RPGaDay 15&16 (sort of...)

OK, so somehow I used the wrong prompts on the last post. I ended up using the prompts for days 16 (Composure) and 17 (Intensity), instead of the ones for 13 and 14. Today I'll go back to those last ones and play catch up. So that brings us to...

15 (for which I'm using the prompt from day 13). Strain

I could tie this back to DURF and its encumbrance system, and that was actually the first way I thought of taking this particular prompt, however I'm going to go in a different direction to link things with my three-way tension and vector theory models of TTRPGs. For this purpose I'll go with the definition of strain as a physical, mental, or emotional pressure. From an engineering perspective, strain is the result of stress, and this basically applies to narrative as well. It is under moments of strain that new properties are revealed in a material, and it's similar to the prompt pair I mentioned in the last post. Strain opposes stress, up to a point. Once stress exceeds strain, breakage happens. Today I'm going to compare the differences between diegetic and non-diegetic strain by reflecting on how they rect with one another.

If neither diegetic nor non-diegetic strain are happening in a game, things are flowing with no resistance. This could be good for building momentum or for setting up the grounding to a story. I like to think a good story needs this to some degree because it helps to provide a context for the actions that are unfolding around characters. This is a time when they have control and when they can present their idealised selves, but too much of this feels very "Mary Sue" or "Marty Stu".

If diegetic strain happens, but there is no non-diegetic strain, the tension remains focused within the session and the players can work together to achieve their objectives against the ramping forces that oppose their characters. This is often what I aim for in a game, where the events in the story become more complex and more dangerous for the characters, but the players are still having fun. It's about enjoying the downward spiral, or working with it like the downhill of a rollercoaster building speed for the next crescendo and climax point.

If diegetic and non-diegetic strain both occur, it can get hard to predict the outcome. Here is the point where bleed in a game can happen in a bad way. The characters are feeling stress, the plyers are feeling stress and the two types of stress start to feed back into each other. (As a side note, I'm digging through the blog as I've been writing this post, and I've been writing about this stuff since 2009... I was sure I had "Bleed" as one of my "Game Mechani(sm)s of the Week", but maybe not). The point is that having both diegetic and non-diegetic stress happening at the same time can help players immerse themselves in the emotion of the session, but sometimes without a good debrief or a trusting group, that tension can leak lout into the real world... issues between characters threaten to become issues between players, and games are threatened.

I generally find it to be the worst possibility if diegetic strain is happening, but non-diegetic strain isn't. I'm not sure if it's a factor of simple correlation, or causation one way or another, but this can to be where boredom hits the group. Players get into disputes outside the game because their lose their tension within the narrative of the game session. They look for conflict and since the game isn't providing it for them, they find it in each other instead. Many game groups can't handle this sort of tension for extended periods. 

Even though I've said that over the long term, strain is often problematic, diegetically and non-diegetically it can be used as an emphasis in a session, or even built up in a campaign with a rhythm of push and pull. It's all just a case of knowing how to use it, and when to ease it off.

16 (for which I'm using the prompt for day 14). Regard

To regard is to have thoughts about something. To hold in high regard is to have favourable thoughts about something, while holding something in low regard indicates having unfavourable thoughts about the subject. 

I regard some games well, I regard other games poorly. My opinions of those games often vary from the wider community because I typically try to assess games based on what they achieve compared to what they claim, or what people claim about them. A narrow game that fits a specific criteria but does it well is often ignored by the wider community. A game that can be hacked and modified loses its focus, and rarely ends up what it began as. The benchmark for our community is D&D, which by virtue of being the benchmark is considered in high regard by many gamers, but my regard for it isn't very high at all. It's a beacon for the outside world, but like a lighthouse, I find that it indicates dangers and often something to avoid.

...but I've ranted about that enough times here on the blog.