The conventions and techniques of gaming (brainstorm)

[RangerWickett]

Update: This thread now has content.

Remind me tomorrow to update this thread with a discussion of Chris Carter, that cool episode of The X-Files where Mulder ends up on a Bermuda Triangle ship from the past, and messing with artistic conventions. I want to figure out what the conventions of game-based storytelling are, so we can break them, when necessary.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Remind me tomorrow to update this thread with a discussion of Chris Carter, that cool episode of The X-Files where Mulder ends up on a Bermuda Triangle ship from the past, and messing with artistic conventions. I want to figure out what the conventions of game-based storytelling are, so we can break them, when necessary.

Any episode where Mulder gets to kiss Scully is fine by me.

 

[RangerWickett]

Okay, so there's this episode of The X-Files where, in addition to having a nifty plot, the scene is unique because the first 45 minutes consist of just 3 shots. Rather than cutting back and forth to different angles, each segment of the show (between commercials) is filmed without cutting away, or at least if they do cut away, it's while the camera passes through an area of blackness to conceal the transition.

I don't know quite why it was done this way, but it gives the episode a very active feel. Rather than doing the traditional X-Files gimmick of framing a scene with an establishing shot and a bit of text, it just stays in the action the whole time. This is, I would imagine, a bit unorthodox for the motion picture or television format.

Can you think of some other examples of when typical style conventions have been cast away in TV shows or movies? It might be a weird joke, like the episode of Seinfeld where cause and effect were reversed, or it might be a key part of the plot. We've seen enough TV episodes and movies to know some of the conventions of the format, and to recognize when they're bent or broken.

Similarly, I want to discuss what are the conventions of storytelling in roleplaying games. Let us have a little powwow and figure out what we expect in our games, and how messing with those expectations can change the way the game is perceived.

 

[diaglo]

Daffy Duck and the artist.

Daffy runs into a scene where the artwork is incomplete.

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm just going to toss out ideas here:

• The GM is in control, the players react to his story.
• Out of character discussion of the rules is fine.
• If the GM doesn't think you'll automatically succeed at an action, you have to use the rules to find out if you do.
• The results of the game have no bearing on the lives of the players. (I.e., no 'strip D&D.'
• The game is played indoors, at a table. (I.e., not outside, or on the floor, or in a closet, or while hiking).
• The speed of play slows down when the action intensifies, so that the rules can be properly used. (I.e., when a fight breaks out, we stop playing in real-time, and start spending 10 minutes for every 6 seconds).
• The characters in the game are unaware that they are characters in a game.
• You do not switch rule sets in the middle of the game.
• Due to the difficulty in timing event to music, music is typically not used, unless it is ambient music that can loop.
• Usually, all the player characters are allies.
• Usually, each player has one character.
• Players communicate with each other and with the GM by talking and body language, but there is limited or no physical contact. Players can see each other (i.e., no lights out), and, except for online games, hear each other.
• Games are run for the enterainment of those playing, not for spectators. That would be theater.
• You don't do re-runs in game format.
• Speech in foreign languages is not actually spoken in foreign languages. (Would it be possible for players to use subtitles somehow?)

So the basics are - pacing, player/character/game master interaction, setting, rules, and storytelling. Are there any key categories I'm missing?

 

[RangerWickett]

Daffy Duck and the artist.

Daffy runs into a scene where the artwork is incomplete.

Ah, good. Likewise, any sort of 'meta' fiction, where they break the fourth wall or somehow make it clear that you're not watching a story, but a show that has a story.

 

[Henry]

Daffy Duck and the artist.

Daffy runs into a scene where the artwork is incomplete.

Breaking the Fourth wall is a good one - having the characters acknowledge that they KNOW they aren't real.

Speech in foreign languages is not actually spoken in foreign languages. (Would it be possible for players to use subtitles somehow?)

Of course - the player just writes down what he wants to say ahead of time, and holds it up on a piece of paper as he's speaking nonsense.

As for breaking other conventions, how about:

-The players pass their character sheets one to the left for a session, and try their best to portray the character as their owner has been playing it? Extra XP's to whomever does it best.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

TV:

Some of these have become cliche, but were revolutionary for the time:

The Bobby Ewing 'it was all just a dream' season of Dallas (spoofed most memorably in 'Newhart' where they ended the series by saying *everything* was a dream of Bob's character in his previous series)

Breaking the 4th wall (having the actors directly address the audience) -- probably best exemplified by Moonlighting, which took it to the next level by having the actors refer to 'breaking the wall' while addressing the audience.

Seinfeld's 'show within a show' where the characters were writing a TV show about themselves.

'Wiseguy' combined the concepts of episodic television and the miniseries and produced what is probably the closest analogue of the RPG 'campaign'. They had two arcs each season, taking 10 or 12 episodes to tell a single story. Very unusual (even today) in that most TV drama is built to resolve itself in a single hour, with small plot strands maybe carrying forward. This concept was perfected, IMHO, by the first couple seasons of Homicide.

Having fictional characters relate to real-life events. The first time I can remember was the episode of WKRP where they react to the Who concert where a number of people were killed.

'24' and its attempt to have the action take place in real-time, with each 1 hour episode covering one hours' worth of events.

RPGS:

Breaking the conventions in an RPG are a little harder. In television, if someone tries it and no one likes it, the show changes or disappears. With an RPG, you have to have the cooperation of the gaming group. I'd think that you'd have to start with one-off sessions, and then go from there depending on the reaction.

Some things to consider:

Probably the biggest convention in an RPG is one player = one character. You could incoporate flashback 'espisodes' where the players set aside their normal characters and played someone else. This works best for groups that are RP heavy and rules savvy. I've done it in the past as a way to let players in a long-running campaign take a little break and do something different. Let the mage play a fighter or vice-versa, etc.

Another big RPG element is the concept of character stats and progression. Some of the fringe elements (LARPS and some other game systems) have done away with these. I don't think I'd be terribly fond of it (and I know my players wouldn't). I'd think you'd have a hard time keeping interest up.

How about the DM-player relationship? I think most of us have played in games where DM responsibilities rotated, but making that a core element of the game could be fun. I've also always wanted to do a Rashomon type thing, where each person in the group took turns DMing the same event, but that might be more interesting in theory than in practice.

Meta-games, with the players playing characters that were playing a game. Scott Kurtz of PvP fame did this in his strip a while back and supposedly is making a real game based on the concept.

Multiple parties / simultaneous action. I ran one once where the party split up, and two DMs in two seperate rooms ran a splinter as they progressed through the adventure with seperate goals. That went over exceptionally well, as each group needed the other to succeed (think end of the world type stuff). Very tense as each group thought they were screwing up and were counting on the other to come to their rescue We also did one for a while where the other DM and I ran a shared dungeon where two parties were working at cross purposes (similar to the recent Order of the Stick storyline). That was fun for a little while, but having to have one group 'lose' at the end kinda took the wind out of our sails. A neat experiment, but not sustainable.

 

[jmucchiello]

-The players pass their character sheets one to the left for a session, and try their best to portray the character as their owner has been playing it? Extra XP's to whomever does it best.

I always wanted to do this in Toon. Where the player to the right of the animator hands his character to the animator and the player to the left of the animator starts the games (becomes the new animator). As long as everyone at the table accepts the new animator in his role what does the "usual" animator do except play the character provided.

Someone with real film knowledge, please enlighten RW about the never cutting away trick. I know it was first done by Hitchcock or Wells in the 40s/50s but I cannot put my finger on the film in which it was done. The director would focus on some plants or something between canister changes allowing for longer than 10 minute scenes.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I know it was first done by Hitchcock or Wells in the 40s/50s but I cannot put my finger on the film in which it was done. The director would focus on some plants or something between canister changes allowing for longer than 10 minute scenes.

Rope by Alfred Hitchcock

Another superlative example was the opening scene inTouch of Evil by Orson Welles. A continuous take through the streets of Tijuana. A masterpiece.