Personal Research:
Concerned that games may be using the same character types or inappropriate ones as mentioned in my previous post, I decided to do a test by running 'Dungeons and Dragons' for a group of gamers who had never played a pen and paper based role playing game before in order to see what results I got.
I deliberately made the group consist of three males (two warriors and a wizard) and one female (a rogue) to see how they reacted to one another and how they played. Would they confine themselves to game mechanics they are used to in other video game RPG's? Or would they use their imaginations to a greater degree?
You can see my findings below.
Taking the quote used in the 'Narrative Spaces' presentation to heart, "The Dungeon Master's activities start with designing the space... where the the players' quest will take place", I decided to think of a good location to start our group's game, one that new players wouldn't be expecting. Therefore, instead of starting them in the usual tavern scenario or other safe place I decided to entrap the group in a cell underground assuming they had all been ambushed. I went on to tell them that their hands were tied around a stone pole and that their equipment was also taken away from them and placed in the opposite room. Thus, for example without his staff the wizard couldn't access his magic. I also made it so that they didn't know one another. Now it was time for them to roleplay their way out and work alongside one another.
Straight from the start, I was pleased to see the rogue being smart and escaping from her binds with a 'slight of hand' skill check. The other members unable to break from their bonds with pure strength roles then presumed she would help them, however she decided to roleplay and ask the question "Why? Whats in it for me?"
This was great as, not only was she taking a dominant role over the male characters which games tend to use as the main protagonist/s, but she was also role playing her character correctly. After all, as a rogue's ideology tends to be sneaky and opportunist if it means making some money. It was also great to see that it was left to the only female member of the group to save the male members one would usually associate as the rescuers in gaming due to examples like 'Mario' and even the recent 'Bioshock Infinite' where the male protagonist needs to save a female character on multiple occasions.
The rest of the session also proved to go smoothly as the players started to imagine the game play in their heads as a real thing instead of relying on computer graphics or even a board for this session. They also started to break the conventions of game mechanics and explore other ways of playing. For example, I was hinting heavily that there were lots of skeletons around them, thus hoping they would use a broken bone as a makeshift lock-pick which the rogue could use to escape the locked prison. However, due to me mistakenly saying at one point that the pole was made out of wood and not stone the group decided to wrench the support out of place using a combined strength check (which resulted high) and use it to smash through the rusted cage bars. This was something that I wasn't expecting but was glad to see since it meant they were stepping out of 'the box' as it were and employing tactics others may not have thought of.
Overall, even though I recognise I have only tried this study on a small group I feel that I got worthwhile results since they were able to work alongside one another and use their skills effectively in order to all escape from the dungeon alive. I hope to repeat this test one day in order to see if I obtain the same results a second time or not.
Harvard Referencing:
- Tenkar, E. (2012) 'Dungeons and Dragons' Image [Online image]. Available at: http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2012/03/picking-nits-from-mike-mearls-latest.html (Accessed: 9/5/2013).
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