Campbell
Relaxed Intensity
Here's what I can tell you about my experiences with playing Blades in the Dark : it was one of the most deeply immersive roleplaying experiences I have ever had. Getting to sit inside Candros Slane's head intermittently for 6 months and really get to know the rest of the Thorns of the Rose felt being another person to me who lives in a very different world. The way flashbacks, gathering information, equipment, stress, trauma, and downtime all came together really helped me experience a character who was quite different from me cognitively and emotionally. Where I experience the world intuitively and just like to be present in the moment (in my body) Candros was patient, prepared, and always thinking laterally.
That's what I personally value the most in roleplaying games as a player - the ability to step into the shoes of characters who do not see the world as I see it, who do not process information in the same way, who deal with different social pressures than I do. Apocalypse World lets me step into the shoes of someone who has a casual comfort with violence and is at heart a survivor. Blades asks me to step into the shoes of a master criminal who lives and dies by their next job. They are prepared, daring, and beaten down by the harshness of life.
The issue with more traditional play practices (in my opinion) from a character immersion perspective is that there is a narrower range where like on a cognitive, social and emotional level the characters we play have to be much closer to our own perspectives. I don't really ever get to play a character more cautious or prepared then I really am. I have to stay within a range that's more similar to me than even works in theater. Roleplaying than becomes more restrained (rather than less) restrained than acting.
That's what I personally value the most in roleplaying games as a player - the ability to step into the shoes of characters who do not see the world as I see it, who do not process information in the same way, who deal with different social pressures than I do. Apocalypse World lets me step into the shoes of someone who has a casual comfort with violence and is at heart a survivor. Blades asks me to step into the shoes of a master criminal who lives and dies by their next job. They are prepared, daring, and beaten down by the harshness of life.
The issue with more traditional play practices (in my opinion) from a character immersion perspective is that there is a narrower range where like on a cognitive, social and emotional level the characters we play have to be much closer to our own perspectives. I don't really ever get to play a character more cautious or prepared then I really am. I have to stay within a range that's more similar to me than even works in theater. Roleplaying than becomes more restrained (rather than less) restrained than acting.