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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 5683162" data-attributes="member: 3820">Sure. I'm not saying we have no audience, but rather that with an audience of four, and three specific viewpoint characters, an "everyman viewpoint character" can be kind of a fifth wheel. Usually when you have one person representing "all of us," it's because you're trying to reach as wide an audience as possible, to say something relevant to all of humanity. But in an RPG, each character can say something relevant to the person playing him or her. Is a broad-strokes everyman necessary? It's an interesting question because, if I'm reading this right, it argues for the players detaching themselves from their characters and attempting to look at the theme in the context of the average person, rather than from the specific contexts of their characters. I'm not certain there's a lot more to be gained from that. Certainly it would tend to skew more towards deconstruction in many themes. For instance, take a Conan-like game, where the themes are defined as the innate decadence of civilization and the barbarity of human existence. If you explore those themes from a resident of the civilization you may grow more sympathetic to the viewpoint. But if you view them from the lens of an average modern person, you may start getting deconstructive. How much of "the innate decadence of civilization" and how much is a romanticized view? How does it stack up to the viewpoint of "Things were simpler back in my day," which is often tied to social structures where people with less power had it even worse? Is that admirable? Deconstruction's a decent approach to stories. However, RPGs are frequently appealing because they're romantic, an opportunity to reconstruct ideas that have already been deconstructed. Making a new take on sword and sorcery that includes more female viewpoints right from the get-go, for instance. What does a swashbuckler look like with gaymers at the table? In cases like this I think personalized viewpoint characters are a lot more applicable than the generic "all of us" -- they cut rather quicker to the point. It's a luxury a TV show trying to reach high ratings can't afford, but we can. Oh, no problem. You have to check out multiple sides to explore something.</blockquote>

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