Post by Utaku Mai on Dec 13, 2011 14:41:28 GMT -5
I've been interested in writing some of my meta-gaming thoughts on ways to succeed in a forum-based RPG for a while, and while I'm not quite so egotistical to think that people would be falling all over themselves to read what I have to say, I think there might be a bit of interest, so I'm writing an article, of sorts, about some of the basics, and if there's some more interest, I can elaborate on one or more concepts later. I'm the last person who'd volunteer to be the role-playing police, but I'm just putting these ideas out there for information and possible discussion.
I write this from the background of a former theatre major. In my undergrad I studied quite a bit of dramatic literature and dramaturgy, as well a lot of acting and directing, especially observing a lot of rehearsal processes in my technical training as a stage manager. I think all of these elements of theatre can be very useful in writing a fulfilling and dramatic RPG story, because studying on the different tropes of theatre can give you ideas on things to explore, and an understanding of some of the basic theories of acting can help you to gear those explorations in a meaningful way for the character you're creating.
I'll also note that if you look at the really *good* roleplays you see on this forum, they are likely to have elements of some of the things I'm talking about. I'd argue that this is not something innate of a few people on the forum, but a learn-able skill that anyone can succeed at if they practiced a bit. The more people who have that skill, I figure, the richer the experience for everyone.
***
"The story of L5R is one of heroism, honor, and courage, and of individuals setting aside their own ambitions or desires to support a greater cause. The stories we tell may be silly in the grand scheme of things, but they give us a safe place to explore ourselves with a minimal burden of "real world" consequences. We can explore what it's like to deal with heady existential concepts like fear, betrayal, honor, or death from the comfort of our computer screens, and then when the day is over we can go back to our normal lives having learned a little something about the human condition."
This is something I wrote a while ago in the Unicorn board, but it references a concept that was thought up by Aristotle -- the idea of the catharsis, a purging of emotion experienced by the audiences of Greek tragedy. He was not approaching these ideas in a vacuum either: he was reacting very specifically to Plato's ideas that poetry encourages people to be hysterical and controlled only by emotions. Aristotle argues that poetry (and by extension, Theatre, literature, and performance) gives an outlet for such emotion so that those feelings in a person can resolve themselves in a healthy way.
Now, while L5R is ostensibly an Eastern story with a lot of Eastern storytelling elements, it still carries a *lot* of influence from the (mostly) Western people who both created the game and interact with it as players, GMs, deckbuilders, artists, etc. And if we're talking about Western storytelling traditions, it is practically a crime not to mention Aristotle. His writings have been available almost without pause since the middle ages and had a huge effect on the development of theatre in Europe for several hundred years, and even today you can still pick out some of his influences. The subject of Aristotelian drama can be its own subject of study but I'm going to focus on one specific concept of his, which is the element of Character or Ethos. Here are some of his enumerations on the subject of character:
It is much better if a tragical accident happens to a hero because of a mistake he makes (hamartia) instead of things which might happen anyway. That is because the audience is more likely to be "moved" by it. A hero may have made it knowingly (in Medea) or unknowingly (Oedipus). A hero may leave a deed undone (due to timely discovery, knowledge present at the point of doing deed ...).
A Main character should be:
-Good: Aristotle explains that audiences do not like, for example, villains "making fortune from misery" in the end. It might happen though, and might make the play interesting. Nevertheless, the moral is at stake here and morals are important to make people happy (people can, for example, see tragedy because they want to release their anger)
-Appropriate: if a character is supposed to be wise, it is unlikely he is young (supposing wisdom is gained with age)
-Consistent: if a person is a soldier, he is unlikely to be scared of blood (if this soldier is scared of blood it must be explained and play some role in the story to avoid confusing the audience); it is also "good" if a character doesn't change opinion "that much" if the play is not "driven" by who characters are, but by what they do (audience is confused in case of unexpected shifts in behaviour [and its reasons, morals ...] of characters). You can also have a character who is "consistently inconsistent" -- they consistently change their opinions, for example.
[wikipedia's page on "Poetics (Aristotle)" is not a bad source for a basic rundown of this, btw]
So, what does this mean for you, potential player? Let me peel back the layers a bit and talk about P&P role playing briefly, because I think that the base mechanic actually works very well to encourage consistency in player characters. Mechanically speaking, the character creation process for L5R P&P games is limiting. By keeping yourself limited to a certain number of character creation points, you can maintain consistency in your character -- keeping a powerful bushi from also being the world's best courtier, for example. If you focus on one skill or one trait, it comes at the cost of not being quite as good at something else. There's nothing wrong with this, because such a big part of the game is the group dynamic, where (hopefully) everyone will have moments where they are strong, even if it comes at the cost of some weakness.
So in a forum game, where it's very open and you aren't really enforcing yourself to a character sheet, it would still be a good idea to try to place some perimeters on your character in order to maintain a sense of consistency and to allow for the best possible storytelling. Like Aristotle said, a character who must respond to his mistakes can move audiences much more than a character who is simply acted upon by outside forces. Interesting characters are the ones who aren't always perfect, who don't always know everything, and who have some kind of limit to their abilities. It gives them a chance to be vulnerable, imperfect, able to make mistakes, which provides entertaining tension and drama for the audience, with the end goal of leading to that needed catharsis.
This is extra exciting in a forum-based RPG, because none of us are really following a script -- we're *all* players, and *all* playwrights, and we feel the tension not only reading the stories of others, but in writing our own. We may have ideas on where we may go, but since none of it is written there is a lot of potential for dynamic change. Which is *awesome*.
I write this from the background of a former theatre major. In my undergrad I studied quite a bit of dramatic literature and dramaturgy, as well a lot of acting and directing, especially observing a lot of rehearsal processes in my technical training as a stage manager. I think all of these elements of theatre can be very useful in writing a fulfilling and dramatic RPG story, because studying on the different tropes of theatre can give you ideas on things to explore, and an understanding of some of the basic theories of acting can help you to gear those explorations in a meaningful way for the character you're creating.
I'll also note that if you look at the really *good* roleplays you see on this forum, they are likely to have elements of some of the things I'm talking about. I'd argue that this is not something innate of a few people on the forum, but a learn-able skill that anyone can succeed at if they practiced a bit. The more people who have that skill, I figure, the richer the experience for everyone.
***
"The story of L5R is one of heroism, honor, and courage, and of individuals setting aside their own ambitions or desires to support a greater cause. The stories we tell may be silly in the grand scheme of things, but they give us a safe place to explore ourselves with a minimal burden of "real world" consequences. We can explore what it's like to deal with heady existential concepts like fear, betrayal, honor, or death from the comfort of our computer screens, and then when the day is over we can go back to our normal lives having learned a little something about the human condition."
This is something I wrote a while ago in the Unicorn board, but it references a concept that was thought up by Aristotle -- the idea of the catharsis, a purging of emotion experienced by the audiences of Greek tragedy. He was not approaching these ideas in a vacuum either: he was reacting very specifically to Plato's ideas that poetry encourages people to be hysterical and controlled only by emotions. Aristotle argues that poetry (and by extension, Theatre, literature, and performance) gives an outlet for such emotion so that those feelings in a person can resolve themselves in a healthy way.
Now, while L5R is ostensibly an Eastern story with a lot of Eastern storytelling elements, it still carries a *lot* of influence from the (mostly) Western people who both created the game and interact with it as players, GMs, deckbuilders, artists, etc. And if we're talking about Western storytelling traditions, it is practically a crime not to mention Aristotle. His writings have been available almost without pause since the middle ages and had a huge effect on the development of theatre in Europe for several hundred years, and even today you can still pick out some of his influences. The subject of Aristotelian drama can be its own subject of study but I'm going to focus on one specific concept of his, which is the element of Character or Ethos. Here are some of his enumerations on the subject of character:
It is much better if a tragical accident happens to a hero because of a mistake he makes (hamartia) instead of things which might happen anyway. That is because the audience is more likely to be "moved" by it. A hero may have made it knowingly (in Medea) or unknowingly (Oedipus). A hero may leave a deed undone (due to timely discovery, knowledge present at the point of doing deed ...).
A Main character should be:
-Good: Aristotle explains that audiences do not like, for example, villains "making fortune from misery" in the end. It might happen though, and might make the play interesting. Nevertheless, the moral is at stake here and morals are important to make people happy (people can, for example, see tragedy because they want to release their anger)
-Appropriate: if a character is supposed to be wise, it is unlikely he is young (supposing wisdom is gained with age)
-Consistent: if a person is a soldier, he is unlikely to be scared of blood (if this soldier is scared of blood it must be explained and play some role in the story to avoid confusing the audience); it is also "good" if a character doesn't change opinion "that much" if the play is not "driven" by who characters are, but by what they do (audience is confused in case of unexpected shifts in behaviour [and its reasons, morals ...] of characters). You can also have a character who is "consistently inconsistent" -- they consistently change their opinions, for example.
[wikipedia's page on "Poetics (Aristotle)" is not a bad source for a basic rundown of this, btw]
So, what does this mean for you, potential player? Let me peel back the layers a bit and talk about P&P role playing briefly, because I think that the base mechanic actually works very well to encourage consistency in player characters. Mechanically speaking, the character creation process for L5R P&P games is limiting. By keeping yourself limited to a certain number of character creation points, you can maintain consistency in your character -- keeping a powerful bushi from also being the world's best courtier, for example. If you focus on one skill or one trait, it comes at the cost of not being quite as good at something else. There's nothing wrong with this, because such a big part of the game is the group dynamic, where (hopefully) everyone will have moments where they are strong, even if it comes at the cost of some weakness.
So in a forum game, where it's very open and you aren't really enforcing yourself to a character sheet, it would still be a good idea to try to place some perimeters on your character in order to maintain a sense of consistency and to allow for the best possible storytelling. Like Aristotle said, a character who must respond to his mistakes can move audiences much more than a character who is simply acted upon by outside forces. Interesting characters are the ones who aren't always perfect, who don't always know everything, and who have some kind of limit to their abilities. It gives them a chance to be vulnerable, imperfect, able to make mistakes, which provides entertaining tension and drama for the audience, with the end goal of leading to that needed catharsis.
This is extra exciting in a forum-based RPG, because none of us are really following a script -- we're *all* players, and *all* playwrights, and we feel the tension not only reading the stories of others, but in writing our own. We may have ideas on where we may go, but since none of it is written there is a lot of potential for dynamic change. Which is *awesome*.
- Chuda Yun 
- Bob 
- Kakita Battou
