November 27, 2024: Games As Art And Literature

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Shostak

It would be great to hear from this group what folks think would be essential to an exhibition that attempts to explore RPGs as a complex art form. What would such an exhibition need to have in it in order for you to feel like you came away from the exhibition having learned something, having had a satisfying (or at least interesting) aesthetic experience, and that visiting the exhibition was worthwhile and left you with a better appreciation for what RPGs are?

That's hard. Explaining how they are created risks doing something like explaining painting via brush sizes and paint chemistry.

The thing that survives after a role-playing experience is memories, and we tell each other about them, usually via the funny, horrific or disastrous parts. Telling the story of a campaign is quite time-consuming, and can easily be boring. Telling the story well is a different art from participating in the role-playing, although it is related, and definitely involves interaction between teller and audience. I've tried to write down some campaigns in The Path of Cunning (link in my signature), but the lack of feedback on those articles makes me feel I haven't done it very well.