The title of the post says it all: courtly intrigue.
I'm often left at more than a little bit of a loss when referees complain that all their players want to do is hack-and-slash. I mean, I get it, but it also leaves me a little sad, because this right here is a very big part of what makes roleplaying games fun for me. Manipulating friends and outwitting and outmanoeuvering enemies is something I fall into naturally at the game table, which is why it was no surprise to be at all to find out my Bartle test profile was Socializer.
It's also why one of my favorite skills in a roleplaying game is Bribery.
I know this is one of the reasons the cape-and-sword genre appeals to me so much for gaming. My predilection to turn everything I run into a spy caper and my passion for the endgame are both perfectly at home in swashbucklers.
I really get a kick out of all the intrigues and out of figuring out who to trust (no-one, so far), who can be played and who might be an ally. Especially since we have resorted to dice rolling only two times so far, everything else has been done by roleplay alone. So I'm not sure at all I have made the right decisions, but then, neither is Marcello. And we like it that way.
ReplyDeleteUncertainty creates suspense, and that suspense is one of the best features of the roleplaying experience for me.
DeleteI seem to have the unfortunate experience of finding people who don't want intrigue, etc., because that requires paying attention and, for some reason paying attention isn't something they associate with "having fun".
ReplyDelete*shrug*
I should stop whining and offer a play by post or regular G+ game. After Easter, perhaps. Feeling too run down right now IRL to even think about planning a game of any kind.
Although, in other news, I used the Story Dice with my oldest and in 45 minutes we came up with half a dozen cool plot hooks, one of which he chose to pursue with his character. Thanks for the suggestion, Mike. We both enjoyed the play the resulted and the "design experience".
Cool! I love just sitting around with the kids, tossing the dice and seeing what comes up.
Delete