jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2007-09-24 12:10 am
jedi_of_urth) wrote2007-09-24 12:10 am
TV and RPGs
There I was trying to quantify the difference between Classic Doctor Who and New Who and wound up comparing them to roleplaying games I've been in.
See Classic Who is like some games we have going. Where it's basically a series of one-shots connected by the same group of characters. The plots are as lengthy as we can got in a session or two and the characters are interesting. But it never really matters who the characters are and the plots don't influence each other. There isn't much in the way of character growth aside from going "Oh you again, probably trouble on the way" in relating to other characters.
It's fun and entertaining, and it doesn't mean the characters aren't fleshed out particularly in the players' minds, but it's not something that has a huge continuity or emotional arc.
New Who is another family of games, the ones we may not play as often as we'd like but there is an ongoing story in the background, the story and characters are effected by what happens in the stories that have happened so far. Character relationships are not a driving force because it is still influenced by who's around for an encounter, but the characters do have learning curves and the structure changes.
There's still some episodic nature to the game, the adventures played out don't last more than a couple sessions, but there's a lot going on under the surface.
I've played a couple games that I would equate to Heroes or Buffy type shows. Where long running plots build to a climax at "season's" end. And where that climax happens in part because of the characters' journeys leading to that. Those tend to be games that are played regularly with the hopes of continuing indefinitely but maybe not continuing next year/semester/when things change at x point; where the GM can structure the plot to the set of characters and they have time to fully develop individually and as a group.
Some games are like Firefly and have a really interesting group of characters but the games don't last that long. I'm not sure I can compare any game I've played to B5, because that I think would actually be a bad thing as that would require more storyboarding than is good in games.
But hey, isn't it really just about comparing things to Doctor Who? Or maybe it's roleplaying.
See Classic Who is like some games we have going. Where it's basically a series of one-shots connected by the same group of characters. The plots are as lengthy as we can got in a session or two and the characters are interesting. But it never really matters who the characters are and the plots don't influence each other. There isn't much in the way of character growth aside from going "Oh you again, probably trouble on the way" in relating to other characters.
It's fun and entertaining, and it doesn't mean the characters aren't fleshed out particularly in the players' minds, but it's not something that has a huge continuity or emotional arc.
New Who is another family of games, the ones we may not play as often as we'd like but there is an ongoing story in the background, the story and characters are effected by what happens in the stories that have happened so far. Character relationships are not a driving force because it is still influenced by who's around for an encounter, but the characters do have learning curves and the structure changes.
There's still some episodic nature to the game, the adventures played out don't last more than a couple sessions, but there's a lot going on under the surface.
I've played a couple games that I would equate to Heroes or Buffy type shows. Where long running plots build to a climax at "season's" end. And where that climax happens in part because of the characters' journeys leading to that. Those tend to be games that are played regularly with the hopes of continuing indefinitely but maybe not continuing next year/semester/when things change at x point; where the GM can structure the plot to the set of characters and they have time to fully develop individually and as a group.
Some games are like Firefly and have a really interesting group of characters but the games don't last that long. I'm not sure I can compare any game I've played to B5, because that I think would actually be a bad thing as that would require more storyboarding than is good in games.
But hey, isn't it really just about comparing things to Doctor Who? Or maybe it's roleplaying.