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Discussion Thread: Ideas and Originality 2017-02-01 04:04:19 Post No. 51501063
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Discussion Thread: Ideas and Originality 2017-02-01 04:04:19 Post No. 51501063
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Trying to settle a dispute with a friend.
Both of us are Dungeon Masters with some different viewpoints on particular matters, always friendly conversations thankfully. But last week we had a bit of a stronger argument about Originality in game design and ideas.
In essence, we were talking about where the line is between complete originality and complete "theft" (or borrowing, we affectionately can call it) that must not be crossed, else the game is no longer enjoyable for anyone.
We've both held games that were... "Inspired"... before, and we came to the conclusion that no matter how "inspired" a concept was to begin with, it would always be fairly open and changable the moment the players sit at the table, never "YOU CAN'T DO THAT, THAT'S NOT HOW IT WENT IN _______!!!" etc.
But still we differed in the level of how original a game has to be in entirety before it stops being enjoyable to a general group. (I say general group because obviously there will always be a group who would love to do an RPG based on *insert source here*.)
So, what do you think? Where does the line sit with you? How "original" do you think a game plan has to be? Can a game mechanic, such as the Majora's Mask three day moon falling, be used in a game? How do inspired concepts and mechanics, dilemmas and conflicts, puzzles and monsters, themes and, for lack of better words, ideas, whether minor or major, fair in shared storytelling?
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I love original games.
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>>51501063
There really is no line. It depends more on approach and execution than anything. Most of the time people roleplay, they are using a system designed by other people, and they may well be playing a pre-made adventure/module. It's hard to get less original than that. But okay, that's not even trying to do your own thing. So maybe you run something that's inspired by something else. Or maybe you even run a tweaked version of something else, either modifying an existing system (like OSR games) or reconfiguring an adventure module. And then there's all the area in between. As long as you're honest and upfront about what you're doing--and your players don't suddenly notice that your seemingly-original adventure is actually ripping off the plot to a popular movie or something--you should be fine. The difference between a tribute or re-telling and a rip-off really all comes down to this.
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>>51501082
I'm totally dissecting those words into component parts and using them as campaign ideas.
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>>51501063
Everything's okay until you start bringing Mario RPG canon into things.
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Honestly, I think bits and pieces of "tribute" sprinkled into things is good world building. But you have to know your audience, either in a general or specific sense.
Like, if your players are fans of comics, and you make there be an encounter or two that are clearly inspired by a comic book character, neat, they'll get a kick out of it. If you literally just run the plotline of the clone saga, you are a douchenozzle.
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