Post by Chris Chinn on Oct 19, 2011 6:58:10 GMT -8
It occurred to me the other day, that when I want to play Illusionism, I pop in a JRPG videogame. And, that it's a vastly superior experience (for me) to Illusionism for the following reasons:
1. I don't have to coordinate with 3-5 other people
2. I can play in short chunks of 30 minutes rather than 3-6 hours
3. I know exactly what I can and cannot affect in the game.
The last one, I think is a major issue - in tabletop games, the problem of taking Illusionism to Participationism is a question of whether everyone knows where the lines are.
If I'm playing Mass Effect, I know that really the limit of what I can affect is which allies trust me, or whether I'm the kind of person who punches people for talking trash, etc.
If I'm playing an Illusionist rpg, I might want to make friends with an NPC for it's own sake, but the GM might block me, either for pre-established reasons, or simply out of fear that my friendship with an NPC -might- lead to something else they'd have to railroad around to keep the plot going.
Because the issue of intention and limitations aren't clear, a lot of Illusionism is jousting around trying to figure out everyone's goals and where the limits are, unless you reduce your character to the most non-active being ever. (And, there's problems inherent in that model as well).
Anyone else have some experiences with Illusionism, more or less successfully and thoughts on this?
Chris
1. I don't have to coordinate with 3-5 other people
2. I can play in short chunks of 30 minutes rather than 3-6 hours
3. I know exactly what I can and cannot affect in the game.
The last one, I think is a major issue - in tabletop games, the problem of taking Illusionism to Participationism is a question of whether everyone knows where the lines are.
If I'm playing Mass Effect, I know that really the limit of what I can affect is which allies trust me, or whether I'm the kind of person who punches people for talking trash, etc.
If I'm playing an Illusionist rpg, I might want to make friends with an NPC for it's own sake, but the GM might block me, either for pre-established reasons, or simply out of fear that my friendship with an NPC -might- lead to something else they'd have to railroad around to keep the plot going.
Because the issue of intention and limitations aren't clear, a lot of Illusionism is jousting around trying to figure out everyone's goals and where the limits are, unless you reduce your character to the most non-active being ever. (And, there's problems inherent in that model as well).
Anyone else have some experiences with Illusionism, more or less successfully and thoughts on this?
Chris