(NOTE: So we’ve been talking about adding some blog content on the Jank Blog here, so this website will now have both the weekly podcast AND various text-only thoughts by the cast members in between podcasts. Let us know if you hate it. The content here will be crossed with the content at chicagolandgames.com ).
Tonight we hit up some Apocalypse World (or A-PO-WO, as the cool kids call it, because the cool kids totally abbreviate everything, natch). I imagine we’ll talk more thoroughly about it on the cast this weekend, but I did want to bring something up: I put my character in some straight up mortal danger, and not like “we’re having a combat” mortal danger but “if I don’t make this roll, I’ll probably be very dead” danger. Other people went pretty far into putting their characters into the line of fire as well. The last game I did this in was Dread (the Jenga one), in which I straight up killed my character to do something super-cool.
Both of these systems/settings, I would argue, encourage this. Here’s how:
1) Dread does it via the mechanic. If you knock over the tower, you’re taken out but you accomplish whatever you’re trying to do. Therefore, you are straight up rewarded for doing something which puts yourself in danger.
2) Both games seem designed more for short-term or one-shot play than a D&D style campaign. There’s not a lot of character advancement in either, and they have gritty systems in which it’s easy to die. Which leads me to…
3) They have gritty systems in which it’s easy to die. The corollary of this is that it’s also easy to kill. I like feeling like I’m putting something on the line with a roll- with this roll I’ll either go out in a blaze of glory or kick some legendary ass.
4) They encourage brutality in settings. A-PO-WO directly, via it’s “holy shit it’s the apocalypse” setting, and Dread via the kind of settings that you’ll create to go along with the brutal central mechanic.
5) They don’t give you just one way to kick ass. My A-PO-WO character isn’t particularly tough, but can manipulate people and has a cult of 20 followers ready to do just about anything for him. If I wind up maimed or blinded or whatever, it’s not like I become useless. A lot of games just aren’t like this. When you’re playing a fighter in D&D and someone, say, blinds your character, you might as well stop playing them (unless you play D&D in a really unconventional way that it’s not really designed for).
If you take that altogether, it means that you have little to lose by putting a character on the line and a lot to gain, story-wise. It’s not like you’ll be risking some character you’ve put too much time and energy to lose into, it’s not like if they get messed up you’ll be useless, and you’re contributing to the brutality of the setting. Besides the above mentioned games, a game I think does this really well is Dust Devils, where your character’s ultimate end is almost built right into their backstory, and it’s just up to you to figure out what the coolest time and way to do it is.
I think that’s a nice feature in games. Sure, building up a character is fun, but we all know that building up a character means you have to play at least a little conservative (especially in the early going) if you want them to last. When your system/setting encourages you, however, to throw it all away for some cool plot moment, I think you can wind up with some pretty awesome story options.
-Todd
Good article. Most rpgs emphatically do not reward risk taking, no matter what the rules text says about it.
Agreed. On some level, the entire concept of XP is antithetical to risk taking. It’s like “okay, everyone in the party is level 8. I’m level 8. I kick ass. It took me a year to get here. If I die, I start over.” Why would you risk that character?
Interesting, I was thinking along these lines. The online comic darths & Droids (http://www.darthsanddroids.net/) made some comments about “the Cavalry.” It’s basic point is that if the DM brings in the cavalry out of nowhere, it really feels like just Deus Ex Machina UNLESS the pc’s have done something to set up the cavalry coming.
Something felt weird about that, and I realised what it is: this is only true because you’ll never see a PC actually choose to make a real last stand. Thinking back on it, I’ve never seen a player take his character and put him in a situation where he really believes he won’t make. I’ve never seen someone say “I won’t survive this, but it has to be done.”
Well, come to think of it, I have. But then the DM just goes “yeah, you’re right. you die a noble death.”
But yes, awesome article.
Dread definitely handles that problem well. You can totally make that heroic last stand or heart-wrenching sacrifice, and the game backs you up. Few games do that.
Hell, I can’t think of ONE off the top of my head.