Comments | the_chaos_opera: Gaming Post: Storytelling Essay

the_chaos_opera

Gaming Post: Storytelling Essay

Oct 13, 2009 23:27

Comments 8

matrixleap October 14 2009, 12:57:14 UTC

Good read, my friend.

How have you been otherwise?

~Dusty.

the_chaos_opera October 14 2009, 15:16:46 UTC

KNow that Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times?" Well, life's been downright fascinating. ;P

Keepin' my head above water, watching out for zombie outbreaks. You? For that matter, pursuant of the topic, do you ever throw dice anymore?

matrixleap October 14 2009, 15:48:07 UTC

Things are good up here in Portland for me...if you ever get the itch to check it out, let me know ahead of time. We'll meet up. I've been dating a woman now for 9 months and we've decided to try the whole moving in together thing...it's a nerve wracking moment, but it feels good. She's pretty f'n amazing. Landed a decent tech gig...I'm still writing, working on my 3rd full book...life is pretty good up here ( ... )

the_chaos_opera October 14 2009, 17:35:30 UTC

Well, the entire reason I quit WW was that it seemed I ran into so many assholes doing it that it was pointless to continue. There was the entire Mark and Autumn group, which was bad enough by itself. There were boneheads and politics in every Larp I was ever in, even the Camarilla. There was Sukhvir, the nastiest of the whole lot of human refuse (his talent for gaming actually made me more disgusted with the hobby - being that he excelled at a hobby where the point was NOT being yourself), my ex meadow, Michael and Kimmy - don't think you know them, but the husband is the worst gamer in the history of the hobby and the wife is identical in behavior to Sukhvir without the ability to be subtle or clever about her manipulations - and so on and so on and so on. Finding good people who were good gamers seemed next to impossible; white wolf had a habit of magnetizing some of the shittiest people in history to its fan base. Not everyone was terrible god knows; there were sane, stable, cool people in the bunch, but in Phoenix, those ( ... )

gamerchick October 14 2009, 13:51:27 UTC

Great post! You hit the nail on the head with what makes a good game and a good GM/ST.

the_chaos_opera October 14 2009, 15:17:15 UTC

Thanks! :) I was hoping to write something useful on the topic. I always felt I'd get lost in relating nightmare gamer tales doing it.

Re: Relating Nightmare Gamer Tales sharetheroad October 22 2009, 07:35:03 UTC

Cautionary tales are an important part of Storytelling discussions, so long as you don't get lost in them as you said. You did great, bringing up what was relevant and discarding the rest.

I still think of your games as the most immersive time I ever had in tabletop roleplaying. I have been happy to note that you've been willing to get back in the saddle again. Best wishes with the new crew, and happy Halloween if I don't stop by here before then!

Re: Relating Nightmare Gamer Tales the_chaos_opera October 22 2009, 15:31:26 UTC

Aye, the good old days! SHeila's desk, a few lit candles, and more grief than any one storyteller should have to deal with. ;P New WoD is more in tune with the sort of storytelling I'd like to do now, but the over-the-top theatricality of the old WoD was wonderful back in its day.

I was thinking about doing a follow up to this entry with advice for players; when I got to costuming and props I was going to mention Figment. You in the get up hunching around with that disturbing high pitch giggle, and throwing your gooey eyes against the wall, remains one of my favorite images of the old game. :) Didn't you even wear that for Halloween? Do I remember Gummi Worms involved? :)