thread: 2009-12-08 : Your 3 Insights
On 2009-12-08, Graham wrote:
I think there's something dangerous about 1, in the way you express it at the moment. If you're encouraging people to comment on the genre, there's a danger of creating self-referential pastiches, and God knows we've got enough of those.
For example, I think I could create a vampire game that didn't comment on vampire stories in general. It would comment on something (perhaps seduction), but not necessarily vampire fiction. And I think it would be more interesting for that.
I like the other two, especially the bit about human nature.
I'll try it for A Taste For Murder.
1. Subject Matter: I'm exploring a tension, in murder mysteries, between a polite veneer and a bloody undercurrent.
2. Practice: If there's a difference at the game table, I think people should just fucking talk it through, rather than expecting the rulebook to do everything. It's like a casual game of tennis: the rules tell you what happens when the ball's out, but not how to resolve disputes over whether the ball was out.
3. Human Nature: The relationships get more and more screwed up as you investigate.
Yes, OK. I quite like that way of thinking about it. Having said that, it feels like I'm inventing answers, rather than talking you through the thought process I actually used.
Graham
