We regularly come together to play this game in an attempt at fun, friendly and collaborative storytelling. A good story features a rich and fertile setting, the characters and their development, a central theme, a compelling conflict to overcome, and an interesting plot to uncover. We try to address each of those throughout the story.
The game master populates the world in which we play, sets up the story, guides the players and resolves player choices and character actions. The game master regularly discusses the individual characters with their respective players in order to understand their motivations and to help the player to achieve the goals they have set out for their character. The goal is the enjoyment of all players and the crafting of a compelling narrative.
The players blow life into their characters by fleshing out a vivid back story, understanding the rules of their chosen class, understanding the underlying motivations and ambitions of their characters and gifting them with an internally logical personality. They also agree to engage in collaborative play for mutual character benefit and player enjoyment.
While conflicts between the characters can add to a compelling narrative, we recognise that it should never take away from the overall enjoyment of the game. Conflicts like that can best be played out under the narrative supervision of the game master, instead of through ad hominems or passive aggressiveness between players. We are all friends at the gaming table, anything that is played out at the table is done so in friendship.
The goal is to create a story together which we will can still recall with a sense of nostalgia into our later years and that we will miss the characters we played and the npc’s they met with a sense of fondness that we usually reserve for a good book or a great film. If we can do that while still having fun, then we’re successfully engaging in a good game of role-playing.
Respect everyone’s time, and don’t detract from everyone’s overall enjoyment of the game.
