These Are the Questions That Make History Come Alive!

[jimhenley]

I missed the Vampire phenomenon because I was out of the hobby when it was new and cool. So I'm curious: in terms of "illusionism" and GM as auteur and such, how much of that was really new to the hobby? How much of it was not already in, say, the James Bond 007 RPG, Dragonlance modules, the GM advice in Prince Valiant? Again, I was not around, so

Comments

[rentagurkha]

My recollection is that Vampire at most emphasized it, but certainly didn't invent it. I don't recall the play style of people I gamed with (even those who were deeply into it) undergoing any kind of dramatic change around that time. If there was any product that introduced that concept it was Dragonlance, but in all honesty I don't remember a point when Story "took over". It was just something that became more and more important until it peaked and faded. For me personally, the fading of Story was driven mostly by my getting involved in improv.

[rentagurkha]

For the record: got involved in RPGs in 1982 (at 10), gamed heavily through 2006 or so. I was never a big WW fan although friends of mine were (including some who ended up as freelancers for them, like James Maliszewski and Malcolm Sheppard).

[kiplet]

Sparks were flying around elsewhere, but Vampire kicked it into the endzone. -Would be my two-cent summation.

[mcroft]

I'd say Vampire mainstreamed it. Assuming I understand what you're getting at with that, I think niche products might've had this trait earlier, even much earlier. It doesn't go back as far as my really old stuff; games from 1976-1982 are all about the GM as referee.

Paranoia was about creating a specific atmosphere, so was Call of Cthulhu. That, to my mind, was a strong component of what the GM was creating. It may not be a coincidence that these are horror genre games. They may be best suited to evoking an atmosphere by intentional group immersion.

[bluegargantua]

I don't feel like Vampire did anything "new", but it really cranked up the idea of GM as Auteur. Also, letting you play a "monster" and its sexy, subversive tones did a fantastic job of providing a stage for character/method roleplayers to really jump in and chew the scenery -- which had the bonus of your character flailing around and being all dramatic without actually changing a whole lot and letting the GM lead you around from dramatic set-piece to dramatic set-piece.

later
Tom

[immlass]

The culture changes Vampire wrought around sex and gender were so big for me that I can't get past them to contemplate GM as auteur or illusionism.

[jimhenley]

Nailing it down: You mean in a positive way, right?

[immlass]

Oh, yes, definitely.

Vampire (and at the same time, I think, but not in my circle, Amber) were games about relationships, and they were (certainly in the case of Vampire) more explicitly welcoming to women. It was such a huge thing to be explcitly welcomed instead of having female characters be explicitly less than male characters the way they had been in, say, first ed. AD&D.

It took a while to sink in especially since our college group didn't play Vampire, but it was easier to find and recruit female players in the early 90s. Before that women were like Highlanders: there could be only one, if that.