SvennoJ said:
HoloDust said:
VG RPGs are like that because they don't have GMs to run the world and are too reliant on developers "story", while in properly constructed RPG, to paraphrase wise man., "story is something that happens when your players don't engage with your world". So properly done RPG should have world and narrative tensions, and players that act in it. |
True, the best times in open world games are when following your own path, creating your own story. TotK does it pretty well at the cost of breaking the main quest's narrative tension.
I don't know if narrative tension is possible with true freedom. It's not even possible now since any urgency is either inconsequential or leads to failure or missing things. I enjoyed WoA's detective Death in the family' mission a lot, but failed the first time since things move on on their own. So replay, but then all the tension is gone. How do you make a good DM making it feel like you're not in the Truman show, ie everything only happens because you're there.
Oblivion experimented with NPCs doing their own thing. It was interesting and also annoying. Where the heck is that guy I need. Which also happens in TotK, trying to find the NPC or wait for timed events. But if NPCs would be able to answer questions, like where is the baker and give some useful directions it could work a lot better. |
Yeah, NPCs with their own schedules in RPGs have been a thing ever since Ultima V, but also it's very annoying when you can't ask around to actually find them...that's where this new crop of "smart" NPCs can really augment design and gameplay.
As for narrative tensions (AKA PbtA's Fronts, though I prefer just tensions), when RPG setting is built with idea of them serving as powder kegs that player's action eventually ignite (with some of them moving on their own and act/depend on other tensions, and some that are more influenced by direct player actions) you have setting that's truly open-ended with actual choices, instead of illusion of choices. It's then GM's job to adjudicate how those actions influence world and vice versa. Putting this in VG RPG is not an easy task, and this is another area where trained ML model will be, IMO, able to change quite a bit how VG RPGs are designed.
