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Apr. 23rd, 2003 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinjunWell, that post on rp has certainly engendered a lot of discussion. I begin to wonder if we're touching on fundamentally different viewpoints here.
It would explain a lot, to be honest. There are so many different ideas on what rp is about, and what it should be. And it seems that my ideas are not at all the same as some of my friends. Ah well, that I should have expected. It happens. A lot.
Well for one, I don't think the ending should be completely planned out. The players should have a say in how things end, by virtue of how they react, and what they do. On RS, we run canon plots, but if the players diverge from what happened on the show, then we warp the plot. *shrugs* I think that it's good to have scene goals, and to have a potential arc walking into a plot. Or else you have no direction at all. But, by the same token, if player ABC comes up with some cool idea that I didn't think of, as difficult as it sometimes is, I try to incorporate it. Even if it means my scene goal changes. Now, being honest, scene goals are not often changed. Players are creative, but they're not usually that creative. It happens, but not necessarily often. The method of getting to the scene goal though, that changes all the time when I run a plot. Player D might come up with a tactic I didn't think of, so the bad guys have to react differently than I anticipated. That's cool. That works. Flexibility is the key. And sometimes the scene takes longer than I expected, because I have to work with what the players have thrown at me. I think that players who feel that they have a chance to make or break a tp - that's when they feel that it's not scripted. When they get the idea that it's not just the emitter's alts who are doing all the key things (whether that is true or not means nothing, it's the perception of the thing), but that they share a part in the story, that's when they have fun.
In the battles I ran in Manetheran, folks waltzed in at the beginning with the idea that they were going to win and win easily. That idea got changed relatively quickly, and I do believe there was a moment in there, where players actually thought that they were going to lose, that they could lose this battle. If there isn't that excitement, that feeling of inclusion, then I feel that I'm on the periphery of the scene. I've been there, on Two Moons, on Altered, and yes, on Heroes once in a while. I've been there on RS too, actually. It's not specific to any one game, any one player. We all do it. We all get caught up in comfort and control. But if I keep players on the periphery in what they think of as global TPs (no matter what I might call them), they're going to get bored and frustrated with such scenes, and stop playing in them.
I also think that no big plot should be run by only one person. It should be coordinated by one person, absolutely. But if I do a big battle scene, I want at least 2 other people emitting with me. Actually, 3 or 4 people emitting works splendiferously, as I know quite well. That's how we did the Manetheran scenes which have gotten good reviews from players, if not staff. Communication and timing are critical to the success of any plot.
A global plot is one that tries to reach players from all areas of the grid. Whether it's a big long story arc or a single scene, in my view, if it tries to involve players from all areas of the grid, then it's global. As opposed to local. There are big TPS and there are small ones. Some small ones are Global and some big ones are local. Well, by my definition anyway, but then, my definition on this could be skewed, I admit.
I think most plots fail or succeed on communication and timing.
Well, that was longer than I expected. But I guess I've been doing a lot of thinking on this topic, since questions have been raised about it. It's not exactly very organized, and it's probably not very coherent, but well, there's my current thoughts on it.
It would explain a lot, to be honest. There are so many different ideas on what rp is about, and what it should be. And it seems that my ideas are not at all the same as some of my friends. Ah well, that I should have expected. It happens. A lot.
Well for one, I don't think the ending should be completely planned out. The players should have a say in how things end, by virtue of how they react, and what they do. On RS, we run canon plots, but if the players diverge from what happened on the show, then we warp the plot. *shrugs* I think that it's good to have scene goals, and to have a potential arc walking into a plot. Or else you have no direction at all. But, by the same token, if player ABC comes up with some cool idea that I didn't think of, as difficult as it sometimes is, I try to incorporate it. Even if it means my scene goal changes. Now, being honest, scene goals are not often changed. Players are creative, but they're not usually that creative. It happens, but not necessarily often. The method of getting to the scene goal though, that changes all the time when I run a plot. Player D might come up with a tactic I didn't think of, so the bad guys have to react differently than I anticipated. That's cool. That works. Flexibility is the key. And sometimes the scene takes longer than I expected, because I have to work with what the players have thrown at me. I think that players who feel that they have a chance to make or break a tp - that's when they feel that it's not scripted. When they get the idea that it's not just the emitter's alts who are doing all the key things (whether that is true or not means nothing, it's the perception of the thing), but that they share a part in the story, that's when they have fun.
In the battles I ran in Manetheran, folks waltzed in at the beginning with the idea that they were going to win and win easily. That idea got changed relatively quickly, and I do believe there was a moment in there, where players actually thought that they were going to lose, that they could lose this battle. If there isn't that excitement, that feeling of inclusion, then I feel that I'm on the periphery of the scene. I've been there, on Two Moons, on Altered, and yes, on Heroes once in a while. I've been there on RS too, actually. It's not specific to any one game, any one player. We all do it. We all get caught up in comfort and control. But if I keep players on the periphery in what they think of as global TPs (no matter what I might call them), they're going to get bored and frustrated with such scenes, and stop playing in them.
I also think that no big plot should be run by only one person. It should be coordinated by one person, absolutely. But if I do a big battle scene, I want at least 2 other people emitting with me. Actually, 3 or 4 people emitting works splendiferously, as I know quite well. That's how we did the Manetheran scenes which have gotten good reviews from players, if not staff. Communication and timing are critical to the success of any plot.
A global plot is one that tries to reach players from all areas of the grid. Whether it's a big long story arc or a single scene, in my view, if it tries to involve players from all areas of the grid, then it's global. As opposed to local. There are big TPS and there are small ones. Some small ones are Global and some big ones are local. Well, by my definition anyway, but then, my definition on this could be skewed, I admit.
I think most plots fail or succeed on communication and timing.
Well, that was longer than I expected. But I guess I've been doing a lot of thinking on this topic, since questions have been raised about it. It's not exactly very organized, and it's probably not very coherent, but well, there's my current thoughts on it.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-23 07:39 pm (UTC)