Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another little chat about games and the way we screw ourselves up over them. We’re going to talk about one of my least favorite words, (Canon) and just how much fun you can have by turning it on its side and doing what precisely you want to do. This is a problematic topic for a lot of different reasons, and we’ll try and give you a couple of ways to interact with it. Buckle up, we’re hopping in the Rambler.
In the context of a tabletop roleplaying game, canon refers to the official history and geography of the setting. It’s the accumulated total of all of its cultures, stories, histories, and the components of that setting for players to build off of when playing a game in that setting. This can be a wonderful resource for everyone to use for gaming, but there are concerns to be managed when dealing with canon.
Some settings (Battletech, the Forgotten Realms, Star Wars to name a few) have a brick of lore to sort through. This overabundance of lore can be off putting for a new player to dive into. Finding a place to start can be daunting, and it can be a LOT of reading to get to a point where you feel comfortable enough with the setting to feel like you inhabit it. Finding the depth you feel comfortable at when lore diving is trial and error process for most folks, but you’ll probably figure it out.
A DM/GM (whatever you want to call it) who builds their own setting has this a little easier because they can decide what lore aspects they want to focus on and present to the other players. However, that also means they have to build a lot of information to meet the needs of the rest of the players.
There are two specific problematic ideations that come out of the canon. First are the Lore divers who have spent years studying and reading setting lores for the fun of it. These players can be very handy, but they can also be a nightmare to deal with at the table. The upside is that they are engaged at the table and following what’s going on because the story you are telling is one that they all ready buy into because they’ve read it before. It builds on their existing knowledge base.
However, there are players that the first time the DM makes a change to that lore that a hand shoots up and the words “Well, actually…” falls out of their mouth. These players take their canon very seriously and are unwilling to accept any potential changes to the setting as they’ve read it. This is a problematic attitude for any player because you’ve ceased experiencing the game at that point and have turned it into a comparative review of what’s wrong with your changes to “their” world.
The other problematic player this creates is a player who’s been a GM in the same setting and continually references how they did it in their game. They took ownership of the setting when they decided to play, and refuse to share ownership of the setting with a new GM. This can be astonishingly frustrating to a DM, especially a new one.
Both of these complications can be well meaning meddling or grouchy gate keeping. Ultimately, the core of the issue is the same. The player has made a decision that their understanding or iteration of the canon is the only one that matters, and any changes to it are bad wrong fun. Doesn’t matter why you’re changing it, the fact that you’re changing it is enough to cause a disruption for the player, who can then turn around and become a disruption for the entire table.
The answer to both problems is ultimately the same. When a new GM sits down to run a game in an established setting, they are effectively taking ownership of the setting for that game’s life. Everything that happens in that campaign is a unique expression of that canon through the lens of the story being shared by the players around the table. The GM is using the existing setting to tell a new story, not rehash everything we’ve seen before.
If you’re a GM with one of these problem players, sit down with them outside the game session and have a conversation. Most players are there to have a good time and immerse themselves in the story being told. Once you set out a ground rule about this being “Our game, in our world” and that there are going to be differences from the world as written, most should be happy to get with the game. If not, it may be time to play a different game or find a new group for that player.
That’s a quick hit from us today, Game on Game Fans..
No comments:
Post a Comment