posted May 01, 2014 05:23 PM            

Though I've been teased over it I've also been invited to play in more than one roleplaying game campaign because I have a way of making the setting come alive in the imagination of other players...and also because what's blindingly obvious to me just doesn't occur to anyone else. For example while trying to determine how truthful someone was being about a murder one was going to memorize a detect magic spell as the informant acted as if he might be under a charm spell and I said we should ask his wife. The very idea stunned the other players, even the referee wasn't ready for that (and told me later he briefly panicked), and I explained how in such a world he likely had a wife and even if she died then he had kids or other family who could say if he's been acting strangely (those under charm spells tend to act befuddled and/or suddenly obsessed not all that dissimilar as shown on Buffy). To everyone else at the gaming table the character was purely background, a brief note on paper, and the thought that he had a life independent of us separate from doling out a possibly misleading tip from the referee to our characters just didn't occur to anyone else in the game. Yet it was a good idea (and we learned our suspicions were true) and I got bonus points from the referee.

Though I could annoy them sometimes, too, like I'd ruin "meta game thinking" (that is having characters in the story act on information they couldn't possibly know) with a "That's not what our characters would do!" And once I used a very strategic yet dangerous tactic to save another player (while all the other player characters were in their own crisis) which saved the other character's life but at a severe risk to that of my character. But I also had a co-hort/henchman (female) with me with a magic sling that could help (and was something of a second character for me to play) and the other players were about ripping their hair out because I refused to let her help as that co-hort was a halfling (hobbit) cutpurse that was brave when it came to stealth and trickery but hid from combat when possible, and the monster my character was fighting was so dire and able to teleport that I decided my cohort was too busy hiding. The player of the character I saved was threatening me if his character died because of that (though my own character would die as well in that case), but it worked out, AND as my co-hort was very alert and crafty who understood the value of distraction (which all these combats were) I had her look to the cause of our troubles and she found it (takes one to know one, a gnome thief arranged for the disaster to rob a mage fair of magical items).

After the combat scene I had my 2 characters arguing with each other. One player told me that was disturbing, and I think that was the night one first said I was a storyteller. (There are many types of roleplayers, like the steam venter who vents in the game, the power gamer who is all about powering up, the method actors, even the specialists who always play the same type of character every time. Storytellers are there to create a story with everyone else.)

Btw, I loved to travel in the game as well, my Sag very much came alive in those games, and I wanted to experience the social (cuisine, fashion, religion, customs, etc) and geographical aspects in detail, which was another way I challenged the referees (but could also prove to be useful later on).

Unfortunately, my creativity seems limited to that. I wish I had talent as a visual artist because I have all these awesome images in my head but don't have the means to share them. And I'd also like to share what I see in my imagination with many authors who I'm sure are frustrated by the covers of their books (even the ones without strange bimbos on them) but I can't, and thus I don't feel like I get to complain about the professionals, perhaps such a talent is one in a million (or at least require a lot of supervision which many artists would hate, especially the truly talented ones).