Beginnings

Random sort of thinking going on here. Have you ever noticed that Role Playing games very, very rarely start the same way that stories do? Oh at first glance they are similar, here are our heros, they know each other and are just about to be given something to do. Grand.

Except that's not how the game starts, the game starts a while (the length of said while can seriously differ depending on the game system) before with everyone sitting down and creating their characters.... Not always but most times. You have backgrounds, you have motivations, you a little bits of story wating to be woven into the tapestry. Which means either you first adventure (the important one for getting things going) is going to be bland and generic as the GM will prepare it before knowing your roles in the story or there will be a delay as the GM preps the story based on the character stories.

Ok this is not always true, GM's in their wisdom often cheat. Either constraining the character stories to fit the plot (generally recommended up to a point) or even given out specific background points to people.

But look at how many stories start, especially movies, within moments of starting stuff happens stuff that introduces the characters, often giving them a bit of time for themselves to shine. Then once the story has got going and everyone is interested in it you can fill in a bit more of the back story for the characters.

In some ways I think this is the best way to start a roleplaying game, just dive straight in. Paint the characters with braod strokes, refining the detail over the first few sessions, maybe reworking a few ideas after you've been playing for a bit.

My vision of how a game goes, especially of a game with people who have not played before would be to dive straight into the storytelling, introducing the rules and characters as things went on. This is one of the things I'd like to do with this game.

More later.