{"id":2935,"date":"2021-07-30T21:05:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-31T01:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/?p=2935"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:38:21","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:38:21","slug":"the-nature-of-peril","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2021\/07\/the-nature-of-peril\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nature of Peril"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Beau,
by John W. Sheldon, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I think about the concept of peril in adventures quite a lot, especially as someone who generally isn’t big on character death, extreme physical or mental trauma, & failing. What on earth is an adventure without those types of peril? Does a game even require an adventure, 0r peril, to be fun? (I won’t be discussing the nature of fun, that’s your own thing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With many of my games, peril like violence or death or trauma can absolutely occur, but a lot of the time it’s only when the players choose that experience for their characters, with the consent of others at the table. This is part of why I require Script Change at my tables when I play, but it’s also part of why a lot of the time I warn people in my games about the potential for this kind of content. Many people think that a game isn’t a game if you’re not in danger, if your experience is not perilous<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I choose the word peril with very particular intent – the experience of peril is that of both serious<\/em> and immediate<\/em> danger. And sometimes, yes, I do enjoy this kind of thing! But I have to have specific context for it, & it has to be with other players that I trust a lot. I also have<\/em> to consent to it – it can’t just be suddenly happening, placed on me without warning, and it also can’t be extreme. This is part of why I say it’s about peril. It’s not just about risk, or danger, it’s about the extreme nature of it, it’s about how quickly it happens, and how present it is in the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
by Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon. A lot of people seem to find horses scary, so sometimes I wonder if I just included a horse in a game, would that be perilous? For some people, maybe!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In certain settings, when I’m playing a character that’s superhuman or powerful or invulnerable, I feel okay engaging in violence and dangerous things. In others, where I have an emotionally secure character who isn’t at risk of crisis or lack of support, I can engage in potentially traumatic (to the character) emotional experiences. Still again, it matters how the system is designed – is it grueling to take damage? Does it feel proportional to the experience? Is there “sanity” damage or relationship impacts based on emotional experiences? All of these things influence my choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Shadowrun, I’ll do ridiculously dangerous stunts & engage in significant violence. But my characters in that setting are largely individualistic or<\/em> supported by a strong community, and they’re always physically advantaged. I don’t personally play characters who struggle physically, even if they are still disabled in various ways, in futuristic cyberpunk settings, because it is often an escapist experience for me! But in some games, I can’t play that type of character, or it doesn’t make sense, so I choose to avoid peril – I focus on emotional experiences that are gentler, and avoid combat or violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in Turn, my characters aren’t typically very violent. It’s an option in the game, and I have engaged with it, but I often make more reserved characters who maybe explore complex and emotionally<\/em> perilous things like being a closeted queer person or seeking a romantic partner or even just seeking acceptance as a shapeshifter. When I do engage in violence, it’s out of necessity, and this is even knowing that as a shapeshifter, I’m largely invulnerable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like playing games with a balance of supernatural or super-scientific things alongside human, everyday things. Some of these games do lend towards peril, where I am heroically or defensively acting to save people or make change (Masks is a good example). Very realistic games like Sagas of the Icelanders or Roar of Alliance are rare loves for me, and in those, I have to be playing a very particular type of character to leap towards peril. Someone who, to me, can take that risk or needs<\/em> to take that risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Man and The Stag<\/a> is a mostly narrative game using card draws & map creation to tell a very specific story of cosmic connection.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are games where peril isn’t really a factor. In The Man and The Stag, you can absolutely die and face violence. However, because of the deeply narrative structure of the game, you choose when and how it happens – there isn’t much immediacy to it, and it is only extreme if you want it to be, which takes away some of that severity. In I love you and I adore you, there’s no design guiding you towards peril. At the most, you might find emotional strain, the struggle of loneliness or long distance love, the pain of being closeted or unaccepted by those around you and society, but you are supposed to focus most of all on the love you share and how that unfolds. It’s slow moving, and it’s also not meant to be severe at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a big movement from recent years for cozy games, these games without significant peril, without violence, without a lot of intensity or trauma. I think that they’re amazing, and I definitely recommend checking out any of the games you find here on itchio under the cozy tag<\/a>, as well as games like Golden Sky Stories, which has risk but doesn’t often feel perilous, and has been a great experience for me! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I’d love to see more games where instead of making games cozy or cute overall, we have narratives that are genuinely serious, but have different types and levels of perilousness – games where you have more significant control over when and why violence happens, if it happens at all, and over how it is handled in the context of play (descriptive, strictly mechanical, fade to black, etc.), and the same with emotional content that feels perilous, letting content that may be upsetting or difficult be introduced with consent by players, collectively, or changing how it affects characters mechanically and narratively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d also love to see more mechanical innovation in regards to types and intensity of perilousness in games. Like difficulty levels in video games (which are an accessibility tool AND make games more fun for me), having more control over what types of peril you encounter (physical, emotional, existential), and how intense that peril is (different for each type), can make play so much more exciting because it not only puts power in the hands of the collective group but also allows you to decide later if you want to up the ante for your own enjoyment or for the purposes of challenging yourselves mechanically or narratively. This works equally well for how difficult puzzles will be (both social and technical), how strategic combat needs to be (anywhere from grids to a narrative framing!), and many other aspects of play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
These kinds of mechanics and approaches tie in well with concepts of safety, consent, & content control, like the ones used in Script Change!<\/a> New cards by Clayton Notestine<\/a>!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Not every game needs every toggle, but it does help a lot to look from the start at what your game’s baseline will be, then allow customization within the range you’re comfortable, and also state up front to potential players what they might experience (examples are great!). Pairing this with safety tools, you can make your game more accessible for different types of players and more enjoyable for everyone! Even for someone as perilously picky as me. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Thoughty is supported by the community at ko-fi.com\/Thoughty<\/a>. To be featured on Thoughty, check out the contact page<\/a>!
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think about the concept of peril in adventures quite a lot, especially as someone who generally isn’t big on character death, extreme physical or mental trauma, & failing. What on earth is an adventure without those types of peril? Does a game even require an adventure, 0r peril, to be fun? (I won’t be discussing the nature of fun, that’s your own thing.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"I think about the concept of peril in adventures quite a lot, especially as someone who generally isn't big on character death, extreme physical or mental trauma, & failing. What on earth is an adventure without those types of peril? ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[390,380,376],"tags":[81,10,17,8,15,12,382,18],"class_list":["post-2935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-design","category-theory","tag-accessibility","tag-game-design","tag-gaming","tag-roleplaying-games","tag-rpg","tag-rpgs","tag-safety","tag-tabletop-rpgs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMGP7566.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paHOcG-Ll","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/04\/quick-shot-on-goblinville\/","url_meta":{"origin":2935,"position":0},"title":"Quick Shot on Goblinville","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"April 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi All! 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