If given the choice of stepping into a magical medieval world for a few hours and walking around would you do it? Would you walk down a village street, see the fey in their forest circle, watch a wizard call forth mystic powers? Or would you be content to take the Magical World ride at Disneyland? This is the choice set before a group that sits down to a session of fantasy roleplaying. Although the choice seems like a no-brainer to me, I’m continually surprised at how many groups choose the Disneyland ride. Our information age supplies us with all we need to recreate magical lands that differ from our own and give us a peek at life before technology and manufacturing changed everything. However, most people stick to lands where everyone their characters meet just stepped in from modern day New York, the magic is disguised technology and notions from before the Industrial Revolution are unthinkable.
In an article at The Federalist, Nathanael Blake discusses how the historical fiction and fantasy we see on the screen makes the same choice as many gamers:
Our entertainment culture is filled with characters, ostensibly from other times and places, whose thoughts, dialogue, and dilemmas map neatly onto our own. It is multicultural narcissism — our own preoccupations mirrored onto everyone and everywhere else.
It isn’t only gamemasters that are doing this but players as well. I’m constantly seeing and hearing about people who bring 21st century politics into medieval roleplaying and think nothing of it. Trying to stamp out the fur trade in 13th century Europe or China is just silly. Fighting for women’s rights in a kingdom where no one has any rights stretches credulity.
It’s an odd feeling. On the one hand I don’t want to tell other people how to run their games but on the other I want people to experience a game where they glimpse a different world – a world that is believable and engaging while offering them a different point of view. As a gamemaster I am always working towards this goal. This doesn’t mean giving long monologues to players about minor details until they fall asleep. It means giving them NPCs that don’t react in ways they expect. Having to conform to customs to “get by” in a city or village. Getting rejected by a wizard or king they want to talk to until they understand what that individual wants and how to offer it. Seeing a war started not for land or power but because a god’s high priest was insulted at a ceremony.
One reason many gamers take the easy route and copy their modern world over the top of a fantasy world may be a simple lack or reading. Those who aren’t familiar with old books have a hard time getting a feel for the differences of pre-industrial societies. Despite his problems, Gary Gygax offered us a potent work of imagination in the 70s because he read history books and old fantasy stories. You can do the same for your gaming group with a little reading.
I feel for those gamers who are ready for immersive play and then sit down at a Disneyland table. I don’t blame them for drifting away after a few game sessions or giving up and playing a modern man in a modern world (that somehow looks like a medieval world). If you’re one of those players don’t give up. Talking with your gaming group, hunting down a few books and running your own game are all ways to get closer to the immersive play you’re looking for.
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