Talking back to God(Sandy)

From: Ramos-Tavener, Doyle Wayne <st670_at_Jetson.UH.EDU>
Date: Thu, 09 May 1996 16:48:03 -0500 (CDT)


Well, in my never ending quest to piss off everyone in the universe :), I'd like to reply to some of Sandy's remarks.

>Now, some comments on Doyle Wayne's remarks.
>
>>this is why I find TTRP to be more challenging than LARP. How do
>you get to the >point were everybody is on the same wavelength?
> This is totally absurd, Doyle. You have _precisely_ the
>exact same problem in LARPs. In a LARP you don't act alone -- you
>have a party of guys usually the same size or larger than your
>normal TTRP gaming group. You _still_ have to get everybody in your
>group on the same wavelength! But in addition, you get the added
>bonus that there are other groups you can try to recruit from, or
>who are trying to foil you. AND you can have a traitor in your group
>without destroying or seriously handicapping your gaming
>experience.
> LARPS are far more challenging than any TTRP can or will
>ever be.

I believe that we are talking about two different sort of wavelengths. The wave length that I am refering to involves the process that takes place in a room where each player is imagining a slightly different scene in their minds. Yet the closer these individuals "fantasies" are to each other, the more each individual's suspension of disbelief increases. This is a process that feeds on itself, becoming more and more pronounced as time goes on during a role playing session. This is not the same as "getting everyone involved" or "convincing others to go along with your plans" which is what you seem to be refering to (there I go again, assuming something about someone's else's opinion :)). Can you clarify this for me?

>>When I ran a Masquerade one-shot, I was concerned that the
>lesbian, black, and >chicano characters would be misplayed by the
>straight, white, male players that >I was inviting.
> Solution One: don't give a damn.

(snip)
> Solution Two: cast the players better.

What I ended up doing was writing up three characters for each player, but each of the set had the same goal (easier than it looks). The reason that I was concerned was that we had a *very* diverse group playing, and I was concerned that some of my friends would pick characters whose lifestyle that they knew little about and really piss off another player whose RW lifestyle they were imitating. As it turned out, none of my fears came to pass, even though we had one guy who was white play an forceful Black Panther. The two player who were black thought he was funny as hell, and would form a cheering squad for him when he was speechmaking. In a game that I was not running, some of this stuff did not seem funny at all, though maybe my PCness is showing. As has been discussed in the past, Glorantha gives us the opportunity to play around with RW ideas without worrying about pissing everyone off, so this argument of mine does not hold a lot of water.

>>As for athleticism, I find it difficult to suspend my disbelief if
>that Storm >Bull Beserk is being played by a real mousey guy.
(snip)
> Your Part of the Problem -- if you can do it in RPGs, you
>can do it in LARPs. roleplay.

ok, ok, ok, its a weak argument, I give.

>LARPS are vastly more fun, more realistic, more engrossing, more
>emotionally exhausting, and more Gloranthan than any TTRP. Period.

If what you say above is true, then I have a couple of options available:

  1. Journey to far away cons, and participate in Glorantha a couple of times a year.
  2. Organize my own Gloranthan LARP, and try to convince the Masquerade crowd to participate (hard).
  3. Organize my own Gloranthan LARP, and try to convince the RPG guys to participate (harder, since most of them think of LARP in the same category with "the rubber sword crowd" or "the Masquerade crowd").
  4. Organize my own Gloranthan LARP, and get one of the regular groups I play with (4-7 individuals) to play with me at one of our houses. Hmmm. Since I don't rely too much on heavy amounts of rules anyway, this sounds suspiciously like one of my regular sessions, sans table. Come to think of it, sometimes we don't use a table!

For the past several years I have helped run the CoC Masters for the Chaosium (I missed last year, due to a car wreck) before that I had been running CoC tournaments in Houston for about five or six years. Some of the best experiences I have ever had have in role playing have taken place at these events. It was these experiences, and my inability to duplicate them in my regular campaigns, that led me to try to examine role playing in a critical fashion. These examinations led me to the idea that role playing was a distinct form, with its own rules and laws (distinct from mechanics). It was these ideas that led me to worry about the future of TTRP in Glorantha. So in a weird way Sandy, you are part of the reason that I am bringing you up in the first place! Ok, maybe not. I've got free will, after all. But this discussion is really weird for me, becuase it feels like I have gotten past St. Peter's gate, and am talking back to God about the nature of creation (hence the title of the post).

Sandy, can you really claim that the exhiliration that I, and others, felt during these events, is pale in comparison to LARP? That Larp is the sum of all roleplaying in Glorantha? Or the sum of all role playing everywhere? Well, sure, I suppose you can, since you just did.

I am afraid, that on this topic (as well as some others), God and I are just going to have to agree to disagree. :)

thanks

Doyle


Powered by hypermail