Other Incoherent Ramble About Making the Most "RP-y" RP

[Cresion Breezes]

This is just an incoherent mess that I want to scream into the void about my creative vision, I hope no one judges me too hard for it.

Essentially I want to write RP plots that do philosophy, not only borrow it. I want to make something that challenges the players, not just their characters' pre-conceived notions on things like life, death, morality, free will, the meaning of life, and stuff like that. And yes, that may include heavy stuff, and also having beliefs challenged is something that people generally don't like. Like, I don't have the intention of including heavy stuff just to be edgy or for shock factor or to offend people, but I want to invoke emotion and thought in people who participate in my stories, and I want to do it in a way that uses the medium of roleplaying and my role as a GM to craft something unique to the medium itself. It's not just about being a better writer, a better storytelling, it's about being a better RPer, a better GM, to use the medium to its maximum and say something about this community and people who engage in it.

So as someone who is kind of contrarian/rebellious whatever, I been thinking about an RP that involves tearing down the fourth wall at some point and truly connects the players and their character in some way, like involving the players in the plot as the most literal form of self-inserts. I know so much of the community frowns upon blending the boundaries between the player and the character as well as self-inserts, but hey did you read that part about challenging pre-conceived notions, it's being challenged right now. A lot of video games have done this, like The Stanley Parable, the Nier series, even Undertale to an extent. And one of the reasons why those are highly praised is their usage of the medium of "video games" to do something that only video games can, and cinema, novels, and other mediums have works that receive similar praises, so why shouldn't I try to tell a story that only a collaborative roleplaying project can? Something that when asked, "what medium would you want your RP be adapted into?" I can confidently say "none, because this story can only be told as an RP". Like I don't have any elements or genres even set, I just have this idea. Since I mentioned Nier, the director of that series Yoko Taro said in an interview he usually starts with deciding what type of emotions he wants the player to feel before making anything else in his games, so maybe I'm trying out that type of creative process (involuntarily).

And well...I guess I just dunno if people actually want that? It's kind of a combo of the "I have niche interests" and "I think I'm not good enough" problems just wrapped in a layer of artsy philosophical mumbo jumbo. The thing about plot twists in RPs is that you can't really do them because people value communication and if you twist badly the entire thing fucks up, but if you tell people about the twist it loses the purpose? Maybe as GM you can pull it off but it certainly comes with a lot of stakes.

I dunno why I even have this idea, I guess maybe I want something...interesting? Like even if you drop an RP of my favourite genre with a plot I love and characters with great chemistry, I might still feel like there's just something missing there. I feel like I'm taking this too seriously since it's a hobby for most people...I've had several GMs who told me I'm so hard to impress they were concerned I wasn't enjoying their RP but like, I was, there's just some deep deep spark that is missing to even the most perfect RP for me. And I think I finally sort of pinpointed it down to "elements that elevate the story using its presentation". I think this sounds super pretentious, but I wish forum RPers would stop trying to just be writers and like...I dunno, can't explain it, but just be something more? I just have such a profound love for the unique characteristics of different storytelling mediums that I can't really articulate well but I think it deserves more attention and love, that's all.

 

[Idea]

The thing about games like Stanley Parable (the one I'll mainly use as a reference point since it's the one I'm most familiar with of the mentioned) is that it's a pretty self-contained system. In fact, in that particular case, that is kind of the point. As you say, it uses the innate characteristics of the medium to explore a paradox within it, the idea of choice in a medium where every option has to be pre-programmed or it can't be chosen. For this reason, you can make a product, a story/game created collaboratively and sent to people who weren't present for the creation process. What you see is doubtessly the result of who-knows-how-much-time of refinement, trial and error.

Admittedly, I do think your idea can be pulled off. There are interesting meta elements of RP that I think can be explored - from questioning the why and how of RPing, putting motivations and methods to the fire, to exploring concepts such as characters that are aware of their makers or thinking about what if the story you're writing really was becoming true, to even potentially external / real life tasks (though this last idea would obviously have to be dealt with with extreme caution) - however a major hurdle exists in making the thing come together. What others had the opportunity to refine behind the scenes you'd have to pull off in real time AND with the extra challenge that your very collaborators are the ones you want to pull into the experience, thus becoming dependent on countless factors pertaining to them (for a few examples, they would need to be experienced enough for the metacommentary to make sense to them, they would need the skills to write the things in the way as to make a consistently immersing experience, they would need to actually get the kind of thing you're aiming for and be willing to cooperate into that goal...), not to mention your own skill. The concept here is the tiniest tip of the iceberg of problems and work pulling something like this might take. Furthermore you do need to probably disclose the kind of project it would be from the getgo, as doing it midway through will likely cripple your ability to get the right players and potentially make many of the ones you do get quit out of frustration, though disclosing it implies you need a very concrete idea of what you're trying to make specifically and so far that doesn't seem to be the case.

That, however, is if you want to pull off something like Undertale or Stanley's Parable. I think that is a monumental enough project that it probably shouldn't be what you tackle right away. Instead, perhaps try experimenting a bit first, using bits of presentation to enhance the RP's elements here or there. Maybe do it with a quest RP or something that is more short-term like a coloseum tournament style RP or something else that is either more freely customizable or shorter, and gives players a lower commitment requirement.

Best of luck, and happy RPing!

 

[Jannah]

I will just say that this definitely sounds like the sort of thing I'm into. I'm always implementing deep philosophical themes into my writing, RP's included. I don't really have any experience doing this in groups, but it definitely works well in 1x1's if you can find the right partner willing to work with you on this.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Ohhhh this is insanely interesting to me.

I have always wanted something like that, but I don't know if I have the writing skill (in terms of writing with better words than just a person with a high school degree of English), but I would love to experiment with this and match other people who are like this.