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Why Jargon is Bad, and Some Modern Resources for RPG Theory
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8653849" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>So a few things and then a few play examples from last night’s Stonetop game. In your construct above, I’m seeing some elements that tell me that what your conceiving of isn’t a kicker.</p><p></p><p>1) Yes, there is player authorship. It’s quite interesting as well and is on its way toward being a formulation of (a) provocative situation with (b) clear antagonism (which the GM plays) that (c) addresses player-authored dramatic need and (d) kicks off (“kicker” - immediacy) and propels play. However, it’s missing some essential components.</p><p></p><p>2) “Sideplot” + “GM introduces” + lack of immediacy > propelling play + the players formulation of things appears to be heavy on color and light on conflict/antagonism. It’s good color mind you, but the amount and quality of color isn’t what does the heavy lifting here.</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>So last night’s Stonetop game (a hearth fantasy game about a small Iron Age Steading in a Points of Light - jargon! -setting with 4e esque mythology where the goal is to tend to, care for, and grow your little home if you can) the PCs returning triumphant from separate Adventures (the 4 PCs tend to split up with each group of 2 taking on a different Threat to or Opportunity for Stonetop).</p><p></p><p>There are a few “loose ends” (Threats and one Plan to resolve ruined armor) floating out there and Summer is about to end (so we transition a month or two to Fall and make Fall’s move and see what Threats and Opportunities spin out of that). So given the disposition of play right now, we did a series of “ask questions and use the answers” that amounts to procedurally generating Kickers.</p><p></p><p>[USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] ’s PC is The Judge.</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER="The Judge"]The Judge</p><p>Look here at this little town, this candleflame in the darkness. Its very existence is an act of courage and faith. And Aratis has charged you to keep it: to settle its disputes; to chronicle its tales; to defend it from darkness and ruin. Take up your hammer, Judge. Your town needs you.[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>He carries with him a cursed infant taken on as an oath sworn from the immediately preceding Adventure.</p><p></p><p>So he wanted his play from this situation to be about:</p><p></p><p>* keeping his oath if he can</p><p></p><p>* resolving the child’s curse if he can</p><p></p><p>* finding it a home within Stonetop if he can</p><p></p><p>So what is the antagonism I’m playing?</p><p></p><p>* Stonetop’s suspicion (generally, but particularly of fell sorcery and curses; real or merely perceived).</p><p></p><p>* The Publicans/Elders (Sawyl and Sianna) adversarial nature toward Cullen The Judge specifically (he is the town mediator so they clash o decisions regularly) and toward the complexities of integrating new people (particularly new people who aren’t able-bodied and capable! And who are cursed to boot!).</p><p></p><p>This could have been elided and offloaded to the Steading to resolve offscreen (there are procedures for that). This could have been passed off to his Uncle Llewelyn to secretly stow the child while Cullen resolves other issues, saving the resolution of the curse for later (however, there would have been potential gamestate and attendant fiction complications related to the progression/implications of the curse that we would have made a move for Llewelyn to Muster against and saw what came of that). However, [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] wanted Cullen to handle this personally with it being an immediate flashpoint for action (and therefore what play is about so he could personally see how it impacted his character and how his character impacted and changed Stonetop); likely some convergence of because he is Stonetop’s mediator, it’s Judge, he was orphaned and taken in, he swore an oath, his xp Trigger is Harmony, he wanted to assuage the steading’s (rightful, given recent events) fear of dark sorcery, and he was on a collision course with Sawyl and Sianna and wanted to resolve it now.</p><p></p><p>So, anyway.</p><p></p><p>The entirety of the session resolved around each of the player’s Kickers including Cullen’s above.</p><p></p><p>By end of session, we have a different Stonetop with changed NPCs, very evolved relationships and PCs, and what appears to be a powderkeg about to ignite. We’ll resolve the rest of it next week…but we stopped play with a an inquisitor from the large Town of Marshedge (secretly spying on Stonetop to see if the Steading took in refugees from a witchcraft trial that was to result in execution) falling off the back of his horse and breaking his neck as things were escalating but still under a measure of control.</p><p></p><p>So that is basically what a Kicker is and what a Kicker does. The key ingredients are player-authored, it entails all of that (a) - (d) in (1) above, it’s immediate, and it’s not a “sideplot” (there is no “plot”, GM or otherwise, so there can be no “sideplot.”).</p><p></p><p>Hopefully those distinction makes sense and clarify whether or not you agree that “Kicker” (which kicks things off and propels them forward) is an appropriate moniker.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8653849, member: 6696971"] So a few things and then a few play examples from last night’s Stonetop game. In your construct above, I’m seeing some elements that tell me that what your conceiving of isn’t a kicker. 1) Yes, there is player authorship. It’s quite interesting as well and is on its way toward being a formulation of (a) provocative situation with (b) clear antagonism (which the GM plays) that (c) addresses player-authored dramatic need and (d) kicks off (“kicker” - immediacy) and propels play. However, it’s missing some essential components. 2) “Sideplot” + “GM introduces” + lack of immediacy > propelling play + the players formulation of things appears to be heavy on color and light on conflict/antagonism. It’s good color mind you, but the amount and quality of color isn’t what does the heavy lifting here. [HR][/HR] So last night’s Stonetop game (a hearth fantasy game about a small Iron Age Steading in a Points of Light - jargon! -setting with 4e esque mythology where the goal is to tend to, care for, and grow your little home if you can) the PCs returning triumphant from separate Adventures (the 4 PCs tend to split up with each group of 2 taking on a different Threat to or Opportunity for Stonetop). There are a few “loose ends” (Threats and one Plan to resolve ruined armor) floating out there and Summer is about to end (so we transition a month or two to Fall and make Fall’s move and see what Threats and Opportunities spin out of that). So given the disposition of play right now, we did a series of “ask questions and use the answers” that amounts to procedurally generating Kickers. [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] ’s PC is The Judge. [SPOILER="The Judge"]The Judge Look here at this little town, this candleflame in the darkness. Its very existence is an act of courage and faith. And Aratis has charged you to keep it: to settle its disputes; to chronicle its tales; to defend it from darkness and ruin. Take up your hammer, Judge. Your town needs you.[/SPOILER] He carries with him a cursed infant taken on as an oath sworn from the immediately preceding Adventure. So he wanted his play from this situation to be about: * keeping his oath if he can * resolving the child’s curse if he can * finding it a home within Stonetop if he can So what is the antagonism I’m playing? * Stonetop’s suspicion (generally, but particularly of fell sorcery and curses; real or merely perceived). * The Publicans/Elders (Sawyl and Sianna) adversarial nature toward Cullen The Judge specifically (he is the town mediator so they clash o decisions regularly) and toward the complexities of integrating new people (particularly new people who aren’t able-bodied and capable! And who are cursed to boot!). This could have been elided and offloaded to the Steading to resolve offscreen (there are procedures for that). This could have been passed off to his Uncle Llewelyn to secretly stow the child while Cullen resolves other issues, saving the resolution of the curse for later (however, there would have been potential gamestate and attendant fiction complications related to the progression/implications of the curse that we would have made a move for Llewelyn to Muster against and saw what came of that). However, [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] wanted Cullen to handle this personally with it being an immediate flashpoint for action (and therefore what play is about so he could personally see how it impacted his character and how his character impacted and changed Stonetop); likely some convergence of because he is Stonetop’s mediator, it’s Judge, he was orphaned and taken in, he swore an oath, his xp Trigger is Harmony, he wanted to assuage the steading’s (rightful, given recent events) fear of dark sorcery, and he was on a collision course with Sawyl and Sianna and wanted to resolve it now. So, anyway. The entirety of the session resolved around each of the player’s Kickers including Cullen’s above. By end of session, we have a different Stonetop with changed NPCs, very evolved relationships and PCs, and what appears to be a powderkeg about to ignite. We’ll resolve the rest of it next week…but we stopped play with a an inquisitor from the large Town of Marshedge (secretly spying on Stonetop to see if the Steading took in refugees from a witchcraft trial that was to result in execution) falling off the back of his horse and breaking his neck as things were escalating but still under a measure of control. So that is basically what a Kicker is and what a Kicker does. The key ingredients are player-authored, it entails all of that (a) - (d) in (1) above, it’s immediate, and it’s not a “sideplot” (there is no “plot”, GM or otherwise, so there can be no “sideplot.”). Hopefully those distinction makes sense and clarify whether or not you agree that “Kicker” (which kicks things off and propels them forward) is an appropriate moniker. [/QUOTE]
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