Reverb Gamers: What Does It For You?
Question #2: What is it about gaming that you enjoy the most? Why do you game? Is it the adrenaline rush, the social aspect, or something else?
The social aspect is very important. The narrative is good. I like dice. But really, it's the world-building. Gaming is the only art form in which your world-building gets to be constantly exercised.
It's not like writing a novel where, if you're not interested in the Priesthood of the Little God of Green Stairways, you just never mention them. No, in an RPG, you're pretty damn certain to have a player who has a character concept that is all about his enmity with the Priesthood of the Little God of Green Stairways, and their companion order, the Priestesses of the Big Blue Corridor God.
And I do love my world-building. I put far more research and thinking into the game world than the players will ever see - and that's absolutely fine; it's not for them. I've done more thinking about exchange rates than anyone will ever need, and I've cursed myself a few times of late for the seven parallel calendars in my current main campaign. I've done a lot of reading on medieval and ancient (and Enlightenment and Renaissance) cities, technological development, and travel, and I've done a vast amount of thinking about how magic will affect the development of a world.
I also like to bury odd references here and there. Some of them are downright silly. I'm pretty sure nobody ever spotted the Edward Scissorhands references in my first major campaign, and I'm damn sure nobody spotted the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles references in one of the others, because nobody punched me for them. They were punchworthy.
And I like to think that all this work results in something better, a game-world where I can quite genuinely answer any question the players have, because either I've thought about it already, or I can extrapolate from things I have thought about. And man, that is so satisfying.
Posted by Drew Shiel at January 10, 2012 5:13 PM
