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I've been conned!
Dec. 17th, 2001 02:49 pmYes, it's a terrible pun. But I'm back from Canberra and Phenomenon, where I had the pleasure of playing a whole weekend's worth of roleplaying games with some of my best friends. Some of those games were unfortunately pretty crap, though we managed to squeeze some fun out of the stone. And some of them were really good.
Overall the con was stacks of fun - I haven't played every session at a con before, and experiencing that many different GMing and writing styles in such a short time was exhausting, but rewarding. This is partly because I haven't played much in recent months (I've been too busy running my DnD campaign, Third Frontier, and starting my Hunter game), but also because I'm always interesting in improving my own GMing style. I've found through exposure in cons that I'm much more flexible than most GMs (though not my nearest and dearest ones) - roleplaying is about acting as a character in world, and there shouldn't to my mind be unreasonable restrictions on that action. If players in one of my games want to do a thing, it's very rare for me to say no. Instead, I'll ask how they intend to do that thing - and let them figure out why it's difficult or pointless for themselves. :P
I was also reacquainting myself with the playing styles of my team, and even they're all quite different. When I'm roleplaying, part of my head sits back and, instead of watching the other characters, watches the other players, evaluating and analysing. This gets even more interesting when in a freeform, exposed to the styles of dozens of players whom I would otherwise never play with. As a result, I was staggered at how often and easily many people go out of character at the slightest provocation. I'm not a big fan of this; maybe it's an actor thing, because I think Guy, who I think also approaches roleplaying from an acting perspective, stays in character all the time too.
Wow, a long entry - but then I had a long and fantastic weekend!
Overall the con was stacks of fun - I haven't played every session at a con before, and experiencing that many different GMing and writing styles in such a short time was exhausting, but rewarding. This is partly because I haven't played much in recent months (I've been too busy running my DnD campaign, Third Frontier, and starting my Hunter game), but also because I'm always interesting in improving my own GMing style. I've found through exposure in cons that I'm much more flexible than most GMs (though not my nearest and dearest ones) - roleplaying is about acting as a character in world, and there shouldn't to my mind be unreasonable restrictions on that action. If players in one of my games want to do a thing, it's very rare for me to say no. Instead, I'll ask how they intend to do that thing - and let them figure out why it's difficult or pointless for themselves. :P
I was also reacquainting myself with the playing styles of my team, and even they're all quite different. When I'm roleplaying, part of my head sits back and, instead of watching the other characters, watches the other players, evaluating and analysing. This gets even more interesting when in a freeform, exposed to the styles of dozens of players whom I would otherwise never play with. As a result, I was staggered at how often and easily many people go out of character at the slightest provocation. I'm not a big fan of this; maybe it's an actor thing, because I think Guy, who I think also approaches roleplaying from an acting perspective, stays in character all the time too.
Wow, a long entry - but then I had a long and fantastic weekend!
