A Reflection - Simulationist Turns into a Narrativist

[Yokiboy]

Hello,

We met up last night to create characters for The Riddle of Steel. I asked the players what type of character concepts intrigued them and thought we could jazz up a cool setting around these concepts, but the most hard-core simulationist player in my group said that he would prefer to follow the Primetime Adventures and Sorcerer path of defining a few more things about the story first, otherwise he wouldn't know how to make a cool protagonist.  :o

I am not kidding if that didn't bring a tear of joy to my eyes! After I had pulled myself up off the floor.

What we ended up with could turn out to be a pure joy of a story to play, but I think we better practise some with the combat system first, so their brand new protagonists don't end up dead too soon.  ;)

TTFN,

Yokiboy

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Yokiboy,

I hope the player realizes that by "fit into the story," he is expected actually to make story via his character's decisions, relative to everyone's investment in them. But given the game references, it seems likely.

One thing I recommend in GMing The Riddle of Steel is for you to play the non-player-characters' SAs exactly as if they were player-characters - spend them, track them, rack'em up, buy them off, etc, exactly by the rules.

Doing this really, really made a positive difference in my experiences with the game.

Best,
Ron