Plotter vs Improv'r: Which are you?

[Illysia]

I don't know about always taking pleasure when your plan goes off the rails but that is what would make me say a certain amount of conscious direction is needed. You don't have to force players along one path but you need to keep things moving. Often players will destroy a plot once they come in contact with it. Nothing malicious, it's just unpredictability. Regardless, you have to be ready to adjust to keep the RP going so that it doesn't die an unsatisfying death. It's OK for an RP to end differently but when no one is happy with the outcome it's a bummer.

I still think complete improv is more of a goal-less way of RPing. It's better if there's little to nothing at state when you are using it.

[Rigwyn]

To me, this thing about a "satisfying ending" implies that you have a preconceived notion of how the story "should" go. This, from my experience, works far better in single author stories than in multi player games. The story does not need to end when a failure occurs. As in real life, failures and setbacks are just a part of a much larger picture. They can even be turned into stepping stones.

[Illysia]

IC failures are fine. OOC ones are no good. When Zandral was dumped, I had a bunch of things she was going to try to do and then real life intervened and I didn't get back to any of it. That was not an IC ending to the story, real life just stripped the RP of a bunch of the story.

Sometimes it's a matter of the story ended worse than anti-climatically, sometimes it ends with the players wondering what there are doing or why they even wasted their time. That is not an IC failure, that is an OOC failure. These are not good endings and it leaves players unsatisfied.

[Rigwyn]

OK, I see your point. Yeah, that's tough. lol

[Thoss]

endings... and improv/goal based... I am kind of running into this in they fryan liquor thread...

On the one hand there is the most realistic action for the characters to take... on the other there is the desire for an option to have my character, or any of them participate in an interesting ending...

A lot of interactions have relatively boring endings... which may lead to satisfaction failure... is there pressure to always create a near contrived "AWESOME" ending ?

[Illysia]

The ending doesn't have to be awesome, it just has to be entertaining. A fairly mundane ending can serve that purpose. That is one advantage to knowing the people you are RPing with. It means you can manuever to a satisfying ending easier because you know what everyone wants.

However, some generic things to keep in mind would be to make sure people got to do what their character wanted to do. So making sure no one gets entirely or mostly cut out of the RP. Make sure that the characters don't fail ICly for some poorly thought out, stupid story, or OOC reason. And I guess.... don't be so tied to an ending that you aren't willing to deviate from the story to keep a player from being unfairly messed over. This is more of a problem if you rely on dice rolls for the outcomes. The dice can be cruel and unreasoning. >.>

[Rigwyn]

A lot of interactions have relatively boring endings... which may lead to satisfaction failure... is there pressure to always create a near contrived "AWESOME" ending ?

I think it can be tempting to try to nudge the story in a particular direction but whether or not it's OK to do that kind of depends on who you are playing with and the type of game. I know some players would spot an attempt at OOC manipulation and be put off by that while others might be more tolerant of it.

Obviously, If it's a guided game and you are the DM, then it's your job to make and steer the game. I think most folks here tend to expect a decentralized game ( no DM ) for the most part.

I think it's a judgment call, personally.

[Thoss]

Ok, cool, thanks for the advice Illysia and Rigwyn. I think for me I will lean towards asking myself what my character would feel/want to do in general before deciding which direction of actions to take.

Would they be mad, sad, scared, bored... and then go from there... and try to be true to things as if this world were real...

sometimes it feels as if there is a difference attempting to RP a character in a world... verses attempting to RP a character in a RP game... get's tricky.

[Illysia]

sometimes it feels as if there is a difference attempting to RP a character in a world... verses attempting to RP a character in a RP game... get's tricky.

How do you mean?

[Thoss]

I am probably just talking about OOC seperation... try and view things as if you were actually in the world instead of being a dude playing a character in a world.

[Illysia]

Yeah, your level of immersion does make a difference. This is why some people get so cranky when their immersion is broken.

[Volki]

I plot first and improvise once I'm in it.

Not that it matters... I don't really play anymore.

[Illysia]

Half the people in this thread don't play anymore so you are in good company.