Role-playing and Literature

[Hugin]

How does what you read affect your Role-playing game. (Role-playing refering to table top role-playing games{RPG} like DnD, Vampire and the like)

I have found that there are two types of role-players:
1. The play by numbers kind that usually move from computer RPG's to table top RPGs. These guys tend to be more interested in the stats, and play a very technical game.

2. The more immersive type of player/GM (and my preferred type) .These tend to be the people that read allot and then want to create an immersive story as good if not better than the fantasy/Sci Fi/Horror they read about.

{These are generalisations of course I have seen exceptions to the rule, and I am not bashing either kind of player, both styles can be fun.}

What books have affected your games, and how? What good stories have you read set in a role-playing world? What non-genre books have contributed to game or character?

 

[Jemima Aslana]

Oof, big question.

I'd have to start out saying I disagree with your definitions. Most role-players I know started out with the computer games and then went to the table-top, I myself am one of them(and I belong in your preferred group)

What I see as making the major difference is maturity. The hormonal teenage boys who still think an Arnold Schwartzenegger movie is the best entertainment there is will be more like to focus on "I play a lvl 18!!!! Fighter with a Str of 20!!!"

While those who have reached a state where they also appreciate the 'slow' immersion of reading a book tend more towards actually building a character with character so to speak. Mind you, some reach this state while they're still teens, but most do not.

And trust me on this, I teach role-playing classes and have seen quite a few kids go through them. It has nothing to do with having played pc-games first and everything to do with their individual maturity.

Now, as for actually answering your question:

Naturally the novels published by Wizards of the Coast about FR has affected my D&D games. They do set a sort of standard for what many people do and don't do in the Realms, though they set more of a standard for me as the DM than for me as a Player. And yet, when I make a character I make a point of not making him/her an oddity. For instance I don't go for Chaotic Good drow rangers which is a phenomenon I have come to hate, if not for my house rule restirction I would be GMing for entire parties with noble drow rangers. I don't go for weird lycanthropic characters either.

My lastest creation is something as simple as a Priest of Mystra, and she's human(how ordinary) but it is through her personality she will become special and an individual. In my current AD&D group we have such impressive normalcy as a Human Fighter, Elven Fighter, Human Priest(me) and a Human Wild Mage, we agree that if we are to be special, we shall be so through our role-playing not through character creation.

I don't think, though, that any books as such have actually affected our gaming directly, not in this group nor in any of my other groups. In the Call of Cthulhu group in which I'm the Keeper I naturally try to build up an atmospher to match that which can be found in Lovecraft's, Derleth's, Campbell's and others' books, but as such they don't affect play directly.

Good stories read: well.... technically with Call of Cthulhu the RP world was made based on the stories written... so I don't really think it counts hehe. In FR most books are too easy and light to really 'catch' me, but the series House of Serpents and The Erevis Cale trilogy have been more to my taste than most other FR books.

As for non-genre: Ehhh Monty Python. And no, I kid you not. In the Call of Cthulhu scenario I run with my RP class currently (and trust me, these kids haven't understood the concept of seeking clues and active investigation yet) I introduced the killer rabbit - or to be precise: the killer polar hare. The moment I described it to them half of them exclaimed: "It's the one from Monty Python!!" So for my own humble comfort it's nice to know that they at least watch some decent stuff on the telly

Other than that I haven't really ever been influenced much by books, as I think about it.

What about yourself?

 

[Hugin]

Ok, I'll grant you my definitions were well.....wrong. I also started out on the PC and when I thought about it so did most role-players I know. Both the 'play by numbers' and the 'immersive' types.

Now, I have to ask: role-playing classes? How do you get to teach role-playing? Are these leisure classes (10 step course to being a better role-player/role-playing 101: Finding your inner fighter) or a remedial education type setup.

I am very interested in anything going on in the world of role-playing. I have been fortunate enough to play with the best GM's in South Africa, and GM for the best group of role-players have seen, and help organise a role-playing convention (fun, but more work then I could have imagined).

I also helped my girlfriend (studying Drama) with parts of her final year thesis, about: Role-playing and its applications in Theatre! We did some practical research into the applications of role-playing as a teaching tool. It was extremely interesting, and I got to run some fascinating games.

Back to the actual topic. I have forgotten most of what has inspired my games.

I flagrantly plagiarise the personalities of characters from books I am reading, if I am playing a game. The times where I play though are rare. I am, if I can help it a GM/storyteller.

When it comes to running a game I am very strict with myself. I know my players all read allot, and I don't want them going: 'Oh I know what’s going on, I read about this in that book.'

I have taken inspiration for some NPC's though. One of the most memorable characters I have ever read about is Wiznab and/or Fizban from Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Forgotten Realms books and Deathgate Cycle books.

I love that character, the crazy old man. Knows more than he is letting on, and you are never quite sure weather he really is crazy, or just putting on a show. I love putting in odd characters like that.

I also try and recreate the atmosphere of some memorable books in my games. I red Fear by L. Ron Hubbert (quite some time ago), and I loved the confusing, crazy spooky feeling the book gave me. I sat down and wrote a game trying to recreate that feeling. It worked brilliantly! I had my players on the edge of their seats, and one girl was actually hiding her head under a blanket she was that creeped out!

Some games I might fashion after a Greek tragedy or a Shakespeare. The themes in these works are so easy, universal and effective to use in any game.

The next theme/concept/environment that I want to incorporate in a game is the mystery and dark atmosphere of Neil Gaimand's Neverwhere. I am not sure what system I am going to use yet, as I want to start a new campaign, with a system I don't know, I am considering Changeling: The dreaming or D20 Modern.

Neverwhere is about an underworld beneath London where people use magic. It’s a land filled with things forgotten, things that have fallen through the cracks. It is dark and strange and everyone is hiding something.

Rats are creatures of nobility, and they are much revered. Money is useless, so everything works in terms of barter (this I love, I so want to throw my characters into a situation where money is useless).

Now I have to remember Monty Python! I have to put them on a quest to find The Shrubbery!

 

[Ayan]

the only role-plays i've ever done are forum rps.... i've found that i only join rps that are the same genre of the books i read....

i mostly rp to help clear my own writer's block, but it's fun to make some new friends and just dive into the storyline... i sometimes find rps to be more enjoyable than books for the simple reason that i am a part of the story

not exactly sure if that's what you're looking for, but whatever, there it is....

 

[Hugin]

Ayan - I've never tried a forum RP before.

Can you suggest any sites to visit?

 

[Jemima Aslana]

The site I Admin has a section for forum RPs. It's www.icewinddale.com

You could also visit Shadow of the Dragon gaming forums - though take noto that the forum is down these days but should be up again sometime next week, I think. So the link should not remain faulty It's http://shadowdragon.kelticmoose.com/Forum/

As for my role-playing classes: We have this thing called Youth Schools in Denmark. They offer different kinds of classes to kids aged 13-19 in the evenings. The phenomenon started in 1942 because the Danish gov needed to set up some kind of spare-time activites to rival the offers from Hitler Jugend. So the main objective was "to keep the youngsters away from the Nazis" funnily this clause has not been changed since then so this is still our purpose - nevermind that Nazis aren't a threat anymore and many of our students are second generation immigrants from the Balkans and Africa.

Funny piece of info

As for my classes it's simply a class where I am GM and guide the kids through an RP. The aims are to introduce them to at least 3 time-periods over the course of one year and at least three RP systems. We started out with Call of Cthulhu, will continue with D&D after Christmas and will then move on to Deadlands, I've decided.

Most of the kids couldn't role-play to save their lives, but they're having fun with what they do and I try to impart some skills in the art of thinking logically and drawing correct conclusions - as well as working together. Teamwork is a major factor. Mostly when classes start we have a group of 6 students, and in game we'll have how many teams? That's right: 6. This Thursday they'd progressed to working in 1 team only occasionally splitting up into two groups, and then with decent enough reasons to do so. They're actually making progress - against all expectations on my part.

In *my* world of role-playing everything happened this weekend, which is why I was so long in replying. Class on Thursday, Call of Cthulhu with my own rather advanced group - we're playing Masks of Nyarlathotep - awesome campaign, except for some of the intended fights and battles, luckily I'm the Keeper, I can change things as I please.

Then Saturday I met up with the AD&D group. Awesome session, though I'm becoming very frustrated with the other woman in the group. She's behaving very moronic at times. But the game was good and we had our annual Christmas party, which was very nice and much fun. I got home Sunday afternoon at 4.45

So *phew* a lot of time spent RPing. Now it'll be exam studying until sometime in January.

But to get back on topic:

I think the literature that I read does inspire me for my games, but I have no idea about anything specific. I read a lot - and I really mean a lot - and I'm very good at improvising new situations for the players. If they walk out of the grounds my scenario covers it's no trouble, and they never realise that they're off the track I'd prepared. I can very quickly and very subtly change my own direction. This is of course due to my immense baggage of plots and characters I have gathered through my many years of much reading. I think it's common knowledge that the more stories you read and absorb the more versatile does one's own imagination become. So naturally there's an influence - I see it clearly that some play the game as if they're reading a book, and some play it along the lines of action movies they see on the telly. A rather profound difference - and very noticable too.

 

[Hugin]

Jemima Aslana - Thanks for the links, will check them out.

I have to say the whole PR-class thing sound awesome. I am not sure if I could do it but I would love to try.

Its a shame they don't institute something like that in South Africa.

Its amazing how quickly most people improve their roleplaying skills. I had to abandon published adventures altogether, because my groups didn't stick to the storylines anymore. I should add I didn't do anything to discourage them, because their side tracks were so interesting most of the time. Well I had to learn how to improvise, and I have had enough practise in it.

I am also fairly well read, and that gives me fairly substantial reference material and inspiration.

Any book about a different culture is good reference for settings, which means fantasy or sci-fi.

More important I think is writing good NPCs. The older and more experienced my players become, the more intricate I have to make my NPCs.

A book I am definitely going to use in future games is Lolita.

Old HH could be used as a great plot hook, a paedophile that helps the party save some kids??? Ok might be a bit extreme.

What I am going to use is the language. The book's language is so descriptive. I am writing a tragedy, and the only way to get the players really bawling there eyes out is to get them emotionally involved. For that they have to believe the two doomed lovers are truly in love, some very convincing dialogue is required to do this.

Any suggestions for 1. Romance - as I said above I have a tragic love affair that I have to sell, and I refuse to read a Mills & Boon.
2. Horror - I have read quite a bit of Stephen King, so I need some other inspiration

 

[Ayan]

Ayan - I've never tried a forum RP before.

Can you suggest any sites to visit?

for diverse rps, try Angelic Reality Roleplay

then there's my site, which is vampyre based Vampyres Anonymous

there's a pretty good selection of rp to join at AnimeChains.net in their Fandom board....

i have one for a modern rp, but i don't have the url with me atm, so i'll post that later, but yea... AC is the only established site, the others are fairly new and are pretty slow activity wise

oh! and then there's RPG Forums Online which is just one big rpg community with alot of different, well established rps