Blue-booking

[xiombarg]

I've seen IC journals in Castle Falkenstein border on this technique, more as a natrual consequence of the genre, really...

[Scourge108]

Thanks, everyone, this has all been helpful.  It seems to me that blue-booking is great for people who like to do a lot of writing, and who want to pursue elements of character development that do not involve a group.  I've been wondering if it would help cure some of my between-session gaming itch.  I know a lot of former gamers who have moved on, but I can see the melancholy look in their eyes when they talk about it.  They miss it, but as they explain, they don't want all the "hassle."  It's so hard to find a time when everyone has the time, can find a babysitter, etc. to actually be able to play.  People don't want to get emotionally involved with a character just to have a game flop yet again.  I'm considering a game that caters to blue-booking, but the characters independently developed can still join together for a real actual game.  I know this takes a lot of the social element out of it, but to be honest, gaming really isn't a social thing for me so much.  I don't game to socialize, and most of the people I socialize with aren't gamers.  Since they don't understand the hobby and think it's weird, I keep it to myself for the most part.  Of course, I still do want to share my hobby with other people who appreciate it from time-to-time, but since nobody ever has the time to play, I mostly just read the gaming books like fiction and play around with systems by myself to see how they work.  Still, it doesn't seem the same unless you can interact with other people's characters from time to time, too.  Of course, I could just try writing fiction instead.  But food for thought.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I'm glad you mentioned Castle Falkenstein, xiombarg, because the technique is actually embedded in character creation and between-session play. I'm not sure how many people actually use the rules involved, but textually, one is supposed to write up one's character literally as the first chapter in a Victorian-era adventure novel. This is handy because nearly all such novels are in first-person and the main character literally introduces himself to the reader - it's actually stunning how much the intro to a novel like The Prisoner of Zenda, A Princess of Mars, or The Woman in White is like a classic RPG character sheet.

Then, as play progresses, one is supposed to write subsequent chapters - the events of play from the character's point of view. Hence everyone eventually ends up with a unique first-person novel from the shared experience of play.

Again, to what extent anyone ever actually did this, I don't know. We did begin our game as instructed, but I'm pretty sure no one went on to the between-session stages as described in the rules.

Best,
Ron

[Blankshield]

A lot of LARPs in my area have used something a lot like bluebooking, but with a distinct LARP flavour.

Local terminology for it is "metagaming", which is distinct from the forge use of it - in our case, a more literal intpretation "gaming outside the game".

our LARPs tend to run once a month, but our LARP community gets together weekly at a couple local restaurants/watering holes, and while there, people fairly routinely run scenes that happen 'between games' or schedule time with a GM for that game (our LARPs tend to run with multiple organizers) to do things that need GM input or approval. ("I want to scout out the bad guys headquarters")

In addition, several of the LARPs run message boards that server much the same purpose, but often also allowing people to write up scenes or narratives from their characters life and put them up for people to watch.  GMs also use this to post news stories or plot hooks.

Just thought I'd offer the LARP angle of bluebooking that we have locally.

James

[xiombarg]

Again, to what extent anyone ever actually did this, I don't know. We did begin our game as instructed, but I'm pretty sure no one went on to the between-session stages as described in the rules.

Um, we did. I can show you my journal if you like, Ron. I still have it on my hard drive at home.

Oh, and I'll noted I've seen the same thing as James in the LARP scene. In NC, we called it "filling out the CIS form" where "CIS" stood for "Character Interaction Sheet", where we talked about both what we did during the game and what our characters we doing between game. In the Vampire games I was in, this was vital for using Influences.

In fact, I set up a dead-man's switch for my character in one game using CIS forms...

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

When I wrote "I'm pretty sure no one did this," I was referring to the members of my own play-group, not to people in general.

Best,
Ron

[xiombarg]

When I wrote "I'm pretty sure no one did this," I was referring to the members of my own play-group, not to people in general.

Ah, okay. Tho it's a good question as to how many CF groups actually did do the full journal.

(Also note my point about LARPing -- I was editing my post when you posted, Ron.)