If you've been spending any time at all at Gamegrene recently, you'd have to be blind not to notice the rather substantial discussion sparked by dwhoward's article "Roleplaying: Gig Or Game?" I have no desire to rehash the same old arguments yet again (nor do most of the participants have any desire to hear them again). What I really want to do here is use dwhoward's thought-provoking article as a jumping-off point to explore a related issue... the question of whether it is really possible to win a roleplaying game.
So, I made it to Games Day in Baltimore this year. I had a delightful time socializing with folks I'd met over the 'net, and with other people whom I only recognized from the pages of White Dwarf. That all kicked ass. What wasn't fine was the spotty enforcement of contest rules. With this in mind, I decided to whip up a list of suggestions for anyone putting together a mini contest, whether as a store event or at a con.
In which our hero ponders just why we do need the industry, and how they can help drive the reforms so many of us claim to want. You decide to catch up on your reading - the conversation would get awkward as I'm trying to keep my eyes on the road. It's not often you see an attractive woman in a provocative state of undress - the cover of that book you're reading has one on it. The title mentions secrets of black magic.
Writers spend years creating and embellishing roleplaying settings like One World By Night and the Forgotten Realms. Game masters labor for hours on their campaign worlds, defining everything from two thousand years of global history to the color of the robes worn by a tiny sect of monks dedicated to a forgotten god. Why this obsession with minutia? To create an imaginary world that seems as complete as possible for the gaming group or, to borrow from the computer age, to create a Multi-User Shared Hallucination.
With Space already covered, it makes sense to next discuss Time. The two can, after all, be considered aspects of the same space-time concept. Time is an important factor in any role playing game, because it is a constant element of our existence, and like space, it forms the framework within which we live.
Read the rules, roam the boards, visit the games and it's all the same: Acting has replaced gaming in RPGs. Players are discouraged from studying the gamebooks; knowing about common monsters or enemies is disparaged under the derogatory term of "meta-gaming." Instead, characters should stare in wonder at the story and atmosphere that the Gamemaster creates, then blunder and stumble through the adventure. As long as they blunder and stumble using flowery language, Gamemasters reward them. I'm disgusted. I'm sick. How has it gotten this bad?
Recently I spent a great deal of time reading about the attacks on gaming that have come over the years. Role-playing has been vilified as both 'evil' and 'Satanic', and is supposedly the cause of many suicides. All of us know that gaming frequently garners a lot of negative attention, but it would seem that few of us know specifically who is instigating these attacks.
War. The word seems so petty to us here. The war started before anyone can remember, and the historians don't even bother tracking the events of it. Some say it started over a woman, others say it was a skirmish over political boundaries, but nobody is certain. Violence begets violence, that's why the war doesn't stop. If a sliver of peace begins to appear, there is always a small battle that shatters our frigid hopes. War does have its advantages, though.
Why did I just buy that game? I sat up in bed one night, thinking: what is it that makes you squeal each time your character dies in a game? What is it that manages to make your heart pump like a Formula-1 turbocharger, and your palms sweat like cheese in the sun? What makes a game captivating? It sounds easy, but it certainly isn't an easy answer.
Tired of your average fair of role-playing games? Are you cynical about the whole scene? Think the D20 system is antiquated crap and that there has to be more out there than Wizards of the Coast and White Wolf? Well, looks like the guys and gals at Hogshead Publishing agree with you, because they have a line of games directed at this very market. These games fall under their label New Style and blow away all preconceived notions about role-playing games.
