The Bell, and Where Character Comes From

[mr_orgue]

This weekend "Hydra", Wellington's first LARP convention, was held. I went out to play in one game, The Bell, facilitated & co-written by fellow Gametimer stephanie_pegg. (The Bell is available for sale at Drivethru.) This is not a review, not least because I only saw one sliver of the whole

Comments

[caleb_books]

Thank you for this Morgue. I really enjoyed reading this, and I had a lot of the same feelings about The Bell. I felt my character developed and was shaped by how I answered certain questions and comments others made. And how just a few words pushed me into a course of action.

Your comment of just knowing how your character was going to react in future, even without knowing getting to that point was exactly how I felt in the game. The way things were building I knew how things would end for me, and why I felt a building pressure to do what I did and quickly, before he couldn't anymore.

Having certain players into certain roles and the way they acted actually had an impact on me as well.

Cheers
Scott

[mr_orgue]

Yeah, exactly. The Bell's really open characters and structure combined with setups for intense character choice really seemed to highlight these processes - I think they are there all the time in every game, but really exposed in this one.

And your point about people is also important - I don't know if I would have taken the action I did in regard to your character, if it was being played by someone else...

[caleb_books]

It's interesting you say that. It was the same reason I came to you about those actions. I had observed your in character body language and words in that period, your interactions with others, and how my character saw them, and since he was frantic, he tried to push the buttons of a character who would do what you did. But I also knew that you, as a player, could handle a situation like that, it was a matter of trust of the player as well.

(I apologise for anyone not there, I am trying to make a point without giving any of the game away, because I really think it is best to go into this game with a clean slate. Every game is going to be different, just from the way we interpret things, but I would rather not bias anything).

[mundens]

I think your experience is yet another example of what Robin Laws recently said on his blog:

"...but again proves that, given a measure of narrative control, players will screw themselves over in ways they would never permit were a mere GM doing it."

[mr_orgue]

heh - I almost linked to that blog post, too. I think you're dead right. It felt like there'd be complexity in the specifics, but that's totally part of the picture.

[tcpip]

Can I yoink this for RPG Review? (Due credit etc)

And, also I'm sorry I missed you when I was in Wellingon earlier this month :(

[mr_orgue]

of course!

likewise about your visit. But it's been hard to arrange meeting up with people in this Age of The Toddler; hopefully next time we'll be able to arrange something :-)

[tcpip]

This said, we were staying at the old Waterloo Hotel and one night whilst snacking in the bar about 20 people came in and started playing various GW games, especially Blood Bowl. It was not expected!

[stephanie_pegg]

Hi Morgue

[mr_orgue]

Yeah, I didn't spend much time in this piece emphasising how clear it was that this was part of the design intention and the things that I'm reflecting on here only emerged because you made space for them to emerge. I think it was a very successful approach, and one I personally haven't encountered before,

If anyone is reading the comments and wondering - you want to play this game...

[cat_i_th_adage]

Hey, thanks for the lovely review!

This is how stories bully us. We've internalised their principles - in this case, dramatic parsinomy, the idea that everything in the story is part of the structure of the story. And when we ignore the principles, or try to subvert them, they don't give in easily. They push us around.

This reminds me of a NaNoWriMo project, when I decided to unite two similar looking walk-on characters into one to reduce the cast list. The... conflict inherent in how one person could be in those two situations drove her into a very real, very vivid character and turned two pieces of set-dressing into main character status. She framed the last chapter, fer cryin' out loud! A lot of furniture got up and walked that way, ai. (Some writers can plan out a story and what happens in each chapter, I know. I'm more of a 'wander down a garden path of pretty irrelevancy and come back with key plots and themes' writer.)

Thanks again for the review - it's an intriguing way of looking at it.

[mr_orgue]

Your writing experience sounds fascinating and familiar! and the game was excellent fun and, obviously, highly thought-provoking :-)