Things we get out of roleplaying

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Kromm

As a GM, my honorable mention goes to inspiring the players to tell a good story. I don't want to tell stories – that aspect of GMing has never interested me. Rather, I like to set scenes, invent conflicts, and establish themes, and then see what the independent actors known as "player characters" do that turns the situation into a tale worth remembering. I consider it a good game session when I show up with a vague idea that popped into my mind in the shower and leave with notes on four or five hours of collaborative storytelling to write up as a recap.

That's #1 for me.

for me the make-believe worlds are crucial. I want to envision the make-believe world, or to explore someone else's vision of one, and I want it to be interesting in its own right, and I want it to be the focus of everyone's attention. The value of interacting with that particular group of people comes from their sharing the desire to be involved in that particular make-believe.

And that's #2.


A few months ago it came up in conversation when a friend of mine was complaining about his wife to ask what a person really gets out of life, what the payoff is. Is is solving a thorny analytical problem, or having one's advice accepted and made real in a program, or seeing the smiles of the children who have not be maimed in car crashes because of ones contribution? Is it painting, or seeing one's picture finished, or the recognition one gets in a successful exhibition, or the experience of discussing your artistic goals and the extent to which you achieved them with fellow-artists after the show? Or is it the very fine single-malt Scotch one buys with the income earned from being an economist or an artist?

I thought about this after the conversation. For me, the pay-off is playing with ideas among people who think as well as I do but differently.

I do a large proportion of such playing on these forums.