Some Points about our RPG sessions

[icelandknight]

We are a group that have always played together regularly... although recently that means just at Xmas. Mainly because most of the people have moved abroad to work. We used to play weekly... Mainly on weekends... or any day that we didn't have to wake up really early the next day.

Some interesting points:

* "RPG as a learning tool" - Our mother tongue is not English, which is very handly for roleplaying... because we communicatre what our characters are doing in our language then whenever the characters are talking, they talk in English... Which can be kinda werid for those who have not roleplayed with us before... but we have taken people from 43% english in school to over 95% - In this way one can see roleplaying as an educational tool. - Not just language but cause and effect, morals, team playing, building trust between people, social interaction, etc. ALL of these skills have been vastly improved over time with roleplaying.
Some of our players have come from a bullied background and through roleplaying (someone else) built up a personal sense of security that enabled them to proceed in their own lives... Seeing the importance of things like settling down with someone they are comfortable with has played an important part in their finding a partner in real life and settling down. - I have actual examples of ALL of the things mentioned.

* "Having fun" - This is what keeps bringing people back to the table for more. Although some groups need to have a terrible threat and have characters die left and right... Our group tends to favour character survival. Beforte peopel start dissing this to render the game predictable and pointless... Our point is to have fun. Domination of others isn't high on the agenda, or bossing people about... The main fun element is living in a kind of movie reality... Where the plot relies on there being characters to persue it. -

* "Good GM(s)" - Although, these days, we all take turns GMing (controlling the game)... We had one of the best GMs around (in our opinion) at the start... He was great because he just let the characters get on with what they wanted to do... Without really having an adventure to railroad us through. - Most of the time we found our own adventures just "living" as the characters in this fantasy world. - Since we all take turns being shop keepers, guards, etc. as necessary... even sometimes, we have to exchange roles in the middle of the game... Like, when another's character enters the same shop, I'd have to play the shopkeeper with the same mannerisms and quirks hat he had when the other guy was playing him. This is now commonplace in our campaigns... The GM ended up just  making a character to join in the fun!!!

* "After experiencing the BEST, anything else is a cheap imitation" - This is how I feel after playing with other groups because our original group has been split up due to people's occupations. Nothing else comes close to how our group evolved. I feel this is due to the amount of experience the group has roleplaying... and also our personalities don't clash. We are in harmony. Our characters may not all see eye to eye because of their backgrounds... They love to hate each other... but know they have to rely on each other to survise (sometimes) so they have fun with it.

* "Method of play" - When we meet many of us have ideas for what we might do... and we discuss the various plots we have in mind, then go with the one most of us find interesting. Sometimes parody, sometimes fantasy sometimes a kind of simulation... Man, I would have loved to have enough cassettes, or have remembered to TAPE any of our games... because many are like one long comedy film... but because it's spontaneous and many great creative minds at work, it's almost always hilarious. Ranging from slapstic from fumbled rolls to eating a duck warrior after he helped us with the quest. Another funny one was a guy who was collecting a "Circus of Freaks"... and the Troll he'd captured thought of the whole thing as his own little food store. - Fantasy you all know, like the epic tales of heroes... and simulations can be anything from running a newspaper (reporting crimes & conspiracy theories) to horror and super heroes... Like "What would you do if you suddenly could do - THIS?"

* "Our own system" - Early on we discovered flaws with all these rule systems... It just wasn't possible for any book (or person) to forsee or address every event that might need resolution by dice or such... So we started looking for simpler rpg systems. RuneQuest was excellent, because the stat was it's own limit. You had to roll OVER to improve it... and under to succeed. That made a lot of sense, but % was too much of a hassle and the magic system wasn't versatile enough... so I ended up writing a D9 system I called "RPS" ("Role Playing System"... (0 is always a fumble, 1 is critical))... but even that was contained in a booklet since it had some tables to help out with random character generation... but that wouldn't do if you were in the middle of no where with nothing but a pen and paper to play... So we toyed with D6 based Fighting Fantasy (Skill, Stamina Luck/Magic)... which led us to abandoning dice altogether. After years of playing this way, one of us found a mention of such diceless roleplaying games and mentioned people were calling it freeform roleplaying... So we called our little diceless system "Freeform RPG" and you can read about it here to see how we used it: http://www.heimsnet.is/thestone/freeform.htm

* "Bond" - Between us is a kind of lifelong bond, or friendship... More than friendship really, because we have discussed just about EVERYTHING in the world and WAY beyond... So we know where each of us is "coming from"... as they say. Occupationally we're very different people... Today one of us is a soldier in a foreign land, another is an instructor, a 3D animator, a wine salesman, ship yard manager... and a teacher.
... but we are all from Iceland.

[friartuck]

I think you've summed up the virtues of roleplaying quite nicely. Rules are just tools, to be modified or discarded as the needs of the group dictate. RPGs are at their best when they are about communal storytelling. My group in New Orleans is also fairly eclectic, but we have this shared passion, and we love a good story. I think it'll be a challenge finding a collection of people that works together this well again . . . but then, I said something very similar before this group was assembled. Stories are good for the soul. Novels, movies, comic books, RPGs; the format (like varying rules mechanics) are just a delivery system.

And Thor, if you don't mind: my wife and I are planning a trip to Iceland for our honeymoon. If it's not too much of an imposition, can you contact me privately? I have a question about the place I can't seem to get answered anywhere . . . .  ballingrud  @cox.net

[Emily Care]

Hi Thor,

Thanks for posting. From what you describe, your gaming group seems to have a kindred spirit to my formative gaming communities.  Especially with respect to:

[*]Playing multiple characters.
[*]Rotating/sharing gmships.
[*]Improvising system.
[*]Commitment to eachother as friends, with good communication and synergy. [/list:u]
Some instances from my current group's campaign have been written up on the Forge. Some are listed here. I'd be interested to see what you think.  Another of my co-gms has posted the whole lot of links on his blog, if you go there now (12/31/04) you'll see them.

I've been wondering just this week about other game groups with a similar dynamic that must be out there. I'm working on an essay that will discuss this kind of play. An influential game in our groups' history was Ars Magica, which encourages many of the above aspects of gaming.  

What do you think were the important games or factors that helped this arise in your group?

Best to you,
Emily Care

[Emily Care]

Ah, I just saw your free-form page.  Yup, it's good stuff.

edited to add:

But it's interesting that you stick with gm's.  Have you experimented with different structures (eg multiple gms, simple shared authorship etc)?

Plus: Welcome to the Forge! : )

[icelandknight]

... And Thor, if you don't mind: my wife and I are planning a trip to Iceland for our honeymoon. If it's not too much of an imposition, can you contact me privately? I have a question about the place I can't seem to get answered anywhere . . . .  ballingrud  @cox.net

Well, FriarTuck, I hope you're not a religious dude?... from the message I just sent you! That is... hehe... You got mail! ;-)

No, really, with the world going to hell you couldn't have picked a better place than Iceland for your honeymoon... and this is from a guy who has always been very critical of this god-forsaken-rock in-the-middle-of-no-where! - *ahem* I hate having to admit it... but it doesn't seem all that bad NOW, with all the disasters and war and stuff. - Anyway, I was raised in East Africa, so I hardly know this place at all.

Just be prepared for the little-fishing-village mentality.
;-)

Yours,
Thor

[icelandknight]

HEY! Where have you been all my life?
hehehe... No, that's not a "come on"... That's a kind of roleplaying greeting expressing sadness that our group didn't get to know you sooner!

I love it when like minded people get together... and indulge in what they enjoy most! Be it eating pizza, almost sleeping over (I say ALMOST, because most people go home after the session... in sunshine, rain or snow... and some are delayed a bit by acciidents on the way... but SHOW UP in those collar things, you know, in case they have had spinal injury!!! Nopw THAT'S DEDICATION! - Another guy, who just got his driver's licence reversed into a lamp post on his way here (we mainly play at my place))... Where were we?

... had we finished?

Ok... Well, it's great to know you (and your group) exist... and hope we can stay in touch! I bet our groups would blend seamlessly! Amazing.

Your roleplaying brother up north,
Thor

hey, I did some writeups of some of our campaigns too:

http://www.heimsnet.is/thestone/rp/rplinks.htm
(Scroll down to "Ongoing RP Campaigns")

I did most of the writeups myself... The others can't be bothered... and that's probably also why a camera crew arrived here one day... It was a bunch of multimedia students doing a final which was a documentary of roleplaying. I set them straight on a few things. - THey never did send me a copy of the tape, but friends (and some "admirers who are in denial") told me they had seen it playing at the multimedia dept. of the university. *sigh*

(I read your posts - and it seems Necrophilia seems to know no borders! ;-) We had one of those! ... we even had a kind of twisted Ad&d campaign where you only get Xp if you do something perverted (& therefore funny to others? for some reason!) - Problem was, the word got out what we were up to... and after that they thought we ONLY played that sort of thing... Now, it's really easy to GET a bad name... but you try getting RID of it... eh... example? Ok... Mr. Jackson!)

Hmm... Just caught a glimpse of that last statement...

I've been wondering just this week about other game groups with a similar dynamic that must be out there. I'm working on an essay that will discuss this kind of play. An influential game in our groups' history was Ars Magica, which encourages many of the above aspects of gaming.

What do you think were the important games or factors that helped this arise in your group?

I think the main thing was the fun element in our adventures. They are what had people coming back for more.... and more... and more people being added to the group left and right... One time we split everyone up and that's when I realised there were 15 people at my house! - Then a girlfriend of mine ALSO turned up and had something intimate on her mind... and suddenly the roleplaying didn't seem THAT important anymore... and, honestly, I had to ask them all to leave... After this only 7 came back... The "original" 7! ... but the others made sure I heard about several groups that this split spawned... and they meant it to be a kind of insult, but I took it as praise! I'd never have been able to cater to such a big crowd for any length of time.

... another thing is the need for something OTHER than what the society around us has to offer. (Alcohol abuse and drugs are commonplace among people here... some blame the long winters, others just blame anyone but themselves) - When I say OTHER than what they are offered, I mean that on all levels movies, bars, discos, fighting, sport, etc... Hollywood movies, for example, have become boringly predictable, people yearn for unexpected outcomes... and sometimes the inclusion of silly comedy releif (ie. Monty Python inspired, like) in the games... I, for example, LOVE to "raise the budget" of our roleplaying games by including STARS in the the unlikliest roles... example? Tom Cruise is an innkeeper by the same name! He tosses bottles and stuff... You know what I mean? I normally add "let's raise the budget of this game a bit... A robed holyman man comes in and sits by the window... he looks like he has a whole world of troubleon his mind (hint: someone should ask him what's wrong - IF they ask, apparently the holy symbol has been stolen from his temple... The players will recognise him as Ghandi)..."
;-)

... and why not! - These characters are easily identifyable and everyone has a clear image of what they look like... We've had anyone from Karl Marx, Sherlock Holmes to Jesus Christ and Robin Hood... and it's fun to put these people in the game.

These things are among the elements that kept us together so long. We use the Ars Magica spell system a lot... but I like to add words to it, like "Spiritum" and "Deus"... "AquaDeus" = holywayer... or "IgnumInferno" HellFire (fire that furns much hotter than normal fire... and burns the soul! Uuu!) hehe...
eh... or should that be a deeper "bwahahaha!"

No, we don't really take our games TOO seriously... I mean, we've played (and loved) "Toon" and "Macho Women With Guns".

Another thing that I tended to do was label people according to what system they played a lot... So now you know what "MaggiToon" ran for us... Or RaggiStarWars... It was also a way to identify GMs who had the same name... A lot of people outside our group enjoyed this and some of the names stuck. Now we know StebbiCthulhu and StebbiStarWars are not the same guy! ("Stebbi" is short for Stefán up here)

Anything else you want to know, I'd LOVE to contribute... I love the RP scene up here... and, I know, I feel great shame in it... It was my fault it roleplaying died in Iceland.
Let me explain... I ran/run a small HOME BASED store called "TheStone Adventure Books" which boasts the largest variety of roleplaying books in Iceland... but then I became an agent for Wizards of the Coast... I don't know if you remember the days when TSR ruled the rpg world? ... Anyway, no-one up here BELIEVED when Wizards BAUGHT TSR!!! 8-O

It was like: Impossible!

... anyway, as an agent of Wizard$ of the Coast I introduced Magic the Gathering... and people baught into that in a BIG way. People up here are Chess fanatics, so add a bit of fantasy abd -voila- bundles are handed over... It got so big, in fact, that people got greedy... and when THAT is at the root of anything, I'm OUT. I'm in it for the roleplaying and friendship... In 1996 I declared the agency up for grabs, and to avoid the dog fight I skipped off to Africa to work for the UN. A few months later I returned and roleplaying had, sort of, died up here. - Don't get me wrong, I still have the home based store... but it's mainly just a storage and computer room now.
So, I take the blame. I shot myself in the foot importing M:TG!
hehe... or I like to see it that way. ;-)

The original 7 are now down to 4... and those are who roleplayed here... what was it? 29th december, I believe it was... and 1st of Jan we play again! Woohoo! The Magnificent 7... eh... 4 Roleplay Again!

Your roleplaying brother up north,
Thor

[icelandknight]

Ah, I just saw your free-form page.  Yup, it's good stuff.

edited to add:

But it's interesting that you stick with gm's.  Have you experimented with different structures (eg multiple gms, simple shared authorship etc)?

Plus: Welcome to the Forge! : )

Thanks!

Hmmm... Well, in a way that's what we do... Playing npcs is shared by everyone... Sometimes I become a character that someone else has already played.

... but I know what you mean... and I'd have to say - Yes. There have been games where the first part of the adventure is "run" by one GM who then hands us over to another (who's been a character until then) and they take over the story, letting the first GM just play... Is that what you meant?

Also, as opposed to the GM going aside with a player who split the party... The player just goes off with a kind of co-GM who knows the basic plot... We've never thought of it as co-GMing... but I suppose that's what it really is.

Tell you a funny thing abotu this, though...
Problems arise when people aren't quite aware of what we're up to... You see... My character and the character of another player were off to talk abotu something private (quickly: she tried to commit suicide, my char stopped her but wanted to know why... BUT the other characters were sure OUR CHARACTERS had gone off to have sex! Hence the secrecy, etc.)
So when some people showed up at my place (real people, not characters) asking where I was, they said I had gone into the living room to have sex with another guy... :-O
Thing is, Iceland is, like, this small-fishing-village mentality... and somehow the story got out... and twisted... So now I am thought to have had (real) sex with a male model by the same name as the guy who was playing the female character! *sigh*
Those who know me know I am heterosexual (attracted to girls (in a rather BIG way!))... but to further confuse matters, the guy who was roleplaying the girl is now openly gay (see his web page: www.ragtag.net )... and a great friend of mine!

So, yes, I think we can say we've tried co-GMing...
or at least something like it!
;-)

Yours,
Thor

[icelandknight]

UPDATE
This Xmas our session was totally incredible! It really confirms the points outlined in the first message of this thread.

I'm working on a game log... and as usual I got/get totally carried away! What can I say... I just LOVE the whole group dynamic we have going on! It had a bit of everything... from chills going up and down one's spine (from seeing the pale blue face of a dead guy staring up, out of the water) to the "ahhh, love!" scene when one of our characters (under the influence of the fairy "dust of broken hearts") met his "true love"... whom  the rest saw just as a common farm wench. - Ok, she was young and common looking, but with long hair. - Even her BROTHER (npc) was puzzled by the character's fascination. (hehe)

That's what I love about our games. They are constantly variable because of the creative minds at work around the table.

Yours,
Thor

ps. I'll post a link to the session log as soon as I'm done. (Warning: It may be LONG! It's already about 30 pages! - I do love my game logs! I don't know about other people... but when/if I ever have kids... These game logs are something I can read to them. Another pretty cool thing to do with these logs is to have the Windows Voice thing read them out. Man, my kids might get really screwed up, though! Perhaps I better not (hehe) It's a pity when they're teenagers, they don't like to be read to! ;-)

[Emily Care]

Hey Thor,

Gaming is the best, yes? And gaming well is truly priceless.  

Gaming logs can be useful things. In Japan they write up scripts of excellent campaign sessions that they call "replays" (right, correct me somebody if I got that wrong.).  However, rather than just a recounting of what happened in the game world during that session, they include descriptions of how the players interacted, letting other players who read the replay know how the game group worked together to have such a creative and productive session.  This is helpful in a lot of ways--much of the activities of gaming are basically oral tradition: how to "GM" and play is such a subjective and changeable thing that being able to have an insight into the actual dynamics at work in a well-functioning gaming group is extremely valuable.

That said,  30 pages would be a lot to get through to hear about a game session! : ) I'd be most interested to hear a few pithy descriptions from you of interactions that exemplify how you and your game group bring those amazing moments into being.  What kinds of collaborative brainstorming lead up to the characters finding the dead guy staring up out of the water? Was this something sprung on the players as a gut wrenching surprise? Or in the midst of discussion, had someone said "uh-oh, you know where we find him don't you? Right in the blessed mere!"

Every play group has unique ways of working together, that are influenced greatly by the system they are using which interact with the interpersonal dynamics of the group.  From what you've described of the free-form system your group uses, your dynamics would most likely be pretty unusual.  If that makes sense as a framework for describing some of your game session, it'd be great to hear about it.

yrs,
Emily Care

ps the thought of the windows voice reading a game log is very funny! *and-then-the-ar-cher-took-straight-a-im....*