Role-playing
Every now and again I feel like my role-playing habit is something akin to how a drug addict desperately tries fix after fix and doubling the dosages in a futile attempt to reach that cherry-high state of intoxication he or she got from his first hit. I've been gaming pretty steadily since I was sixteen or so, so I'm officially at the two decade mark as a role-player. Out of all that time there are really only a handful of occasions where I have been in a group that was able to truly suspend their disbelief for awhile and be their characters.
For a long time I was slowly being battered into the belief that maybe I just gotten too old and my ability to use my imagination had atrophied beyond the point where I make the transition into character anymore. However a couple years ago we had a game wherein the formula clicked and a handful of boring, white folks transformed into a heroic group of adventurers. We laughed and fought bad guys and rescued... well we rescued phat loots and we were boisterous and charming and everything just flowed.
Magic
It was magical enough to make me quit my other gaming group entirely because it so vividly illustrated the difference between a group of role-players and a group of roll-players. We weren't just dedicated to being in-character, we were carried along on a warm glow of fantasy escapism. We shared a hallucination at the gaming table and it was good! I really felt like I'd found the mojo and gaming was as it should be again.
Unfortunately circumstances forced the end of that game and the group was unable to re-form for over a year. When we got back together the magic had gone. Now I'm tapping my arm for a vein that will not rise. Oh, I get a little rush now and then and I'm reminded of how truly glorious a successful session can be, but little glimpses is all they are.
My current group is comprised primarily of really bright, experienced players. Our GM is the grand-poobah of gaming dorkery. We're playing a diverse group of interesting characters and yet we just haven't seemed to find the formula.
It doesn't really matter if we do on this attempt or the next or the next. I'm a confirmed junkie and I'll keep tappin' for a vein. No matter how many times I just end up bruised and a little hungover I still get excited for the next attempt. I'm curious, does anyone else feel the same?
For a long time I was slowly being battered into the belief that maybe I just gotten too old and my ability to use my imagination had atrophied beyond the point where I make the transition into character anymore. However a couple years ago we had a game wherein the formula clicked and a handful of boring, white folks transformed into a heroic group of adventurers. We laughed and fought bad guys and rescued... well we rescued phat loots and we were boisterous and charming and everything just flowed.
Magic
It was magical enough to make me quit my other gaming group entirely because it so vividly illustrated the difference between a group of role-players and a group of roll-players. We weren't just dedicated to being in-character, we were carried along on a warm glow of fantasy escapism. We shared a hallucination at the gaming table and it was good! I really felt like I'd found the mojo and gaming was as it should be again.
Unfortunately circumstances forced the end of that game and the group was unable to re-form for over a year. When we got back together the magic had gone. Now I'm tapping my arm for a vein that will not rise. Oh, I get a little rush now and then and I'm reminded of how truly glorious a successful session can be, but little glimpses is all they are.
My current group is comprised primarily of really bright, experienced players. Our GM is the grand-poobah of gaming dorkery. We're playing a diverse group of interesting characters and yet we just haven't seemed to find the formula.
It doesn't really matter if we do on this attempt or the next or the next. I'm a confirmed junkie and I'll keep tappin' for a vein. No matter how many times I just end up bruised and a little hungover I still get excited for the next attempt. I'm curious, does anyone else feel the same?