Morality

Anyone who has played RPGs for an extended period of time has run into the quagmire of morality. Let’s face it, 80% of most game books are rules on how to kill things. But does this make us all a bunch of amoral sociopaths with a death fixation? For the majority of gamers, I would say no, but the thought does creep in there as you revel in the slaughter of an entire village of goblins, or when you’re looking up the rules for interrogation to find out if the group gets a higher modifier for removing the NPCs teeth with pliers or a hammer. When, or should we explore morality in our gaming?

Characterization and Empathy

You never see news reports about chess leading to an increase in violence -- a game where the path to victory is devising the best way to kill as many of your opponent's men as possible in an attempt to trap his king, so he can be imprisoned and tortured until he surrenders all his lands and titles to the victor, at which point he is to be dragged through the streets of the capital and beheaded for the amusement of the townsfolk. Why is this? Well, because there is no characterization in chess, most people don’t name their pawns or devise elaborate backstories for their knights. In an RPG, this is what we are doing -- adding context to the fight, leading us down slippery slopes of morality. How can a character who routinely sticks a long sword through someone’s cranium be considered “good?”

Well, the answer is rather simple. While the real world may be filled with shades of gray, your game world doesn't have to be. For example, goblins are creatures of pure chaos and evil; they only exist to kill, maim, and destroy. They serve no function in the cycle of life. They don’t have a moral code they are attempting to uphold; they are not misunderstood, and they do evil things because they are evil. It isn't until we start applying all the high falutin’ subtext that goblins become tragic figures who are merely victims of their upbringing, more deserving of a warm blanket and mug of hot cocoa than an injection of cold steel through its vital vitals. 

Why do we do this? Why do we feel the need to humanize the inhuman? I blame television.

Well, a majority of our modern entertainment to be precise; the world has always been a place muddied with moral ambiguity, but there has definitely been a shift in our popular entertainment over the last couple of decades to get away from the ideal good/evil dichotomy. A nice example of this is 2004’s Battlestar Galactica, a re-imagining of the 1978 show of the same name. When you compare the original with the remake you notice a stark difference in the overall look and feel of the show that goes beyond special effects. 

In the ’78 series there is no question as to who are the villains, the justifications for their actions goes no deeper than the fact that they are the bad guys, and this is what bad guys do; but in the ’04 retelling we find much more ambiguity as to who is the true villain. We are asked to explore what it is to be Cylon, and whether they are morally justified in their mission to eradicate humanity. We are meant to weigh every action to determine if the ends justify the means, and who deserves to sit on the moral high ground, or if such a place even exists. We see this as mature storytelling, and I don’t deny the power of this style, but its vague conclusion, and bittersweet moralizing doesn't usually leave us fulfilled, or feeling very good in the end, and begs the question is this what we want out of our entertainment. 

Is maturity really what we are seeking when sit down to roll dice and save the princess? As with most things, “different strokes for different folks” and how much moral ambiguity should you build into your game is a question that you and your players should answer before the game begins.

Afterlife

What happens when you die has been a topic for debate for as long as people have been dying, and we are no closer to an answer than we were when we were poking mammoths with pointy sticks. 

This question has led us to others. What is the point of life? Do our actions have consequences for us post-death, and if so, what is the appropriate moral code to ensure a happy afterlife? 

In answering these questions we craft our sense of good and evil, which is why we can’t quite nail down a universal definition for these terms. This is not the case in the game world, however.

Most systems have a very well-defined afterlife, usually filled with a pantheon of gods each with their own agendas and guidelines on what will win you a deluxe apartment in the sky. Combine this with the existence of resurrection spells, and death is merely a tick on your personal timeline, and is as substantial as your first haircut. Sure, your character may not have all of this information laid out in front of him, but you, as a player do, which means that you can weigh your decisions in the moral context of the game world, instead of that of the real world.

The major take away here should be that there is a huge difference how one acts in the real world versus the game world, and that you shouldn't feel guilty about slaughtering goblins because they’re going to a better place, and you know that for sure.

Good Gamin’

Victory Conditions: How to Win an RPG.

"How do I win?" The first question most people ask when they sit down to a board game for the first time, and a very appropriate one. Now, ask this question at an RPG and you’ll have bags of flaming dung hurled at you while an army of liberal fascists melt your face with caustic hate speech that would make a clansman blush. Okay, maybe not all that bad, but the idea of winning has gotten a bad rap when it comes to RPGs, and this stems from a misunderstanding of the victory conditions of an RPG.

There are several "#1 rule(s) of gaming," but the one I prefer is “Have fun.” Vague and enigmatic, and much like any good religious text, it is open to vast amounts of interpretation; one man’s fun is another’s torture after all. So, what are we to do?

Well, the first thing you need to do is figure out, "What is fun?" Do you enjoy rules-light systems with a focus on character interactions? Do you like busting out the minis so you can duel the GM in a chess-like battle of wits? Do you enjoy sitting around a table with friends rolling dice and eating Cheetos? Or is it a little from column A and a little from B? Look over your previous gaming career and think about what in the past has tickled your fancy in that special way that makes you keep coming back to chase the dragon. You may even notice that what you find enjoyable may vary from system to system.

I know if I sit down to a Pathfinder game, I enjoy a bit more strategic combat than when I play World of Darkness, and I know that stems primarily from the game mechanics at work and the design of the system. Once you've discovered what it is you are looking for, you can inform your GM or players to what it is you are looking for in your gaming, so your fun will be represented.

Now, as anyone who has ever ordered a pizza can attest, pleasing everyone is not easy, and to believe that everyone in a group will have the same idea of fun is folly; so, this is where you have to put your big boy pants on and understand that compromise is the name of the game. Yes, you may have to endure a few rounds of combat before you get back to the courtly romance, or suffer through an intense negotiation over the party’s fee in lieu of rolling a dice and moving on, but that is life, and if you want your fun, you’re going to have to let others have theirs.

TPKs and Derailing

Now, there are two forms of fun that are universally loathed: the TPK (Total Party Kill) and Game Derailing. If you disagree with this statement, congratulations, your friends probably hate gaming with you. Both of these things can happen unintentionally, and it sucks, but what sucks far more is when a GM or player sets out with this as his goal.

For those of you who may not know what I’m talking about: a TPK (Total Party Kill) is when the GM kills everyone in the party, usually though an unbalanced encounter. I’m amazed at the number of GMs who brag about doing this, as there is no skill involved in it. As the storyteller you have access to an infinite amount of in-game power, while the player’s power is restricted by the rules of the game and what the GM supplies them with. Bragging about a TPK is like being proud of sucking, and unless you’re the reigning BJ Queen of Tijuana, you shouldn't feel this is an accomplishment.

Now, on the other side of the coin is derailing a game. This is the player equivalent of a TPK, but instead of killing the party, you kill the story. This is as easily accomplished as a TPK; just refuse every hook, or take actions to illustrate the restrictions of the story (i.e. attack the king as he’s giving you a quest, heading to town C when the quest is obviously in town A, etc.). Do these things and you will be assured to have a place in the halls of Dickdom, where your obvious disrespect for the time and effort the GM has put into the game will be acknowledged for all time. As anyone who has GMed knows a story is a fragile thing, requiring a lot of maneuvering and quick thinking to keep it on course; it also requires the players to work with you at a certain level to get the ball rolling. If a player thinks he is clever for out-smarting your story's obvious hooks, or feels you've cheated him because, as the GM, you haven’t whisked him away to a land of enchantment and mystery in the first 5 minutes of a new campaign, so now it must die, then he has some entitlement issues, and needs to talk to his parents about how he was raised.

The common thread that both of these victory conditions share is that they target your fellow players and not anything in the game. You are actively being mean to your friends and wasting their time, so unless you enjoy having your time wasted and being cock blocked at every turn, this may be one type of fun that you don’t allow in your gaming group.

Gaming is about fun, it’s a hobby, not a job; if you aren't enjoying it, you are doing it wrong. So quit being a loser, and find the fun.

Good Gamin’.

Story Design - Tent Poles

Tent Poles

Mind out of the gutters, people. "Tent poles" is a term you hear a lot in story development circles. Basically, it is the key story points in your arc.

Most movies have 5-7 tent pole moments; these are the scenes you are most likely to see in the trailer. As the name suggests, tent pole moments are the key structural points of a story, and just as an actual tent would fall apart if you were to kick down one of its poles, so will your story’s structure.

So how can we use this concept in RPG story creation?

Let’s start with the two key moments in any story: the beginning and the end.  
All stories are about the resolution of a conflict, and the moment that this conflict is set into motion is known as the inciting incident. And guess what? This is our first Tent Pole. 


So let’s think about what gets the ball rolling in our story, and then create a scene for it.

Let’s say the main conflict of our story revolves around a plot by Izz’gard the Spoiled One and his plot to secure his inheritance through murder. How do we bring our characters into the story?
....
...nothing? 


Oh, fine, I'll do it. How about, while our characters are minding their own business, they stumble across a dead body floating down the river, with evidence of murder abounds. Let’s write that down.

Tent Poles

1.       Inciting Incident - Characters discover dead body in the river

2.        

3.        

4.        

5.      

Okay, now that we know how it starts, how should it end? 


Well, I’ve had a hankerin' to try out a new monster, a Treasure Golem, so why not use this to build our climax? Let's plan an epic battle to take place in the royal vaults, where the party will have to battle the very gold that Izz’gard has been killing to secure.

Tent Poles

1.       Inciting Incident -Discover dead body in the river

2.        

3.        

4.        

5.       Climax – Treasure Golem - Epic vault battle

So, a climax is where everything comes to a head. I said minds out of the gutters people! This is where the conflict of the story is resolved, either happily or tragically.

Okay, looking at our list we still have some blank spaces in there, so let’s find a good midpoint turn.

The midpoint turn is a term used to describe a reversal in the direction of the story, usually taking place in the middle (surprise, surprise) and setting us up for the turn of the climax. It’s usually the point where everything seems hopeless, or where victory seems within the heroes grasp just to find out that what he was seeking wasn’t what he was after.

To bring it back to our game, let’s say that Izz’ard is the one who hired the party to investigate the murder, and our midpoint turn occurs when they discover they’ve been used to kill off the last man standing in the way of Izz’ard's fortune, and that he was the murderer the whole time. Unfortunately, this revelation comes as the party is dumped into the dark caverns of darkness from which not even darkness can escape.

So, let’s add it to the list.

Tent Poles 1.       Inciting Incident - Party discovers dead body in the river 2.         3.       Midpoint Turn – Izz’ard is the real villain! Thrown in Dark Cavern of Darkness. 4.         5.       Climax – Epic vault battle

The final two tent poles basically write themselves... well, with a little help from your creativity.

Since the party killed someone for Izz’ard, we’ll need a place for that to happen. How about Tent Pole number 2? It makes sense.

Tent Poles

1.       Inciting Incident - Party discovers dead body in the river

2.       Rising Action - Track down killer & chase through streets!

3.       Midpoint Turn – Izz’ard is the real villain! Thrown in Dark Cavern of Darkness.

4.        

5.       Climax – Epic vault battle

And number 4 can become the escape from the Dark Caverns of Darkness.

Tent Poles

1.       Inciting Incident - Party discovers dead body in the river

2.       Rising Action - Track down killer & chase through streets!

3.       Midpoint Turn – Izz’ard is the real villain! Thrown in Dark Cavern of Darkness.

4.       Heroic Rising Action - Escape from the DCD – Battle with Shadows

5.       Climax – Epic vault battle

After this is done, it is just a matter of fleshing out the scenes, creating NPC, settings, clues, etc, until you have a well-structured story.

Now, before you start shouting about railroading, pre-destination, and all that, there are a few caveats about how you should use tent poles.

For starters these encounters are targets, and moving targets at that. They supply you, as the story teller, with destinations you can aim the players towards. 

If your players circumvent, destroy, or flat out miss the target: you may have to create another option to put them back on track, or even scrap the original story and devise a new path.

Tent poles are the iconic moments that you think of when someone mentions the game. Take a moment and think about some of the movies you’ve seen, and books you’ve read. What are the first scenes to pop into your mind? Odds are good these were the tent pole moments.

Good Gamin’

The Three dimensions of character (Part 3) – Psychological

The Three dimensions of character (Part 3) – Psychological

So when you take the physical (Nature) and you combine it with the Environment (Nurture) you get the third aspect of characterization the psychological.

To be clear when I talk about the psychological aspects of your character I am not talking about listing your character derangements, or determine on a sliding scale from one to a hundred how many croutons short of a salad your character is. Not that these elements aren’t a part of character design, but the psychological aspect encompasses more than having to yodel Chopin, while hopping on one foot to avoid a two dice penalty to basket weaving.

Really what matters most to us in the psychology of a character comes down to motivation. What drives your character to act the way he does? How does he react to certain situations, and stimuli? What experiences from the character’s past lead to this reaction? How did these reactions lead him to become the person he is today? These are the core questions we are looking to answer when we ponder the psychological aspects of our character.

The most overused cliché in gaming can serve as an example of this methodology. Fenris Orckiller’s family was killed by a party of rampaging orcs when he was a child, and now he hates them so much!

So applying what we were talking about before to this example we can surmise the following:

What motivates fenris?
Fenris’s hatred of orcs fuels his epic sojourn across the globe to eradicate the vile creatures.

What drives him to act the way he does? The loss of his loved ones at an early age has left him distant, and unwilling to forge close ties with others for fear they will be lost in a similar way.

How does he react to certain stimuli? When he sees an orc he kills it. When others get to close to him emotionally he lashes out to push them away.

How did this lead him to be the person he is today? He’s a battle scarred warrior, with no friends, or allies, who has become an expert in the field of orc genocide.

Now let’s throw a wrench in there. Despite his best efforts to push her away Fenris has fallen in love with a beautiful princess, based upon his past what reaction do you think he would have to this stimuli?

Well, considering the lasting damage done to his psyche by the death of his parents, the death of his true love would be equally, or far more traumatic. So in order to defend himself from this trauma Fenris would stop at nothing to protect his true love, even if it puts him at the mercy of some cunning evil doer with plans of over throwing the Imperial Senat….KING, I mean over throwing the king.

This is what separated role players from roll players in my book, simply because you can’t play a role if there isn’t one, and character motivation stemming from the psychological is what defines the role of the character. Great stories derive from great characters. Great characters generate conflict, both internal and external. I’m not sure if I said it here before, but the best advice I ever received as a story teller was, “Keep the story simple, and let the players fuck it up.” This can happen in a lot of ways, but the best ways are when a character’s in-game motivation is the cause of the swerve. (note: this doesn’t mean your character’s motivation supersedes the fun of the other players, always weigh the good of the story vs. the good of the game)

Well, you are now primed and ready to create your own 3 dimensional characters. As always questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcomed.

Good Gamin’

The Three dimensions of character (Part 2) – Sociological

The Three dimensions of character (Part 2) – Sociological

Where and how a person is brought up can effect a great deal about that individual. Factors such as religion, Socio-economic status, and even climate can affect how a person develops and grows, and it is these aspects that I mean when I talk about the sociological elements of a character.

Primarily, our sociological traits dictate our value system. What is good? What is evil? Our determination of right and wrong are strongly affected by the what, where, when, and how of our upbringing.

Let’s take religion for starters. Religion is what supplies most people with the foundation for a moral compass. If your religion dictates that if 3,000 souls are not sent to the underworld every March Jellotrix the Smuckinator will destroy the world in a deluge of grape jelly, then were does killing fall on your moral scale?  If you don’t kill aren’t you damning the entire world to an early grave, is that more evil than ridding the world of 3,000 “evil” souls every spring?  Throw faith and doubt into the mix, and now you got some story fodder.  What if your character is at 2,999 souls at 11:58, on March 31^st and the only person nearby is his son? Does he hold fast to his faith, or give into doubt, and what effect will the result have on his world view? What does it mean if nothing happens? Take a minute to think about your character’s relationship to the divine. What are his beliefs, and how strongly does he hold them, and why?

Socio-economic status is another important factor. Is your character rich, or poor?  Does he know the value of a hard days work, or has he never worked a day in his life? Supply and demand, our level of need dictates the value we place on things. If you have a hundred swords, but only one loaf of bread what do you place a higher value on? The ease in which you acquire your livelihood is also a factor in your value system. A farmer, who toils sixteen hours a day in the fields, sees his purse much differently than an aristocrat living off his father’s wealth. So, think about how your character earns his living. In which socio-economic strata he was raised. What resources were plentiful and which were scarce.

There are many other factors that play into the sociological aspect of your characters background.  Look to your own past, think about the people, organizations, jobs, hobbies, climates that affected your development. What values did these relationships instill?  Where we come from says a lot about who we are, and this is just as true for our characters.

Next up, the psychological.

The Three dimensions of character (Part 1) - Physiological

The Three dimensions of character (Part 1)

A common criticism that gets thrown around about characters is that they are two dimensional, implying that they lack depth; all surface and no substance, all sizzle no steak, etc. If you have studied writing you may also know this means that the character lacks one or more of the three dimension of characterization; physiological, sociological, and psychological. As a gamer these dimensions might sound more familiar in the context of Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma, and they will definitely serve as a starting point, but as we all know a character sheet hardly a character make. So, let’s take a gander at how we can utilize these dimensions to generate a well-rounded character background.

Physiological

This is the most surface of the three dimensions. Physiological elements are things like eye and hair color, his race, or even that scar he received from the Orc Chieftain who killed his parents, and now serves as a reminder of his oath of blood vengeance against all Orckind; you know stuff like that .

Physiological elements are important to a well-rounded character. They are the very first impression when we meet someone for the first time. Now, I know what you’re saying(‘cause I’m watching you through your webcam), “I never judge a book by its cover, because judging people by their appearance is wrong, we are all onions…blah blah blah”, yeah, we’ve all seen Shrek, but it doesn’t change the fact that if you have a giant pulsating boil on your eye and reek of old cheese and shame, a normal human is going to generate an immediate opinion about you before you say one word.

So take a minute, close your eyes and picture your character. What does he looks like, what’s he wearing, does he have any distinguishing marks.  Imagine you are describing him to a police sketch artist, try to go beyond the basics, think about what your character's features say about him? What trappings are associated with his profession, his upbringing, hobbies, etc?  What distinguishes your character from the masses roaming the streets of the city?

Remember to keep it brief. If no one wanted to read your 300 page novel about your character's struggles before he reache level one, they definitely won't sit through a rambling diatribe about each one of your characters nose hair.  Use strong adjectives, simile, and metaphor to paint a picture in the mind of the listener. Get a thesaurus, or find one online, in most cases one word can do the job of three, or four.

Of course in lieu of all this writing nonsense you could always draw your character, find an image on the web that resembles your character, or even decide who would play the character in a movie. In fact, this is a great way to find inspiration for your character, with the abundance of art work at our finger tips, thanks to the internet, you would be hard press not to stumble across a picture that conjures up a compelling character.

So, let’s get the ball rolling, here is a list of questions you can use to flesh out the physiology of your character:

·         What is his/her:

o        hair color?

o        eye color?

o        skin tone ?

·         Is your character:

o         short or tall?

o         Ectomorphic(skinny), mesomorphic(average), or endomorphic(stocky)?

o        muscular, or scrawny?

·         Does your character have any distinguishing marks? (tattoos, wrinkles, mustache, scars, piercings, scales, etc)

·         What does your character smell like? (old garbage, fresh soap, pungent perfumes, etc.)

·         How does your character sound?

·         Does the character resemble someone, or something?

·         If this was a movie who would you cast to play your character?

So now that we’ve started to piece together what our character looks like we need to move on to the next aspect of characterization and that is the Sociological.