#not victory feels unearned but that would not be true if the stakes weren’t real

[nellasbookplanet]

Every now and again I'm reminded of how fundamentally different ttrpg liveplays are as a storytelling medium from literally any other and it drives me a little bit bonkers. So much comes down to chance; you can plan and strategize and have some absolutely wild modifiers, but if you roll a nat 1 you still roll a nat 1. It doesn’t matter how important a character is to the narrative and how many plans the players have for them, they can still die at any time and be inevitably lost because the dice told you, sorry, resurrection didn’t work this time. And then we build the narrative around that, an echoing hole that can never be mended, because we have no other choice but to move one.

You never know if a risky choice will be rewarded or punished. You can go into what looks like an easy fight and lose bitterly due to bad luck, or into what should be an impossible one and still win. You will never be reassured by the knowledge that it’s a prewritten, planned out story where some things are bound to happen for maximum narrative impact.

But neither will moments feel cheapened by the knowledge that it was always bound to happen. A character comes back to life in a movie and, well, you know it’s because the narrative needed them and they were never truly at risk; they come back in the game and you know just how easily the dice could have landed on a different number and it wouldn’t have mattered how needed they were.

It can, if we allow it, remind us that purpose and meaning in real life has nothing to do with inevitability or fate; it’s all about what we make it, the choices that arise out of chance, the consequences that come from choice. We create our own narrative out of inherent meaninglessness and chaos and it is beautiful.

#every time the critical role fandom loses it bc someone decides a fight was unfair I'm reminded of all those incredibly narrow survivals #remember when nott survived that blue dragon with 1 HP? #when they only escaped their first lucien fight bc his anti magic cone missed them with the narrowest of margins? #not to mention ashton's recent absolutely wild survival #when everyone told robbie to have his character run at then end of candela obscura chapter 1 bc everyone else was down #and victory seemed impossible - but he didn't and it save them all #or let us not forget the absolutely WILD molly/kingsley resurrection #not victory feels unearned but that would not be true if the stakes weren’t real #we need the occasional iron shepherd or otohan fight that downs the entire party #and before anyone tries to tell me YES i do know ttrpgs also have prewritten and planned elements i do have basic media awareness #it's that intersection of narrative choice and chance that creates absolute gold on occasion #nella talks