Are role-playing games art?

I’m pretty much entirely centred on finishing off the NUNA Quickstart right now, so time for a mental (procrastination) break to think of something larger.

New NUNA art!

So the titular question, are role-playing games art? Here are my thoughts.

They are definitely spaces for art. From their inception, they supported writers and world builders, and gave a discernible boost to fantasy fiction. I won’t get into the downside, which is the D&Difucation of the fantasy genre, and how fantasy without any dungeon exploring tropes is now hard to come by. Just look at the history of D&D novels and current domination of works like Dungeon Crawler Carl and Frieren. Role-playing games have definitely contributed much to the continuance of the publishing industry during the digital age, both in the form of novels and gamebooks. And there are many role-playing games that are equally important as pieces of art than as playable games, from Stormbringer to the art books of Tales From the Loop and Alien.

In return, role-playing games have also given a huge boost to visual artists. In Japan especially, the master of fantasy art, Yoshitaka Amano, cut his teeth on art he did for the Japanese edition of Stormbringer, as well as the original Sword World RPG and the CRPG Final Fantasy. Frank Brunner's Stormbringer cover is equally iconic, and I will fight anyone who says its deeply atmospheric depiction of Elric isn't art.

Russel's shadowing and mastery of form here is breathtaking

Amano did both the game and novel translations, and adds a dreamlike quality

If you are a gamesmaster, then you’ve served as both script, writer and director for your own narratives. Josh Whedon reportedly based Firefly on a college Traveller campaign, which could explain his career success in those roles.

Similarly, players are also actors, and the role-playing table is a space that allows people to polish their acting chops without fear of sanction. The professional actors I know have all had to deal with a high level of criticism for pursuing their art, whereas playing in an RPG is decidedly nonjudgmental. Go look at Audrey Plaza's performance in the Harmonquest series, and you can see what heights an unfettered actor at a gaming table can aspire to.

With all these examples, it is pretty clear that rpgs are an integral and modern inspiration for many artists, from a variety of art forms. They may not have the cachet of exclusive high art, but that is an elitist domain and thus not a great loss.

But I think asking the question Are role-playing games art is actually an example of looking in the wrong direction, barking up the wrong tree.

Instead, if we see role-play games as essential incubation spaces for various genres of art, then we can see both their social and artistic relevance. And at this moment of history, rpgs are also an important canary in the coal mine in the conflict between AI and human art. The debate over AI art in games, the rise of AI GMs who will run your game for you, both point out the danger of not defending art - that we will be cut off from others and turned into captive individual audiences for corporate AI products.

And that would be the end of art, of games, and of our humanity, which is rooted in interaction with others.

RPGs as Creative Process

Is playing and running TTRPGs a creative process?

I think there's different ways to look at this.

GM As Author

For instance, if you want to be an author, you must create and populate the fictional world you're using, make the rules of magic, and design the society. If you use an RPG, the setting and system do this for you. In theory, this should free you up to be more creative.

This freeing of creativity by accepting the twin yoke of rules and setting sometimes can lead to great works. The fantasy anime Record of Lodoss War was based on a D&D campaign. Also in Japan, RPG 'replays', basically novelizations of actual game sessions, were huge during the 80's and 90's, and are still being produced now. In the west, the legendary (but truncated) scifi series Firefly was supposedly based on Traveller.

So RPG can foster the creativity to make great works.

But such is not always the case in reality. A novel based on most D&D games I played in would be boring as fights dragged on and the same spells were used over and over again. Ditto many BRP games, where the whiff factor and lethality of combat could end a story before it begins.

Player As Author

Similarly, an RPG can facilitate the personal narrative. In the old days, this 'zero to hero' or bildungsroman was the driving engine of OD&D. As RPGs developed in the 90's, they also allowed a larger narrative based on how the characters each affect the game world, as in Dragonlance or Exalted.

Now, D&D especially seems to facilitate the memification of charcters, witness countless social media posts about edgy character concepts (axe-guitar wielding Centaur bard, anyone?) and every character in Vox Machina. 

Game Creator As Author

To get back to the OSR, Jeff Rients once famously compared grognards making retrocones to Jedis making their own lightsabers. I agree that going through the process of re-viewing and re-making an old beloved game is akin to keeping alive the 'sad devotion to that ancient religion' whose 'fire had gone out from the universe'.

But re-creation is not creation. It teaches creation via reverse engineering, but needs to go somewhere new.

That is the riddle with which I am now wrestling...

Sources

Is Firefly Based On Traveller substack

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/13668/is-joss-whedons-firefly-based-on-the-traveller-rpg-he-played

Japanese TTRPG Replays

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/7r1jb1/a_fascinating_window_into_the_world_of_japanese/

A GM's First Priority Is...

This is not so much a hot take as a tepid opinon.

What is a GM's first priority?

To entertain the players?

No, they have to work just as hard as the GM for this to happen. The modern vogue of GMs as free entertainers rankles me, and leads to games fizzling out.

To know the rules perfectly, and memorize the rulebook?

Again, I dislike the GM as computer school of thought, which leads to clueless players, one person stuck as forever GM, and GM burnout.

To adjudicate the rules fairly?

This is essential, but I would not call it a first priority.

To create compelling adventures?

Again, this is natural but not a first priority. Weak storytellers can rely on published adventures, stronger ones will naturally weave an enthralling tale.

What is the answer, then?

If you ask me, a GM's first priority is to lessen his or her workload. This will prevent burnout, but more importantly, let them enjoy the game, and be fresh enough to improvise when PCs go 'off script' during an adventure. It will also let GMing look like the thrill it should be when done right, and hopefully lead to players taking turns in the driver's seat.

Why I Walked Away From An OSR Game Offer

Last week, I got offered a spot in an OSR game an old friend was running for his nephews & nieces.

When I stated my preference of 3D6 down the line, I was laughed at and told to roll 4D6, drop the lowest, and arrange to my liking.

I walked away.

What even is the point of playing a broadly competent but unremarkable character?

Why don't you just play 4E, grab your 18, 18, 17, 17, 16, 16 array, and pretend to roleplay when you're just doing an analog simulation of a CRPG?

Am I out to lunch?

Here, let's compare two characters to see which is more compelling to play.

4D6 Drop Lowest

2, 3, 3, 2 = 8

2, 2, 4, 6 = 12

2, 6, 2, 2 = 10

6, 2, 6, 5 = 17

3, 5, 6, 5 = 16

2, 5, 6, 1 = 13

So, you'll either put the 17 in STR for a Fighter or INT for a Mage, 16 in CON for HP or DEX for an AR boost, dump 8 in CHA and call it a day. Other stats go wherever. Ho hum, another Murderhobo. And everyone else in the party will have the same cookie cutter stats, unless they got super unlucky and become the object of derision / scorn, or so high they are envied and reviled. Because we don't play for the individual in OSR / NSR, we play AS A PARTY.

3D6 Down The Line

STR 3, 6, 4 = 13

CON 5, 6, 1 = 12

DEX 4, 3, 5 = 12

INT 6, 5, 1 = 12

WIS 5, 2, 6 = 13

CHA 6, 3, 5 = 14

Wow, got super lucky! No really 'hopeless' stats (a moniker I hate, as I just consider a low stat a roleplaying hook), but that 14 CHA tips me towards taking a Bard, which I LOVE doing in older editions. This gets my juices flowing to see how this character will interact with others with similarly evocative stats.

And that is why I said no thanks.