thread: 2006-01-24 : Still More Character Ownership
On 2006-01-25, timfire wrote:
And I have noticed that in almost all these threads about co-ownership, that's something Vincent consistently brings up. I guess I'm just not really clear anymore on who you want having the power to make that happen. I can see how it's collaboratively possible if done beforehand, even just a little beforehand, but when done randomly in the moment, I don't see that part of the fiction can be collaborative.
If you learn to look out for such moments, you'll find that they "just seem to happen" quite alot.
Here's an example. I'm playing Lacuna, and my character is all brute force and not much less. Long story short, I meet this chick and lie to her, telling her I'll rescue her, just so she'll give me this information I want. After I get the information, I pretty much skip town. Next session, I encounter her again, tied up by a group of people I'm fighting. I'm thinking, "Oh crap, she's going to be pissed."
But she isn't. She grabs me and says, "I knew you would come."
Hmmm... This is interesting, I think. So I say, "my character doesn't resist." The GM then says, "she starts kissing you."
BAM! my character is in love, and everyone at the table knows it. Suddenly, our collective perception of the character went from jerk-off to sympathic. And none of it was planned.
And why? Because the GM threw out a situation ripe with possibility, and I recognized the potential it had for my character. I responded a certain way, and then the GM followed.
I can't really articulate it better, but if you learn to watch out for thematically interesting moments, you can go with it and this just seem to "happen on their own"...
Hope that makes sense.
This makes DY go "It does, but..."
I thought one of the main things we were trying to accomplish is to make it so it isnt just The GM who can make that happen. Right? We want some way that everyone at the table has those chances, and not just reactively, right? In your example, if another player had a hand in triggering it, no problem, but in the case of spontaneous character removal or death, I'm not so sure. I'll watch in-game and see if what you're saying comes into cleaner focus.
