My favorite RPG session

[quozl]

It was in 1991 and I was 18-19 years old.  I was at the computer lab at UW chatting on IRC with a few people about RPGs when a stranger came in to our channel and started asking about computer RPGs.  We informed him we were talking about tabletop RPGs and he had no clue what they were like.  So we tried explaining it and he just wasn't getting it so I decided to run him through a quick RPG right then and there.  It went something like this:

"You're a soldier in the Vietnam War.  You've been separated from your platoon and you're walking alone through the jungle trying to find your way back."

I think he asked about what kind of stuff he was carrying so I told him he had an M-16, a couple of grenades, and some rations.

"As you're walking through the jungle, you hear a twig snap."

He said he started looking around.

"There's a young Vietnamese soldier ahead of you in the bushes.  He's got a rifle pointed at you and it looks like he's hiding someone behind him."

A little combat ensued (which was all handled freeform) and he ended up shooting and killing the soldier.  He then approaches the body.

"As you approach, an old woman runs out from the bushes, wailing.  She grabs the rifle and points it at you.  She's screaming at you in Vietnamese as she pulls the trigger and nothing happens.  She starts messing with the levers on the gun and keeps pulling the trigger."

He wasn't sure what to do then.  After a few moments of indecision, he pointed the rifle at her and told her to put the gun down.

"She just keeps screaming at you and fiddling with the gun, pulling the trigger constantly."

He was getting worried and fired some warning shots.

"As she messes with the rifle, something clicks and the gun fires.  The bullet goes into the ground about 10 feet in front you."

He's frantic now.  He screams at her to put the gun down.

"She screams back at you and fires again, missing."

He shoots her.  She dies.  He's upset at having to do such a thing.  

He then thanked me and left the channel.  I never did see him on IRC after that.  I wonder what he thought of the whole thing.

[DannyK]

Since he didn't take her stuff, he probably wasn't a real gamer, anyway.

[Andy Kitkowski]

Since he didn't take her stuff, he probably wasn't a real gamer, anyway.

Totally.  I mean, did he at least gain a level for shooting two VC? :)

-Andy

[quozl]

So why was this my favorite?  It was freeform railroading.  I don't like freeform railroading.  As a player, it would have sucked.  In fact, as a Gm it would have sucked if the context had been any different.  The reason it's my favorite is that I got show someone why RPGs were fun in about 5-10 minutes and they got a big emotinal impact out of it (so did I actually) that they weren't expecting.  That's what makes it my favorite RPG session.

[dyjoots]

So why was this my favorite?  It was freeform railroading.  I don't like freeform railroading.  As a player, it would have sucked.  In fact, as a Gm it would have sucked if the context had been any different.  The reason it's my favorite is that I got show someone why RPGs were fun in about 5-10 minutes and they got a big emotinal impact out of it (so did I actually) that they weren't expecting.  That's what makes it my favorite RPG session.

is it actually railroading?  i mean, basically the scene was set in such a way that he had to make a decision, but there was definitely more than one decision to make.  the question was "you know you are going to be shot at.  what are you going to do?"  it's an interesting story, but i don't see the railroading bit.

[quozl]

is it actually railroading?

Good question.  I assume it was because the player had no input on the situation.  Is that railroading?

[Jeph]

It was only railroading if it had to end the way it did. If not, no tracks. And I can think of a number of possible ways for it to have ended differently: he wrestles the woman to the ground and takes the gun away, he gives her a ration as a sign of good intent, he freaks and runs like hell, anything else a poor lost schmuck from central Montana could have done in a similar situation in 'Nam. Unless you, Jonathan, would have forced the CRPGer to kill the woman in the end, I don't see how it was railroading.

--Jeff

[gentrification]

is it actually railroading?

Good question.  I assume it was because the player had no input on the situation.  Is that railroading?

It read to me as though the player had a profound input on the situation. At least from the old woman's POV.

[Andrew Norris]

I see some pretty heavy application of Force to frame the scene directly to a crisis point, but not Force to determine what the player did. He could have done any number of things, so he wasn't railroaded.

I know, I know, discussion about how aggressive scene framing is Force but isn't railroading is an old discussion here, but I thought it was worth reiterating. It's only railroading when you limit the player's response.

[Ron Edwards]

Sigh ... scene framing isn't Force either, unless the GM is taking over the player's choices for the character. There is no debate about this; that's the definition, and has been from the beginning.

Mutual agreement to have one's character be in a particular place isn't Force. It's just starting a scene.

The whole "railroading" issue has completely subverted the point, in my view. Jonathan, do you think you can re-articulate your enjoyment of this experience without bringing that in, because I really think it's a detour. You merely posed a situation without a lot of justificatory build-up, that's all.

Best,
Ron

[quozl]

Thanks for the terminology clarification.  What made this session so enjoyable for me was the agressive scene framing (I thnk I got the term right) that put the character into a crisis also put the player (and me, the GM) into a crisis.  Nobody knew what was going to happen but the potential consequences were monumental.  You don't really get it from the transcript above but when it was happening it was like being right there, on the edge of my seat.  

All the roleplaying advice I got before that session was all about decribing the scene so you see it, hear it, smell it.  Have NPCs that have lives outside of interacting with the PCs. Blah blah blah.  At that moment, I realized that wasn't what was really important.  What was really important was the crisis, the conflict, the choice that's going to affect you as well as your character.  After that session, I finally understood what I had been glimpsing in RPGs but never really getting.  It all just clicked.

[Callan S.]

I wonder if its better to end with a happy ending? Certainly if he was approaching it from a CRPG angle, he's probably happily gamist and from what he saw in traditional RPG's, the combat, something which is supposed to be rich in gamist fun, lead to what would to some degree be a unhappy ending/loosing. So trad RPG's = whats fun to do equals failure.

I'm a little bit of a jaded gamer and forget that it can simply be fun to shoot the crap out of VC and go back to base and do high fives with everyone. So its easy to forget others haven't 'moved on'.

[Mike Holmes]

I was thinking the same thing, Callan. I think the guy did admirably in not doing the FPS thing. As such, I would have let him off the hook after he didn't shoot her in response to her fire.

It seems to me like he didn't have a choice but to fire. So RPGs = Railroad.

Mike

[S'mon]

I was thinking the same thing, Callan. I think the guy did admirably in not doing the FPS thing. As such, I would have let him off the hook after he didn't shoot her in response to her fire.

It seems to me like he didn't have a choice but to fire. So RPGs = Railroad.

Mike

He had the choice to either shoot her or die, so no Railroading IMO.  Railroading is:

"So then you shoot her..."  :)