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About Me Member Fantasy Writer Jon FulkMale/United States Recent Activity Deviant for 3 Years
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GameMaster Theory

Tue Feb 9, 2010, 4:49 AM
  • Mood: Content
  • Listening to: Masters Of The Universe by Juno Reactor
I'm going to talk about different kinds of people who play roleplaying games in broad general strokes. These three are, necessarily, caricatures. Most people have traits of all three general types, ranging through strong or weak preferences in all areas. However, it is a suitable fiction for the purposes of this highly, uh, imprecise discussion. In descending order of how much broken rules impact them, we have...

Type A, "narrativist", is the kind of person who plays for the story. Essentially, the game is something like a movie, or a novel, just one with a bit more interactivity involved. For this kind of player, changing the rules on them if it furthers the story is fine, because they don't really care about verisimilitude or an interesting game as much as the delicious drama. Changing the rules on a Type A player has minimal effect.

Type B, "simulationist", is the kind of person who plays for the setting. Essentially, the game is a living simulation / sandbox full of interesting things which he can poke and prod and do stuff to. For this kind of player, changing the rules on them alters the expected stimulus-response reaction he expects to get from the sandbox, as the ruleset is what he uses to interact with it. Changing the rules on Type B breaks their suspension of disbelief.

Type C, "gamist", is the kind of person who plays for the game. Essentially, the game is a game. A game is a series of interesting choices, a set of problems to be solved, a scenario to be conquered, etc, etc. For this kind of player, changing the rules on them violates the point of the game. You can't play a game where the rules change arbitrarily, unless changing rules arbitrarily is the point of the game. Changing the rules on Type C invalidates the game.

Balance in all things.

I write stories, not just character bits and notes; I have written full books and many short stories; as an ST I can aid in the telling of an epic adventure with the narrativist. But I am not telling only his story, he must share the spotlight with others and go where the tale may not follow and the rules dictate.

I research the setting, I know the flows of where the original creators IMHO want the story to go and with what details they drive it; I can explore a setting with the simulationist. But there is a story to be told and rules to follow, so some parts may have to be left for another time.

I read and research the rules, even going and lurking such forums as this so to expand my understanding of them and how others understand them. I can discuss rules with the gamist But the story is not beholden to the rules and in searching out adventure there will be times when no rule applies.

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  • Interests: Writing, story telling; generaly being lost in my own little world.
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  • Favourite game: Dungeons & Dragons
  • Favourite gaming platform: My brain.
  • Favourite cartoon character: Alucard
  • Personal Quote: Remember: I use the actual meaning of a word, not what you may think it means.
  • Tools of the Trade: .44 magnum, tool box, car with large trunk, spade, latex gloves; you know, all the normal things

deviantID

Words. You can start wars with them, you can bring peace with them, make laughter or tears with them, or in my case, be really, really annoying. But that’s what I do, I annoy you about something to make you think on what you do.

If someone accidentally sticks their hand in a blender and turns it on, the first words out of my mouth will be, ‘nice move, retard’ in very sarcastic tone. I figure that you already know it hurts and you are not alright, so I don’t ask what everyone else does when they see an accident, ‘are you ok?’

But I digress. Words. They have meaning. There are, as I see it, two reasons to use a word; one is the exact meaning and the other is the feel or image it evokes when read or spoken aloud. Its like ‘red’ and ‘crimson’. Their meaning is basically the same but to most people who read, truly read the meaning of words they are quite different. So as you read these collected thoughts, warnings and ramblings, please Remember: I use the actual meaning of a word, not what you may think it means.

Also while it may not always be my intent to offend or debase, as a theoretically free human of earth and the United States I will offend when I so choose, whether with a gaseous expelling of offensive olfactory stimulus, or by using a taboo word, like shit. Or fuck. Or nigger. Yes that’s right the ‘N’ word. Gasp

Now if you’re reading this paragraph I know you not a moron, or you’re a racist. If you are a racist you minus well stop reading now because I’m not a fascist. I do not form lynch mobs, well, not for that reason. Now for those of you who are not morons you know that ‘nigger’ is a word. It is a series of sounds spoken in the English tongue, a sound that has acquired a stigmata. The same thing has happened to words like ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’. Thanks to our modern way of life and certain prohibitions against their use, ahem* FCC *ahem, they have become locked into the category of ‘bad word’ when normally they would have rotated out of use by now.

In the past the ‘bad word’ category held such modern stunners as; crap, damn, thigh, breast, and the scorcher, the end all to end alls, the permanently-banned-from-church-if-you-dare-utter-it-aloud word: humbug. Yes gentle-folk, humbug was a no-no. Shit was, well, it was shit. Crap. Feces. Defecation leavings. Potty pythons.

Now according to linguists the words that ‘offend’ used to change all the time, they become commonplace and no longer shock or alarm people, then they would take their place in the ‘ proper’ language. But no. We went and made them off-limits. And if there is one constant in the universe, it is that humans desire what is deigned them. If it is taboo or offensive, we gotta get us some of that.


Anyway, be warned: I will write what I want, where I want, and with whatever shade of blood I want write to in.

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