Post by Morreion on Jul 22, 2011 9:20:49 GMT -5
Storyboard: Cooking up a roleplaying event, part one (Massively)
Don't greenscreen more than absolutely necessary
...It's not because roleplayers aren't imaginative; it's because whenever you're tying to imagine something is there in a world where it clearly is not, you're asking for a big leap. It's really hard to turn off the impulse reminding you that you look ridiculous when you can see everything else in the game except the imaginary additions. More to the point, there's the simple fact that everyone involved is going to be picturing something slightly different -- and if the imaginary addition to the scene is supposed to be interacted with in any fashion, you will run into some pretty huge issues if no one can agree quite what it looks like.
Imaginary props (like papers or bottles or the like) generally work out all right. Anything larger is going to cause some issues.
Storyboard: Cooking up a roleplaying event, part two (Massively)
Do give people something interesting to do the whole time
I once attended an event at which the crux of the entire evening was meant to be two characters arguing with one another. The rest of the attendees weren't meant to interact with the argument, they weren't meant to take sides, they weren't even needed there except for the fact that they would have missed the argument otherwise. It was an extraordinarily well-played scene by all accounts, but I still found myself losing interest because all of a sudden, my character could essentially be out to lunch for the evening's events.
Let me state for the record that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having an event based solely around two or three people. The thing is, you don't need to invite a half-dozen additional people just to see how awesome it's going to be. Let your scenes and events grow to encompass the number of people that they can actually support and no further, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
Don't greenscreen more than absolutely necessary
...It's not because roleplayers aren't imaginative; it's because whenever you're tying to imagine something is there in a world where it clearly is not, you're asking for a big leap. It's really hard to turn off the impulse reminding you that you look ridiculous when you can see everything else in the game except the imaginary additions. More to the point, there's the simple fact that everyone involved is going to be picturing something slightly different -- and if the imaginary addition to the scene is supposed to be interacted with in any fashion, you will run into some pretty huge issues if no one can agree quite what it looks like.
Imaginary props (like papers or bottles or the like) generally work out all right. Anything larger is going to cause some issues.
Storyboard: Cooking up a roleplaying event, part two (Massively)
Do give people something interesting to do the whole time
I once attended an event at which the crux of the entire evening was meant to be two characters arguing with one another. The rest of the attendees weren't meant to interact with the argument, they weren't meant to take sides, they weren't even needed there except for the fact that they would have missed the argument otherwise. It was an extraordinarily well-played scene by all accounts, but I still found myself losing interest because all of a sudden, my character could essentially be out to lunch for the evening's events.
Let me state for the record that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having an event based solely around two or three people. The thing is, you don't need to invite a half-dozen additional people just to see how awesome it's going to be. Let your scenes and events grow to encompass the number of people that they can actually support and no further, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
