Perverse Access Memory WISH 30: Is PBeM Roleplaying? Are PBeM (Play-by-email) games actually roleplaying? Why or why not? How does PBeM differ from or approximate roleplaying face-to-face, or other activities that you feel it is similar to?
Yep. Is as far as I can tell. Earlier, I said:
Roleplaying is a parlor game where Players choose Characters that will react to the presentation of a Storysetting by a Gamesmaster. The improvisation of the Characters (and Gamesmaster) determines the outcome of conflict and events.
I meant "parlor game" as a type of social game, and PBeM is certainly that although there is a virtual parlor instead of an actual one-- and you miss out on a lot of the other Players stuff if they aren't in your "thread". But admiring other players isn't required to roleplay your own elements. It could be argued that knowing about scenes you are not in cuts into immersion in the role. So PBeM has advantage there.
On the other side, PBeM is not strong in the presentation of storysetting compared to Face-to-Face gaming. Not so much in background and place as the immersion into Characters that you "know" in the setting. A GM has a terrific amount of work to do to "push" the NPCs presentation across to the Player. Vivid writing, without resorting to ludicrous prose, is not an easy or common skill to have.
Sitting in a room, F-t-F, allows the five senses to engage with the GM. Reading a post is weaker, unless you have an experienced prosemaster as GM.
Now if you prefer the less immersive aspects of roleplaying, if you are happier with an audience's stance, or an author's stance, then you may find PBeM a stronger medium for roleplay. I don't, but that doesn't mean PBeM isn't roleplay, for that is the only way I do it.
For those who have never heard of them... Zelazny continued his Amber stories in a string of Amber Short Stories. This info sketches the plots and tells how you might find these rare tales. Good luck!
Rock Scissors Blog: Notes on Drama Aptitude and circumstances give one participant or another the advantage, of course, and a big part of the story is preparation for the crucial contest(s).
-- Bruce B.
Certainly this is one of the things I love about the 'diceless' concepts introduced by E. Wujcik
Not only are the advantages of a fight 'pre-determined' before it begins, but in a possible sense, neither of the protagonists knows exactly how much, so they both try to 'stack the odds' as much as they can in their favor. If I may use the bad cliche: just like life.
No one wants a conflict they can't win. And so conflicts actually become more rare. Some game designers make the consequences of battle so nasty, or the wounds so terrible, that fights can end in a single turn, or with crippled characters. This makes each conflict too terribly important. Instead, of making a single conflict more important, the Amber game encourages Characters to avoid conflict (or think of ways to get what you want without it), especially in areas where the Characters suspect they are not anywhere near as qualified as some others.
What an splendid solution! It reproduces the novels, where folks talk about their conflict rather than acting on it.
What's even more fascinating, if someone "conflicts" with an obvious lesser opponent, that conflict can be judged so quickly and so easily that it subtracts meaning from the action. IOW, attacking a lesser opponent and winning becomes more of an exercise in bare necessity or ego (depending) and takes up only as much game-time or story-time (depending) as it is worth. A self-discouraging conflict activity in my experience: like taking candy from a baby.
Blog, Jvstin Style I do think that as an Amber GM, you have to have at least a shorthand for what the NPCs have been doing, are doing, and will do.
While Player Characters are the most important dynamic in an RPG, the NonPlayer Characters can run a close second in Amber.
If the GM is going to connect emotionally with Player's Characters, it works best by twining into the PC's backstory and the important relationships that connect to the PC. In the Amber game, this means family, and it means subtle provision of a "living story" for the NPCs.
Roleplaying is a parlor game where Players choose Characters that will react to the presentation of a Storysetting by a Gamesmaster. The improvisation of the Characters (and Gamesmaster) determines the outcome of conflict and events.
"LARPs, or any other RPG variant with streamlined rules, complex plots, lots of people to interact with and gamemasters who answer questions but don't tell the characters what to do, are likely to attract and keep many more women."
Sounds like Amber DRPG
having read more of this article, I give a caution warning because of the examples contained of mis-treatment of women in gaming situations.
By way of SFAD, June 21, 2003: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix “Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses.
‘It is time,’ he said, ‘for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry.
Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.’”
For style and theme, I really like the "homage" implied in these Ancient Powers Trumps. There is a "Gray Morrow" influence here also that works well since that artist did the "Illustrated Roger Zelazny". Very spiffy campaign pages.
Angel Mills puts up the game chart again. A few more games would be great.
But let me thank all of you for sending in your games. Thank you very much. You're all fantastic people.
Anybody who needs a "pep talk" the half-hour before the game, call me and reverse the charges. Yes, Jen, this applies to you.
A Game Master must have the Heart of a Bard, the Soul of an Artist, the Intellect of a Scientist, the Insight of a Philosopher, the Foresight of a General, the Memory of a Historian, the Will of an Umpire, the Compassion of a Priest, the Patience of a Diplomat, the Ego of an Auteur, and the Instincts of a Gambler...
