thread: 2006-01-05 : I suspect but can't prove...
On 2006-01-08, Sydney Freedberg wrote:
Yeah, "deal with it" isn't a functional System. I'll try to refine this thought-experiment a little, inverting (not discarding) as many precepts the traditional RPG "my character" model as I can manage within a consistent mirror-image structure and see where that leads.
So keep "I, as a player, have a single fictional person I'm primarily responsible for portraying." But then:
Traditional: I create my character's backstory.
Inverted: Everyone at the table but me collaborates on my character's backstory.
Which is, in a weird way, realistic: I, as a real person, didn't choose my own parents, my native culture, my (pre-college) education.
Traditional: I alone decide what my character feels.
Inverted: Anyone at the table except me can say what my character feels.
Which is, again, weirdly realistic: Last time I checked, I had very little control over my emotional reactions to things.
Traditional: I can say what I'm trying to do, but I have to submit to the dice and/or GM fiat to see if I succeed.
Inverted (sorta): I can say what I'm doing. It succeeds.
Which isn't realistic at all, except in the mundane-but-crucial stuff of life where I know full well I can do the laundry or get the crying baby instead of letting my wife do it, or alternatively, I know I can eat the cookies when I'm supposed to be on a diet; the question is whether I will do it.
Hmmm. So "deal with it" is a game about taking the influences life gives you, and the wants and needs you have in spite of yourself, and deciding how you go about fulfilling, sublimating, or denying them. Obviously this is hardly functional at this stage, but it seems like something worth designing.
This makes NK go "Reminds me of acting..."
...actors don't get to create their characters' backstories, actions, motives, or success, etc. But they have to inhabit the character and give it life.
This makes SLB go "That *does* sound interesting, Sydney."
I look forward to playtesting it :)
This makes SF go "More like LARPing..."
in that you've got to take the character you're given but where you take it is up to you. You're given motivations, backstory, etc., but, unlike an actor, you decide what to do.
