What are your games about?

[Actana]

1 hour ago, cailano said:

I think I'd just let the players engage or not. I'm not sure having an OOC discussion would help anything if the group doesn't care organically. It would be like opening a chapter of a book and finding a note from the author to the effect of "In this chapter, I would like to draw your attention to the theme of darkness as it pertains to the human soul. You will notice that I use literal dark as a metaphor."

That doesn't quite answer the question though: do the themes exist if only the GM engages in them? Well, all things considered it's an obvious answer: yes, they exist. Art is transformative and if at least one person sees themes then those themes must have some existence in the work of art. But what a better question might be is whether or not those themes are successfully portrayed if nobody but the GM engages in them?

Organic narratives aren't an all or nothing case either. One can see themes of a sort appear organically and then talk with the players about how that stuff was interesting; that doesn't take away from how the narrative develops organically. Themes can also be built in within either the mechanics of a game (again, I point to my ur-example of Masks) or the session 0 or premise of a game (which is far more system agnostic). Those themes exist within a game, but how they come about is entirely organic. And even talking about them doesn't prevent things from organically growing, it is simply expressing interest in something and asking people not to act in a specific way, but to get everyone to agree to pay attention to something, because as a group we think it's interesting.

[Cyber_Goddess]

Money, Harems, Kingdoms.

I basically throw out most of the "deep writing" and just go for the power fantasy.

Might not be 'deep' or 'complex', but when you're the only Isekai Harem Dungeon Master for a thousand miles, you tend to get a loyal group of niche fans.

"Would you rather be a nobody in front of a million people, or a rockstar in front of a thousand?" sort of thing.

Besides, if I'm the only one doing this type of writing. I might not have "deep themes", but at least I'm not doing the same cliched writing as everyone else.

After all, once things become the norm, they stop being 'subverting expectations', and become their own cliches.

[Malkavian Grin]

Edit: On second thought, I'm going to retract my statements. Apologies.

[DarkisNotEvil]

On 4/5/2023 at 2:52 PM, Actana said:

And even talking about them doesn't prevent things from organically growing, it is simply expressing interest in something and asking people not to act in a specific way, but to get everyone to agree to pay attention to something, because as a group we think it's interesting.

I think this is the most important takeaway from everything that's written here. What's most important is that all involved are involved and enjoying the approach that's being taken. I tend to like very character-driven games that have mechanics I enjoy, while detailed mechanics and resource management are the focus point for other people. Some people just don't rapport with specific approaches to gaming, and that's fine. I can be a bit cagey on specific ideas because I started out in a very negative gaming community before coming to online PbP and that's stained some of my approaches to things, even to this day.

Edited April 8, 2023 by DarkisNotEvil (see edit history)

[fabulist]

For me, games are about:

• exploring a GM-prepared world (cultural, physical, spiritual)
• participating in world-building (cultural, physical, spiritual)
• exploring the character(s) personality and inner conflicts
• creating an interesting story
• experiencing the lives of people I can't in real life
• watching the character(s) change and grow mechanically

Aside from the last one, any one is enough to get me interested in the game. And it's important for me that the GM communicates what to expect clearly, either by stating it or by agreement with the players.

All of the above are valid both as a player and as a GM.