Tv & rpgs

[Bluenose]

Individual shows, no. But the concept I sometimes use for campaigns is quite similar to the concept behind 'seasons' in TV series. If the season has an ongoing plot, some 'episodes'/adventures will advance that, some will have it peripherally in the background, and in others it will be totally irrelevant. Usually with the idea of building up to a showdown at the end of the series/campaign. If I've got a story arc in my head at the start of a campaign, that's how I'll do it. When I don't, I fall back on sandbox campaigns, but they do require a particular sort of group.

 

[Random Axe]

When watching TV shows, do you often compare them to a gaming session?

And do you compare the show's situation and responses to how your players might react?

I frequently judge the writing of a show, the actions and reactions of its characters, based on what I've learned in my RPG history. The scariest part is when the TV episode mirrors what I've already done in my game!

Case in point, a recent episode of FRINGE had a crazy man killing people only by virtue of coincidental happenstance, all hinging on where and how he happened to place his ballpoint pen. A series of coincidental reactions domino-ing on each other, and someone gets hit by a car.

And virtually every second in watching this episode, I was gaping because I had run almost an entire Star Wars campaign hinging on "sympathetic Force" use. This crazy guy would have been a master of the Force from my campaign in how skillfully he manipulated the surroundings and future events, and it was exactly how I had pictured the concept working.


And then, a second example, a current TV series THE EVENT, I have frequently berated several characters or character actions because I knew that NO PC run by an experienced gamer would ever have been so stupid. e.g., As soon as I saw Sophie go into the deserted building, I knew (and you knew, everyone HAD to know), the building was going to blow up or something. No way would I have sent in the SWAT teams after her/them. Same reaction when one of the aliens was being interrogated, and he persuaded the government to release his girlfriend first before he talked. That scene was SO badly handled, any intelligent gamer would have ran it totally differently.

So, in summation, yes a lot of how I watch TV is informed by gaming experience. My only complaint about games based on TV shows, is that the really good shows (ie. Buffy, or Angel, or Battlestar Galactica, or Neon Genesis Evangelion to borrow from a different genre) have such a pre-defined tightly directed storyline, that IMO would not easily allow for home-written RPG adventures to stray from that "closed" storyline.

 

[Krensky]

Sometimes. Frankly, some shows almost are role playing scenarios by their structure already.

Fringe, Firefly, Burn Notice, Leverage, Human Target, Criminal Minds and The A-Team all come instantly to mind. White Collar and Psych to a somewhat lesser degree (smaller groups of 'players').

 

[Umbran]

When watching TV shows, do you often compare them to a gaming session?

Sure. If nothing else, for many games/campaigns the episode/season/arc structure can be a darned useful one for a GM to emulate.

And do you compare the show's situation and responses to how your players might react?

Occasionally, but not usually to specific - if only because most of the time there's a fundamental clash between "systems", so to speak.

When I compare that episodes' scenario to how the players might react, well, with the players I gamed with I don't think it would be possible to get them to sing. Singing should only be left up to the professionals (which to them meant speed metal btw).

That particular episode was, however, quite different than the usual thing Buffy did. It might be easier to reproduce "Hush".

Interestingly, I know of at least five live-action rpgs that have included such - one series of three based upon characters from Broadway musicals, for example.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

My current campaign is, mainly due to a lack of prep time, borrowed almost completely from Babylon 5. My prep time consists of rewatching an episode, taking some notes about the major PC interaction points, and then statting up an NPC or two.

Since my players are mostly unfamiliar with the show (three of them are kids) its working out marvelously.

 

[Cam Banks]

Given the nature of the licenses we work with at MWP, I figure a lot of gaming follows TV structure and vice versa. In fact, with Smallville we even go to some length in describing an episodic format, with opening scenes and tag scenes (the ending scenes that wrap up the story). Leverage has already been mentioned, and its story structure is very much a part of how we designed the RPG version.

Cheers,
Cam