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<blockquote data-quote="Shayuri" data-source="post: 5090804" data-attributes="member: 4936"><p>The Cosmic Imp works, and is funny, in genres like Star Trek and superhero comics because they exist pretty much for no reason other than to <em>pants the heroes.</em> Sometimes literally. I mean, lets face it... Picard and Superman are stuffy, frequently obnoxious, self-righteous...the list goes on. They fight for the right, and we love them for it, but by the same token sometimes it's just deliciously fun to see them taken down a peg. </p><p></p><p>But who can do that? See, it can't be a normal foe, because then it's not being taken down a peg, it's a legitimate Hero's Challenge, which is an entirely different thing that they are required to win (or lose, and then come back stronger and win later). So it has to be something that they have absolutely no chance against in a fight or real contest. Something arbitrarily powerful. And then, to soften that up a bit, it has to play by rules...rules that explain why it doesn't just do whatever it wants, whenever it wants to, and instead chooses to pants our hero. Finally, it has to have a sense of humor...something to let us know with a wink and a smile that yep...this is me, pantzing your hero. It's funny. Go ahead and laugh.</p><p></p><p>The trick is that, as has been said before and will be said again, a role-playing game does not really emulate popular culture fiction. Some tropes can carry over, but many simply can't. At it's dark, egotistic heart, every role playing game is a power fantasy. We play larger than life characters, with stupendous powers, on quests of magnificent import. We don't do this because we like to be pantzed. In fact, we don't like it. Or, to put it more simply:</p><p></p><p>It's fun to watch someone else get pantzed. It's not fun to be pantzed.</p><p></p><p>Watch Superman in a Myxlplik comic. Does he look like he's having fun? Uh huh. Now watch Picard and Q. He spends a lot of time shouting, and that vein in his temple looks awfully swollen. Of course they hate it, that's part of what makes it fun for us.</p><p></p><p>Remember, your players aren't -watching- the game happen. They're playing the characters. Now sure, a healthy psychological distance is VERY recommended, but even the most dedicated of hardcore roleplayers has a little shard of him/herself in those characters. That's what makes the magic work.</p><p></p><p>In game design parlance; the fun of a player depends almost entirely on the ability of his or her choices to affect outcomes during play. Like Mouseferatu said...agency. That's what it's all about. Every GM knows sometimes player choices don't mean anything. Sometimes, the PC's are GOING to be on that ship to the moon, and there's NOTHING that any die roll, or feeble attempt to delay, will change. Good GM's will make the players believe though. Or, even better, work the part where choices don't matter into a sort of pre-game cutscene, and begin once their choices DO matter.</p><p></p><p>But the Cosmic Imp scenario revolves around denying the characters enfranchisement. The whole reason it's entertaining is because these powerful people are having to do stupid and humiliating things at the whim of something far greater than they. And there's nothing they can do about it. And even if they CAN do something about it, it's still necessarily revolving entirely around this strange entity. When Supes is up against Myxlplik, only one thing Supes can do matters; get him to say his name backwards. That's it. Nothing else matters. He has no choices, no options, no enfranchisement.</p><p></p><p>Fun to read (in moderation)...sucky to be the one who has to yank his drawers back up off the floor when it's done.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shayuri, post: 5090804, member: 4936"] The Cosmic Imp works, and is funny, in genres like Star Trek and superhero comics because they exist pretty much for no reason other than to [i]pants the heroes.[/i] Sometimes literally. I mean, lets face it... Picard and Superman are stuffy, frequently obnoxious, self-righteous...the list goes on. They fight for the right, and we love them for it, but by the same token sometimes it's just deliciously fun to see them taken down a peg. But who can do that? See, it can't be a normal foe, because then it's not being taken down a peg, it's a legitimate Hero's Challenge, which is an entirely different thing that they are required to win (or lose, and then come back stronger and win later). So it has to be something that they have absolutely no chance against in a fight or real contest. Something arbitrarily powerful. And then, to soften that up a bit, it has to play by rules...rules that explain why it doesn't just do whatever it wants, whenever it wants to, and instead chooses to pants our hero. Finally, it has to have a sense of humor...something to let us know with a wink and a smile that yep...this is me, pantzing your hero. It's funny. Go ahead and laugh. The trick is that, as has been said before and will be said again, a role-playing game does not really emulate popular culture fiction. Some tropes can carry over, but many simply can't. At it's dark, egotistic heart, every role playing game is a power fantasy. We play larger than life characters, with stupendous powers, on quests of magnificent import. We don't do this because we like to be pantzed. In fact, we don't like it. Or, to put it more simply: It's fun to watch someone else get pantzed. It's not fun to be pantzed. Watch Superman in a Myxlplik comic. Does he look like he's having fun? Uh huh. Now watch Picard and Q. He spends a lot of time shouting, and that vein in his temple looks awfully swollen. Of course they hate it, that's part of what makes it fun for us. Remember, your players aren't -watching- the game happen. They're playing the characters. Now sure, a healthy psychological distance is VERY recommended, but even the most dedicated of hardcore roleplayers has a little shard of him/herself in those characters. That's what makes the magic work. In game design parlance; the fun of a player depends almost entirely on the ability of his or her choices to affect outcomes during play. Like Mouseferatu said...agency. That's what it's all about. Every GM knows sometimes player choices don't mean anything. Sometimes, the PC's are GOING to be on that ship to the moon, and there's NOTHING that any die roll, or feeble attempt to delay, will change. Good GM's will make the players believe though. Or, even better, work the part where choices don't matter into a sort of pre-game cutscene, and begin once their choices DO matter. But the Cosmic Imp scenario revolves around denying the characters enfranchisement. The whole reason it's entertaining is because these powerful people are having to do stupid and humiliating things at the whim of something far greater than they. And there's nothing they can do about it. And even if they CAN do something about it, it's still necessarily revolving entirely around this strange entity. When Supes is up against Myxlplik, only one thing Supes can do matters; get him to say his name backwards. That's it. Nothing else matters. He has no choices, no options, no enfranchisement. Fun to read (in moderation)...sucky to be the one who has to yank his drawers back up off the floor when it's done. [/QUOTE]
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