What is role playing?

[Col_Pladoh]

Roleplaying is like a box of chocolates.

As much as I disliked that movie, I have to agree with you, hong. The RPG field is assorted, and so are the tastes of those who play the games. In short, a well-put comment

Gary

 

[Frosty]

True enough. Howeever, the best measure of what is and is not desired by the RPG consumer is the marketplace. That's the test of a particular product, or type of product. Clearly, the combat-oriented ones are more desirable to a greater number of persons. This holds true in computer agmes and in paper ones, as the success of 3E indicates.

Gary

Fair enough. Hopefully there is a niche for a third party publisher here, though.

 

[Pielorinho]

Actually, I aim for storytelling in my gaming sessions: I think the emphasis on storytelling is the single best thing that's come out of White Wolf.

It's not necessarily railroading, though. One of my fave PCs ever received a prophecy from an old man that he would die if he participated in an upcoming battle, and that if he didn't participate, all his friends would die.

He dealt with it in a way that the DM was not expecting: he ran away, began a week-long heroin binge. When his friends tracked him down, he screamed and ranted and attacked them until they left. And when the battle came, he was nowhere to be found.

But then, midway through the hours-long battle, he showed up. Didn't talk to anyone; just fought and, in the end, died.

Was it railroading? Sort of: the GM knew ahead of time that he'd die if he fought in the battle, and he didn't roll any dice for the death.

But I was totally fine with that. Had I known as a player that the death was subject to dice rolls, the prophecy wouldn't have had the same impact. And since I wasn't required to be at the battle, I had the opportunity to make a heroic decision. And I got to roleplay through the decisionmaking process (including denial, anger, bargaining -- in which he spoke to guiding spirits and asked for an alternative -- and finally acceptance). We handled some of it through one-on-one roleplaying, some of it through our regular session, and some of it even through written scenes sent via email.

It was definitely a storytelling game at that point, and it affected me emotionally in a much more powerful way that I would've been affected had we been paying more attention to dice.

It's not for everyone, sure; and I couldn't have done it with a GM that I trusted less. But focusing on storytelling can be fun.

Note that in this situation, had I focused entirely on character, the PC probably wouldn't have come back to the group. However, since I wanted a good story to come of it, I worked and worked with the character until I could figure out a way that he would return to the group. So this wasn't even pure roleplaying: this was definitely storytelling, in which the needs of the character are subordinated by the players to the needs of the cooperative story.

Daniel

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Fair enough. Hopefully there is a niche for a third party publisher here, though.

Indeed! As a partner in a small RPG publishing enterprise, how could I think otherwise

One thing about the RPG audience that has remained true since the inception of the game form is the diversity of what is held to be desirable by the consumers. No question that the D&D game is absolutely dominant. That still leaves about half the marketplace for other RPGs. The bigger the audience, the greater the chance for viability of other RPG systems. Players usually start with D&D, and many remain with it, but a good number do not, find other RPGs they prefer.

The success of D&D does impact the whole of the RPG field.

Gary

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

So this wasn't even pure roleplaying: this was definitely storytelling, in which the needs of the character are subordinated by the players to the needs of the cooperative story.

Daniel

Don't take this as a shot, but why not just write a story then? If you are going to mold your PC to fit your DM's story then why not just get together and write short stories? I've always felt the only way to put the players in charge of thier world and thier fate was to let them do the story while I just keep track of what's going on.

 

[Pielorinho]

Don't take this as a shot, but why not just write a story then? If you are going to mold your PC to fit your DM's story then why not just get together and write short stories?

Not a shot at all -- that's a good question.

THere's several differences between what I'm describing and just writing short stories together:

1) Storytelling in-game is cooperative, but each person has primary (not sole) responsibility for certain parts or characters in the story.
2) Storytelling in-game is primarily spontaneous, even though a lot of stuff may go one between sessions.
3) Storytelling in-game is to some degree unpredictable: while people are working together to make the best story possible, nobody knows for sure what the best story is gonna be. Your idea of the "best story" can be interrupted and changed by someone else's idea.
4) Storytelling in-game is almost always chronologically rigid. When you write a short story together, you might write the climactic scene before you write the second, third, and fourth scenes. When you play a storytelling game, however, you almost always play through the scenes in chronological order.

It's a different experience from playing in, or running, a standard D&D game. Since I'm pretty good at math, I find it significantly harder; my writer-friend considers standard D&D games to be significantly harder than storytelling games.

I've written stories with other folks, and that's fun. I've played beer-and-pretzels D&D games with other folks, and that's fun. I've played diceless storytelling games with other folks, and that's fun too. They're all related to one another, but they each have a different emphasis.

***

I should also point out that in a storytelling game, the players aren't fitting their characters to the GM's story, not necessarily. In fact, we often played with "plot points." These were poker chips that players got that they could use to change aspects of the story. You could use them to help you out:

[Throwing in a major plot point chip] "Hey, look!" I say, pointing down the road. "That looks like -- it is! It's the Garibaldi Circus troupe! Hopefully our friend Gepetto is still with them!"

or you could use them to screw with the story.

[Throwing in a minor plot point chip] And there, beside the door to the mansion in which a murder just occurred, are a pair of muddy riding boots that weren't there when we went to bed.

Sometimes we'd let these chips regenerate from session to session; other times, you could spend experience to get them; and other times still, you'd earn them by doing in-character things that didn't help you solve the problem (e.g., giving your real name to a set of guards who might arrest you, because your character doesn't believe in lying).

Storytelling games can really blur the line between GM and player. Again, it's different from writing short stories together, both in format and in emphasis; in some ways, it's closer to round-robin storytelling. But it can be lots of fun.

Daniel