I got to thinking about collaborative storytelling, and the last episode of the Podcast couldn’t be timed better. The Geared, Giving, and Game (or GGG) mentality fits very well with where I sit in gaming now. Now-a-days I pick systems that mechanically encourage that sort of play. Back in my life as a young(er) roleplayer, our crew managed to have a a good number of awesome moments in collaborative play.
I want to dedicate this thread to those great moments that were not mechanically assisted. I want to do it this way because I feel like those moments were more rare, but also because these wild moments might inspire some good system in the future.
Everyone has heard those “Best Session of D&D Ever!” stories, wherein the players didn’t touch the dice once, and instead just worked collaboratively to tell a good story. I (and a lot of other people) have argued that, in fact, that group should probably be playing a different game. The game they want to play is a rules-lite story game which delivers that experience every time it hits the table.
I don’t know where GGG fits into that, except to say it’s easy to fall back into unhelpful table behavior, no matter how long you’ve been playing the newer indie/story games. Stopping periodically, whether it be mid-session or between sessions, and asking yourself “Am I being a GGG player right now?” should help mitigate that.
Everyone has heard those “Best Session of D&D Ever!” stories, wherein the players didn’t touch the dice once, and instead just worked collaboratively to tell a good story. I (and a lot of other people) have argued that, in fact, that group should probably be playing a different game. The game they want to play is a rules-lite story game which delivers that experience every time it hits the table.
I don’t know where GGG fits into that, except to say it’s easy to fall back into unhelpful table behavior, no matter how long you’ve been playing the newer indie/story games. Stopping periodically, whether it be mid-session or between sessions, and asking yourself “Am I being a GGG player right now?” should help mitigate that.