[Glorantha] Storytelling vs...

> > > Really? Is actually playing the game only
> > > a chore gone
> > > through so that in the end, you have a story?
> >
> >It *is* the writing process, which is in itself
> >enjoyable.
>
> But is the process the point, or the result?

I'd say it's the point. And I'd say that if I'm writing a story, too. Writing stories is fun. (Having stayed up past 2am to finish writing the latest Swords post, because I couldn't put it down.)

> And I find the process of steering characters into
> interesting situations (whether as player or GM) to
> be detrimental,
> and as a player even crippling, to my enjoyment of
> the game.

Shame. But yes, a serious difference in taste there, then.

Hang on - as GM? But steering them into interesting situations is almost the GM's entire job, surely?

> >But it's the same thing! Having characters do what
> is
> >"right" for that character, against their own best
> >interests half the time, is what makes for story!
>
> But not necessarily a good story. Have you
> ever had a
> character take actions which totally short-circuit
> drama, if that is
> the natural thing for the character to do?

Not by choice. There can be several things that the character might naturally do, and given that choice, I'll as player pick the one that makes the best game - opens things up for other players, makes the best story, all sorts of considerations.

If there's one overriding thing the character would do, no other options, and it would spoil the game in some way, I'll point this out to the group and GM, and suggest ways to stop my character from doing it (have a man walk in with a gun, please!). "Spoil" might mean might mean "bad story" or it might mean executing another PC without warning or chance to escape. Either way, you meta-game your way out of it.

> >Then of course there was that fantastic game at
> >Continuum where we as players decided that the most
> >dramatic possible ending for the scenario was for
> >every PC to end up dead, and found a way of doing
> just
> >that that involved each of our characters being
> >themselves as intensely as possible, with a few
> added
> >coincidences that helped things along. Much scenery
> >was chewed.
>
> Which makes for a terrible game IMNSHO.
> Distorting the
> characters for the sake of the story makes the game
> impossible for me to enjoy.

Who said anything about distorting the characters? I said they were being themselves as intensely as possible, and I meant it. No distortion at all.

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com Received on Fri 24 Nov 2006 - 08:17:01 EET