RPG’s are a Conversation?
Are RPGs a conversation, really? The short answer is yes, but in the many years (over 30) that I have been having conversations about this conversation, the topic has been able to race off in a lot of different directions. While that has been good for my personal experience in thinking about the abstract and concrete aspects of the topic, it has also demonstrated that the whole idea can be slippery and, of course, even small parts of it can strike some gamers as being useless. What I have found is that coming to terms with this idea not only helps with playing RPGs for enjoyment, it helps with understanding what they are, why a game works well in some contexts but not others, what is and is not worthy of your time as a participant, how to match games and interests, and even for playing them for other purposes, such as education. Not bad for a throwaway line like, “RPGs are a conversation,” right?
Call of Cthulhu Rises Again~
In the imagined situation these characters and their decisions create and keep in motion, I have presented the players with some curious and upsetting details. As the clock ticks on, Terrence and Callum have followed their motivations, their curiosity, and their urge to find fame and fortune in breaking this case open in the papers. Smalls has found the secrets of the bloodthirsty book and its intimations about one Ludvig Prinn to be so fascinating it is worth heaving his massive bulk out of his shop and apartment on Newbury Street to uncover the truth of them.
On Immersion and Engagement in RPG Play
To help explore the topic of what can be meant in general, and what we specifically mean in a given example when we wax eloquent about immersion, I like to separate things into two defined experiences, that of immersion, and that of engagement. Immersion can suffice on its own, but as usual, the more things a word applies to the more ways it can subtly interfere with communication.
#RPGaDay2022 – Day 29: Who 5?
#RPGaDay2022 wonders if you could experience responses from anyone, who would it be?
Casting Shadows 