Storytelling systems for all they are worth

In this post I will be looking into a more analog version of a storytelling system, the humble table top storytelling game.

(AD&D 1st ed cover art)

One of the most famous and successful of the tabletop game systems is the Dungeons and Dragons series of tabletop board games. This system has evolved its ethos, philosophy and playing styles throughout its long life time, as its players has also changed so has the game, slowly taking into account changes in popular culture as well as constantly adding to its own cosmology. It is interesting to examine how this rule set has changed throughout the years.

In the first creation of this rule set it was the job of the Dungeon master to know the rules of the world and system inside and out, the very complex rule set was left for him and him alone to master while the players would only need to know the rules for creating their character. The idea was obviously brought in to get around the complexity of the overall game, however since the rules were themselves complex the character creation process was also complex. As the game moved on in generations both the creation of characters and the the rules that the DM would know by comparison to the players changed to become more balanced, and overall, more complex.

The popularity of this game system is unquestionable, however if this system has a classification it would have to be 'hard-core'. The amount of research required to be even remotely familiar with the system is amazing, however people are still more then willing to plunder through all of the rule sets in all of the books to sit down at a table and be a part of the adventure.

My thoughts? As somebody who has played more then 3 incarnations of this game set for years I cannot help but have an opinion about this system. While it is a great game, with systems for advancement  combat, choice and role playing it also becomes quite difficult to call this a storytelling system. The sheer amount of rules in this game, coupled with systems such as advancement, seems to detract from the actual process of role-playing in this game, being replaced by a desire within each of the players to 'advance' by any means. This inclusion of an advancement system coupled with a rule set that focused on combat above all else makes this game less about telling a good story and more about a power fantasy being played out, this leads to most player character being little more then an avatar capable of doing anything without a single emotion if the player presses the correct button.

(World of darkness storytelling system, White wolf)

In contrast to the Dungeons and dragons storytelling system comes the World of darkness storytelling system, a different take on the same type of table top role playing game. In world of darkness the rules are simplified as much as possible to attempt to counter the pitfall that the player falls into in the D&D system. The overall premise of the game is that in the modern world there are supernatural creatures with their own society and agendas, these creatures are dangerous and misunderstood but of the time antagonistic.
While this system makes the rules easier to learn and follow, and even more so includes elements about the characters that give players an insight into how the character feels, it still falls into some pitfalls. While the players now focus more on what their characters would do or feel they still have a looming sense of a requirement for advancement. This detaches from the players desire to in some way follow through the story as a character, instead wanting only to achieve power without really thinking about a reason for this.

Since both of these systems are the most popular types of tabletop game I think it is important to examine why they are successful, or more accurately why people play these games. It seems that I have already mentioned the main reason why people play D&D, it seems to be built around a power fantasy that the game fulfills for the player, along with the ability to follow the slight narrative of a quest story. It seems that the same can be said for World of darkness also, while most of the game play is based upon the atmosphere and dealing with the conflicts the the game presents to you a large part for players seems to be planning for their character to become big and powerful then steaming towards that goal with no regard for anything other then expansion.

These systems are very near and dear to my heart, however I do not wish to fall into the same category they seem to when trying to create my own storytelling system.