Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7379155" data-attributes="member: 82106">Here's an example: Lets set the parameters. This is an FRPG (we can call it 'D&D' notionally though I am not really fixed on mechanics here, lets assume it has a task resolution system of some kind). Its Story Now and No Myth, so the game will be initiated by the players creating backstory for their characters. Lets say that backstory and play will tell us about tone and sub-genre. We'll just imagine one player for simplicity.The player decides that his goal is to "Find the undead monster which took his sister, and lay her soul to rest!" (yes, I invented that earlier, but it works). So he creates a backstory for his character, from a small town in a backwater area of mountains and forests, filled with superstition and dread of the undead. He lives in house in a small town, and last fall his sister met a mysterious stranger who stayed with the local landlord, who is the family patron. Several people died mysteriously and the sister vanished in the night along with the stranger. The PC made a vow to recover/avenge/lay her to rest, took vows as a priest of the Sun Goddess, and now searches for clues.The GM frames a scene, the character is told he must go out to a remote hamlet and perform a burial ritual for several people who died mysteriously. The first scene opens with the character riding into the hamlet where he immediately runs into an old man who waves him down, frightening his horse. He stops and the man grabs his stirrup, yells at him to guard his soul and thrusts a garland of garlic bulbs into his hands. The man then runs off. (the player makes an attempt to stop him, but fails). The GM asks what the character intends to do next, ride on to the house where the dead people are reported to be, check in the tavern by the side of the road nearby to learn more about the situation, or perhaps investigate the situation in some other way. The player states he's riding on to his destination, as that is in keeping with the character's obligation as a priest, and certainly seems to directly act on his motivations.Thus the next scene is framed in an old farmhouse half a mile up the road. As the character rides up he notes that a couple of horses are already tied up in the yard, and he can see some light coming from the house windows as it is now evening. He ties up his horse and walks in...Things can continue from here in the vein of the PC performing rituals and gathering information which may lead him to his ultimate goal. Assuming this is a fairly long-term game, then clearly his progress will be slow and measured. He may learn something tonight. He may even learn key things, or it may take him a long time to learn much of anything, and in the meantime he deals with his duties and encounters various signs of the vampire menace. There are many possible ways the story can go, and the player will generally indicate which one is his preference. If he spends his time investigating and honing his investigating skills, then it will be a game of learning secrets and tracking down hidden foes. If he forges alliances with higher powers and becomes a magically endowed spiritual warrior, then maybe it will become a game of battling horrors face-to-face on a regular basis, fighting off growing hordes of undead or something like that. It could go a lot of ways and the player will choose based on what elements he adds to his character, which things he chooses to do, where he goes, whom he talks to, etc.All of this is why I liked 4e particularly for this kind of play, as the player has total control of character build! He can signal what he wants with a theme, a PP, an ED, power choices, feat choices, etc. as well as overt actions.</blockquote>

Verification