hi!

played in a pick-up game a couple of days ago

it was on IRC, and there were three of us

we went with freeform: no setting, no rules, no nothing

I’d never played like that before, and was a little skeptical, but thought I’d give it a try

the result was incredible

we played for a solid seven hours, creating a intricate story from start to finish

have a look for yourselves over here if you want (it’s a wiki we set up during the game):
- http://wiki.stryck.com/Freeform/AssumptionsAndSettingDOF
- http://wiki.stryck.com/Freeform/DesertOfFear

now, my question is: how is this possible?

there was no system, I’d never met these guys before, we were using IRC, and yet, the session totally blew me away

we had drama, humor, suspense, action, you name it

of course, at least one of the other guys had done this before, or he wouldn’t have suggested we try it

but still…

also: we had no fixed characters, we were making the plot and the setting up as we played, etc.

so was this still role-playing? (it sure felt like it)

now, my question is: how is this possible?

we went with freeform: no setting, no rules, no nothing

Hey JC, hey Filip,

So a couple of things here. First of all, our third person, Char, is also an experienced freeformer; I think it was she that actually suggested the game. Secondly, I've learned from other GM-less games - not necessarily freeform, but games like Universalis - that successful play depends on at least ONE person stepping up and taking some leadership responsibilities. I tend to hold off on that, because I don't want to step on any toes, but if it's clear that no one else is planning on doing it, then I'll go ahead and throw some stuff out and see what happens.

In this case I'd been reading a lot about ancient civilizations, so I just dumped a bunch of Sumerian setting stuff on the table that didn't seem to rub anyone the wrong way; so we went with it.

I did do a few things that I thought were explicitly "guidance" type things, although the other guys may disagree. After the first couple of scenes I felt like I was doing most of the inventing, so I specifically asked them to do a scene where my character wasn't present and said I might jump in with an NPC or something if I felt like I had a good idea.

As far as *how we did it,* freeform play is not significantly different than any other kind of play, at its core - that's pretty much the Lumpley Principle, right? Regular play is just freeform play with mechanics on top.

just read the Lumpley principle again

I don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t think I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'d really understood it until now

about guidance:

could you go into a little more detail about what you did?

or maybe it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s just become second nature to you :)

because I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'d really like to learn how to do that!

actually, I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve just gone and read the OOC log again

I notice that I made up plenty of stuff myself, but that it was mostly color

I didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t actually set any kind of dramatic ball rolling at any time

OK, maybe one or two, but that was well into the game

so I see now what the important part of the guidance was: coming up with a situation that is prone to conflict

in this case: villages fighting over natural resources

and tying the characters into that: an arms dealer, and some customers

then adding some more conflict: one of the villagers took the other\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s slave, so he\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s plotting to kill him

after that, the story just writes itself :)

if it looks like it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s slowing down, just add another source of conlict, via one of the (primary or secondary) characters

this is probably totally obvious to most of you, but hey, writing helps me learn :)

Hi JC,

Something wacky going on with all the \\\ before an apostrophe - you cut and paste from another program?

On topic - you've looked back and seen where you've added color - and latter gotten some dramatic balls rolling, and a bunch of other things you or others added.

You could probably go through and write it all down in those terms. Then look at what you wrote and...see it as a set of instructions? Rough draft, of course.

Callan wrote:
Hi JC,

Something wacky going on with all the \\\ before an apostrophe - you cut and paste from another program?

On topic - you've looked back and seen where you've added color - and latter gotten some dramatic balls rolling, and a bunch of other things you or others added.

You could probably go through and write it all down in those terms. Then look at what you wrote and...see it as a set of instructions? Rough draft, of course.

I’m trying to remember my old definitions from Psycho-Physical Development classes (high school was a loooong time ago).  Something like:

PLAY is any unregulated activity for enjoyment; it has neither rules nor time limit.
GAME is a regulated activity for enjoyment with rules but no time limit.
SPORT is a regulated activity for enjoyment with both rules and a time limit.

Most RPGs fall under the “Game” category. If you are running an RPG in a competitive, tournament environment then it actually becomes a “Sport.”

Sounds like what you folks did was “Play,” not something that could be re-created with different folks under different circumstance…at least, not with any predictability.

Were you “role-playing?” Yes. Were you playing an RPG? Doesn’t sound like it to me.

As to your first question (how is this possible): any young child can play.  Being adults, you were able to develop a more mature social contract (for example, playing around a particular theme, etc.).

How did you keep someone from "spamming" assertions about the narrative to the exclusion of others' ideas?

How did you resolve situations where one player wanted something another totally didn't want?

How did you change the narrative facts of the game, when something new came into logical conflict with something previously asserted?

I am willing to bet you can answer all of those questions; and, basically, the answers are the "system" that you used. The facts of the narrative evolved and defined the situation(s); and you at least occasionally had characters interacting. In Forge terms, that's an RPG.

It sounds like you were a handful of coins and some Post-It notes away from playing Universalis....
David

LandonSuffered wrote:
I’m trying to remember my old definitions from Psycho-Physical Development classes (high school was a loooong time ago).  Something like:

PLAY is any unregulated activity for enjoyment; it has neither rules nor time limit.
GAME is a regulated activity for enjoyment with rules but no time limit.
SPORT is a regulated activity for enjoyment with both rules and a time limit.

David wrote:
It sounds like you were a handful of coins and some Post-It notes away from playing Universalis....

Hey JC,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you; my internets have gone flaky this week.

So, I think that from looking at the logs you have pretty much answered your own question about guidance.

I would say something like this: Just because we're playing without a GM doesn't mean that GM-stuff gets ignored. GM-stuff is important; it has to get done by SOMEONE. When you play freeform without a GM, that GM stuff just gets split up across the group. Guidance is: not forcing your "GM-stuff" on the group, but being willing to contribute some GM-stuff it seems like the health of the game needs it.

P.S.

We were TOTALLY only a postit note and some coins away from Universalis. :)