
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Is RPGing a *literary* endeavour?
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<blockquote data-quote="uzirath" data-source="post: 7609268" data-attributes="member: 8495"><p>This sounds more <em>theatrical</em> than <em>literary</em> to me. It may be worth considering how role-playing can be used outside of gaming. At school, for example, we (the teachers) use role-playing activities with students to help build empathy. I don't think of this as a literary endeavor. It's about considering the perspective of another person and how they might feel about a given situation. As modern, literate people, of course, we write down our lesson plans and communicate via email and whatnot, but the role-playing activities themselves are not primarily about invoking the techniques of literature. They are activities about imagination and perspective, about paying attention to other people, about considering how a different context might change the way you behave. Many literary techniques, of course, exist to achieve similar goals (immersion in a fiction, identification with characters, etc.) but those goals can exist outside of the literary realm. </p><p></p><p>Ultimately, though, this is all rather pedantic. The interesting element of this thread, to me, is the notion that helping new GMs craft compelling <em>situations</em> may be more important than helping them craft evocative descriptions or memorable NPCs. I'm not as hung up on figuring out exactly how important, or the rankings of importance, or what's core and what's not. (That, as evidenced by the back-and-forth in this thread, requires far more patience than I have.) Personally, I like evocative descriptions, whether or not they're "core" and whether or not they are "literary" by various definitions. I'm better at helping someone come up with better adjectives or more interesting costumes or neat NPC quirks than I am at helping them with the fundamentals of designing great situations to engage their players. I feel like I approach the idea when I talk to young GMs about the importance of keeping the game fun for everyone. I always focus on that as job #1 for the GM. But I don't know that I provide much specific advice on how to actually do that beyond the basics (spread the spotlight around, keep things moving, give hints when things stall, don't get too hung up on the rules, don't get too hung up on your vision of how the game ought to go, avoid TPK, etc.).</p><p></p><p>I assume most of us agree that creating compelling situations for the players is somewhat important, regardless of where this importance ranks in relation to other aspects of the game. If we accept that, then I wonder what the top tips are to help people accomplish that?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="uzirath, post: 7609268, member: 8495"] This sounds more [I]theatrical[/I] than [I]literary[/I] to me. It may be worth considering how role-playing can be used outside of gaming. At school, for example, we (the teachers) use role-playing activities with students to help build empathy. I don't think of this as a literary endeavor. It's about considering the perspective of another person and how they might feel about a given situation. As modern, literate people, of course, we write down our lesson plans and communicate via email and whatnot, but the role-playing activities themselves are not primarily about invoking the techniques of literature. They are activities about imagination and perspective, about paying attention to other people, about considering how a different context might change the way you behave. Many literary techniques, of course, exist to achieve similar goals (immersion in a fiction, identification with characters, etc.) but those goals can exist outside of the literary realm. Ultimately, though, this is all rather pedantic. The interesting element of this thread, to me, is the notion that helping new GMs craft compelling [I]situations[/I] may be more important than helping them craft evocative descriptions or memorable NPCs. I'm not as hung up on figuring out exactly how important, or the rankings of importance, or what's core and what's not. (That, as evidenced by the back-and-forth in this thread, requires far more patience than I have.) Personally, I like evocative descriptions, whether or not they're "core" and whether or not they are "literary" by various definitions. I'm better at helping someone come up with better adjectives or more interesting costumes or neat NPC quirks than I am at helping them with the fundamentals of designing great situations to engage their players. I feel like I approach the idea when I talk to young GMs about the importance of keeping the game fun for everyone. I always focus on that as job #1 for the GM. But I don't know that I provide much specific advice on how to actually do that beyond the basics (spread the spotlight around, keep things moving, give hints when things stall, don't get too hung up on the rules, don't get too hung up on your vision of how the game ought to go, avoid TPK, etc.). I assume most of us agree that creating compelling situations for the players is somewhat important, regardless of where this importance ranks in relation to other aspects of the game. If we accept that, then I wonder what the top tips are to help people accomplish that? [/QUOTE]
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