RPG Social Mechanics, Player Agency, and the Fantasy of Free Will

 I was listening to the most recent episode of Happy Jack's RPG Podcast while walking in to work today, and once again the topic of social mechanics in games came up. Specifically, the conflict between player agency, through their characters, and using social mechanics on other player-characters. On the one hand, if someone creates a socially adept character, you don't want to make that decision dependent on their own roleplaying skills, or make it a far less valuable choice than creating a character who is adept at magic or combat. (Of course, in almost every RPG ever written, the social stat is still the dump stat). On the other hand, there is a concern about a player's agency - that if their character loses a social conflict over something important, and has to act against their wishes, then that is a serious problem.

Full disclosure: I don't think it's a problem for a player to lose control of their character periodically, and I think it's odd that we focus on social mechanics in this discussion. I mean, if your D&D character is critically hit by a Dragon and dies, or by a Beholder and is turned to stone, no one complains that they have lost "player agency" or anything of the sort. Those are the rules, the dice were rolled and that's it. Similarly, if a character is chasing an NPC and the NPC uses a spell to become invisible and escape, no one complains about player agency. The character wanted to catch the NPC, but they couldn't, because rules.

But then, in a game with a social mechanic, a character gets into an argument with an NPC, and the NPC wins the argument, and suddenly if the character has to behave any differently, that's a big problem for many players. When I'm a player, I just roll with it, and it doesn't bother me at all. I come up with a reason my character is convinced, s/he acts against their better judgement, and the game goes on. Maybe later there will be a reckoning and maybe not, but the story moves on. We do things against our better judgment all the time, and one big reason for this is the influence of other people close to us.

As I was thinking about this, I thought about free will. Specifically, what philosophers call libertarian free will, which is not something to do with Ayn Rand, but rather the term for fully free will in contrast to determinism. Basically it says that free will cannot exist in a deterministic universe, and therefore determinism is false.

Inside all of us, I think, is a sense of someone in charge of everything. There is an inner sense that we deliberate and make choices and remember and so on. We think of this inner sense as our true self, or soul, or free will, or mind, etc. Particular with regard to punishment, we have an intuition that people make free choices, and that it is fair to punish them for those choices.

This is in direct contrast to actual research on the topic. There is a lot of research that shows how free will is limited, and may not even exist. Our brains make some decisions before we are even consciously aware of them. Our perceptions are filtered unconsciously. Our memories are re-interpretations rather than recordings of past events, and they change over time. We are primed to see what we expect to see.

And while we have the intuition of a decision-making self, we also all probably have had experiences where we have not been able to choose what we wanted to choose. We've consciously, or semi-consciously, made the wrong choice. Maybe it was because of an altered state, or because of the influence of others, or being in the grip of a strong emotion or whatever - but there are choices we are not able to make, even if we theoretically have the capacity to make them.

This should also be true of our characters - they aren't just sitting back making rational decisions. And I think this should be reflected in play and in the use of social mechanics. Libertarian free will does not seem to be the reality we experience, but I think the fantasy persists in the way we play games. We want total control over our characters even when we do not experience total control of our own lives.

An Update, in Lieu of Content

I'm not sure what to do with this blog right now, but I don't want it to die, and I thought I'd post a little update on what I'm doing. Parsec is done (at last!) after a very successful Kickstarter campaign, and I'm proud of the end result. I have heard from some groups that are playing it, and I'm glad to hear it, and I hope many more are that I'm not hearing about.

I still find time to listen to podcasts, mostly when I am relaxing and playing Oblivion (I finished Skyrim first and then went backwards to Oblivion). The ones that I'm most excited to find in my feed are:

Aldasaga (Tolkien and Old Norse) is a special kind of awesome, and started relatively recently. The focus of the podcast is the works of JRR Tolkien and how they draw from Norse myth. In short, they draw from Norse myth more than I'd thought, and so far the podcast is fascinating.

Freakanomics is the only way I can tolerate listening to things about economics. I know I should understand it to be a participant in society and so on, but it's just so...dismal. Freakanomics focuses on the surprising or counter-intuitive aspects of economics, including how the President of the US has almost no impact on the US economy. The topics are presented in a way that is likely to inform and entertain actual human beings.

This American Life is possibly the best podcast, period. It is Ira Glass going through amazing stories that follow a different them for each show. If you want to be moved and amazed, give them an hour and it's almost guaranteed.

WNYC's Radiolab is like This American Life's little brother. Jad and Robert, the hosts, take a theme, but their themes are often related to science, technology and a little bit of philosophy. They approach these topics through stories much the way that TAM does, and like TAM they are consistently excellent.

Writing Excuses is the best podcast on the art, craft and business of writing, period. Each episode is only 15 minutes and they are currently in season 7. If you are a writer, or are interested in writers, then this should be a number one listening priority.

On the other hand, I'm doing a lot of writing, which feels good. Well, I'm doing as much as I can, given that I'm also a stay-at-home dad most days. I have continued to work on Never Pray Again with my Two Friars and a Fool collaborators, though I have taken a break from that. I wrote a ton on it for a few months, and sort of burned myself out until I can see more from Aric and Nick that I can respond to and be inspired by.  I am also collaborating on a number of projects: some supplements for Parsec focusing on Mars and the Asteroid Belt, a Victorian Gothic horror game called Clockwork, and a more-than-an-ebook adventure for bySwarm's Dark Golden Age setting. Lastly, Reckoning, our horror rpg, is limping along, mostly neglected because of all of these other things going on.

In addition, I always have a few projects on my many back burners. I've been working on a poetry portfolio, theoretically as part of a possible Master's in Fine Arts program application, and I've been learning that I am terrible at territory. I also have a few games percolating, including Fivefold Qi and still poking around with Heroes of Karia. I am also trying my hand at some fiction: a long-form story called Dragonblade and two short stories, one about a person who hires assassins to kill himself and the other about a superhero sidekick who turns villain. These are for a thematic anthology on sidekicks, and I may not finish them in time but they still interest me to see through.

Is that a lot of writing? Hell yes. And it's awesome, and I want to keep writing as much as I can for as long as I can.

Honorable Mention

Got a mention on the All Games Considered podcast for Parsec and also this blog, so I thought I'd at least return the favor.  I've been a listener to AGC for about four years now, and it's a consistently excellent gaming podcast.  I've mentioned it more than once before, but again: go download and listen to All Games Considered.


And now, we return to your regularly-scheduled blather.

-The Management

The Podgecast and My FLGS Make Sweet Love

And their baby is due December 6th. Right now they're calling it One-Shotter Day, but I think they'll pick a better name when the due date is closer. I mean, come on. One-Shotter Day? That'll get your ass kicked on the playground, no question.

So, first, the Podgecast. It is an awesome gaming podcast that I always enjoy listening to. If you like Fear the Boot, the Podgecast will have some familiar voices, and it is a better podcast in every way. I mean that as someone who still listens to Fear the Boot as well (though if I had a shorter commute and had to choose, the Podge would win hands down). It is funny, interesting, and for the most part avoids the rambling that many long-form podcasts just fall into. When they do ramble, it is usually either funny, or the person is made fun of, and either way, the listener wins.

Second, my FLGS, Gamescape North. I really enjoyed working there, and still sort of do, doing things like their next IPR order and so on, but the chaplain position has devoured my time such that I can't have more than one job anymore. Which frankly feels weird, since I've had more than one job for years now. But, anyway, its a great store, and if you live in northern california near San Francisco, you should check it out.

It isn't often that two awesome things get together and invite me to come along. So this is cool. Usually when awesome things are happening, I'm here in my living room writing in a blog or something geeky like that. So I'm a happy guy, and if you're in our area on the 6th, come by and check it out.

Podgecast and Gamescape North - keep up the good work fellas.

Roleplaying for the Uninitiated a'la Fear the Boot

I don't know if you, gentle reader (if you're still with me that is) also listen to Fear the Boot, but I want to point out a project that the Fear the Boot podcast crew is producing. The project is basically a multi-part introduction to roleplaying games intended for someone who has no idea what they are but is curious about them.

This is a way to answer the ancient and troublesome question - "So, what is a roleplaying game?" Its a question that gets a lot of inadequate answers, I think. It is a complicated question. It's like "What is football?" You can give a bare-bones answer pretty quick, but that quick answer won't be adequate to play the game or understand it when you watch it on Sunday night or whatever.

The intent behind the series is to make it possible to burn them to a CD and hand it to someone to play in their car during their commute or whatever. I'm thinking that it might actually be fruitful to put the CDs out at the game store where I work for when people ask me "So, what is this D&D thing?" or some similar question.

Anyway, its something to keep in mind. Lots of us who are gamers have family or friends who don't understand our weird little hobby. It might be helpful to slide them these tracks and tell them to give a listen. I've actually got a couple family members in mind myself...

Fear the Boot; Theory from the Closet

I just listened to Fear the Boot Episode 80, which I think was one of their best in a while. I always enjoy FtB, but this one got me thinking more than usual. They talked about how to get new people into gaming, and I had some ideas on how to expand on what they covered. I think I'll say more on some of these ideas in the future on this blog. (And co-authors feel free to do the same!) Assuming I find the time that is.

I also just listened to Theory from the Closet Episode 15. I'm a long way from caught up, but I'm also listening to them out of order. In this show, Thor Olavsrud was the guest, and he talked about "Editing for Game Designers". I learned more about the process (which was great) from a very active insider (even better), and it was a good show as always. I appreciated, for example, the list of things that would go on a "style document" for a game. I have definitely seen that I have to make those decisions, and I've been careful about being consistent, but I don't have a specific style document. If this works, and I do end up writing supplements and so on, I'll definitely need the doc to remind me of how I used commas, what I capitalize and what I don't, how I notate dice-rolls, and so on. I've been particular on all of those things, but being consistent is tougher.

I also had a slightly sinking feeling, comparing the ideal situation to my current situation writing Parsec. I'll definitely be leaning on my (wonderful, generous, gracious, brilliant!) friends but I would love to have unlimited time to work on this.

Then I realized that, if I did have unlimited time, it would probably never get finished. So the limits are also a blessing, because without them, I'd probably have nothing. Given that, work continues - I'm around 40,000 words now, and starting to actually put together what I might call an Alpha copy - for playtesting and sending out for first reads from the aforementioned heroic friends. It continues to be an interesting process, finding a middle ground between what Jolly Roger wants and what I want in a game (as much as possible - deferring to them), and also writing the damn thing, which, yes, is definitely still way harder than writing a novel (not that I've written a good one).

Even if it wasn't interesting, stubbornness alone will see me through at this point.

January or bust!

Steal Away Jordan

Steal Away Jordan, as far as I know, first debuted at GenCon 2007 this summer. The impression I've gotten is that if you talked to anyone who is at all interested in Indie games who attended GenCon, they'll have said something about Steal Away Jordan, which is currently available from Indie Press Revolution.

It is a game by Julia Ellingboe. The tagline is "Stories from America's Peculiar Institution" - yes, the game is about American slavery. In the game, you play the part of a slave in the American South. Your main attribute is your worth - your die-pool for use in conflicts in the game is based on your economic worth to your owners. Things like your name and what you do for a living seem to be determined by the GM - which seems like the right mechanic for a game about what happens when you have no freedom.

Right now I'm listening to an actual play presentation being done by The Game Master Show podcast from GenCon, with the writer/creator of the game running a demo of the system for one of the Show's members. The dice-mechanic involves rolling d6's equal to your worth in a conflict, where 1's count as a -1 and where any two dice that total 7 (without 1's that is - 4 and 3 or 5 and 2) count as +1. Whoever has the highest total wins the conflict and gets to describe what happens.

As you can imagine, things just get worse and worse. And worse. Julia is actually pretty gentle about the way the game functions, which is probably important, given how horrible the situations it describes are. The game ends with the only PC jumping off of a wagon on the way to her new home (where she was sold to) and trying to run and being shot in the back. The player got to narrate how she died when the die dictated that it would happen.

Then something really interesting happens. The player's husband comes over to the table and talks about how uncomfortable this makes him, the idea of playing a slave in a game. The game has led to this interesting and candid conversation about racial issues in our country. Julia handles it really well, and has a great chance to talk about overcoming stereotypes. In fact, the discussion of the game and the issues it brings up takes longer than playing the actual game. Fascinating.

Come to think of it, I think this is what the game is really about. Julia says "this is our history". And that's the truth.

Clearly, this is a game that deals directly with very uncomfortable topics. According to the creator, one of the things she intended with the game was for Americans to be able to deal with each other and with the history of slavery. She sees slavery as something that has hurt everyone in this country, that has caused nothing but pain, and one way to deal with this pain is to do so through a game.

I think this is an interesting idea, one I've encountered before and one I've given some thought to myself. It is possible to deal with things in a game that we don't feel able to deal with otherwise. I've even tried this in games - its just the sort of person I am. I think important stories talk about things that we deal with in life in some way. The game has to have teeth now and then. The story has to strike home. Not all the time - this is an Escape after all! - but sometimes you have to dig because it makes the experience better overall, and sometimes you get the chance to deal with things in a new way.

On the other hand, you can design a game like Steal Away Jordan, where the point of the game is this kind of process. It is a teaching game, in a sense. Another example that comes to mind is The Prince's Kingdom. Sale of the game goes to support the American Friends Service Committee and the game is a way to deal with issues of violence and nonviolence and justice with children - while also having fun of course. I'm sure there are others I'm not aware of.

I doubt games like this will take off and replace Dungeons and Dragons as the gaming lingua franca, but I found Steal Away Jordan really fascinating to think about.

Two New Podcasts I'm Listening To

New to me at least. They've both been around for a while...

I've started listening to two new podcasts, and I wanted to mention them and provide links to both.

The first is Theory from the Closet. This is a one-man show that basically covers the technical aspects of gaming theory that has cropped up in the past few years. So far, I've listened to the first and second episodes, and its interesting, particularly considering the fact that I'm working on a game to publish.

The second is Geek Fu Action Grip. Now, I feel kind of dumb, because I've been hearing about Mur Lafferty for a couple of years now, but haven't listened to her podcast until recently. Essentially, it is another one-woman show, where she talks about gaming and geeky stuff, and then presents an essay. She also has multiple ongoing stories that she's publishing via the podcast. I liked her show more than I expected (right now I listen to a lot of roundtable-style shows).

As it turns out, Mur has just ended her Geek Fu podcast, but there are still 103 episodes to listen to, so there's plenty still going on. She also has a morning show to listen to that she's just started up.

Anyway, I recommend both podcasts. Happy listening.

What I'm Listening To - Part 2

I'd like to take a moment again to mention the podcasts that I'm listening to lately, if for no other reason than to funnel some possible listeners their way.

All Games Considered - what I'm listening to right now in fact. Funny and informative, including special segments like Gaming For Cheap Bastards and Games You May Never Have Heard Of. They mostly talk about running and playing games, rather than, say, game-design or game theory.

Fear the Boot - is awesome. I love them. They are intelligent and hilarious and talk about all aspects of gaming. Check out their forums and listen to their podcast. It is excellent, and is up for an ENnie Award at this year's Gen Con.

Godzilla Gaming Podcast - started out as a podcast put together by two friends and expats living in Tokyo. They discuss what they're playing, with a focus on story games and indie games, and they also talk about the particulars of gaming in J-land. Now their podcast spans the Pacific Ocean, since one host has moved to the SF Bay Area, but it continues going strong.

Master Plan - a podcast specifically about game design which focuses on interviews with indie game designers. The belief is that anyone can design games - and should.

Shakespeare and Dragons Worldbuilding 101 - this podcast is about worldbuilding from a literary point of view. The host is an English teacher and gamer who brings his expertise to bear on world-creation for comics, fiction, gaming, etc.

Secrets of the Lord of the Rings - A Catholic priest talks about the Lord of the Rings Online as well as aspects of Tolkien's works that come to mind. This is one of a few podcasts the he does, including Secrets of Harry Potter. I think this is very accessible to non-Catholics who are Tolkien-fans (like me for instance...)

The Sons of Kryos - Jeff and Judd still bring it with their high-quality topical show about the gaming table and what happens when you sit down there. Highly recommended, and also up for an ENnie I believe.

The Voice of the Revolution - the Indie Press Revolution that is. Character classes getting you down? Prefer story games? Heard of Dogs in the Vineyard or Burning Wheel or Mortal Coil? Wanna know what's at the bleeding edge of rpg design? Join the Indie Press Revolution!

Support the Troops...

...insofar as they are gamers. Apparently there is going to be a gaming convention held on an Iraqi airbase called Ziggurat Con, and the people at Fear the Boot are collecting donations to provide this gamers in the service with all the materials needed to feed their addiction. So if you want to support the troops, selecting for those who are also geeks, this is the way to do it. Donate here.

Semper dice.

New Podcast

I just listened to the first two episodes of The Secrets of the Lord of the Rings. It's produced by a Catholic priest named Father Roderic who podcasts from the Netherlands. So far he's done a bit of a walk-through of the new Shadows of Angmar game and talked a bit about the various influences that went into some of Tolkien's characters. It seems pretty interesting so far and is available on iTunes. We'll see where it goes from here, but I like it.

What I'm Listening To

I'm spending a lot of time listening to podcasts lately, particularly during commutes or other drives or while I'm doing things like working on my Mage game or other writing. Some of them are better than others, but here is a brief breakdown of what I'm into and some of why. All of these are easy to find on iTunes or through another podcatcher, or through the magic of Google, and they are all also linked on this page. All of these are also connected to interesting forums where conversations begun on a podcast in question can continue and over which arguments can ensue!

Voice of the Revolution: this is the official podcast of the Indie Press Revolution, an outfit that sells indie roleplaying games such as Burning Wheel, Agon, Dogs in the Vineyard and Legends of Alyria to name only a few. An excellent source of information on all things indie in the world of gaming.

All Games Considered: more focused on banter and on general gaming topics with game reviews and special segments like "Gaming for Cheap Bastards" which introduces you to...games suited for cheap bastards.

The Bear's Grove: by one of the designers of Changeling for White Wolf back when they were revolutionary rather than cliche. Basically covers whatever is on his mind, including GM advice, advice in getting children interested in games, and really whatever else comes up. Involves a series on game design and world design.

Does My Geek Look Big In This?: two funny and incredibly likable Brits talk about Beer, Games, and Movies. Listen as they become more inebriated during their podcast! Hilarity ensues, and it is otherwise pretty interesting to listen to. Almost makes me want to drink beer.

The Dragon's Landing: something of a granddaddy gaming podcast. Involves, obviously, rpg discussion and tips for Frugal Gamers. They also have their own game system, Project CHUPRA, with its own Core Rules up for discussion on their Forum.

Fear the Boot: hilarious and intelligent discussion of all things gaming. I love almost every episode. A large portion of it is devoted to game and setting design with their own game and setting, Skies of Glass, as the example for each section. Another really helpful podcast for players, GMs and game-designers alike.

The Harping Monkey: a round-table style conversation on the topic of the Jung, Campbell and the Monomyth and how these topics relate to gaming. Very intelligent discussions overall mixing myth and games.

Podcast Addict

I've recently discovered the wide world of gaming podcasts, and have found that my ears have become somewhat sore from the constant presence of iPod earbuds. I've added some links to the list if you are perhaps interested in checking some of these out. I'm up to date with the The Bear's Grove and am currently listening through The Round Table, with others on the sidelines, including Does My Geek Look Big in This and Dragon's Landing.

What all this listening really makes me yearn for is some sort of situation where I can game all the time, and then talk about gaming. I'm sure I'd come up for air now and then, but I definitely have an unhealthy desire for gaming.

I'm still kicking around ideas in my head for a cooperative game-world creation with my gaming group which would serve as a game in itself. In general, I tend to run games where the players have a huge amount of freedom (and they sometimes complain at the lack of overt plot/direction from me) but I also like the idea of the players taking an active part in the creation of the story - I love to see players driving the plot along themselves through their characters' actions and decisions. That's when I really get excited about a game, when I feel like I'm doing my job as a GM/Storyteller/whatever. I love a game where it feels like an emergent thing, like more than the sum of its parts. I mean, if I wanted to just tell a story that I had in my head, I'd write it down. For me, the joy of running a game is the fact that characters will surprise and challenge you - at least good ones will.