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RPG Evolution: That Time I Surprised My Players With Cthulhu
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<blockquote data-quote="lordabdul" data-source="post: 7839463" data-attributes="member: 6994956"><p>Thanks for the write-up! Very interesting.</p><p></p><p>I tend to play a lot of horror games (CoC, DG, etc.) and over the years I've indeed come to realize that they are very different from the main types of RPGs. As you said, they have a different "power arc". In most RPGs, you character gets <em>better</em>, and hopefully you play your character for long time, hoping they don't die. Your enjoyment of the campaign is tied to your enjoyment of how your character evolves and develops within the story of the campaign.</p><p></p><p>But with horror games, and especially CoC, it's the opposite: characters can <em>only get worse</em>. Whatever you gain (knowledge, spells, etc.) is always coming at a cost (SAN, usually), so your character, sooner or later, will be out of play. Oh and of course, monsters are super deadly. In my opinion, however, the key is that your enjoyment of the campaign isn't tied to the character, but to the story itself. "<em>I went through 5 different characters while playing Masks of Nyarlathotep! What a ride! It was awesome! Two of my deaths were so awesome!</em>". This is a very different relationship to your characters than in a "classic" RPG.</p><p></p><p>Now I'm much more careful with explaining that to prospective players... and in general, I think I'm a lot more mindful of player expectations that I was a decade ago.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="lordabdul, post: 7839463, member: 6994956"] Thanks for the write-up! Very interesting. I tend to play a lot of horror games (CoC, DG, etc.) and over the years I've indeed come to realize that they are very different from the main types of RPGs. As you said, they have a different "power arc". In most RPGs, you character gets [I]better[/I], and hopefully you play your character for long time, hoping they don't die. Your enjoyment of the campaign is tied to your enjoyment of how your character evolves and develops within the story of the campaign. But with horror games, and especially CoC, it's the opposite: characters can [I]only get worse[/I]. Whatever you gain (knowledge, spells, etc.) is always coming at a cost (SAN, usually), so your character, sooner or later, will be out of play. Oh and of course, monsters are super deadly. In my opinion, however, the key is that your enjoyment of the campaign isn't tied to the character, but to the story itself. "[I]I went through 5 different characters while playing Masks of Nyarlathotep! What a ride! It was awesome! Two of my deaths were so awesome![/I]". This is a very different relationship to your characters than in a "classic" RPG. Now I'm much more careful with explaining that to prospective players... and in general, I think I'm a lot more mindful of player expectations that I was a decade ago. [/QUOTE]
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