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July 29, 2006
Push Vol. I is out!
Inexplicably, our own Jonathan Walton has forgotten to announce here that Volume I of Push is now available for sale. Push is a journal of roleplaying criticism he edits, in the style of the long-ago Interactive Fantasy. And not only does it have lots of intelligent criticism from smart people, it also has two complete experimental roleplaying games!
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July 19, 2006
Fantasy World News Service
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July 17, 2006
A Little Bit About Context
This is maybe not a full-fledged entry but just something I was thinking about the other night: I really need context in a game, but I find I need it fed to me in specific ways. I don't really respond well to reading rpg setting or situation material and then plugging that info into my character and playing. I do respond well to inspiration by works of fiction, movies, music, especially if you cross a few of them in a typical movie pitch "It's like Sense and Sensibility, but with pirates!"
Perhaps my favorite method of getting context is learning it as my character does, which is why I often like games where your character for whatever reason starts out knowing little about the world of the game. I've had this happen very successfully in WoD games, and in Ars Magica games.
I do not at all enjoy creating context on the fly, during a game. Please step away from your keyboard and reflect on the fact that I am an adult with a few brain cells to rub together. I do not enjoy it, not "I've never tried it" or "I've been brainwashed into thinking I can't", but it's just simply not fun for me and not what I look for in gaming. I definitely want to work on creating context outside of the gaming session, but once I'm playing I don't want to have to make it up as I go, unless I come up with a really good idea.
As far as I'm concerned, organizing all that information is the gm's job. I don't entirely mind other players adding their own material to a session, although I do worry about keeping the context consistent. This is less of a problem as a game goes on, because after a while all the players will have a pretty firm idea of what's going on and, if it's going well and we're all in the same headspace, their additions to the game will be seamless. Ditto if it's a group who has played together for a long time in other games; sometimes things just click.
It occurs to me that I haven't really defined context here, so I hope you all get what I'm driving at. I'm talking about the setting, the situation, the color, the flavor, the theme, the mood, the npcs, the plots, the capabilities and the limits of a character, and a whole ton of other stuff besides that determine what you actually do when you sit down to play.
So, I guess this actually did turn into something of an entry, after all. In any case, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'd love to hear what you think.
