Story or characters?
- Thread starter Joker
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dave_o
Explorer
I'm (unfortunately) American, and I usually focus on characters in my games. True, I create story arcs, but they're always based on character actions - I just keep the world moving around them. My games are truly character driven.
That said, if you don't have REALLY good roleplayers, this falls flat on it's face. Like the time the PCs said "Tell us what to do." after clearing out a dungeon.
So, Characters > Story, when at all possible. Otherwise, a strong story and NPC cast have to make up for it.
That said, if you don't have REALLY good roleplayers, this falls flat on it's face. Like the time the PCs said "Tell us what to do." after clearing out a dungeon.
So, Characters > Story, when at all possible. Otherwise, a strong story and NPC cast have to make up for it.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Balance.
I have to say that I am one of those DMs who feels the characters are just anotehr set of people in much larger world doing their own thing - so the scope of stories can be much larger than what is going on the immediate realm of the PCs - and this is good for a sence of verisimilitude - but when it comes down to it - it is about the characters - because the game focuses on them and the point is for the people who are playing those characters to have fun - really can't make much of a story without their cooperation. . .
I have to say that I am one of those DMs who feels the characters are just anotehr set of people in much larger world doing their own thing - so the scope of stories can be much larger than what is going on the immediate realm of the PCs - and this is good for a sence of verisimilitude - but when it comes down to it - it is about the characters - because the game focuses on them and the point is for the people who are playing those characters to have fun - really can't make much of a story without their cooperation. . .
I want to live in the Joker's 7-continent world where Canada and the other nations of North America has fused into a single polity. You see, that's my basic approach to gaming; I become focused on the basic premise of the world -- the underlying principles and ideas behind it. I guess you could say I focus on theme.
So, to express this, being a theme-focused Canadian GM, I stated I was an Amercian who put story first.
I have to say, this idea of the current world with NAFTA as a single country and Atlantis and Lemuria as the two new continents sounds a very promising campaign premise.
So, to express this, being a theme-focused Canadian GM, I stated I was an Amercian who put story first.
I have to say, this idea of the current world with NAFTA as a single country and Atlantis and Lemuria as the two new continents sounds a very promising campaign premise.
The first error I see in this question is the equating of RPGs with books and movies. It's not at all like them. Books and movies, and television progams and radio programs and plays etc. are all narratives. They are all, in a word, stories. Whether fiction or non fiction each is a story, telling a tale about a subject or subjects real or imagined.
An RPG's closest analog is real life. The events are fictional, but as in real life, most anything could happen, and often what happens makes no dramatic sense whatever. At a panel at a local relaxacon one panelist opined that you do not let the sword get broken at the start of a story, because it's dramatically wrong. But in an RPG the sword can get broken at most any time, and the owner has to adjust to that fact.
That's the thing about an RPG session, things can and do happen for no good reason at all, just as in real life. No re-takes, no re-writes, it happened and you have to deal with it. The hero of your epic dies with a kobold's half-spear in his guts, then somebody else gets to take his place. Somebody had better take his place, else the villains are going to win. Nobody is absolutely indispensable. Anybody can be replaced. Anybody can die at any time, and often it is an empty, useless death.
So, really, story isn't a part of the equation until after the adventure is done, and you and your players begin to recount the events thereof. Story comes after the events occur and the participants recall what they saw happen.
Which means I focus on the characters for the simple reason, they are the only things I have to focus on. In the course of an adventure things happen that will become the story, but they are not the story. The story will arise from what happened, what the participants remember, and in how they tell the tale.
In short, due to the nature of RPGs the characters always come first, for it is from their deeds and the telling of those deeds that the story arises.
Remember that, each adventure is about the characters and how they deal with the problems and difficulties presented or encountered. Don't worry about the story, If the adventure was a good one, with nefarious villains, nasty monsters, and puzzling conundrums, then the story will emerge on its own good time.
To close, run a good adventure and the stories will come of their own accord.
An RPG's closest analog is real life. The events are fictional, but as in real life, most anything could happen, and often what happens makes no dramatic sense whatever. At a panel at a local relaxacon one panelist opined that you do not let the sword get broken at the start of a story, because it's dramatically wrong. But in an RPG the sword can get broken at most any time, and the owner has to adjust to that fact.
That's the thing about an RPG session, things can and do happen for no good reason at all, just as in real life. No re-takes, no re-writes, it happened and you have to deal with it. The hero of your epic dies with a kobold's half-spear in his guts, then somebody else gets to take his place. Somebody had better take his place, else the villains are going to win. Nobody is absolutely indispensable. Anybody can be replaced. Anybody can die at any time, and often it is an empty, useless death.
So, really, story isn't a part of the equation until after the adventure is done, and you and your players begin to recount the events thereof. Story comes after the events occur and the participants recall what they saw happen.
Which means I focus on the characters for the simple reason, they are the only things I have to focus on. In the course of an adventure things happen that will become the story, but they are not the story. The story will arise from what happened, what the participants remember, and in how they tell the tale.
In short, due to the nature of RPGs the characters always come first, for it is from their deeds and the telling of those deeds that the story arises.
Remember that, each adventure is about the characters and how they deal with the problems and difficulties presented or encountered. Don't worry about the story, If the adventure was a good one, with nefarious villains, nasty monsters, and puzzling conundrums, then the story will emerge on its own good time.
To close, run a good adventure and the stories will come of their own accord.
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