Realplay

We honour the real when we make a decision in service of the integrity of the in-game reality. 

We honour the play when we make a decision in service of the group having fun at the table. 

We don’t need to choose. We can plan so that both of these sides are honoured, conjuring realplay to the table, an experience that is a fun game based within a world that feels real. 

Honouring Real

We honour the real when we do what feels realistic, even if it’s not all that fun. The dragon breathes fire, enough to fill the cavern. 200d6 damage, okay you’re dead. Well yeah, nobody could just stand there and take that. 

Honouring Play

We honour the play when we do what feels fun, even if it doesn’t feel all that realistic. The dragon breathes fire. What’s your HP? 31? Okay it does... 5d6 damage, rolling 16. Flame washes over you but I guess you get mostly behind a rock. You’re down to half HP! What do you do?

Pursuing Realplay

Realplay is what we pursue when we try, in every element of the game, to honour both the real and the play. This can be considered in every part of the process, from system design to worldbuilding to adventure design to running the game at the table. 

It’s as simple as abandoning the false dichotomy between the real and the play, and seeking the solution that honours both. 

Going back to our strawdragon example, both are obviously meant to be unsatisfying. Getting burned up before you can react makes sense if we imagine a real, colossal dragon, but it doesn’t feel like much fun if it happens out of nowhere. However, this excerpt could be a part of realplay if the deadliness of this dragon had been properly signposted, and the players had plenty of choices that didn’t involve going head to head with this titanic threat. 

Losing half your HP to this devastating attack feels much more appropriate for a game, but it makes that dragon feel less like a real, gigantic threat that would be a true monster of this world. However, this could also have been part of realplay if we’re treating HP like Hit Protection or Guard, and found a way to narrate it a bit more convincingly. Likewise, if we know the dragon is unlikely to burn you away with a single burst of flame, perhaps we adjust how that dragon is described in the world. Are they old, losing their incendiary vigour? Does he always try to capture adventurers alive so he can mess with them before he eats them? 

Remember, we aren’t bound by the laws of our own reality. Mythic Bastionland is full of examples where the fairytale-logic of the world operates on an internal consistency that serves to make the game more fun. 

Now this post is at risk of just rehashing ICI Doctrine, but the main point I want to remember is that there are always two masters to please, and they are not mutually exclusive. If a decision only pleases one of these masters, then look for another way forward.

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