DED--
> "Show, don't tell." The advice that every creative writing instructor
will give to their pupils.
'Zactly.
> It was TNE's story that really grabbed me. Too much of what came before
and after was dry and very much like what you'd find in a textbook. While
textbooks are informative, they rarely inspire.
Yes, that whole "GDW doesn't have a sense of humor" thing I've mentioned
recently. But not only does it come off dry, it tends to understate the
essential mystery and uncertainty that SF should inspire. Everyone is
familiar with the way Marc liked to turn things upside-down (Zhodani,
Aslan non-major), but I find that when a game tells you something in the
same tone that it tells you how to roll to hit a target, having that
reversed feels differently than if the original explanation had been
phrased the way our modern knowledge is presented: "scientists believe,"
"recent studies show," "a majority of historians..." So I tried to write
things as a personality within the game passing on accepted wisdom,
including prejudices from that POV. That made more sense to me, and I
think it also gave that cue to players, "hey, there's something more
here."
Frank made the remark at Celesticon this past year, re: H&I that, "TNE was
the first post-modern RPG," which tickled me because of the attempt to
apply literary forms to a game. He had a point (Frank never needs to say
anything he doesn't mean), though I wouldn't claim TNE to be the first,
and certainly not "deliberately post-modern." It just made sense to do it
that way. And in that "things are not what they seem" ethic I felt I was
deliberately following in Marc's tradition.
Sometimes reading the boards I'm reminded of S.M. Stirling's quote, "There
is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character
in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot." On the other
hand, there was a guy on one board who picked up that the IK professor guy
was Dulinor's former intelligence chief, and the reason he was so hard on
intelligence services is because he was working through his own
self-judgement and self-loathing. There's no hater like a former
true-believer.
> \_/
> DED
>
> "Show, don't tell." The advice that every creative writing instructor
will give to their pupils.
'Zactly.
> It was TNE's story that really grabbed me. Too much of what came before
and after was dry and very much like what you'd find in a textbook. While
textbooks are informative, they rarely inspire.
Yes, that whole "GDW doesn't have a sense of humor" thing I've mentioned
recently. But not only does it come off dry, it tends to understate the
essential mystery and uncertainty that SF should inspire. Everyone is
familiar with the way Marc liked to turn things upside-down (Zhodani,
Aslan non-major), but I find that when a game tells you something in the
same tone that it tells you how to roll to hit a target, having that
reversed feels differently than if the original explanation had been
phrased the way our modern knowledge is presented: "scientists believe,"
"recent studies show," "a majority of historians..." So I tried to write
things as a personality within the game passing on accepted wisdom,
including prejudices from that POV. That made more sense to me, and I
think it also gave that cue to players, "hey, there's something more
here."
Frank made the remark at Celesticon this past year, re: H&I that, "TNE was
the first post-modern RPG," which tickled me because of the attempt to
apply literary forms to a game. He had a point (Frank never needs to say
anything he doesn't mean), though I wouldn't claim TNE to be the first,
and certainly not "deliberately post-modern." It just made sense to do it
that way. And in that "things are not what they seem" ethic I felt I was
deliberately following in Marc's tradition.
Sometimes reading the boards I'm reminded of S.M. Stirling's quote, "There
is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character
in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot." On the other
hand, there was a guy on one board who picked up that the IK professor guy
was Dulinor's former intelligence chief, and the reason he was so hard on
intelligence services is because he was working through his own
self-judgement and self-loathing. There's no hater like a former
true-believer.
> \_/
> DED
>