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Collaborative Storytelling


platonicideal

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Collaborative Storytelling

I listen to my son and a friend tell interactive stories for hours. No dice, whatever rules they make up on-the-fly are implemented immediately and they never argue about fairness or direction. I am not sure if it is exactly a role-playing game, not because of the lack of dice or arguing, but because there appear to be no rules except after the fact. Maybe it is a role-playing game at its most pure, story without pause. “And then you” is a frequent phase, which makes me feel it lacks control on the character's part, but what character ever controls his or her destiny completely?

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Role-playing and Rules

I am used to rules. But I started playing Dungeons and Dragons a long time ago, and the rules seem to have multiplied exponentially since I cracked open the blue boxed set. Part of me likes having a complex and extensive rule set, if only to know the bounds to push, the gray areas to wade through on the way to greatness. Part of me, the autistic part, likes reading all the rules just for the sake of cataloging and memorizing them. That is not, however, role-playing. The story may be the same no matter how many rules there are, but I want to tell a story, or participate in one, ultimately, not be bogged down by rules.

Role-Playing Games by Post

I have been lurking in the forums here, reading. There are some very good collaborative stories being unspooled. I am not sure if I am of the right temperament to play on-line; years of playing in small, physically present groups makes me nostalgic for having three or four people around, consuming snacks and beverages until 3 am. And I have little patience. It seems that playing by post has freedom, talent and, in some cases a certain lack of immediacy. I am not sure, in the excitement, the immersion in the story, if I would handle waiting for resolution well. It seems to answer other needs though: a group to play with; the ability to write thoughtfully, perhaps lending more creativity to a response; and an amelioration of having to meet new people in person.

What have you found to be the biggest differences between the RPGs on-line and off?

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1) The wait: As mentioned above things take longer to unfold via PBP. It's just a matter of the "system", you have players from across the country, multiple countries, or even multiple continents. Time differences alone account for a certain amount of slowdown. Further not everybody has the same schedule. Two people in the same, or nearly same time zone may be online at totally different parts of the day.

1.2) The planning/scheduling: The flip side of the above is that you don't have to negotiate with your players spouses, friends, children, work schedules, travel times, etc. I used to play weekly in college with a tight group of 4-5 people. After graduation that went away nearly instantly as people went to grad school, work, and the like. With online games, so long as the people put the time commitment in at some point during thier day or week the game goes on.

2) Immersion: Maybe LARP gets you the same level of immersion, maybe not, I wouldn't know. I do know that, no matter what, you get a more complete character portrayal and depth of story via PBP than I have ever experienced in a live game no matter how well run. The simple facts that out of character comments and jokes don't impinge on the in character story threads assures this.

3) Story: This is a mixed bag in my experience. I've only been part of a small number of games that actually accomplished the full breadth and depth of the story that the GM/ST set out to tell. Far more often the games will fall apart for various reasons. All too common is the death of a game with a great story for lack of player or GM/ST participation.

Overall online play can't replace table top play in my experience, but it does go a long way towards ameliorating that need if you cannot get your fix otherwise. Further it does offer a quality experience of a kind that one usually cannot find via purely table top games.

Of course, YMMV.

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