I saw the RPG Ryuutama and the concept was just "Yes, all of this, but more" in terms of what I wanted in an RPG. My big issue with it is that I thought the mechanics were somewhat lackluster, but I think it's such a compelling idea: The idea of a set of genuine travelers setting out on an adventure, a real adventure, to find a new home for themselves. Travel, journeys, and a search for a home or a return to it are such a fundamental recurring theme in human literature and culture I'm shocked it hasn't gotten more coverage, at least as far as I'm aware (One Ring may do this too).
I think that's at least partially because exploration requires vulnerability.
I doubly emphasized that because a lot of RPGs are inherently about being or becoming powerful, and solving problems. Knowing what to do, or at least knowing that everything will work out for you, is part of what makes RPGs such a useful art. Being in an RPG means you can explore dangerous or deeply-rooted problems in a relatively safe environment. You can confront moral dilemmas without risking any real loss of life, because it's real to the characters. You can feel vicarious thrills of facing powerful beasts without actually risking getting your head torn off by a werewolf.
Exploration is deeply related to a strongly underappreciated part of the human psyche: Fear. Fear is associated with horror genres, but I think the basis of fear is more general and applicable. I say underappreciated when I talk about fear because fear is traditionally regarded as negative. It's 'bad', it's what you feel when you're weak, you're scared and uncertain- all things I would generalize are seen as 'bad', at least in the cultures I've been exposed to. However, fear compels us to be curious. We don't seek out the answer for no reason, we are curious to be more secure in our understanding of ourselves and the world. What we don't know can and will hurt us, if we allow it to. There are three basic kinds of fear I've seen with regards to narrative tension:
- I don't know what the world is really like
- I don't know who I really am
- I don't know what I should believe
Wheeling back to vulnerability, this leads to a lot of character opportunities. Communication by the campfire. Exploration of ideas, of dreams, of hatred, revenge, contradictions and hypocrisy. Discovering who we are through conversation makes us vulnerable by showing other people who we think we are. Discovering who we are through self-reflection exposes us to our own worst nature. Discovering who we are through experience exposes us to danger, be it social or mental or physical.
Most RPGs lean on the first fear almost exclusively, and very rarely on the third with moral dilemmas. The second fear is kind of difficult to strike at in RPGs because they tend to be very mechanical and the person asking who their character should be is most often asking for build advice. It also tends to challenge player control over their own characters. The traditional adventurer says something like this: "I know who I really am, I know what I should believe, but I don't know what the world is really like, so I need to go out and explore it." When either of the two other fears are confronted, it's because the world challenges certain pre-conceived notions of who someone is or what they should believe.
In contrast, a lot of exploration concepts tend to focus on discovering oneself, and I think the way they do that is because the person soul-searching says, "I don't know who I really am, I don't know what I should believe, but if I know what the world is really like, I might learn the answers, so I need to go out and explore it." Traveling metaphors/concepts/et cetera emphasize this aspect both implicitly and explicitly. People implicitly change across their literal journey, eventually settling down or at least 'curing' their fundamental fear when they find the answers they desire. Travelers are explicitly challenged by people on their journey who ask them, "Who are you, where are you trying to go, and why?"
To steal from Actana's use, anticipation is the question, tension is the situation which is consulted for the answer, and payoff is the conclusion the character comes to. If they are not completely satisfied with their answer, the journey continues.