Podcast 1 Outline - Conversation

[Sky-Fox]

[Golem]

Warren Spector: Who forgot the 'role' in Role-Playing Games?

-RPGs advertise features (quests, classes, etc.) that are shallow and disloyal to RPG's paper roots.
-Role-playing isn't about stats or environments. "Roleplaying is about giving players the freedom to act as they see fit, within the framework of a story we provide."
-Role-playing is about developing characters through player choices.

Character
-Stats and die rolls determine what a player can do. This is arbitrary. Something explicit should say what the player can and can't do.
-Noncombat interactions shouldn't be so boring. They should be encouraged.
-Dialogue is a great tool for differentiating characters. How can it be improved?
----"Conversations should reflect game state."
----"Conversations should not involve lists of keywords."
----"Conversations should reveal things about NPCs; your responses should reveal things about you." Yes/No options are a good way to do this.
-Conversations are interesting to the extent that they reveal things about your character and the world.

Setting
-Worlds should be small so that they can be detailed and interesting.
----Players won't have to look far for something to do.
----It's easier to populate densely with unique content. Seems life-like.
----Difficulty can increase as players get farther. (Not sure why this would be unique to small worlds.)
----Locations can be more varied and more realistic with more attention to detail.
-Worlds should be believable and full of objects that are A) exciting and B) useful.
-Problems should have multiple solutions that impact how NPCs treat the player.

Story
-Goals should be clear. Players should spend time figuring out how to accomplish goals in an expressive way.
-Games should let players try behaviors they wouldn't in the real world.
-Dilemmas with multiple solutions allow players to experiment and find what they truly believe.

-Even if this doesn't succeed, game design should strive for innovation.