I just had an epiphany on gamers, and gaming. We've been playing sometimes with non-gamers. In fact, besides Chris, Luiz, and I, the C:TL game has been saddled with three non gamers. Early on, I felt shy about talking about it at length with them in between sessions, or prattling on about things with the GM, but now I realize that this is fine and normal, for gamers. I think that was one of the fundamental issues with that game, trying to turn non gamers, into gamers, and trying to move things around for them to entice them into it. I really didn't get why things weren't taking off. I understand now.
I've been getting into the head of a lovely non gamer who's been trying to do it for the social aspect, and for her husband, who is our GM. She said "I don't mind being there, at the table, I enjoy it. When it comes to continuing a story, or remembering how I'm supposed to act from one time to the next, or when it comes to thinking about it in between, then I can't handle it. I lose interest." There we have it, folks, the cry of a doting wife, trying to be a gamer. It made everything super clear to me. I feel pretty good, now I can relate to her reticence, I can understand now why our Seaside Point game drags.
Ian is running us through some pre-generated content. It's great for getting to the table, and getting into action. It's not at all story driven. Very on the rails "Go to a town, find out a menace, go kill the menace, go back to town, plot twists...there's an even bigger menace using those little guys as catspaws". Interacting with NPCs in town gives us some time to role play and develop our characters, but outside of that, it's basic dungeon crawling. Which is GREAT. What keeps it fresh is that in between times, we're constantly chatting about each other's characters, and making up stories about them, guessing about what comes next, conceptualizing, etc. So, when we get to the table, we've already been playing it out in our head for a week or two, and we're rarin' to go. Even if "go" trotting (or charging, sneaking, stumbling, sauntering...) down some steps into the next room of the dungeon, kick down a door, kill a buncha monsters with panache, and loot them.
I explained it to Lee this way, "We're all actors in some great movie. If we just showed up, read some lines, and went home to do other things for a month, till we were summoned in for our next lines...the movie would suck. The best part of gaming happens behind the scenes, like movies. There's tons of stuff happening around the actors, the director is planning, the scenery people are doing stuff, there's writing and editing happening. Even actors research their roles, change their mannerisms. Only THEN can actors walk into a full world and interact with it." We're the cast and crew, the artists, the writers, the director, the actors. We're building something. We are not the audience. Even playing from semi dry pre-printed material offers us a giant sand box to build castles, and sort out personalities.
So, with Seaside Point, half our crew is just showing up and sitting in the sand box waiting for a miracle. Half of us are pondering, thinking preparing, storycrafting. The rest, just kinda arrive expecting things to happen. Which is ok, because they're not bit by the bug. They're not role players. If we were to expect that of them, it would be forced, and unfair for them, they're not thinking on my level about that piece of paper in front of them. Their sheet does not represent some amazing imaginary friend. It's a reference sheet with a lot of confusing numbers and terms. My mistake was this: I chalked it up to being new. It's totally not that at all. Alden's new, but he's a gamer. He's forever talking about Dorn or Adrian, or now Nimbus (oh, holy god is he chewing my ear off about Nimbus...) He sat there browsing a website that sells precision dice last night for hours, exclaiming over the colors. He's badgering me about painting his minis. He's a gamer, no mistake, he just has to iron out his role playing skills.
Let's leave the non gamers to their movies, and their other non-interactive entertainment, and lets everyone be happy. Let me nerd it up, obsess about my character, and the minutia of storycrafting. Let me make tables of loot, tables of outcomes, percentage tables, and study the energy expenditure of razor edged dice as opposed to rounded edge dice. Let me write my stories, and go on flights of fancy, because what I bring to the table is going to be excellent. It'll be excellent because I've been thinking about it, in fact, last night, I probably went to sleep contemplating it. I'm not going to pretend nonchalance, and try to water down the experience for people that aren't exactly interested in the hobby. It's not acting. It's not a casual social gathering. The mistake is trying to make it out for less than it is. RPG gaming, anything that requires core books, character sheets, and dice...that's a hobby, and an investment of time, and often money. Many other games fall in to simpler "social event" categories like card games and board games. This is role playing. Showing up at a table and being led through every move by other players, is a farce.
That said, I am all for meeting once a month or so, for a casual gaming thing, that's not role playing. I happen to love board games, card games, and all that, and I genuinely like hanging out with people.
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