Have the setting, need a system
stefoid:
In most fiction the tension of conflict comes from "will the character achieve what their fighting for", not will they survive the fight. Will they defuse the bomb in time, will they save the princess? etc...
Thats why fiction doesnt have 'random encounters', or at least not more than one to establish that the protagonists are in a dangerous setting. Fighting for nothing more than survival is inherently boring - there has to be something more at stake in a fight, even for survival fiction.
My view is to set up combat so that it is about something important other than pure survival and then be ruthless about whether the characters can achieve that - if they are defeated in combat they dont die, they just dont achieve the important thing.
Callan S.:
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In most fiction the tension of conflict comes from "will the character achieve what their fighting for", not will they survive the fight.
In that case, when the bad guys are holding the hero at gun point, it would be a calm, quiet scene. Because what they are fighting for isn't under immediate threat. And nor is the hero, since he wont die.
Yet they always try and act like these moments are tension filled. And it keeps leaving the impression you can have both life risking encounters and multiple instances of life risking encounters with continued survival.
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Fighting for nothing more than survival is inherently boring
If you can't die, I agree.
Or if your thoroughly equipped to survive (which is basically the same thing as "you can't die") yet play continues instead of hitting a 'You won!' end result, I agree.
stefoid:
Quote from: Callan S. on July 21, 2011, 07:04:43 PM
Quote
In most fiction the tension of conflict comes from "will the character achieve what their fighting for", not will they survive the fight.
In that case, when the bad guys are holding the hero at gun point, it would be a calm, quiet scene. Because what they are fighting for isn't under immediate threat. And nor is the hero, since he wont die.
Yet they always try and act like these moments are tension filled. And it keeps leaving the impression you can have both life risking encounters and multiple instances of life risking encounters with continued survival.
Holding a gun on someone is a pretty good way of trying to stop someone from achieving their aim I would have thought.
Callan S.:
Well the badguy isn't doing anything to achieve his own aims while he's holding the gun either. Just how it seems to come up time and again on TV, movies and in books.
stefoid:
Another way to look at that kind of situation is that a conflict has already been fought and lost by the protagonist ,hence his current crappy situation. Obviously the bad guy cant just kill him. Protagonists continually get knocked out, captured, temporarily incapacitated by wounds which seem to heal remarkably quickly, saved by a 3rd party as the bad guy is about to deliver the coup de grace, etc... Thats not important, whats important is they failed.
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