Negative Space: cinematic roleplaying
- Cinematic roleplaying is an oxymoron
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Cinematic roleplaying always seems to be about reducing player choice. This is a direct result of trying to emulate an entertainment style that by necessity must elevate the director’s choice above character development. Even the best movies require the director to curtail the world in which the action and dialogue takes place.
- It’s not about the levels
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One powerful tool to fight the video-game-ification of roleplaying games is the use of levels to avoid a code-level interaction between character sheet and advancement.
- Plot is the opposite of roleplaying
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If you hunt for plot in a sandbox, you’re going to be disappointed. Plot must be created, not found.
- Plots are for the dead
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Plotting is for directors and writers. When roleplaying narratives are plotted, they die.
