thread: 2005-07-05 : Setting and Source Material
On 2005-07-07, John Kim wrote:
A few examples to clear a few things up...Clinton: I disagree with you over ownership of ideas. Specifically, at KublaCon 2004, I played Cordelia in an Angel RPG game—which seems to be exactly the thing that you're complaining about with your example of playing Willow. I feel it was still a creative, fun, and meaningful process. At the same convention, I gamemastered a Star Trek event where the PCs were Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the gang.
John Harper: Hard to say whether I agree with you or disagree with you about particular adaptations. I gave James Bond 007 as a good adaptation. I can cite lots of bad adaptations (like the Lord of the Rings RPG), but then again, I can cite a lot of bad RPGs in general. For a Firefly RPG, I don't think I would have a carrying capacity for people. But I would almost certainly have hull points or something for starships, which was one of your other examples.
Ninja J: Your description sounds very much like how I often approach my games—having a highly detailed world and following what the NPCs would do. On the other hand, I have often created this using canonical and fan-created resource. For example, that is exactly how my Star Trek games ran. But the rant here seems to be directly against having games do this. As Vincent put it:
Vincent wrote:
Here's me: fanfic is, across the board, inferior to original fiction. Our fetishization of source material is creatively unhealthy.
and in response to me on the Forge,
Every moment of attention you spend trying to replicate "Middle Earth" is a moment of attention you don't spend saying what you mean. The only person in the entire history of humanity for whom this was not true was J.R.R. Tolkein.
Unsurprisingly, I disagree with this. There is no special magic or unique sacredness that attaches Middle Earth to Tolkien. The time spent on details like replicating Middle Earth is worthwhile contribution to the result—just as researching history is valuable for someone writing a novel set in Victorian times. It's true that these aren't original creative statements. Rather they are craftsmanship which contributes to the expression as a whole. By detailing Middle Earth in a game, I am making it my own.
This makes Ninja go "Wrong!"
John, you said the exact opposite of what I said, then said I said it. I produce not a single detail, just principles. Details kill the game. Go back and read what I wrote and respond to that, not what you imagined.
This makes Ninja go "... and further wrong..."
John, I don't know where you get this stuff. If you're using Middle Earth as inspiration, then you're doing what Vincent is talking about: taking ownership of the information. Fanfic - and most RPG setting books - don't have the courage to defy the original vision.
