Realism is a Technique
Ron Edwards:
Hi Simon,
The last few posts are really excellent stuff that I'm going to study, but I'd also like to work with your question:
Quote
What are some at-the-table practices that produce the effects of realism?
The best way I can see is to examine three things: (1) what goes into (say) a resolution mechanic when it's used, (2) what the resolution mechanic produces, and (3) how that product gets "cemented" into play in terms of effects. However, to do that I have to invoke the Lumpley Principle, specifically that only talking and hearing comprises the medium of role-playing.
Which is a fancy way of saying that nothing in play is automatically realistic as such; instead, it gets labeled and appreciated as realistic as a specific aesthetic and communicated part of play. Back in the 80s, when people I knew said "realistic!" they were talking about how big and messy holes in the body were when made by handgun-fired bullets. To play what we called realistically, back then, one accepted a whole range of possibilities about what might happen to your character in a fight (Cyberpunk, the original Friday Night Firefight combat rules, are a good example, and I mean really good, too, not only exemplary of my point). But here's my point: in real life, as a man in my early-mid 40s, there's a measurable probability that I'll keel over and die from a stroke the next time I do something strenuous. That sort of idea, or just about anything like it (maybe diseases in certain settings), typically didn't get factored into those very passionate and (if not accepted by everyone) game-destroying arguments or priorities. Therefore the urge for realism is not about how well rules simulate reality, but about what cherry-picked elements of reality we really want to front-load into the fiction and then enthuse about when they happen.
To directly answer your question, the at-the-table practice that satisfies the desire for realism are (a) to share expectations about what that is really supposed to look like in play (realism about what, expressed how), and (b) to describe events accordingly before, during, and after using resolution mechanics.
What I'm saying is that the resolution mechanics themselves won't do the job by themselves, either for yea or nay. Once my (a) and (b) are in place, then the question becomes not whether the resolution mechanics are or aren't producing realism, but whether the resolution mechanics are helping, or better put, aiding and abetting, the existing descriptions and stated consequences. They might not - in fact, they might be pretty much silent about that. The older D&D I used to play would be perfectly adequate, back around that 3rd-4th level phase when hit points were more-or-less easy to map to bodily injury through narration if that's what one wanted to do. Or they might - given that large messy bullet holes and the time it took to bleed out were part of what we wanted, then those Cyberpunk rules would produce a feel of the mechanics consequences "working with us," or even the illusory sense that by using the rules we were being realistic. In either case, though, it was really about description and interpretation of consequences.
I've often encountered talk about how certain mechanics literally obviate or "ruin" realistic play, but let's take a classic example: characters with 50 or 80 hit points in old-school AD&D (say, those late 70s books, as that's what I know best in a hazy-aging memory way). Even without consulting the relevant text, which happens to support my point, there's no reason on this earth why one needs to interpret those hit points as actual tissue, blood, and bone. A longsword might do 7 points and decapitate a first-level magic-user, sure; and it might nick the deltoid of a tenth-level fighter - and that's OK, because the desire for realistic play is a matter of narration, not of points. The points are about whether the character's still standing, and once that's acknowledged as their purpose, as such they are the in-fiction narration's bitch. (That's another re-statement of the Lumpley principle.)
So is system out the window? Who cares? Wheeeee! (Beatles music) "Narration is all you need," et cetera. The answer's no. As I see it, the mechanics are very important in terms of stated consequences, whether positive or negative. The questions are whether we like the current rules' mechanical consequences enough, on their own (e.g. the percentage chance for character death per unit time of play, just to pick a key variable), and whether they can be employed as an expression of our realistic-loving narrations and contributions in a way which we like as well.
So that leads to practice (c) at the table: choosing and most important agreeing about how to use the rules-set involved. Realistic-loving group A might do very well with that AD&D rules-set because they "know how to play right," as they'd say, really meaning that they narrate such that hit points do not contradict their aesthetic goals (and again, I should point out that this is consistent with the written rules, for what that's worth). Realistic-loving group B might do very well with the Cyberpunk rules set because they really, really like the way that characters bleed after being shot - I mean, they could have described it all on its own, but now there's a procedure to follow as a formal way to enjoy it, including a consequence (death) that would otherwise be simply stated on its own, and as such, perhaps vulnerable to conflicts of interest (it's easy to get a little less realistic-loving when it's your character hemorrhaging rather than his opponent).
I'm willing to accept, in theory, that certain rules-sets totally hose all talk and hence practice of realistic play ... but the only ones I can think of actually include that very idea as a virtue; e.g., in Hong Kong Action Theater, explosions do no damage. But realism's actually not gone! What I see in playing games like that (Extreme Vengeance is another; if you active Slo-Mo you take no damage) is that certain things get narrated in such a way as to satisfy certain applications of the realistic aesthetic, and which those things are is very strongly specified. When it comes to the gore associated with bullet holes in enemies, for instance, being realistic leaps to the fore again - it just doesn't, though, when it's my character who's hit. It's
In most circumstances I've seen, instead of arguments really being about what is and isn't realistic, they're about what "realistic" is supposed to look like, and when to apply it (or better, to whom). In other words, different desires regarding my practices (a) and (b) which are mistakenly referencing practice (c) as if it were primary. (c) is indeed a big deal, but it really illustrates that "system does matter" also requires knowing "matters for what."
As an aside, and since that last bit obliquely referenced Creative Agenda, putting "realistic" into play and consequences can easily be tuned to the needs of any of the three. We don't need to go into that if you don't want.
Anyway ... what do you think?
Best, Ron
Brand_Robins:
Ron,
I'm finding your distinctions useful.
In my AP's and such what I should have been saying / was trying to say isn't "Unknown Armies / Sorcerer is realistic" but instead "Unknown Armies and Sorcerer, played by my group, provokes a style of play in which we're all able to quickly come to a joint understanding of what realistic means in this game." Where as TSOY, for all its excellence, didn't really do that for us.
Now I have to think about exactly why that is. I think that there is some degree to which the "you can't force anyone to do anything (but die)" elements of, say, Sorcerer are a real help in that they put a focus on a kind of discrete, concrete action. I also find the way that Sorcerer (and to a much lesser degree UA) deal with the interactions of intents without pre-judging them also helps bring us together on a protagonizing but de-heroizing note.
I suppose its also possible, as I mentioned above, that TSOY could have helped us more than we let it but as we worked on it aside from the mechanics, we simply never gave it a chance. But my experiences with TSOY and HeroQuest have often lead to a similar reaction in my group -- there is something about the games that provokes certain behaviors in the group, but I wouldn't say that either of them has ever helped us get our "realistic" communications fully in congruence (or even productive disagreement) with each other.
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