RPG a Day #9 Medium

 

I’m going to try and take part in the #RPGaDay writing prompts for 2021. The idea is there’s a prompt every day that asks you to write about something in RPG’s you really like. There are a couple of alternate prompts offered but I’m going to try and do the main one every day. If you want to try it yourself, you can head here for the calendar for this year.

Today we talk about the Medium of RPG’s as a storytelling device. I thought about this one for a while and I think there are two sides to this. One of them is as an entertainment and one is as a shared experience.

For entertainment they become a mix of radio play and improv show. We get connected to the characters and the storys they tell because of how narrative changes. We also get to watch as the Game Master reacts to the players. The little moments of Jason Carl’s subtle threat of, “I’ll make a note.” To Matt Mercer breaking character to admit he’s been beat. We as the audience watch the story go in new and unexpected directions.

That these stories are frequently told online gives the community more of a connection to them. We react in the Twitch or YouTube chat, tweet with hashtags our reactions, and post our thoughts on Facebook. We see in real time how others are feeling about the same events we’re watching. It builds a community and gives us familiar people with whom we’re connected by story.

As a shared experience we enter the realm of the old modules and war stories. How many of us have faced the Curse of Strahd from D&D, Harlequin from Shadowrun, or Masks of Nyarlathotep from call of Cthulhu? It’s why Living Pathfinder and the Adventures Society work so well. We all have stories about these adventures in common. We’ve all got a story about something that happened. I can talk about the parade of the dead and if you’ve been there then you know which module it’s from. Heck, there’s a chance you know even if you haven’t played it.

These moments where we can sit and talk about what happened when we went to such and such place join us all together. It’s one of the reasons why old modules getting updated is such a wonderful thing. I love that right now, as I write this the odds are good that someone is meeting Llareth the Beautiful for the first time. They have no idea or connection to that character but will be able to tell the story with others of what happened in that room.

It’s one of the reasons I like and use published adventures. I do make my own campaigns and use my own adventures, but I love to have my players face off against classic baddies, dungeons, and adventures as they go about their quest.

Anyway, that’s where I am for medium.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll be talking about trust.

Until then, stay safe and be well.