Post by Shelby on Aug 1, 2024 10:31:04 GMT -8
When I hear the phrase "open world" I also hear "sandbox" and "railroad" in my head, and as the kids say, I get triggered.
Just like when I buy a "setting" for role-playing games, and all I get is an undetailed large-scale map, a couple pages of history, and a bunch of random tables.
Video games like Skyrim have an over-arching main quest, lots of optional side quests scattered about, and meaningless small-scale fights to stumble over. That's OK, and I'm free to wander around discovering this and that. But there's still a story that I bought, in fact there are tons of stories that I paid for, and I can string them together in whatever order suits my fancy (or skip what I don't like). I can go "completionist" (which I usually do) or I can play a bunch of times with different characters, and have different adventures each time. And then I can load mods and keep on playing, as I did for a good long time with Skyrim.
But there's a story in there. Multiple stories. Provided by the writers. Lots and lots of people worked for a long time to put that package together.
When it comes to a tabletop RPG, you've got a hard-working Game Master who's preparing stuff in advance. You don't get to just do whatever the hell you want, drop out of quests, and so on, because the poor guy spent his spare time writing for you. For you!
Sure, you should have some input on what you like, and so should he. Work it out or play with someone else. But respect your friend's hours and hours of effort; don't just blow off what he's worked so hard on.
Anyway, I just read an interesting blog post on this topic that I wanted to share. The author writes well and explains his points well. Give it a read, and let me know what you think.
link
Just like when I buy a "setting" for role-playing games, and all I get is an undetailed large-scale map, a couple pages of history, and a bunch of random tables.
Video games like Skyrim have an over-arching main quest, lots of optional side quests scattered about, and meaningless small-scale fights to stumble over. That's OK, and I'm free to wander around discovering this and that. But there's still a story that I bought, in fact there are tons of stories that I paid for, and I can string them together in whatever order suits my fancy (or skip what I don't like). I can go "completionist" (which I usually do) or I can play a bunch of times with different characters, and have different adventures each time. And then I can load mods and keep on playing, as I did for a good long time with Skyrim.
But there's a story in there. Multiple stories. Provided by the writers. Lots and lots of people worked for a long time to put that package together.
When it comes to a tabletop RPG, you've got a hard-working Game Master who's preparing stuff in advance. You don't get to just do whatever the hell you want, drop out of quests, and so on, because the poor guy spent his spare time writing for you. For you!
Sure, you should have some input on what you like, and so should he. Work it out or play with someone else. But respect your friend's hours and hours of effort; don't just blow off what he's worked so hard on.
Anyway, I just read an interesting blog post on this topic that I wanted to share. The author writes well and explains his points well. Give it a read, and let me know what you think.
link