tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1678761812929125529.post6922435073422179231..comments2023-05-27T11:14:02.426-04:00Comments on Some Space to Think: Missing the Pointy EndAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14216103531396452644noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1678761812929125529.post-14973450001632271752011-07-14T00:39:11.309-04:002011-07-14T00:39:11.309-04:00Dread is good for this sort of thing. We go in kno...Dread is good for this sort of thing. We go in knowing the rules. No one is untouchable. Fudging can't happen. And, when the tower falls, it's still a shock.Lisa Padolnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1678761812929125529.post-30288370068514794452011-07-12T17:06:03.315-04:002011-07-12T17:06:03.315-04:00I think you make an excellent point here, Rob. The...I think you make an excellent point here, Rob. The act is stunning because it breaks the status quo and expectations for the show; his death sets the precedent for a world-spanning epic saga that does not center on a single faction or house (Within the first novel I had largely assumed that the Starks were the main characters. They had direwolves!).<br /><br />But while we're dealing with RPGs, I think there are ways to shake up genre and expectations beyond simply removing the plot immunity of the PCs. You can threaten the nature of and ideas about the PC or the game without risking death.<br /><br />One can, I think, threaten the motives, believes, and central tendencies of a character without pointing a gun at them. And these moments are the most potent, when a player suddenly realizes that his character must forsake a loved one, give up his theological conviction, turn on his friends.Ethannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1678761812929125529.post-4630348790499119912011-07-12T10:44:43.109-04:002011-07-12T10:44:43.109-04:00a sudden injection of death where it isn't exp...a sudden injection of death where it isn't expected can make things real. Sometimes this is harder with PCs, because they may be under the illusion that they can die at any given point in time. NPCs, well, we're programmed to think of them as sub-humans anyhow.A.L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05306497273874881493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1678761812929125529.post-36388208824825759022011-07-12T02:20:15.113-04:002011-07-12T02:20:15.113-04:00I always felt that Serenity successfully used the ...I always felt that Serenity successfully used the pattern of breaking expectations when it killed off Wash. From that moment on in the story, there were no promises that any main character would live...which made the rest of the movie harder to predict. <br /><br />"is anyone going to make it out alive?"<br /><br />I would argue that 24 took the pattern too far. The first season was quite good at spoiling expectations, but by the end of it, you could pretty much assume everyone was an idiot/in the employment of the badguy/has a crazy girlfriend(boyfriend,family member)/all of the above. Effectively, it set a new expectation that you couldn't assume the writers were doing anything but making shit up. :)Codrushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06514027228289235823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1678761812929125529.post-55767183106103606322011-07-12T02:15:14.463-04:002011-07-12T02:15:14.463-04:00The threat that anyone might die provides a much g...The threat that anyone might die provides a much grittier base to a show. Take for example the BBC series <i>Spooks</i> (which I think is marketed as <i>MI5</i> in the US), where none of the characters are covered by plot immunity and may even disappear from the show mid-season. It escalates the tension when you realise that anything can happen. Not only do you get the chance of failure, but you introduce the opportunity for failure (and the risk of same) on a much more personal basis.<br /><br />I think the same holds for RPGs themselves. The only valuable, truly irreplaceable part of the game is the character itself.* There is always the expectation that ephemera, such as money, equipment, and dependent others, can be replaced (or provide the fodder for anguished role-playing in exchange for their loss). This means that the only serious wager you can make in the game is with the character itself. Anything else can be (potentially) written back in.<br /><br />If you don't have this element of risk inherent in the game, if the players have plot immunity, then I generally find that the game lacks a certain something. [At least for games with a strong combat orientation such as most fantasy RPG.]<br /><br />[* In a mechanical sense the character is the very definition of the replaceable commodity, except that people don't generally think like that. They strongly identify with a particular character, and when that character goes, they look on the new character as something fresh. Very few games attempt to make a direct connection between subsequent characters.]Reverance Pavanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01217657347160811310noreply@blogger.com