Sunday, March 26, 2017
Question. In another thread I saw a comment about false starts and how some character weren't as interesting as their controller had hoped. It led me to thinking about how much someone is focused on the end product when playing. That is when gaming solo, how much of your enjoyment comes from the ephemeral process of play and how much comes from crafting a final narrative? (Give me percentages in order with your comments: 70/30 would mean 70% ephemeral, 30% final narrative.)
Question. In another thread I saw a comment about false starts and how some character weren't as interesting as their controller had hoped. It led me to thinking about how much someone is focused on the end product when playing. That is when gaming solo, how much of your enjoyment comes from the ephemeral process of play and how much comes from crafting a final narrative? (Give me percentages in order with your comments: 70/30 would mean 70% ephemeral, 30% final narrative.)
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That's a difficult question to answer! In each session I play, my intentions are to always set out to complete the adventure/campaign, regardless of how unlikely I know that eventuality to be. Furthermore, I am most intrigued by campaign-length scenarios. One-shots would be far more sensible. Yet the play itself is the thing.
ReplyDeleteGiven all that, I may have to put it at 40/60...maybe even 30/70.
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ReplyDeleteswag numbers: 90% play, 10% narrative.
ReplyDeleteIf I don't have an interesting character that I want to play, I won't bother starting. If I can't think of a new character, I'll just play the main character that I always play.
Sometimes I'll run across an NPC that's interesting to me, and they become the PC and I move my PC to the background or out of the story. My favorite example of an NPC being promoted to solo hero was Zillah Duncaster from Scenic Dunnsmouth.
Depending on the reason I'm playing can influence the level of character, game mechanics, and story involvement.
ReplyDeleteA. If I am test playing rules or learning a new system, the play becomes a priority and the character becomes less important. Maybe 90% play, 10% narrative
B. If I'm trying to experience or record a story, then the player becomes more important. Maybe 90% narrative, 10% play
C. If I'm trying to experience an adventure then the actual action and play becomes more equal. Maybe 65% play, 35% narrative.
D. If I'm writing a story then character is slightly more important. Maybe 65% Narrative, 35% play.
It all depends on the reason for playing. In my Star Frontiers solo play that I did the last week, I'm just trying to experience the game system and the game world as originally created. Ethest, my character, I don't really know much about.
At some point, if I continue with my character, my purpose of playing might be to experience a story, experience an adventure, or even write a story and the emphasis would change.
I'd say 50/50 for me. My hope is always that the ephemeral parts of play are interesting enough that I want to remember them, and so write them down into the narrative.
ReplyDeleteAlthough sometimes I also just want to see how X system or Y supplement works, and then it's about 95% ephemeral. These rarely make my blog, though.
It's hard to give a precise ratio, since it varies so much based on what I'm doing in any particular game. If I'm doing one specifically for posting, then I the narrative becomes pretty important. Most of the games I play are just for myself, and so the "narrative" isn't nearly as important as the pleasure of the play.
ReplyDeleteIt's strange, because I very much agree with what roryb bracebuckle wrote, yet I would say 90/10. My games are almost always part of a campaign: I think I might have played more then 100 solo sessions in several years and I never ended a campaign. After a maximum of about 10-12 sessions, my curiosity makes me try something different. Yet I really like the idea of exploring a setting, meeting new characters and following some of their deeds. My feeling is that this "exploration" is more linked with the process than with the final narrative.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the variable percentage camp. I do tend to play towards a goal; either story or play testing systems. So, the average gets skewed to to the left or right to match my goal.
ReplyDelete