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Latest Reviews| Oregon |  | | Reviewed by: Ron McClung |
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Beyond the RPG: On Being Part of the Group Story
(1682 total words in this text)
(1916 Reads) 
Beyond the RPG: On Being Part of the Group Story
December 7, 2004
By: Travis J. Lee |
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Back for more, eh? Lets get to it then.
We're all here to recreate shared stories, right? Like the ones we read in novels, saw in movies. Maybe the actual plots, or just revisit the feel of our favorite epics by creating fresh new ones. I'll take your silent staring at the computer screen as a yes. Okay then, so why don't we act like it?
"What am I getting at", I can hear you asking? "Of course we put our best into making like LotR, Star Wars, etc". But we don't, at least some don't. Many of us don't know, or understand how to, be part of an overall story.
But first, a comparative object lesson.........
Example (A)
Jennie's fifteenth level wizard, Eldan, is in the process of climbing up a wall. Its a minor activity, even though the walls fifteen feet high. But her long-term mission is vital; to collect the five Runes of Power and restore the Kingdom. She's the only one who can do it. She's put three years into this campaign.
The DM calls for a second climbing roll. A formality really. Jennie rolls. A botch. Roll again to see how bad. Another botch. And one more to complete the set. Eldan falls, takes massive damage, and by a freak accident, dies.
Example (B) (Borrowed from Lord of the Rings, with apologies for inaccuracy)
Gandalf is in the fight of his life. He's been dragged down to hell by the Balrog to cover the Ring Bearer's escape. And now he's got to get out. The Fate Of The World depends on it. He's climbing hand over hand up a sheer wall. J. R. R. Tolkien rolls a D20. Botch. Double Botch. Triple Botch. Gandalf falls to his death from massive damage.
Well, I'm sorry folks. I guess Helm's Deep is gonna fall, and Frodo has to die, because Gandalf's player rolled badly on a formality. Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?
That’s right class; there's no drama, no relevance to the story. A major character took a bad roll and died. I've seen characters go like that, I've almost had it happen myself. And what would have been the point to a larger story? How cool would Star Wars have been if, the middle of the Duel where Vader reveals Luke's paternity, he'd managed to throw Luke off the catwalk? Pretty damn crappy if you ask me.
Now I'm not saying character death shouldn't be a risk. Of course it should. But it should be important. Far to many gamers are more concerned with rules and 'realism' when they should be worried about story-telling. Think about it, what are the rules there for? To drive the Story, not be its master.
And the lesson doesn't just go for character death. Ever been in a situation where you wanting to throw down a wicked Intimidation on an enemy that would be all dramatic and cool? And you had a your speech planned and everything? Ever had the DM make you roll a check and fail, thus depriving the situation of drama? Yeah, me too.
Once again, I'm not saying the players can't fail majorly. But, like major successes, a major failure should be dramatic. Important to the story. Not just for the sake of half-baked realism. Come on people; we're playing a world of Elves and Magic based on stories where one person can kill twenty Orcs at a shot!
What about those times when it would dramatic to fail the campaign? Then plan for it. If you, as a GM, know that the players are at the climax and can't win, make their failure the stuff of tragic legend. Make it devastating, and make it cool. Don't just make it a failure of dice, or of missteps on the miniature board.
So far I've only come down hard on GM's. But there's a player end to this too. While GMs need to tread softly, players need to not overstress if a GM seems to be riding them too hard. Maybe your players are Supposed to get captured and tortured a bit. Or fail a major fight. Or two or three. It is certainly incumbent on the GM to reassure players that everything's okay. Players in turn must show some trust. And if you don't trust your GM, why are in playing?
This also applies when a GM is throwing out 'standard' creatures with weird powers. As an example; I once put my players against a pair of specters. Under a noon day sun. This was part of the plot, and the players were supposed to investigate why these normally light-phobic creatures were out in daylight. But I couldn't get to that immediately because I had players (literally) yelling at me that "spectre's can't handle sunlight' even though I was repeatedly saying that it was part of the plot and it was supposed to be 'unnatural'. Trust your GM folks, he or she really isn't out to screw you. And if they are, that should be an after game conversation.
Speaking of Players.........
I've generally had good players, but has anyone ever had to deal with a player who kept doing wildly inappropriate things because 'that's what my character does?' Or holding up whole game sessions because of something their character 'had to do' even though it caused everyone else problems?
This isn't about players who just won't get with the GM's story-program and keep wandering off. That's another topic. What I'm talking about are players who are so 'dedicated' to playing their characters 'right' that they cause problems for others .
Perhaps another object lesson is in order.
Scene One......
Here's the scene. We're all sitting down to game. The GM has everything going behind the screen, and all five players have their character sheets and dice.
"The twin minotaurs are still attacking from last time" says the GM "and Kaison still has the curse of Insanity going". Kaison's player curses and rechecks his sheet. The dread Curse of Berserker Fury.
"Who's next to me again?"
Eldan the Wizard and Reark the fighter's figures are closest. Reark is even closer. Kaison the Rogue's player makes his move. "I pull out my sword and go for Reark. Sorry man."
Reark's player suddenly finds himself distracted from the minataurs by a raging Rogue. "Dude, dammit! I roll to disarm and nock you down!" Reark whips out some fine natural twenties, setting Kaison on his ass. The group runs through their turns, now its back to Reark.
"Dude, I totally kill Kaison."
Now Kaison's player is understandably miffed. "Hey" she's shouting "I've been playing Kaison for two years, he's almost fifteenth level, and its a freaking spell! cut me some slack!"
Reark's master shrugs. "Sorry. What can I say? You attacked me, and I'm a vengeful fighter. its what my character would do."
And for our literary comparison....
Scene Two......(borrowing from R. A. Salvatore's Drow novels and with apologies for misspellings)
Drizzt Do'urden comes out of a roll to gut the next Drow in line and whirls to take on the next challenge. To his horror, its his boon companion Bruenor Battlehammer. There's a glint of mad fury in the Dwarven king's eyes and he's brandishing his war hammer.
His scimitars making short work of Bruenor's attacks, Drizzt moves in for the kill. Ignoring the screams of his friends, the Drow Ranger drives both blades through his mentor's throat.
Suddenly there's a slap across the face and Cattie-Brie, his love, is screaming at him. "What are ye doing ye fool" she screams. Drizzt shrugs. "He attacked me, I'm a ranger and he's obviously evil 'cause he attacked me. Its what I do."
And guess what? The series suddenly ends as all of Drizzt's buddies carve him into Goblin chow. Okay, I recognize this isn't the most likely example, but you get my meaning. Reark's player should have been working every angle not to remove another major character in the shared story. Instead he casually killed not only a character, but someone Kaison's player had put a lot of effort into.
Of course there's other ways to be annoying in this vein. I've heard of players who ruined game sessions by refusing to have their characters get along with other characters because 'he was a race/class/gender/blah blah blah blah that my character hates.' Then proceeded to be as rude and unpleasant with it as possible. Is there room for characters who automatically dislike each other? Of course. But lets look at our novel model. What tends to happen over the course of the average novel? The characters learn to get along. Try role-playing the work. And, unless the story is all about their conflict, it never gets in the way of the overall Story. You know, the big thing you and your friends are there to create? Bottom line, if your zeal in role-playing your character's attitude is getting in the way of play, you need to stop. If your in doubt, ask your friends. Trust me, they've probably been itching to tell you what your doing wrong, if such is the case.
I recognize that this is a rough overview. And probably a bit harsh. But its something that occasionally needs to be said. At least in my opinion. So, that’s it for the month then. Be sure to come back next time for whatever else I manage to dream up.
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