thread: 2009-06-08 : Restating: Fictional Causes and Realization
On 2009-06-09, Valamir wrote:
Moreno: Seriously?
I must just be wierd then. There's plenty of times when I'll be reading a novel and I'll just lower the book for 10 minutes and replay entire scenes and chapters in my mind's eye complete with all the details that I wanted to see but the author left out.
I can't imagine not doing that constantly in an RPG. I mean...a reward...for imagining fictional details? I can't even parse that in a way that makes sense. What more reward do you need for imagining fiction...then the joy of imagining fiction...if that's not something that you're going to do...why roleplay at all? Why not just play a MMORPG or watch a movie?
Strange. If we're gaming and you say "and then the orphanage burns down" and then we move on to the aftermath...I'm going to see the whole thing in my head anyway. I'm going to see the flames licking the paint off the walls. I'm going to see the wooden head board of the bed turning to char. I'm going to see the little girl trying to climb out the window unable to hold on to the bedsheet rope without dropping her teddy bear. I'm going to see the teddy bear fall to the ground with a faint wisp of smoke from where its paw got singed. You mean, you're not going to see all that without someone needing to speak it first? Really? I can't imagine how roleplaying can be the least bit enjoyable if you aren't seeing all of those details without needing them to be spelled out for you explicitly.
Is that really what this whole topic boils down to? Rules based training wheels for using your own imagination? Is the issue really that just because the game rules don't FORCE you to imagine the scene...people don't bother...my mind boggles...
