Nightcloak
First Post
Stories rock in a roleplaying game.
The finely crafted adventure, being in faraway lands and exotic cultures. Yes, we have combat. Scores, bonuses, more bonuses, and the D20 roll. But in the end, we play the game to escape to another world of fiction. One where art imitates the way we think life should be. We want to be the magnificent heroes from the exciting worlds we read about, watch on the screen, or even imagine in our dreams.
Sure, you build characters. You, finely pour over feat choices, where to put your ability scores, and generally tweak out the character into a killing machine, but in the end these are just the bones for an exciting character in an exciting campaign world.
Seriously, when you think of Conan, why would you want to be him? You want to travel across Hyperboria to the lands of Stygia, find the sorcerer Thoth-Amon, and kick his ass. You will have interesting encounters in strange lands but in the end you will conquer the opposition and depart a rich man (with girl no less – this is Conan after all) .
Or how about Lord of the Rings? The battle of Helms Deep was awesome - A mass combat in a refuge in an impenetrable fortress against all odds. The Lidless Eye is on the march and you are ready to hand him his first defeat. What is their not to love about that? Bring on the dice and let the orcs fall to the dirt.
The dice, combat, and statistics are the ground rules for players to interact. They are the launch pad for the story that brings you to the table and it is the story that keeps you coming back for more. It is the Story that tells us what victory means.
Today it may be a Wizard in Eberron and tomorrow it may be a demon in the Forgotten Realms, but the means of victory is a constant, binding glue that holds the game we love together. The story is a journey we enjoy and binds us to the game we love.
Long live the Story!
The finely crafted adventure, being in faraway lands and exotic cultures. Yes, we have combat. Scores, bonuses, more bonuses, and the D20 roll. But in the end, we play the game to escape to another world of fiction. One where art imitates the way we think life should be. We want to be the magnificent heroes from the exciting worlds we read about, watch on the screen, or even imagine in our dreams.
Sure, you build characters. You, finely pour over feat choices, where to put your ability scores, and generally tweak out the character into a killing machine, but in the end these are just the bones for an exciting character in an exciting campaign world.
Seriously, when you think of Conan, why would you want to be him? You want to travel across Hyperboria to the lands of Stygia, find the sorcerer Thoth-Amon, and kick his ass. You will have interesting encounters in strange lands but in the end you will conquer the opposition and depart a rich man (with girl no less – this is Conan after all) .
Or how about Lord of the Rings? The battle of Helms Deep was awesome - A mass combat in a refuge in an impenetrable fortress against all odds. The Lidless Eye is on the march and you are ready to hand him his first defeat. What is their not to love about that? Bring on the dice and let the orcs fall to the dirt.
The dice, combat, and statistics are the ground rules for players to interact. They are the launch pad for the story that brings you to the table and it is the story that keeps you coming back for more. It is the Story that tells us what victory means.
Today it may be a Wizard in Eberron and tomorrow it may be a demon in the Forgotten Realms, but the means of victory is a constant, binding glue that holds the game we love together. The story is a journey we enjoy and binds us to the game we love.
Long live the Story!
