RPGs and Soap Operas [LONG]

[clehrich]

I have what I call a "spotlight episode" for every player character.

This certainly sounds functional.  In the interest of clarification, let me just point out that the structure I'm talking about ends up being a spotlight episode for every character every time.  Each character gets spotlighted periodically in each session.  This is where I'm talking about a difference from an episodic structure.

[John Kim]

This certainly sounds functional.  In the interest of clarification, let me just point out that the structure I'm talking about ends up being a spotlight episode for every character every time.  Each character gets spotlighted periodically in each session.  This is where I'm talking about a difference from an episodic structure.  

I'll add to this.  I have watched a fair bit of Buffy although not others of Joss Whedon's shows.  I have also been playing in a Buffy RPG game (though it is on hold at the moment).  Again, I like Buffy a lot, but it does not have soap opera structure.  

[*] It has a single focal character.  Buffy is not more important than the others dramatically, but she is the defined center.  Virtually all episodes have a core plot which directly affects her, and other characters all have strong defined relationships to her.  
[*] Each episode has a core plot, generally involving a monster of some sort.  There is also a core theme which reflects this plot (for example "Hush" had a monster which steals voices and a theme of talking without communication).  The characters will have all sorts of different reactions to it (often amounting to subplots), but there is a distinct issue which is the focus of a given episode.  [/list:u]
On the other hand, I have never regularly watched a soap opera.  Thus I am still a little unsure of how I might put it into practice.  I think I am actually at a point in my current campaign where I could move to this structure fairly smoothly.  However, I'm not terribly confident about how I would really sustain it.  Still, I think I'll give it a shot next time.  I'll post some notes when I have a chance.

[Ryan Chaddock]

Hmm.  This style of play seems like it would work well to spice up Amber Diceless.  The Amber universe's two courts are similar to the two families observation and I can see how the courts themselves would act as static locations around which all the plots would center.  The unusual geography of the Courts of Chaos would be useful for allowing people to accidentally wander into scenes for dramatic tension.  

One of the problems I had with Amber, a popular game in my gaming community, is that it gets boring- too many subplots with only one or two PCs envolved.  I once waited 3 hours for a GM to get to my character, and then only for a moment.  I think giving the players extra characters to play would be useful for keeping things interesting for those who are waiting their turn.  

While reading the main post for this thread (which I find to be highly useful and interesting) I kept trying to think of real game examples.  I think that's what was missing from the post.  Soap opera style examples aren't as useful as game genre specific ones since the post already mentioned that the theme ingredient for Soaps is love story issues, while obviously this wont work for most RPGs.  I can see how you were trying to keep things generic so as to apply to all kinds of games, but it leaves me grasping for good examples.

While Amber and Vampire seem perfect for this style of play, it's difficult to think of good D&D style plots for this setup, for example.  It would take some serious revamping of the D&D paradigm for most players since the "party" concept is so central to the D&D style experience.

BTW, I've forwarded the main post of this thread to all of the people I know who run LARP Vampire games.  I think it might help them out.

[clehrich]

John,

Thanks.  Let me know if it works, ok?

Ryan,

You know, as soon as you wrote the word Amber, I kind of smacked my forehead.  While I haven't been in a campaign, I can immediately see that this game might go well with the soap thing, given the whole structure of the game.  Thanks!

As to real-game examples, you're dead on there.  As I think I mentioned in the first post, I hadn't actually intended to post this just yet, because, okay, I admit it, I haven't had a chance to try it yet.  So it's pure theory, at this point.  I don't see any reason it can't work, but who knows?  So I didn't put in real-game examples because they wouldn't be: they'd be fictions invented by me to be like real games.

Looks like John might give it a shot, and maybe the Vampire LARP folks (in which case, please encourage them to discuss their experience with it!).  In about 4 months, I hope to be running a game using this system, so at that point I should be able to see how it works in the flesh, as it were.  And if anyone else out there in Forge-land wants to give it a whirl, let me know --- or better, post to the Actual Play forum!

Thanks again for the comments, and thanks for passing it on.

[Ryan Chaddock]

The reason I sent this to my LARP friends is because with LARPers a never ending game is a good game, which is pretty different from the way I think most table-top GMs think (though I'm not sure).  The shortest ongoing LARP game I've ever seen was 3 months long, the longest ones run for years and years without stop.  Plus LARP Vampire has the court setting, which is part of the reason the game lasts.  No matter which characters are there, the game goes on because in a way the game is about the court itself, not the people in it.  Also the simultaniety of the LARP experience is more conducive to many plots going on at once.  The problem is cutting scenes for pacing and suspense.  It's almost impossible in a LARP environment which tends to follow real time rather than cutting.

Part of the reason I bring this stuff up is because I think the courts of Amber and the courts of Vampire are the reason those games jump to my mind as possible venues for soap operatic gaming.  The court is like the two families or the hospital or the town that the soap opera centers on and provides a framework for the tied plots and such with a known heirarchy, known rivalries and that great stuff that creates intrigue.  Obviously a D&D style game could center on a fixed place, but I see it as a forced fit.    

My Amber friends also like to run homebrew Dune games.  I think the Dune universe of politicking political houses is another great backdrop for this style of game.  Yet another court.

I'm just throwing out some ideas here.  I love experimental gaming ideas like this.  Always looking to expand my knowledge of the craft, as I'm sure you all are.