The Forge Forums Read-only Archives
The live Forge Forums
|
Articles
|
Reviews
Welcome,
Guest
. Please
login
or
register
.
January 24, 2021, 10:59:50 PM
1 Hour
1 Day
1 Week
1 Month
Forever
Login with username, password and session length
Forum changes:
Editing of posts has been turned off until further notice.
Search:
Advanced search
275647
Posts in
27717
Topics by
4285
Members Latest Member:
-
Jason DAngelo
Most online today:
206
- most online ever:
565
(October 17, 2020, 02:08:06 PM)
The Forge Archives
Archive
GNS Model Discussion
method roleplaying
Pages: [
1
]
« previous
next »
Author
Topic: method roleplaying (Read 4199 times)
poppocabba
Member
Posts: 48
method roleplaying
«
on:
May 02, 2001, 03:54:00 PM »
Logged
Ron Edwards
Global Moderator
Member
Posts: 16490
method roleplaying
«
Reply #1 on:
May 04, 2001, 06:10:00 AM »
Poppocabba,
There are a lot of good points in what you say. I liked nearly everything on your list, but two items caught my attention: the "speaking in the character's voice" and the "interact only in character" parts.
I want to suggest a potentially upsetting or tricky thing: that "actor" stance - be your character, think like your character, talk like your character - may not actually have much to do with good and enjoyable role-playing.
Yes, I know that this idea contradicts everything people SAY about role-playing - that it's cops&robbers with rules, that it's like acting in a play or movie, and so on. But these well-worn phrases, frankly, are false. Role-playing has NEVER been well-described in role-playing game text, although the best metaphor I've heard came from Chaosium, regarding free-form jazz.
I suggest instead that good role-playing emerges from shared or at least compatible goals (and here's where this G/N/S stuff comes in, because those are three common and coherent goals).
For two of those goals (Narrativist and Gamist), apparently the most effective "stance" [relationship of player to character] is "Author" stance. In a Narrativist situation, the player considers the character to be the protagonist in the PLAYER'S (and the rest of the group's) STORY. In a Gamist situation, the player considers the character to be the expression or "holder" of his strategies - some folks call this "Pawn" stance. Neither of these stances means the player is constrained by the character - "out-of-character" discussion and decision-making is common to both.
Degrees of "acting" can be added into Author stance, but I have found this to be a highly variable, generally irrelevant issue to the quality of play. One of my current players always uses the third person; several of the others almost always use in-character dialogue. Author stance works either way.
Anyway, I wanted to bring up this idea that there exists a pretty well-worked-out set of concepts about how players relate to characters, and one of the surprising conclusions - that "method acting" is perhaps NOT the most effective model to follow. There's a lot of material in the Sorcerer forum on GO about it.
One final point - I've read quite a bit of Stanislavsky as well as been involved extensively in theater. One thing that surprised me is the difference between Stanislavsky's TEXT (what he really says) and "The Method" as perceived and adopted by the American dramatic culture. They are hugely different - I consider Stanislavsky to be handing the actor much responsibility for creative portrayal, through tapping into his largely unspoken awareness of human behavior and emotion, for purposes of conveying the story BETTER; however, I consider "The Method" (as interpreted by others) basically to be REMOVING such responsibility from an actor so that he can mumble and scratch his ass instead of conveying the story.
Best,
Ron
Logged
Pages: [
1
]
« previous
next »
Jump to:
Please select a destination:
-----------------------------
Welcome to the Archives
-----------------------------
=> Welcome to the Archives
-----------------------------
General Forge Forums
-----------------------------
=> First Thoughts
=> Playtesting
=> Endeavor
=> Actual Play
=> Publishing
=> Connections
=> Conventions
=> Site Discussion
-----------------------------
Archive
-----------------------------
=> RPG Theory
=> GNS Model Discussion
=> Indie Game Design
-----------------------------
Independent Game Forums
-----------------------------
=> Adept Press
=> Arkenstone Publishing
=> Beyond the Wire Productions
=> Black and Green Games
=> Bully Pulpit Games
=> Dark Omen Games
=> Dog Eared Designs
=> Eric J. Boyd Designs
=> Errant Knight Games
=> Galileo Games
=> glyphpress
=> Green Fairy Games
=> Half Meme Press
=> Incarnadine Press
=> lumpley games
=> Muse of Fire Games
=> ndp design
=> Night Sky Games
=> one.seven design
=> Robert Bohl Games
=> Stone Baby Games
=> These Are Our Games
=> Twisted Confessions
=> Universalis
=> Wild Hunt Studios
-----------------------------
Inactive Forums
-----------------------------
=> My Life With Master Playtest
=> Adamant Entertainment
=> Bob Goat Press
=> Burning Wheel
=> Cartoon Action Hour
=> Chimera Creative
=> CRN Games
=> Destroy All Games
=> Evilhat Productions
=> HeroQuest
=> Key 20 Publishing
=> Memento-Mori Theatricks
=> Mystic Ages Online
=> Orbit
=> Scattershot
=> Seraphim Guard
=> Wicked Press
=> Review Discussion
=> XIG Games
=> SimplePhrase Press
=> The Riddle of Steel
=> Random Order Creations
=> Forge Birthday Forum