The blog and the podcast were always a means by which I could work out my thinking around the roleplaying games hobby that I have enjoyed so much throughout my life. This post is no different, being a reflection on what I would seek in my play.
To say that you “need” something when we are talking about imaginary games of make-believe seems an odd concept. The very few things that we as humans actually need would not include certain conditions for playing games. And yet there are some things that spoil the play.
There are going to be baseline conditions that provide an enjoyable game. While many of these baseline conditions are unstated and several are probably shared, they are also likely to be variable between players. As GM, I have found there are some things I cannot enjoy.
A simple example would be the need to feel safe within the gaming group. Further, I seek a sense of acceptance as an individual and seek to extend that acceptance to others. Sometimes you also have to accept that some people are not compatible with one-another.
Given a safe and accepting group, the largest need I have is for a coherent game. I would point to the need for a world that makes sense (at least internally), characters who cohere with that Otherworld, and game rules that ground and confirm the “reality” of the whole.
The common idea that we willingly suspend disbelief has always rung untrue for me. Rather than me making some effort to suspend disbelief, I am drawn in to stories and games which open a pathway towards believing in an Otherworld and its inhabitants.
Rather than forcing myself in towards believing the illusion, I can be jolted out of my enjoyment through various jarring events. If something doesn’t feel like it fits, there’s a tension which, if left unresolved, will eventually undermine my faith in the tale.
As a GM, I have had this experience many times and often it leaves players baffled. What on Earth was wrong with the Otherworld you had created? Simply, I lost faith in it. I stopped believing and then it just ends up feeling goofy and fake, shallow and thin.
All fantastic Otherworlds are illusions. Even those Secondary Worlds based on the apparently hard reality of the modern world are abstractions from the experience of the Primary World. But we humans have a great capacity to believe in our illusions.
I am one who needs to believe in the characters. My disinterest in so much published fiction, TV, and many movies is grounded in the superficiality of the characters. They are not people, really. I can enjoy the action on some level but I don’t believe.
Like Mulder, I want to believe. It’s not that hard to engage my belief.
Things simply need to hang together in a coherent and believable manner. When I am playing, I can easily accept that I won’t know why something incongruous occurs… as long as it resolves over time. Beware too many incongruities all at once.
As GM, when you are peering into the misty sub-created reality that you’re presenting, it’s hard to believe. When things are fresh and beginning then a shallow image is fine. My problem arrives when that shallow image fragments under too much close scrutiny.
The answer is to draw the Otherworld in enough depth to believe in its possibilities. As the game begins and progresses, you must add details with care and allow space to consider why something incongruous might be true after all. Abduction is the skill of choice.
In that spirit, my advice to players in a world that is new and finding it’s form would be to resist asking too many deep questions too quickly. You might be fascinated to wonder about the possibilities of the Otherworld but voicing those questions risks the illusion.
As GM, when too many questions are voiced in quick succession then the image fragments. I don’t have time to abduct the solutions. There are too many holes being punched in the fabric of reality. I’ll not be able to keep believing and despair will raise its spectre.
Be gentle, Dear Role-player, with the Otherworld you are exploring. Be mindful of the purpose of the creation. If we are spending time in make-believe, it doesn’t do us too much good to ask a barrage of questions all at once. If the query undermines the illusion then the game will founder.
By all means probe the Otherworld and explore the relationships between the characters. But remember that in the Primary World, we don’t ask enough questions of the predicament we are in. As a role-player, if you are in-role in the game world, why would your character think outside of their limited mindset?
And for my own sake, I am going to spend more time preparing to improvise the Otherworld at the table. It’s not enough for me to quickly splash together a mash-up of elements and hope they’ll hang together just because I need a game this weekend.
Slow down. Allow yourself to believe. Explore with care.
Game on!
Roleplay Rescue’s Blog 
That was an intriguing post. I like your comments about over exploring the “creation”. Authors I am sure bin tons of material in their pursuit of the “right story”. And abstraction versus detail can simply be observed in art – in that subject preferences and indeed choices are huge. Picasso versus a lady butler – both painted war but in greatly differing styles. So achieving that balance you talk about is key to the longevity of your game and its story.
I like your role player advice to play the character and not yourself when immersed in the game.
I have a tendency to detail and therefore more likely to explore background. In my experience anything I create cycles through new and as you say vague (good) through development (ok) to complexity which breaks down (losing the will) finally to abandonment (why did I ever think that would work or it’s replaced by something more interesting!)
Actually that sounds like my figure buying style as well?
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Thank you for the comments. Yes, I see a similar pattern in my creativity and I wonder if holding things more lightly helps. If interrogating the Otherworld too closely and too quickly is a recipe for abandonment, perhaps getting comfortable with greyness and so-called “white space” around the active people, places, and things would be more useful. When I am engaged in play, I sense that I need to let go of my interrogative mind and embrace the possibilities inherent in not asking a question. Like the quantum world, where unlooked for reality is in flux, do unasked questions leave the range of possibility wide open? Hmm.
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Additional Note: There’s a distinction between a player and a player character. My problem is with players who poke holes in the setting and undermine everyone’s belief in the Otherworld. Some players do this to score points against the GM. The solution is to get into character and ask questions from the perspective of your character. If possible, leave behind your 21st century worldview and inhabit the worldview your character might hold. Separate your desire as a player to see the big picture all at once from your character’s goals within that Otherworld. This leads to deeper and more sustained play.
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