Re: Ho Much Rule fiddling Is Tolerable? from samclau_at_VhT8OxRhvlGbQZYuZPofLeEAbqQtaZtfi35xzPZCgi1YmuYs0BfJ0QA0JHLx86UAk2Rp on 2007-07-19 (World of Glorantha)

From: samclau_at_VhT8OxRhvlGbQZYuZPofLeEAbqQtaZtfi35xzPZCgi1YmuYs0BfJ0QA0JHLx86UAk2Rp
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:49:01 -0300

> Robin:
>
>> I am reminded of the Star Wars MMORPG, where instead of getting to
>> play characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, you got to be a
>> cantina musician or pod car repairman. A few people dug that. Most
>> played long enough to realize that the game felt nothing like Star
>> Wars, and moved on.
>
> I'd agree with this as a principle, and have experienced myself,
> albeit in different (and, indeed, opposite) contexts. But I think the
> difference is that whereas most people interested in a Star Wars
> MMORPG are likely to do so because they like the Star Wars movies, and
> want to emulate them, most people coming to Glorantha are not doing do
> because of Greg's fiction. Maybe one day that will happen, but I can't
> imagine there's many people on this list of whom it's true. And that
> puts us in a different situation.

Jamie managed to say what I wanted to say but couldn't. Also...

> Novels are one thing, RPGs quite another.

My opinion is that analogies to novels and to movies are overused in RPG circles. More specifically, I think they are all too frequently used without offering up any provisos. The majority of examples of both forms concentrate on one or two protagonists; only a fraction of either are truly ensemble. Both benefit greatly from the input of editors. Both are unidirectional, towards a target audience (RPG's do not have an audience).

A closer analogy, in my mind, would be a soap, or another tv series which basically uses that structure. It ticks at least some of the boxes. Films by Robert Altman, that kind of thing.

I'm sure all this has been said before, but I still think it worth repeating. My personal opinion is that HQ doesn't handle ensemble play so well at times, and this is a far far greater issue than power levels seeing as almost any HQ game will at some time have PC's operating together to achieve a single goal.

Sam.

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