The Playing that Evens Things Out

[benlehman]

(quotations may be exaggerated for dramatic purposes.)

Vincent said to me: "The point of Dogs is that you go in thinking you are heroes, and you realize that you're playing the bad guys."

I said to Vincent: "The point of Dogs, to me, is that you go in thinking you are bad guys, real zealots, the SS or the inquisition, and you realize that you are actually good people, trying your best."

Every satisfying character arc I have ever had has played out this way -- at the start, the person is a caricature, and they become human in terrifying and startling ways. I see this in character arcs, written across my past -- Raidant, Takam, Eric, Mike, Kent, Mark, Cyrus. They began as form and became as substance.

The joy of this play, the process of this play, the inescapable purpose of this play is not the creation and celebration of these mythic types, but the destruction of them.

I do not believe it is possible to play an RPG character without eventually becoming aware of them as a human being and, by coincidence, destroying their "archetypal" role as a hero or a villain. (Archetypal is in quotes because I want people to know that I don't mean archetype in any sort of Jungian or Campellian sense {spoon. me. gag. with.} but rather in the literary sense.) This development of this compassion (in equal parts sympathy and disgust) is central to RPGs as a tool for moral development.

Which is what they're for.

Comments

[funwithrage.livejournal.com]

I have a differing opinion here, but I've never found that understanding brings me much sympathy. Or compassion. I very much believe that human beings--actual people and not just archetypes--can be villains.


But I am, as they say, OldSkool that way.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

That very much falls in line with something that Ron had said about Narrativism and archetypes, "Usagi Yojimbo is a good story because he is a bad samurai"... In other words, the neat stuff comes from breaking the archetype... or perhaps even in the selective choice of when you're going to follow it vs. when you're going to ditch it.

On the flip side, this is why a lot of D&D doesn't work for me, as alignment encourages folks to NOT break archetypes but stick to them...

Sna?

[redcrosse.livejournal.com]

>Vincent said to me: "The point of Dogs is that you go in thinking you are heroes, and you realize that you're playing the bad guys."

See, I find this totally bizarre. I mean, true, from many peoples' moral perspectives, the characters in Dogs are questionable. But "bad guys"? What? So are the demons the good guys? I mean, sure, maybe Dogs is a world and game in which no one is right to show the fundamental flaws of the worldview in which any of the represented sides occur, but within the world as stated, the Dogs are kinda not the bad guys. Or if they are, you've got a seriously weird game going, and the group may want to consider playing a different one. The choices they make are at times difficult if the GM's doing his/her job, but I don't see how that makes the Dogs "Bad Guys." I think I just lost a fair amount of respect for the game on account of that creator-analysis.

I also don't know what this post has to do with Chuang-Tzu, but that's cool, I'm sure he doesn't mind being quoted regardless of relevance.

[itsmrwilson.livejournal.com]

Ben:

Total agreement about the compassion thing. Neither Meredith nor I enjoy characters in any form that we can't sympathize with. Part of the appeal of Dogs for me is the inevitable human failings of the characters and how they grow because of it.

But that's no surprise, really, is it? :)

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

Note to self: Extra characters who rock here.
Zarquor
Demetrious

yrs--
--Ben

[judd-sonofbert.livejournal.com]

Wow, Vincent said that?

I'd think the point of Dogs is that you go in thinking you are heroes and you realize that the King of Life has set you on an impossible path. The Watchdog's job is fuckin' rough. Being a judge, jury and executioner is a tough gig.

Eventually, you will have to put away the trenchcoat and fade into the community, because this kind of lifestyle, being a judge with the mandate from GOD cannot end well.

The game world tells us that the Dogs are RIGHT and JUST but as players we see what's beneath that and how flawed it all is. These flaws are, of course, part of the King of Life's plan.