{"id":5322,"date":"2004-04-07T09:27:46","date_gmt":"2004-04-07T16:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/04\/07\/roleplaying-theory.html"},"modified":"2014-11-06T11:02:35","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T18:02:35","slug":"roleplaying_the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/04\/07\/roleplaying_the.html","title":{"rendered":"Roleplaying Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doyce has been seriously getting into the theoretical side of RPGs of late. While, like academic theory and critical literary analysis and the like, this can sometime venture into the Theory For The Sake Of Sounding Profound, he’s dug up <\/a>some good, thought-provoking gems, like this one<\/a>. A few excerpts I found of intriguing:<\/p>\n

… So look, you! Mechanics might model the stuff of the game world, that’s another topic, but they don’t exist to do so. They exist to ease and constrain real-world social negotiation between the players at the table. That’s their sole and crucial function.<\/p>\n

… So here’s a better way to get suspense in gaming: put off the inevitable. Acknowledge up front that the PCs are going to win, and never sweat it. Then use the dice to escalate, escalate, escalate. We all know the PCs are going to win. What will it cost them?<\/p>\n

… PCs, like protagonists in fiction, don’t get to die to show what’s at stake or to escalate conflict. They only get to die to make final statements. Character death can never be a possible outcome moment-to-moment. Having your character’s survival be uncertain doesn’t contribute to suspense, as above, just like we don’t actually ever believe that Bruce Willis’ character in Die Hard <\/i>will die. Instead, character death should fit into what it will cost. This thing, is it worth dying for? Obi-wan Kenobi and Leon say yes. In fiction, You never die for something you haven’t staked your life on.<\/p>\n

Lots of other good thoughts there surrounding (and, perhaps, explaining) these. Take up and read. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doyce has been seriously getting into the theoretical side of RPGs of late. While, like academic theory and critical literary analysis and the like, this can sometime venture into the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22,372],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaming","category-star-wars-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10930,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/15\/lumps_of_game_goodness.html","url_meta":{"origin":5322,"position":0},"title":"Lumps of Game Goodness","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 15-May-07 1:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Doyce points to this collection of little RPG tidbits collected from various Lumpley essays and forum posts, etc., over a couple of years.\u00a0 In some ways, it's \"Indie Game Concepts...","rel":"","context":"In "Gaming"","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133875,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/17\/gaming-with-pictures.html","url_meta":{"origin":5322,"position":1},"title":"Gaming! With Pictures!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 17-Jul-17 10:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"So I need to share (or at least generate a link for myself) some cool pictures +Michael Williams did for the Dungeon World game +Doyce Testerman is running. The first three characters, left to right, are played by our household: Eduard Zitherhands the Bard (me), Torwin the Bold Fighter \/\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130522,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/30\/alignment-shirts.html","url_meta":{"origin":5322,"position":2},"title":"Alignment Shirts","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 30-Apr-16 10:50am","format":false,"excerpt":"Alas, these are all sold out (http:\/\/shirt.woot.com\/plus\/shirt-neutrality-2). Of course, given the nature of my shirt drawer, I'd actually prefer a coffee mug, but these do look like a ton o' fun, at the gaming table or in the office. Originally shared by +Doyce Testerman: Yeah I pretty much want all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132469,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/30\/snow-white-a-tale-of-the-fourth-age.html","url_meta":{"origin":5322,"position":3},"title":"Snow White: A Tale of the Fourth Age","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Dec-16 4:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a few patches and seams in this theory that \"Snow White\" takes place in Middle-Earth, well into the Age of Humans -- but, to be honest, no more than in Tolkien's own oft-revised histories. This works, in fact, all too well ...[h\/t +Doyce Testerman] Snow White Is A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30548,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/08\/oh-yes-please-lets-escalate-us-military-involvement-in-yet-another-middle-east.html","url_meta":{"origin":5322,"position":4},"title":"Oh, yes, please, let's escalate US military involvement in yet another Middle-East…","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Oct-12 1:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, yes, please, let's escalate US military involvement in yet another Middle-East conflictBecause, of course, first you start with providing arms. Then advisors. Then maybe some boots-on-the-ground special forces teams (to protect, or rescue, the advisors, or maybe lend a hand). \u00a0Then bombing campaigns. \u00a0Then ...And all with promises that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6933,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/28\/various_and_sun.html","url_meta":{"origin":5322,"position":5},"title":"Various and sundry gaming notes","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 28-Nov-04 1:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"More weekend miscelleny ... Friday night was the wrap-up of Doyce's Grimm Therapy game (and, for the nonce, Sorcerer). Nice conclusion, as a younger brother was rescued from Faerie (against...","rel":"","context":"In "Gaming"","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47112,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions\/47112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}