Co-authors and Zombie armies incoming

A big welcome to the blogs first co-authors: Bodge, Joshua and Last Akodo.

I'm catching them tomorrow with some other mutual friends to play part 2 of our 3 part Unhallowed Metroplis trial game (being run by Bodge).

It would appear someone is being a very naughty aristocrat and assembling an army of zombies - complete with controlling mechanisms, weapon supplies and a yet to be determined transport mechanism. Hopefully its nothing we can't take care of with some gasmasks, an assortment of victorian clothing, some rubber body armor and good supply of weaponry. End of last game we found a telsa-coil-lightning-gun-thingo, I have a feeling we may need the medical services of Last Akodo's doctor character shortly after we have a few friendly "practice shots".

Roleplaying: Acting and Representation

There is more than one way to roleplay, and as long as you and your group are having fun you certainly are not doing it wrong.

An awkward discussion I have with people who haven't played RPGs before, is around the whole "do you dress up and use funny voices to act out your scenes". Certainly there are (LARP) groups that do just that, and many players use accents and mannerisms to make their character and the game more interesting and entertaining.

To me though RPGs have always been about playing a giant group based "choose your own adventure" in scenes that could be us rewriting our favourite books and movies collaboratively. It's the choices we make together (based on our fictional characters and the scenes they find themselves in) that really bring the roleplaying experience to life for me.

A while back I found a great post on the Roleplaying Tips website that discussed this idea and really spelt it out in a way I felt made it easy to understand. I've put a link below and pasted a brief extract, have a look and let me know what your thoughts are.

http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=363

Aim For Character Representation

The first step is to acknowledge there are many definitions of roleplaying, and to communicate and synch up on this topic with your players as soon as possible. Once everyone understands your definitions and expectations, and you address concerns they might have and adapt to their requests, you can build and play to a common purpose.

Keep your mind open to their feedback as well. They might have ideas and suggestions that would help, especially if you ask. Avoid telling them it's your way or no way - seek consensus instead.

Acting and Representation

I'm open to being schooled on this subject, but in my opinion, the various aspects and definitions of roleplaying a character fall under two groups:
1. Acting
2. Representation

Some folks feel roleplaying is all about the accents, demonstrating the character in real life, impersonating the character, and acting at the table like the character would. There's nothing wrong with this, and it often breathes life and creative energy into game sessions. Be sure to communicate to this type of player, though, that you're looking for character representation as well.

Representation gets my vote for being the more important of the two categories. If I had to pick only one category for a player to game within, I'd choose representation.

With representation, the player puts themselves in their character's position and makes decisions the character is capable of and motivated to, based on information the PC has available. The character is portrayed. The player does not lend the character meta-game knowledge. The character stays true to himself, though he is capable of change.

While the character is an extension of the player in the game world, the character is not the player, and the PC has his own thoughts, personality, and experiences. It's the player's responsibility to represent the character to the best of his ability during the game.

RPG Allsorts is 0 days old

Welcome to RPG Allsorts!

The RPG gaming group I play with has set this blog up to brew and share our RPG ideas with each other and one else who wanders past.

At present we are trying out Unhallowed Metropolis and after that we are going to take Cthulhu tech for a spin. But more on both of those games in our future posts.