The Art of Dramatic Writing and Sorcerer

[sirogit]

Hey Ron

I began reading this and has some very intereasting ideas I'd like to use in roleplaying.

I'm wondering how much it influenced Sorcerer, and how much you think the book's advice pertains to Narrativist roleplaying.

Paticularly, The Art seems to have very paticular stipulations for a good pivotal charaacter, stipulations which are far more selective than the typical use of the word "protagonist"(For example, Lajos doesn't consider Romeo and Juliet to be pivotal characters, but their parents to be.)

Many of these stipulations being part of the Sorcerer's rules. Do you think that good Sorcerer characters are nessecarily pivotal characters under Lajos's definitions?

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Sirogit, have you read my essays "GNS and other matters of role-playing theory" or "Narrativism: Story Now"? Both of them utilize Egri extensively when discussing Narrativist play.

Historically, I had been discussing Narrativist play for years before reading Egri, but then found his terminology and many parts of his argumentation useful to adopt. (A lot of people think I was influenced by Egri to conceive of Narrativist play, but this is not the case.)

I hope you consider that role-players, including the GM, are not quite the same as the playwright he is writing to. That "playwright" in role-playing is best understood as the dynamic among us when we play, and the particular brand of Narrativism for a group is what their social and creative dynamic "wants."

Thus characters are not protagonists until they do protagonist stuff in play. Sorcerer is built to maximize the chance of this happening. Similarly, pivotal characters (the demons being excellent examples) are not established as such until play.

The Kickers are intended to get that dynamic into action, overcoming the tendency to sink oneself into one's character sheet prior to play as well as the GM tendency to sink oneself into one's prep and try to drag others into it, both of which are poison to that shared dynamic.

Anyway. Sirogit, does any of this help or make sense?

Best,
Ron

[sirogit]

That's perfectly clear.