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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9329771" data-attributes="member: 6785785">I think it’s also about what a scene needs to do in an RPG. Compared to what scenes need to do in movies or novels, it can be quite different. When characters are introduced in a film, the audience (typically) no clue about how the characters relate to each other. The film has to show this some way. There are all manner of ways to do this, and some are more effective than others in the overall art of film making, and considering the constraints of the medium (scheduling, budget, effects, etc.). So if you have a film that involves two brothers who although they love each other, have a deep sense of competition between them, the filmmakers have to figure out the best way to reveal this dynamic relationship to the audience, in a way that fits within the time allowed and within budget and scheduling concerns and in a way that can actually be produced and so on. With an RPG, the needs are different. The audience… the players… have most likely already determined the relationship in some way, whether through some character generation method, or simply by talking it out. They don’t need the nature of the relationship to be revealed to them. They already know it. So in that sense, spending time on a scene that does nothing more than reinforce the situation… brothers who care for each other but who also compete fiercely with each other… becomes a bit more questionable. Why are we spending time on this? Now, one could argue that there’s no budget constraints and maybe the game is a regularly scheduled one where time isn’t as significant a concern… and if that’s the case, and everyone’s on board… sure, go for it. Chew the scenery and reinforce the dynamic as it exists between these two PCs.But, if the intention of the game is to remain propulsive… either out of preference or necessity… than spending time that way can seem indulgent. Why not show the dynamic in some way that is meaningful to the game? That moves things along? That potentially changes or tests the dynamic between the two brothers? All this to say it’s not just the tools of the medium that matter, but also the needs of the chosen medium’s audience. If that makes sense.</blockquote>

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