The Game soc Nationals - Observations of tabletop roleplaying games

I have never really heard of competitive roleplaying until somebody suggested I go to one of the events. It makes sense I suppose, you can always easily tell if somebody is role playing correctly or well just as anybody can tell a good actor from a bad one. I recently took some time to go and compete for the New World of Darkness title for competitive role playing at the Game society Nationals, however my main reason for going down was to see if there would be a noticeable difference in quality when somebody had been running storytelling systems for extended periods of time in their lives.

When it comes to tabletop storytelling systems the player is left largely without any constraints beyond their imagination and the Game masters world. You would think that this would in and of itself inspire creativity in the hearts of people who play these games, however the reality is quite different. I think tabletop games are a great example of how the ability to make any choice at any time and literally do anything does not make things especially better, it makes choices very difficult for the person making them as they are hampered by the options. Another reference to point that the Bioware and borderlands games make is that people love to make choice and they love for those choices to have a sublime impact on the story and have consequence and weight. But what they don't want is to be unable to choose what it is exactly that they should do.

The games that I played at Game soc were excellent in their own way because they pulled the players into the characters and made them easy to understand, one of the games featured an interesting dream sequence designed to be a tutorial where the player gets a feel for the character they have picked. They were designated by simple one word titles taken from tarot cards which gave us the overall theme for the character while not giving us too much information, the aim of which was to make sure that people did not end up in their specific comfort zones. I believe in these kinds of games there is a specific type of game play the player knows well and usually aspires to, this damages the act of role playing for that player because if they know too well what their ability's are and what they can do they will immediately seek to use these skills to their full effect in any situation using their gamer instincts, this leads to players acting exactly as they would do in linear role-playing games, killing thousands callously without any emotional impact to themselves or their characters, not even flinching when threatened and not for a second thinking 'what would my character do?'.

This seems to be the contradiction of tabletop role playing games, and one of the reasons the phrase 'No plan survives contact with the players' exists. When I began playing games such as Baulders gate and Neverwinter nights I was entranced by the amount of choice I got, the ability to go where I wanted and do what I wanted. This reached its ultimate expression in fallout, a game where I could go out and do anything in a fantasy world, however eventually I found the walls, the built in systems that the game used for advancement, the overlayed main story line and the startling amount of punishment any one human (including...especially the protagonist) could take. All of these things made my all rounded character into a mass murderer in a simple attempt to follow the plot, it became increasingly obvious I could not solve every problem with stealth, words, cunning or allies, it always had to come down to how quick I was with a gun or knife. It seems that the same applies to tabletop games, players are only interested in kicking the door in, looking for trouble and killing for XP, this to me seems counter intuitive as all of those things are handled much better by computer games as a whole, surely the reason tabletop games still exist is they allow more freedom of choice? Then why do people stick to the same thought process when given more freedom? I think the reason (apart from power fantasy and plain old 'its fun this way') is that there are no real games that are designed without the main consideration being these systems, PVP and PVE seem to be the main focus of the games designers so why wouldn't they be the main focus of the people who play those games?

Well, I would like to see something different,

Skyrim vs Dragon age - Avatar vs protagonist

One of the first things I wanted to do when I became a game designer was to create a role playing game which maximized the possibility for choice for the player, I believed that all a game truly needed to make a truly immersive role playing game was choice and feedback. However after a few titles that follow this concept emerged I found them lacking when it came to the actual role play value and immersion, it seems that when this is the case the player is not in fact playing a character but an 'avatar'. The avatar of a player has absolutely no role playing value and is little more then a doll to represent the player's interests, it seems as though in this sort of situation you would feel more role play value 'as if you were there'. However the reality is quite different, what actually seems to happen is the player feels no attachment to the avatar as an actual character, thus no role play value is generated.

I have been running a World of Darkness role playing game recently primarily as a research tool since my original project subject was the WoD IP and moving it to a digital medium. However I have continued the game because it is a storytelling game allowing me to see how players react to role playing stimuli, I am also recording the games to review how people react to parts of the game. What I have found about the game which has put me onto this line of inquiry is that if you give the players a blank canvas of an area and do not give them clear goals they will not decide any for themselves. They will feel lost without any feel for the character even though they themselves are the character, they do not attempt to try and tell their own story but instead await to be given the story to work from.

It is off this that I base my hypothesis that choice alone does not allow players freedom, the more choice you give to somebody after a certain amount actually makes things harder to do at the end of things. It seems that there is a big difference between playing a role playing game and role playing a character, playing a character does not actually inspire roleplay but is instead seen as mastering a system. The player cannot really ever feel the emotions of the situation imagined to them, however what they can do is emote with a fictional character so long as they completely acknowledge that the character is not in fact them but a separate entity with their own goals and desires, you are simply imposing your will upon them not becoming them.

Evidence:
Bioware RPG stratagy
Wod Game

(Randy Pitchford, creator of Borderlands 2)

The above link features a talk by the creator of Borderlands 2 where he talks about the importance of choices in games, but more importantly how people react to choice in certain situations. He reported that after a series of tests people only really care about the worst option and the best option when it comes down to it, people also seem to think more positively towards the choices they make and negatively towards the choices they did not make. With these considerations borderlands includes a lot of simply choices between 2 different outcomes, the purpose of this is not to allow diversity in an end result but to give the player more choices, simply because choices are empowering to gamers even if they do not have any real power.

(Mass effect, Bioware)

A prime example of the above teachings is Bioware's Mass effect IP, a game that offered series of choices for the protagonist which had a rather large amount of impact to the storyline, much like the one shown here. However they eluded to a branch in the ending of the game which could never have lived up to its own Hype. The most successful part of this game series however is that they did not need to live up to the impossible goal they set because they made every single choice matter on a personal lever to the player, this was do to the high levels of empathy the player could feel towards their protagonist. The 'shepherd' had lots of well written character development and relationships with their crew members which allowed for a significant roleplaying feeling and the ability to see serious value in every single choice that the player makes. 

Tablets: The mid core console

With tablet consoles becoming one of the most popular pieces of technology in circulation at present, they serve as the most likely flagship for a game aimed at the mid core genre. Games which are not only aimed at the traditional market but also are aimed at a new market, people between the ages of 30-50 with commitments that would make a traditional hard core game too time consuming to play properly.

The problem with tablets however is that they use a completely different input systems compared to traditional gaming systems since they do not have buttons, also due to the small screen constraints the UI and other inputs must be completely minimalistic. These elements do not translate well to a game that is built around speed reactions in any significant way, however luckily the focus of mid core games should not be speedy reactions or competition lest we loose non-traditional gamers from our target market.

So a tablet seems to be almost purpose built for a mid core game, the two seem to go together like.. I dont know a car and wheels?

Anyway if the main reward we are giving to our player is not the same as traditional games 'achievement and feelings of superiority and adrenaline' what are we going to be offering to our players?

Well lets look at some games that are successful without working on adrenaline based reaction time rewards!

The Room:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2013/jan/23/the-room-iphone-ipad-1m-sales 

The room was a very successful iphone game app which did not in any way work on adrenaline or thumb speed dominance reward models. The entire game focused around a very intricate safe, you are given a letter from the man who owns it, he states that you are the only one he trusts to open it. After that the only objective of the game is to figure out how to open the safe and find out what is within, it is a deeply rewarding puzzle game with a minimal set up meaning the game play is uninhibited.

It is a great example of a successful mid core game which works solely on mechanics, it is a challenge of wits which allows the player to test their cognative functions against the game, presumably this could be enjoyed by anybody who has ever played a crossword or sudoku.

This game teaches us that puzzle based games make great mid core mechanics, as they allow players to test their mental skills against the game and feel validated when they succeed, however these types of games have a certain failing. Once the player fails to defeat a puzzle or challenge presented by the game it immediately loses any sort of joy to the player, it stops being something that the player wants to do and instead becomes something they have to do. Some games have found the workaround to be giving the player an option to skip that part of the respective gameplay, however I do not think this to be an adequate solution to the problem, you do not feel like you accomplished anything when it is handed to you, it would be like being able to have the boss of a level killed for you. Perhaps it would be better to have a multitude of ways to solve a puzzle while keeping it at the same level of difficulty, because not being able to solve a puzzle immediately makes somebody feel worthless.

Puzzles and mental challenges are a good as a mechanic however I feel that such a game would not really be a mid core game but more of a casual game if it was simply a puzzle collection, there needs to be slightly more to a game in my opinion. One thing that fiction has proven is that everybody loves a good story so maybe that is what is missing. The thing that really makes The Room a captivating game is how its minimalistic storytelling brings the player into the situation properly without making them feel as though they should be overwhelmed by it all.

The seven basic plots

Overcoming the monster

As you may already have guessed from the title the overcoming the monster plot focuses around a central protagonist being forced to face down a personification of evil. All of these parametrise can be interpreted in a variety of different ways, this plot by no means has to have violence for example. There is also a 'dark' version of this plot, where the story centralises around the monster, or a person who becomes the personification of evil and it eventually leads to his downfall. The identifiable stages of an overcoming the monster plot are as follows:

1) Anticipation stage: In the first stage of the story the reader is usually made aware of some great evil monster, possibly from a distance, however sometimes the reader is also given a glimpse of the great evils destructive power. The story then progresses as the evil casts a shadow over a community or in some other way threatens the peace, the protagonist of the story is given a call to confront this evil.

2) Dream stage: The protagonist begins his journey of preparation to confront the great evil that threatens the heroes world, they encounter a reasonable amount of success along the way however the overall mood is anticipation of the dangers they will soon be facing.

3) Frustration stage: The protagonist comes face to face with his great monster and even after the protagonists preparation they seem insignificant compared to the awesome power of the monster. Eventually the protagonist will seem to fall under the power of the monster, the story shall seem to only have one outcome.

4)Nightmare stage: The final confrontation begins, the protagonist seems unbelievably outmatched by the might of the monster, until at the last moment comes the 'reversal'

5)The thrilling escape from death and the death of the monster: At the final moment the monster is dealt a fatal blow, the protagonist escapes from the clutches of death and the protagonist reaps the rewards, fame, fortune, love and liberation for his people.

These stages can be found in every overcoming the monster plot line, their order may however change. There is of course a dark version of this story, where either the protagonist becomes the monster or the protagonist was the monster all along, in these stories the events go very similarly however the story focuses on the monster's effects on the story, shrouding the protagonist to show the blindness to the protagonist that is the monsters weakness.

These story lines are very common in games, they allow the player to follow the hero through their action packed adventure in which they overcome all obstacles in their defeat of a great evil entity.
Game: Zelda
Film: Kill Bill
Book: David and Goliath

Rags to Riches

Rags to riches seems to be deeply linked into our collective subconscious, perhaps something that we all wish for ourselves or maybe a metaphor for growing up. Apart from the most simple of the stories rags to riches usually break down into 5 identifiable stories:

1) Initial bad life followed by the 'call': We are introduced to the protagonist in a starting 'lower state', this is shown primarily by the protagonist being surrounded by 'dark figures' who constantly demean them and scorn them. This situation ends with the character being called in some way out into the wider world.

2) Out into the world, initial success: Although this new movement in their life may be somehow fraught with new challenges the protagonists shall gain some amount of success, they may even be able to outstrip some former dark figures in his life. They may even meet for the first time their love interest, however in some way it will be made clear that their success is not complete

3) The central crisis: All of a sudden everything goes horribly wrong, the shadows of the oppressors return and the fortunes the protagonist has amassed all are taken away from the protagonist, they are left powerless and unable to change his/her fortunes anymore, this is the lowest point in the story.

4) Independence and the final ordeal: The crisis is finally over when the protagonist (still unfulfilled) finds a sense of inner strength and Independence. This continues to reward the protagonist until they are put to a final trial, usually with dark figures or malevolent forces blocking the protagonist from his true goal, only when this final obstacle has been overcome can the shadows that loom over the protagonist be resolved.

5) Final union, completion and fulfilment: The protagonist finally gains a form of recognition for their work, they will either gain the love of their life, succeed to some sort of 'kingdom' or gain the wealth and fame that they deserve. This signifies perfect fulfilment and a final happy ending.

There is of course many ways to interpret these ideas and in some cases even other ways to structure these events, but most likely the story shall play out like this. There is a dark version of this story where the events carry out very much the same, however the means for his desire for gain are purely egotistical, all of his adversaries become victims to his own monstrous ambitions until finally the protagonist is left in a void with his hollow and worthless accomplishments.

The Rags to Riches story is not as common in games, however elements have been played out in certain titles  and there are games that work on the same elements that this works on:
Games: Dragon age 2, The sims (on a certain level the gameplay is about taking your sim from rags to riches)
Books:The adventures of Tom Sawyer
Films: The persuit of Happiness

The Quest

One of the most aptly named and obvious of the basic plots, the story focuses on a selfless and noble protagonist being pulled toward an all important goal which always becomes bigger then their own goals, this goal drags the protagonist onwards in such a way that the protagonist cannot feel satisfied or sated until they manage to complete their tasks.
The basic rundown of a quest plot line goes as so:

1) The Call: The happy atmosphere of the hero's life is shattered and an element of oppression is flung all around him, possibly his land is taken over. They may be given some sort of supernatural vision of what they must do

2) The journey: The protagonist and his group set off across life-threatening and horrific ordeals, each of these ordeals shall end in a thrilling escape from death for the protagonist but not necessary for his companions. Along the way they will probably receive help and advice from a wise old figure, or even a love interest, they may even transcend death through extreme effort.

3) Arrival and frustration: The protagonist arrives within sight of his goal but they find that they are far away from reaching the end of his story and is left feeling unfulfilled. They then sees a series of monolithic obstacles between him and his final goals.

4) The final ordeals: The protagonist has to face the final set of of goals (usually 3) the final one usually the most threatening of all, these final challenges prove the true worth of the protagonist and identify all of his true strengths.

5) The Goal: After a last thrilling escape from death the hero's goals are finally met, they save the kingdom, win the heart of a love interest and more importantly vanquishes the evil threat that they had vowed to.

There is a dark quest version of this story, best personified in the famous story Moby Dick, where captain Ahab pursues the white whale for no other reason then to destroy it. He is the central dark figure, opposed to the life of Moby Dick, he is willing to sacrifice anything to get what he desires and eventually after a long series of ordeals where he proves himself truly without repentance he causes his own destruction.

Another very commonly used plot for computer games is the quest, usually the quest plot bleeds into other similar plots, the common difference between the quests is found in the structure of the events as they transpire.
Games: Mass effect
Films: Star wars
Books: Lord of the rings

Voyage and return

Another iconic plot line documents the protagonist's progression from their normal world into another alternate world, then the story follows their slow progression back to their previous world. Weather or not the story is a happy or light story depends on weather or not the journey to the alternate world brings a revelation to the protagonist, if not the story is likely the 'Dark' variant of voyage and return.

1) Anticipation stage: The story begins with the protagonist in some way open to a shattering new experience, their consciousness is restricted in some way, possibly young and inexperienced with limited worldly experience. whatever the reason may be they find their way out of their normal world into a larger world full of wonder.

2) Dream stage: At first this new world is engaging and puzzling, the world is very much a new adventure to the protagonist, however they can never feel truly at home there and it haunts them.

3) Fascination stage: Gradually the nature of the adventure moves from a feeling of adventure to frustration and oppression. A shadow begins to intrude, which becomes increasingly alarming.

4) Nightmare stage: The shadow becomes dominating and it seems to pose a serious threat to the protagonists survival.

5) Thrilling escape and return: When the threat that is overbearing the protagonist becomes far too much to bear they make a thrilling escape form their near certain death and arrive back where they started, then the important definitive question is asked.
'Did they learn anything from their adventure? or was it all just a dream'

There are a few voyage and return games out, however they are not as vast and popular as the stories that follow previously mentioned plots.
Game: Myst
Film: Finding Nemo
Book: Through the looking glass

Comedy

One of the most complicated of the basic plots simply because it has to span a lot of different possibilities. The basic incarnation of comedy plot focuses around revelation, the humour was derived from the characters being unaware of something that was seemingly obvious to the audience. Unlike the other plot lines comedy breaks down to two key stages, which are separated by revelation.

1) One or more characters are trapped in They either go through a change of
a dark state of ignorance or arrogance heart or are exposed and punished.
Which casts a shadow over others.

2) The identity or true nature of one or Their true identities or nature are revealed.
more characters is hidden or unclear.

3) Lovers are still in a state of uncertainty: Each lover is united with his or her
e.g they are separated by misunderstanding 'Other half'
or are still in the process of pairing off.

4) Families are divided and things are Families are reunited and everything
'Not as they should be'. is restored to its proper place.

A lot of things in the comedy plot are a lot less certain when compared to the the other plot lines, however there is one thing that is always certain in a comedy. A true happy ending cannot be reached until every individual in the story discovers who they are or is punished for not reaching this revelation.

Due to the transient nature of the comedy plot line it is hard to sum it up so simply, because its very nature means that it has to cover a variety of different situations. It is true however that a comedy will always have these story elements:

1)We see a little world in which people have passed under a shadow of confusion, uncertainty and frustration, and are shut off from one another.

2) The confusion gets worse until the pressure of darkness is at its more acute and everyone is in a nightmarish tangle.

3) Finally, with the coming of light things not previously recognised, perceptions are dramatically changed. The shadows are dispelled, the situation is miraculously transformed and the little world is brought together in a state of joyful union.

Just to confound the plot of comedy further unlike all of the other plots there is no 'dark' version of comedy per Se, because if you attempt to make a dark comedy you are left with a tragedy. Likewise tragedy does not have a light version, it becomes a comedy.

Comedy if a difficult story to appear on an interactive medium, however it finds its way in on quite a few titles.
Game: Conkers bad fur day
Movie: Forgetting sarah marshall
Book: The princess bride

Tragedy

Tragedy is almost as complex and diverse as comedy, seeing as any plot out of the seven can be a tragedy. Tragedy traditionally ends with its protagonists left alone in a void created by their own hubris or actions, leading ultimately to their deaths, it is rare to find a tragedy that doesn't at least imply these things.
The plot of a tragedy can be broken down into these five stages, however there are many variations:

1) Anticipation stage: The protagonist is in some way incomplete or unfulfilled and his thoughts are turned towards the future in hopes of some unusual gratification. Some objects of desire or course of action presents itself, and his energies have found a focus.

2) Dream stage: The protagonist becomes in some way committed to his course of action and for a while things go almost improbably well for the hero. He is winning the gratification he had dreamt of, and seems to be 'getting away with it'.

3) Frustration stage: Almost imperceptibly things go wrong. The protagonist cannot find a point of rest, he beings to experience a sense of frustration, and in order to secure his position may feel compelled to further 'dark acts' which lock him into his course of action even more irrevocably. a 'shadow figure' may appear at this point, seeming in some obscure way to threaten him.

4) Nightmare stage: Things are now slipping seriously out of the hero's control. He has a mounting sense of threat and despair. Forces of opposition and fate are closing in on him.

5) Destruction or death wish stage: Either by the forces the protagonist has aroused against them self, or by some final act of violence which precipitates their own death the protagonist is destroyed.

This is by no means the only way in which a tragedy plot can be defined however it does show the key stages which most tragedy stories must have, an unfulfilled protagonist shall be tempted into dark acts which will eventually leave the protagonist utter damnation and eventual death.
The plot of tragedy has also been based around the divided self, the story shows a reasonable and kind protagonist who has certain flaws in her personality which create a 'dark' version of this character, this dark compulsion causes the seemingly nice and kind individual to follow the plot of a tragedy. The story can also monitor the characters transformation from a seemingly kind and reasonable person into a monster in any of the other stories.

There do not seem to be any games that truly follow the plot of a tragedy  mostly because nobody wants to play the guy who gets screwed over at the end of the story. Some games provide you with the choice to die in a tragic way however they only do this to add a level of consequence to the game.
Game: Some games have tragic elements, like Gears of war's romance between Dom and Mia
Book: Hamlet
Film: No country for old men

Rebirth

The final of the seven basic plots, the theme of rebirth can take many forms, however it will always follow the same sequence of events.

1) A young protagonist falls under the shadow of a dark power.

2) For a while, all may seem to go reasonably well, the threat may even seem to have receded.

3) But eventually it approaches again in full force, until the protagonist is seen imprisoned in a state of living death.

4) This continues for a long time, until it seems that the dark power has completely triumphed.

5) Finally the protagonist comes to a miraculous redemption, when the imprisoned figure is redeemed by the characters with which they have developed the most close relationships with.

The rebirth plot bases itself solely on the relationships between the protagonists and those most dear to them. The dark version of this plot would follow the protagonist as he falls under the power of a dark entity, and although they may get many chances to be revived by their past relationships, their actions before they fell under the dark power cause these people to fail them.

The rebirth plot appears in games slightly but not as much as the other plots, mostly because it dosnt seem to carry the mechanics popular games sell with as easy as some other plots.
Game: Similarly to the tragedy rebirth only appears in the form of the reformed villains in games.
Book: The ice queen
Film: The Grinch

Alright so that is a summery of the 7 basic plots to a story.