Say Yes to the Quest

Hey all,

I thought today I'd talk a little about a common pitfall in tabletop gaming, and what you can do to avoid it. At it's root, the issue stems from the fact that tabletop gaming is not only storytelling, it's a storytelling medium. There are some stories that simply work better in some media than in others. Bioshock works as a video game in a way it probably wouldn't work to tell that same story as a movie or miniseries. Ender's Game, in my opinion, worked better as a book than as a movie. A twenty minute episode of The Twilight Zone might become two lines of text if someone tried to novelize the series.

In the same way, there are tropes that work in some media, and not in others. A very common trope in most fiction, which doesn't tend to work well in role playing games, is the lone wolf archetype. The classic hero's journey in most media includes a refusal of the call. In contrast, experienced players at a tabletop game know that the pirate code applies: if you stay behind, you're left behind.

It's important to remember that role playing games are, among other things, improvisation games. Improvisation, famously, means saying "yes, and . . ." You agree with the world built, and you add to it. This can conflict with the player desiring a hero's journey experience. Most hero's journey heroes have the luxury of being pulled into the plot unwillingly by the machinations of fate. Sadly, in your tabletop game, "Fate" (the game master) has four other main characters to play with if you take your ball and go home.

That said, the hero's journey can be had by your character, it just needs a little more legwork than in other stories. Let's look at a few ways of getting the ball rolling on your character.

In Medias Res
Literally, "into the middle things", in medias res refers to beginning a story with the action begun. It means putting the inconvenient parts of your hero's journey into the backstory and saving the exciting character growth moments of your character's life for the game. For example, if you wanted to be Luke Skywalker, you don't start the game arguing with your uncle about chores, you write up a backstory and show up to session one ready for Mos Eisley, with a backstory and a justification for your involvement in the world.

Need Money
This is probably your simplest bet to get into the action with very little extra motivation. If there's a reward on the table, you don't care who's in danger, or what's at stake, you've got mouths to feed, or an heirloom to buy out of hock, or even just a family farm to sustain through a bad season.

Desire for Adventure
This is a little cliche, but at the same time, it can be magnificent if done well. Your character may be a seasoned adventurer along for curiosity, or even a cloistered youth with romanticized notions of what they'll experience in the wide world beyond their family estate.

Indebted/Sense of Duty
Typically associated with more stoic and serious characters, the sense of duty, debt, or obligation can motivate a character very well to set out on a quest. Whether this is to a lofty notion, to a king in need of champions, or to a single friend beset with troubles; your character can find in their beliefs and loyalties a reason to risk their life.

With any of these, you'll want to sit down with your game master and get a feel for the world. A game master might even drop a few hints as to the nature of the campaign's inciting incident to help you hash out your character's loyalties, needs, surroundings, etc. and how those elements of who your character is help to define them as someone willing, under present circumstances, to throw their lot in with a group of violent strangers set to take on a fool's errand.

So, what are your thoughts on getting into the story? If you have any additional ideas, or even stories about your own experiences at a gaming table, let's get a discussion going below. Happy gaming, all.