Post by Triple 7 on May 27, 2020 7:04:51 GMT -8
You know, I say this a lot.
Like ..a lot, a lot.
It was something that was said to me somewhere that just really stuck with me. It might have even been a bastardization of a saying I heard somewhere but regardless its taken on its own thing here at ECN.
First and foremost I should say that my first introduction to LARP'ing was at a comic book store in Newport News, Virginia called World's Best. Great place if you're ever in the area. I had come in to watch a couple of Vampire Players I knew online at Immortal Vigilance play a session of Shadowrun. I had never heard of it, but I was a fan of RPG's in general and wanted some more hang time with the boys. So, here I was at World's Best and and listening in on their session when the ST at the time, Harlan, told me they were playing your game upstairs. He meant Vampire, as I am a Vampire whore by far. When I got upstairs there was a gentle but imposing figure named Roy who would become my first serious Storyteller and ultimately teach me a lot of what i know about telling the story. Its from Roy that I feel I got the phrase your version of cool from. At the time it was to describe a few images for characters (faceclaims the kids call it now) that he said was something he considered to be my version of cool.
It kind of evolved from there, the concept of what a person allows to get their jollies going. Everyone has their own version and there isn't a damn thing wrong with that. I kind of took it further by training my mind to accept that everyone had their own version and as a Storyteller the ultimate goal is to allow the Player to have that version for themselves. My judgment or my own version of what I considered to be cool shouldn't make a damn bit of difference to them. Why should I restrict people on something that is suppose to bring them joy? At the end of the day I am in this to tell the Player a story that will keep them in the hobby and coming back for more.
Its a small gesture, but I have seen Storytellers restrict Players that little bit of enjoyment. No military concepts. No children. No prostitutes or other "uncomfortable" concepts. Why should it matter? We all recognize that this is a "Black Dog Game", Vampire. It isn't for the faint of heart and goes to the other concept I preach a lot; not all Chronicles are built for everyone in mind. (That's okay as well, by the way!) People like what they like and I'm fucking no authority to tell them what they can't have regarding their character's narrative. So long as they follow the creation guidelines I have established, I could give a damn less about the finer details of how their character looks, behaves, or what their history was written as.
I always spelled it as kewl because, well.. we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. I mean, my version of kewl is the struggling type. I get off on overcoming adversity, rising against oppression, or enduring where others have failed. As such primary colors for me started switching from black to browns, then extending into the dull grey or weathered look for my characters. Nomadic road drifter concepts became a major interest of mine. Everything was falling apart, holding on by a thread. I had a Gangrel that drove this piece of shit Jeep that was duct tape and hose clamps for the longest time in Emerald City Chronicle's LARP. It got so bad that the ST would make me roll Wits + Drive during crucial dramatic moments of escape to see if the fucking thing would start when I needed it to. (It added to the good levels of stress and anxiety that I fucking love about this game and I appreciated his style even now.)
I feel like this understanding of letting the Player's have their version of kewl as a narrative takes a lot of the pressure off character building for them. It sucks when you have something that really gets you going, only to be told by a Storyteller that you can't have a concept because thy don't want to deal with it. Fuck that shit, yo! Storyteller's are here to entertain you. Its a service they provide, so why should they restrict you from trying to enjoy the story with your own creativity?
That really burns my biscuits. Here I am as a Player trying to participate in your story only to be told to conform to your story or GTFO.
This is a cooperative story, we're building this world together no matter how harsh the NPC's are to the Players, lol..
Like ..a lot, a lot.
It was something that was said to me somewhere that just really stuck with me. It might have even been a bastardization of a saying I heard somewhere but regardless its taken on its own thing here at ECN.
First and foremost I should say that my first introduction to LARP'ing was at a comic book store in Newport News, Virginia called World's Best. Great place if you're ever in the area. I had come in to watch a couple of Vampire Players I knew online at Immortal Vigilance play a session of Shadowrun. I had never heard of it, but I was a fan of RPG's in general and wanted some more hang time with the boys. So, here I was at World's Best and and listening in on their session when the ST at the time, Harlan, told me they were playing your game upstairs. He meant Vampire, as I am a Vampire whore by far. When I got upstairs there was a gentle but imposing figure named Roy who would become my first serious Storyteller and ultimately teach me a lot of what i know about telling the story. Its from Roy that I feel I got the phrase your version of cool from. At the time it was to describe a few images for characters (faceclaims the kids call it now) that he said was something he considered to be my version of cool.
It kind of evolved from there, the concept of what a person allows to get their jollies going. Everyone has their own version and there isn't a damn thing wrong with that. I kind of took it further by training my mind to accept that everyone had their own version and as a Storyteller the ultimate goal is to allow the Player to have that version for themselves. My judgment or my own version of what I considered to be cool shouldn't make a damn bit of difference to them. Why should I restrict people on something that is suppose to bring them joy? At the end of the day I am in this to tell the Player a story that will keep them in the hobby and coming back for more.
Its a small gesture, but I have seen Storytellers restrict Players that little bit of enjoyment. No military concepts. No children. No prostitutes or other "uncomfortable" concepts. Why should it matter? We all recognize that this is a "Black Dog Game", Vampire. It isn't for the faint of heart and goes to the other concept I preach a lot; not all Chronicles are built for everyone in mind. (That's okay as well, by the way!) People like what they like and I'm fucking no authority to tell them what they can't have regarding their character's narrative. So long as they follow the creation guidelines I have established, I could give a damn less about the finer details of how their character looks, behaves, or what their history was written as.
I always spelled it as kewl because, well.. we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. I mean, my version of kewl is the struggling type. I get off on overcoming adversity, rising against oppression, or enduring where others have failed. As such primary colors for me started switching from black to browns, then extending into the dull grey or weathered look for my characters. Nomadic road drifter concepts became a major interest of mine. Everything was falling apart, holding on by a thread. I had a Gangrel that drove this piece of shit Jeep that was duct tape and hose clamps for the longest time in Emerald City Chronicle's LARP. It got so bad that the ST would make me roll Wits + Drive during crucial dramatic moments of escape to see if the fucking thing would start when I needed it to. (It added to the good levels of stress and anxiety that I fucking love about this game and I appreciated his style even now.)
I feel like this understanding of letting the Player's have their version of kewl as a narrative takes a lot of the pressure off character building for them. It sucks when you have something that really gets you going, only to be told by a Storyteller that you can't have a concept because thy don't want to deal with it. Fuck that shit, yo! Storyteller's are here to entertain you. Its a service they provide, so why should they restrict you from trying to enjoy the story with your own creativity?
That really burns my biscuits. Here I am as a Player trying to participate in your story only to be told to conform to your story or GTFO.
This is a cooperative story, we're building this world together no matter how harsh the NPC's are to the Players, lol..
