Posts Tagged ‘narrativism’

I’m not going to follow this quote/link up with a big blog post because I JUST read it myself and I am so totally still thinking about it, and I need time to ponder Jesse’s many interesting points. But this is important to me because I think I might be, at least to some degree, the type of player that is under the microscope here. However, I very much agree with what Jesse says here:

So much dialogue is spent discussing GM-driven railroading that I think player-driven railroading is under-discussed and under-identified. Once upon a time on The Forge we spoke of the Impossible Thing Before Breakfast. That is, it is impossible for the GM to control the story while the players control the protagonists. I would now like posit the OTHER Impossible Thing Before Breakfast. That is, it is impossible for the players to control the story while the GM controls the antagonists. You simply can not have legitimate adversity without legitimate risk.

via The Culture of Outcome « Play Passionately.

There’s not much more I can say about this right now. How about you?

“Sometimes you just wanna go kill monsters and take their stuff.”

I hear that a lot, or a variation of the same idea. “Sometimes you just feel like a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl.” “Sometimes a little tabletop hack-and slash is just the thing after a long stressful day of real life.”

I hear it from people I consider close friends and rpg kindred-spirits. I think most of the rpg folk I know have expressed this sentiment at one point or another – including some of the most hippie-narrativist players I’ve met. People who deftly throw down with hot emo story-driven emotionally complex drama 80% of the time will nevertheless occasionally express a desire to scratch the dungeoncrawl itch and kick it old-school with a night full of smash-and-grab.

And there is totally nothing wrong with that. There’s no implication of judgment from me toward that notion, and I can even go so far as to say that I think I understand it. I get it.

But I can’t ever recall actually feeling it myself. I can’t think of any time when I’ve showed up to a table for a session hoping that it would be about smashing and grabbing so that I could just kick back, blow off some steam by bashing orcs and kobolds, and be rewarded with treasure and cool magical items.

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Our Sojourn 66 Primetime Adventures series has been a learning experience. It’s had amazing highs, clunky lows, and lots of in-between as we all try to learn how to frame scenes, get to know one another, grow accustomed to Skype-play, and juggle two fairly distinct perspectives on how much comedy or drama our “dramedy” is actually supposed to have.

How was THAT for a run-on sentence?

Anyhow, more unpacking and details later, after we finish the season. For now, hit Canon Puncture episode 37 (the one called “PTA and Lenny”) and listen to Rich and Perrin discuss a couple of facets of the game from their point of view.

But what I’m actually here to embed in digital stone for myself and my posterity is this: Last night, after a pretty interesting episode, we got to the “next time on …” part of the session, and Perrin described his upcoming scene snippet, followed right after by me doing mine. Here is the exchange between our characters, Severen (Perrin) and Victoria (me). Oh, and by the way, our characters are actually supposed to be colleagues and friends – but he had in fact just killed my brother at the end of the episode. Perrin spoke his character’s line as his “next time on…” and then I immediately responded with my character’s line.

Perrin: “Next time on Sojourn 66, we see Severen and Victoria facing off, and Severen says, ‘I killed your brother? Hmm… If I’d known he was your brother, I might have taken more time killing him.’”

Mick: “Next time on Sojourn 66, we see a different angle of the same scene, as Victoria draws her sword, saying, ‘If you hadn’t just said that, Severen, I might have taken less time killing you.’”

THAT’s magic stuff right there, and I don’t mind crowing about it! I can’t wait until the next (and final) episode.