Infinite Adventures

I'm supposed to write a post, but I have no idea just what to right. You'd think the name of this group would give me an idea, but no such luck. The only I can think of is this: That when you get right down to it, those who started this whole thing had no real understanding of it, with the possible exception of Dave Arneson. That because DnD got started as a variant of Chainmail it therefor had to be a wargame like Chainmail. And in the early days we played it as a wargame as... so many play DnD and the like even today. And then you have Glenn Blacow's observation that you could play a role in DnD. Not that it was a role playing game, but that you could play a role. I remember when Lee Gold of A&E later observed that you could play roles in all sorts of different games, and her conclusion that they must therefor be older RPGs than DnD. But now I've concluded that what you call role playing games are not games at all, but rather exercises in socializing employing what I've decided to call role playing guides. Guides to playing a role in an imaginary world. I see this as working better than a game does what with all the confusion and potential that could be found in an imaginary setting. And now I can see what happened to Shakespeare when he first wrote down the words, "Oh for a muse of fire..." Couldn't think of a dang thing to say to introduce a new play of his, so he just penned a few words and then proceeded to blab on. Though I must confess I have found it a lot easier to deal with mistakes than he did in those pre eraser days. So there you have a post here at Infinite Adventures.

Come March I'll be starting a new blog, to be known as Infinite Adventures Today. IAT will be focused on the IA RPS and it's associated RPGs. I look forward to seeing you there.

Now here I'm going to write a little something about a mechanic in the IA RPS itself. It has to do with Joss. Now originally Gygax described Joss as being like luck points in another RPS. From what I've read and how I've seen it described as working it strikes me more that Joss is really a plea to another power to have something occur that favors the one making the plea. Joss points in turn act as sort of description of just how difficult a plea you're asking of another, wit...h a one point plea being something that's just dang easy to fulfill, while something that costs six points of Joss can be a real bitch. Having your best bud show up on your home street would cost one Joss point. Having him show up half a world away when you last saw him back home and he was recovering from a nasty disease at the time would be more like 6 points. Though it really comes down to a matter of it entertaining your guide, and that comes down to a matter of what he's feeling like and if the event may advance his nefarious plans.

As I understand matters a story is an account of events that have already occurred. An adventure in an RPG on the other hand is a series of events that are occurring, and which are apt to change depending on one's fortunes. To make this simple, an adventure in progress cannot be a story in any sense of the term. It can produce stories as the player recount what happened, but that is not what can happen during the course of play. It's like you going to the store. You can tell ...an audience about your experiences going to the store, but as you are going to the store that is what's happening, and what happens can be changed by what happens. I hope I'm making myself clear. In any case, what I see here with an adventure that what you are doing during events is going through a simulation of life. A sort of virtual life for all that the events in question are imaginary. You could say fictional. In that they are imaginary they do owe much to story, but in that they are happening they owe more to life. I know, this can be confusing, but sometimes all you really can do is to just accept what's going on and get on with guiding the players if a guide, or if a player following the guide's guidance. Anyway, that's what I think of matters and I'll get back to putting the Infinite Adventures book together.

Just thought I'd let you know that things have gotten a little hung up here, what with the autism and my tendency to dawdle. But work is going forward and once I'm done with this post I'll be putting up another on how and why I disagree with the RPG=Story trope. See you in a bit.