the_gneech (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_gneech) wrote2022-11-20 08:37 am
the_gneech) wrote2022-11-20 08:37 am
Entry tags:
Wanting More Than Monsters and Magic
I run D&D "professionally" on Sundays, and I both run and play in a regular Saturday night group that's been going for many years now; I engage a lot in killing monsters and taking their stuff. But for some months now I've been left unsatisfied by it. Not because of any problems with other players or anything like that, but because the stories have felt shallow. All plot no theme, I guess? Lots of tactical engagement, but little or no character development?
And, I mean, you can't force a TTRPG to have depth. There are ways to encourage it (see also The Rise of Cozycore TTRPGs), but it has to be something that is consciously brought to the table, it has to be something everyone who wants it is engaged in, and it has have a safe space to be. RP deeper than table banter and dice rolling can be a vulnerable thing, often better expressed in text than face to face. I think that may be one reason I got so much "pure RP" enjoyment out of the TwitterPonies: it was RP-by-post, with time to hone your character's thoughts and actions, and without having to actually look at the other player during intense emotional scenes.
As a player, some of this boils down to the character I'm currently playing. Aurora is fun, but compared to Shade-Of-the-Candle she's shallow as a flea's footbath. "Be nice, make puns, and punch badguys" is the entirety of her personality and she has zero ties to the setting—because the setting is "we've been launched into space and don't know what's going on." She has no demons to overcome and no goals to achieve, other than whatever the current scenario puts in front of her; as a player, I'm not even really invested in the "save the world" metaplot, because Faerun is just a cardboard cutout of a world.
It's not a reflection on the GM, Blitzy is great; it's a natural result of creating a character who is intended to find her story in the adventure, and the adventure (so far) being a linear series of fights with here-today-gone-tomorrow NPCs. I built Aurora this way specifically because Shady is such a force of nature that she's all but shaped the campaign she's in by force of will, and I don't want to hog the spotlight. I am prone to Main Character Syndrome, and I wanted to make a character who was a better team player, but unfortunately the result has kinda been a character who is passively watching the story unfold, going where I as the player perceive the "Story Over Here ->" signs, rather than pursuing her own agendas.
As the GM, the issue is a little more complex. There is a lot of "managing spinning plates" as a GM: presenting a cohesive world, creating engaging characters, keeping the session moving, and more. My Sunday game is an adaptation of Red Hand of Doom, which is a very plot-heavy story of impending war—and the ongoing challenge has been making sure it was more than just an ongoing series of skirmishes with goblins. I've worked to create recurring characters both good and bad (much annoying the barbarian when the enemies run away so they can have a rematch later) and make Elsir Vale a place that the players care about. The players are enjoying it, which is gratifying, but again for me it feels shallow, and I don't know what if anything I can do about that. If the players are enjoying it, what would "more depth" even look like, for me?
For the Saturday night games, I've been building a new setting that moves away from the standard "D&D-land" and looks more to JRPGs and anime as inspirations. Besides deliberate echoes of Final Fantasy (chocobo-esque "riding drakes," anime-style visual handouts, that kind of thing), the setting has kaiju stomping around, airships, tsundere NPCs, and whatever else I can think to toss in. At the very last second, the campaign framework turned into a Monster Hunting Academy inspired by RWBY and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (which is probably the most "anime" official D&D project ever), but the campaign is still basically D&D (even if it'll be using Pathfinder 2E as the actual ruleset). Part of the reason I've gone this route is to create a setting where a deeper story is baked in from the ground up. Yes, that story is tropey as heck, but it is still more than just "kill monsters and take their stuff."
I'm thinking, tho, that I should probably do more. I'm looking at the character-driven mechanics of Powered By the Apocalypse (particularly in reference to Masks, Monster of the Week, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians) for inspiration, as well as trying to re-frame how I build adventures. Back in my HERO System days adventure building always started with the PCs (specifically, rolling to see which Hunted and/or Dependent NPC disads would appear, as well as looking for opportunities to poke their Physical and Psychological limitations), whereas migrating to D&D inverted that to the point where the adventure is there first and the PCs have to be fitted into it. I want to get back to the way I used to do it.
Also, honestly, I think I may just need a break. >.>
-The Gneech
And, I mean, you can't force a TTRPG to have depth. There are ways to encourage it (see also The Rise of Cozycore TTRPGs), but it has to be something that is consciously brought to the table, it has to be something everyone who wants it is engaged in, and it has have a safe space to be. RP deeper than table banter and dice rolling can be a vulnerable thing, often better expressed in text than face to face. I think that may be one reason I got so much "pure RP" enjoyment out of the TwitterPonies: it was RP-by-post, with time to hone your character's thoughts and actions, and without having to actually look at the other player during intense emotional scenes.
As a player, some of this boils down to the character I'm currently playing. Aurora is fun, but compared to Shade-Of-the-Candle she's shallow as a flea's footbath. "Be nice, make puns, and punch badguys" is the entirety of her personality and she has zero ties to the setting—because the setting is "we've been launched into space and don't know what's going on." She has no demons to overcome and no goals to achieve, other than whatever the current scenario puts in front of her; as a player, I'm not even really invested in the "save the world" metaplot, because Faerun is just a cardboard cutout of a world.
It's not a reflection on the GM, Blitzy is great; it's a natural result of creating a character who is intended to find her story in the adventure, and the adventure (so far) being a linear series of fights with here-today-gone-tomorrow NPCs. I built Aurora this way specifically because Shady is such a force of nature that she's all but shaped the campaign she's in by force of will, and I don't want to hog the spotlight. I am prone to Main Character Syndrome, and I wanted to make a character who was a better team player, but unfortunately the result has kinda been a character who is passively watching the story unfold, going where I as the player perceive the "Story Over Here ->" signs, rather than pursuing her own agendas.
As the GM, the issue is a little more complex. There is a lot of "managing spinning plates" as a GM: presenting a cohesive world, creating engaging characters, keeping the session moving, and more. My Sunday game is an adaptation of Red Hand of Doom, which is a very plot-heavy story of impending war—and the ongoing challenge has been making sure it was more than just an ongoing series of skirmishes with goblins. I've worked to create recurring characters both good and bad (much annoying the barbarian when the enemies run away so they can have a rematch later) and make Elsir Vale a place that the players care about. The players are enjoying it, which is gratifying, but again for me it feels shallow, and I don't know what if anything I can do about that. If the players are enjoying it, what would "more depth" even look like, for me?
For the Saturday night games, I've been building a new setting that moves away from the standard "D&D-land" and looks more to JRPGs and anime as inspirations. Besides deliberate echoes of Final Fantasy (chocobo-esque "riding drakes," anime-style visual handouts, that kind of thing), the setting has kaiju stomping around, airships, tsundere NPCs, and whatever else I can think to toss in. At the very last second, the campaign framework turned into a Monster Hunting Academy inspired by RWBY and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (which is probably the most "anime" official D&D project ever), but the campaign is still basically D&D (even if it'll be using Pathfinder 2E as the actual ruleset). Part of the reason I've gone this route is to create a setting where a deeper story is baked in from the ground up. Yes, that story is tropey as heck, but it is still more than just "kill monsters and take their stuff."
I'm thinking, tho, that I should probably do more. I'm looking at the character-driven mechanics of Powered By the Apocalypse (particularly in reference to Masks, Monster of the Week, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians) for inspiration, as well as trying to re-frame how I build adventures. Back in my HERO System days adventure building always started with the PCs (specifically, rolling to see which Hunted and/or Dependent NPC disads would appear, as well as looking for opportunities to poke their Physical and Psychological limitations), whereas migrating to D&D inverted that to the point where the adventure is there first and the PCs have to be fitted into it. I want to get back to the way I used to do it.
Also, honestly, I think I may just need a break. >.>
-The Gneech