May 3, 2014
I think the reason I have always loved both Space Operas and Sword and Sorcerer is kind of the same, its heavily based in story telling. The heroes are pulpy and big but at the same time have very real feelings and stories that you can connect to. Not to say that any game cannot have story telling in it without following those genres. The key to good story telling in a table top game is passion.
Every gamer can recall a great game where the story had you coming back every week, wanting to see what happened next, asking the GM questions in email, text, side conversations during the week. You remember getting together as a party, working to defeat the BAMF and feeling the victory that your characters felt at the time. I think, over time, the gaming industry has kind of gone full circle on this concept. At first games were more tactical warfare influenced, then game creators like Gary Gygax came along and opened it up with first edition D&D, some very basic combat rules but the rest was up to the GM. Since that first wave of products, game makers have turned more and more toward simulations play, with rules upon rules for combat. But lets face it, when you go back to that awesome victory you so fondly remember, you really don't remember every round of detailed combat maneuvers, facing, attacks of opportunities, and the hundred of other rules that have become common at the table. You remember the decisive blow. You can recall the rules that went into that, but the rest was just wash because combat was slowed down. People were building dice towers and chit-chatting. It wasn't as exciting when it was your turn, just a fact. This is the very fact that has led many of my past players to confessing that they make min-maxed combat machines so that they can push through combat to get back to the story. Why is it, with that kind of attitude, do we see more and more combat crunch and rules to govern how and when you can swing your sword? Listen to a game store game combat. You may have one guy who narrates his attack, but the rest of the table is looking at him like "come on bro, we have already sat on your turn for five minutes..." Why then do we get excited about new editions that "streamline combat", which in most cases means more focused rules? Why don't we go back to focus on story, as a culture?
Star Wars is all about the story and the struggle. It amazes me that players and GM's will jump head first into story, under that flag ship, but not treat their fantasy game with the same love. Characters are made with more depth and more hooks to get them involved, where as other game systems(especially those with a focus on kill XP) have almost one dimensional characters. I have grown bored of running games for characters that are simple lone wolf murder hobos, as I am sure many others have. I want heroes, but in reality that is up to me to enforce. Its not a player problem its a GM problem. I have not been engaging as much as I should have, in the past with my players. Player drive is directly proportional to player input. The more a player puts into the story the more they get from it, and want to further their stories. With enough team effort, those parts where Chris is doing his side arc with the GM no longer becomes dice tower time. You will see people listening and hanging on to the edge of their seat. So go with the force, and encourage your players to do something epic with story, even if it's them getting their asses handed to them by some goblins. Do more than run a game, tell a story.
