Gygaxian naturalism is an exercise in context. Remember that Gygax was an insurance underwriter, and in that work he dealt with percentages risk. And that was how he simulated the risk of the supposed reality he created. The problem is RPGs don’t really simulate reality, they simulate narrative.
People put up with the humdrum of reality because they have to, and if you are living in the U.S. or Europe, that humdrum can be pretty awesome (enjoy, China; you’re up next!) but RPG players are looking for something more—something thing elevated and exciting. Well, something elevated and exciting with dice and character sheets, anyway. They may not be looking for the quintessential monomyth, but they are not looking for something straying too far from old Joe’s axiom.
Here Joseph Campbell explains the mythical significance of this inexplicably lit d20. It was once sat atop the Scepter of Gaxx.
Think back on all your games, which points are the most vivid? Most likely it was the ones when you’re being awesome or when times were most dire. We love the peaks and valleys of the emotional roller coaster ride. The ping-pong between those two extremes is the engine that drives narrative. But context is the puppeteer.
Gygaxian Naturalism to some extend was a tool to frame the world. Heroes in RPGs start out as somewhat normal folks but they are within the scope of an extraordinary world. 4e explains that idea with the points of light assumption. It assumes that people know what fantasy is. Fantasy is now firmly ensconced within the popular culture, where in the 70s it was really a fringe concept. Something drummed up by hippies obsessed with Tolkien and college students seeking to escape the industrialized and compartmentalized reality that their parents often unhappily embraced. Fantasy is escape.
Fantasy replaces humdrum with the adventurous past captured by Homer, Virgil, the Arthurian Romances, Dumas, Doyle, Burroughs, Howard, Tolkien, Leiber and even Moorcock . Often it manifests as something recent but parallel, like in the works of Rowling, Harris/Ball, and Lieber/Abrams/Lindeolf. It puts us in peril with the opportunity for great deeds beyond the pale. Something our day jobs often lack.
The assumptions of fantasy used to be a great revelation, but there are so many movies, books, comics, games (both tabletop/analogue and computer/console), and TV shows, now it’s old hat.
The proponents of Gygaxian Naturalism claim that 4e didn’t replace it with anything. That’s not true. The replacement is summarized in the “A Fantastic World” section on page 7 of the Player’s Handbook. Here’s an excerpt.
Monsters and supernatural creatures are a part of this world. They prowl in the dark places between the points of light. Some are threats, others are willing to aid you, and many fall into both camps and might react differently depending on how you approach them.
Magic is everywhere. People believe in and accept the power that magic provides. However, true masters of magic are rare. Many people have access to a little magic, and such minor magic helps those living within the points of light to maintain their communities. But those who have the power to shape spells the way a blacksmith shapes metal are as rare as adventurers and appear as friends or foes to you and your companions.
Simple, to the point, and more than a little bland. In comparison this no-nonsense way of talking about the assumptions of the world in D&D is one of the best the game has ever had, but it rings hollow to those of us who spent time pondering the mysteries of the percentile matrixes of Gygaxian Naturalism.
But some of us have to realize that those days are as gone as the context where Tarzan of the Apes seemed barely plausible.
So the question to me is what is the new fantasy? If the assumptions underlying fantasy are so entrenched in our culture the way the assumptions of Tarzan of the Apes were, where do we get the mystery of discovering a new undiscovered country? I like the New Weird (China Miéville and Jeff VanderMeer). I also like the techo-cthulu-esque writings of Charles Stross.
Another thought, related to my now reading RJS talk about alignment. Alignment is one of those aspects that was so maligned; it so forced certain things. It wasn’t a big surprise to see it stripped away in 4E. And yet, the impact has been drastic. Alignment has almost no appearance in most games (Encounters, Gamedays, LFR, homegames). In fact, even morality is largely gone from D&D. In LFR it has helped create a downright mercenary attitude. When I look back at Living Greyhawk, there were some incredible moments that came about solely because of alignment. Alignment is perhaps a type of forced context, and yet served a purpose I really miss today.
I’m a big fan of Joseph Campbell, largely through my mom the English Teacher. Reading up on the Hero Journey link just now was a lot of fun. But, I’m not sure I follow your column this time. I think you are saying that in today’s game fantasy is so well understood that you do not need to drop context onto an RPG (or its rules). I don’t agree with that at all. I think the Essentials line is showing the importance of context. Blogs talking about powers being a trap that can fool you out of having good RP shows how easily we can miss context. 4E is full of exciting flavor, but we often miss it because the flavor is in the background and the mechanics are in bold. An ecological dressing for monsters sounds silly, but it makes a huge difference, as does the decor in an encounter, the languages spoken in a city, the trade goods sold, and so many other bits. We all know about languages and selling stuff, but if we strip context away then a busy marketplace becomes just a diplomacy check.
Ahh, very well said. 4E focuses so much on the powers and abilities gained through the game mechanics and pushes old-fashioned role-playing into the background, hence my comments in another post about how 4E seems to resemble computer games in my opinion. What about the power a character can gain through reputation (good or bad), favors from allies, followers, political leverage, and other related concepts? To me, these are the types of power that are the most fun, the ones that create the truly fun and memorable games and campaigns. But, I’m not so naive as to think that everyone shares that point of view. But to reiterate what you stated, 4E definitely has its own “exciting flavor”, but focusing on simple game mechanics means we usually end up missing “the context” of the setting. Well said.
As the saying goes, there really are no new ideas, just ways of reinventing what has already come before. To an extent, this is basically true, we just find news ways of using those things that have been around us all along. Either that or taking someone else’s idea and giving it our own spin and/or combining it with the ideas of others.
So when fantasy came on the scene however long ago (this is a debate in and of itself), it seemed original and different, but was simply a new way of looking at things. RPGs became a new way of looking at gaming and other concepts (role-playing, wargame simulations, etc.). As the years have gone on new games and newer editions of these RPGs were released, we were exposed to the same basic concepts, but they had been reinvented and presented in a new or original manner (most of the time anyway).
So I look back over the various incarnations of DnD and realize that the game I first learned to play over three decades ago remains the same game today in 4E, it’s simply been reinvented and presented as something different that has built upon what has come before. The core concepts remain, but the dressing changes. I for one, still adhere to many of the older concepts, but favor one of the newer “dressings”, which is Pathfinder, and not so much 4E.
We all ascribe to the same basic idea, the question is what flavor of that idea appeals to you the most? And then the real challenge is taking your favorite flavor of that idea and using it to help create a world that is uniquely yours based on all of your interests, readings, gaming experiences, etc. For me, the old Gygaxian Naturalism concepts remain alive and well and I do my best to bring them into the newer versions of the game and inspire that same feeling and mystery in my players.