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Is RPGing a *literary* endeavour?
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<blockquote data-quote="GrahamWills" data-source="post: 7612211" data-attributes="member: 75787"><p>I'm going to take the example of BLUEBEARD'S BRIDE, which is a roleplaying game that I purchased and has been run for me twice. For both the actual run games and the material itself, I find the presentation/performance a more enjoyable component than the content. here is my reasoning:</p><p></p><p>First, the quality of the materials is beautiful. The physical artifacts feel wonderful, are made of interesting materials, paper and cloth bindings. The font is refreshing and clear and the page layout and overall graphic design is a joy. The illustrations are fantastic. I know this is not the "vocal" presentation, but it's not that different a propositions -- there are some games (both roleplaying and board) where the presentation is a huge draw. Conversely, some systems are presented in so ugly a fashion that I cannot enjoy them. I -- and I am sure I am not alone here -- have several game books that I never intend to run and don't really care about the mechanics, but I bought because their presentation is phenomenal.</p><p></p><p>I understand this thread is about literary presentation, and I'll get to that, but I think it's important to acknowledge that as a general rule, people may like games more for their presentation than for the content. It's true for board games, it's true for video games, and it's try for roleplaying games.</p><p></p><p>If we put aside the physical presentation and look just at the content, here is an example of the text (from the BOOK OF ROOMS):</p><p></p><p><em>When you run your hand over the strange box, it emits a soft wail. The closer your hand wanders to the antenna, the higher the pitch. As the instrument’s wail grows louder, crying out like a woman in pain, it contorts into the shape of a woman’s torso. Her breasts are mutilated, intestines strung up and tied around her neck, and crimson blood pours onto the floor and mats her flaming red hair. The musical notes laid into the marble floor take on an eerie glow. The screams intensify and a dark power surges through your veins. Insects fly from the instruments with a cacophony of sound, forming a swirling mass around you—the eye of the storm</em></p><p></p><p>I strongly assert that the literary quality of the presentation is far more important than the actual content. Paraphrasing it as follows is simply a far lesser experience:</p><p></p><p><em>The box makes a crying sound when you touch it. The pitch gets higher the closer your hand is to the antenna. When the crying becomes loud, the box changes shape into a woman’s torso with mutilated breasts and intestines strung up and tied around her neck. At that time, blood comes from the box and flows through her red hair. The musical notes in marble floor glow strangely. Then the crying becomes a scream and you feel dark power surging in you. Insects fly loudly from the instruments , swirling around you but not actually touching you</em></p><p></p><p>If the book was like that (and that's not actually BAD -- just not GOOD) I would never read it. If the content were different, but the style the same, I would enjoy it. Presentation is more important than content.</p><p></p><p>Now, moving on to the at-table experience, where I was run through a session and we didn't actually use any material except character sheets. The actual content of the game was trivial. Nearly every scene has the same content and the same resolution. The only thing that differs is the presentation. Further, the mechanical content to resolve actions is based on a system I actively dislike for its content. So the content itself is trivial; the mechanics I dislike. The only thing that I enjoy is the presentation. So when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, it's not just that the presentation helped, but that it was by far the most enjoyable part -- 90% or more was the sheer ability of the GM to present descriptions and perform as the inhabitants of the story.</p><p></p><p></p><p>In summary then, visual presentation is clearly highly important and often more important than content to many people in roleplaying games as in video and board games. The literary quality of the content is, at least for me, a deciding factor in whether I enjoy a roleplaying artifact. And for some types of games, the performance of the GM and players is the single reason to play a game -- a weak presentation will make the game meaningless.</p><p></p><p>------------------------------</p><p></p><p>An aligned thought:</p><p>It occurs to me that the games where I most value presentation over content are games focused on personal drama (as opposed to resolving procedural action). It may be that people who only play procedural games don't feel the need for presentation as much. Certainly when I play D&D it's nowhere near as big a draw for me as when I play Fiasco, DramaSystem, Indie one-shots, Bluebeard's Bride or the like.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GrahamWills, post: 7612211, member: 75787"] I'm going to take the example of BLUEBEARD'S BRIDE, which is a roleplaying game that I purchased and has been run for me twice. For both the actual run games and the material itself, I find the presentation/performance a more enjoyable component than the content. here is my reasoning: First, the quality of the materials is beautiful. The physical artifacts feel wonderful, are made of interesting materials, paper and cloth bindings. The font is refreshing and clear and the page layout and overall graphic design is a joy. The illustrations are fantastic. I know this is not the "vocal" presentation, but it's not that different a propositions -- there are some games (both roleplaying and board) where the presentation is a huge draw. Conversely, some systems are presented in so ugly a fashion that I cannot enjoy them. I -- and I am sure I am not alone here -- have several game books that I never intend to run and don't really care about the mechanics, but I bought because their presentation is phenomenal. I understand this thread is about literary presentation, and I'll get to that, but I think it's important to acknowledge that as a general rule, people may like games more for their presentation than for the content. It's true for board games, it's true for video games, and it's try for roleplaying games. If we put aside the physical presentation and look just at the content, here is an example of the text (from the BOOK OF ROOMS): [I]When you run your hand over the strange box, it emits a soft wail. The closer your hand wanders to the antenna, the higher the pitch. As the instrument’s wail grows louder, crying out like a woman in pain, it contorts into the shape of a woman’s torso. Her breasts are mutilated, intestines strung up and tied around her neck, and crimson blood pours onto the floor and mats her flaming red hair. The musical notes laid into the marble floor take on an eerie glow. The screams intensify and a dark power surges through your veins. Insects fly from the instruments with a cacophony of sound, forming a swirling mass around you—the eye of the storm[/I] I strongly assert that the literary quality of the presentation is far more important than the actual content. Paraphrasing it as follows is simply a far lesser experience: [I]The box makes a crying sound when you touch it. The pitch gets higher the closer your hand is to the antenna. When the crying becomes loud, the box changes shape into a woman’s torso with mutilated breasts and intestines strung up and tied around her neck. At that time, blood comes from the box and flows through her red hair. The musical notes in marble floor glow strangely. Then the crying becomes a scream and you feel dark power surging in you. Insects fly loudly from the instruments , swirling around you but not actually touching you[/I] If the book was like that (and that's not actually BAD -- just not GOOD) I would never read it. If the content were different, but the style the same, I would enjoy it. Presentation is more important than content. Now, moving on to the at-table experience, where I was run through a session and we didn't actually use any material except character sheets. The actual content of the game was trivial. Nearly every scene has the same content and the same resolution. The only thing that differs is the presentation. Further, the mechanical content to resolve actions is based on a system I actively dislike for its content. So the content itself is trivial; the mechanics I dislike. The only thing that I enjoy is the presentation. So when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, it's not just that the presentation helped, but that it was by far the most enjoyable part -- 90% or more was the sheer ability of the GM to present descriptions and perform as the inhabitants of the story. In summary then, visual presentation is clearly highly important and often more important than content to many people in roleplaying games as in video and board games. The literary quality of the content is, at least for me, a deciding factor in whether I enjoy a roleplaying artifact. And for some types of games, the performance of the GM and players is the single reason to play a game -- a weak presentation will make the game meaningless. ------------------------------ An aligned thought: It occurs to me that the games where I most value presentation over content are games focused on personal drama (as opposed to resolving procedural action). It may be that people who only play procedural games don't feel the need for presentation as much. Certainly when I play D&D it's nowhere near as big a draw for me as when I play Fiasco, DramaSystem, Indie one-shots, Bluebeard's Bride or the like. [/QUOTE]
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