In essence, roleplaying games are much the same as improvisational theater. Like the members of a dramatic cast, you and your fellow players each take a role within an unfolding story. (The role you play be that of a game persona, or character, you yourself create). Together, you and other players make up a team. None of you will emerge as a triumphant winner at the expense of the other participants.

– Dangerous Journeys, p.6

For nyligt fik jeg fingrene i Dangerous Journeys bl.a. takket være 5% rollespiller. Det er en bog, som jeg længe har været uden for min rækkevidde, men som nu står trygt på min bogreol. Lad os lige tage titlen: Gary Gygax’s Dangerous Journeys – Multigenre Roleplaying Game System – presents Mythus – Fantasy Roleplaying Game with Dave Newton.

Dangerous Journeys er ikke berømmet for at være et godt rollespil, men det kan være interessant at kigge på, da det er lavet (bl.a.) af manden bag Dungeons & Dragons, men på et tidspunkt, hvor han ikke længere var en del af TSR (og snart Wizards of the Coast, senere Wizards, og nu Hasbro), og hvor han derfor ikke længere havde indflydelse på udviklingen af D&D. Hans opus var AD&D 1st ed (1977-1979), der i 1989 blev erstattet af AD&D 2nd ed (revideret i 1994 og erstattet af third edition i 2000).

Dangerous Journeys

Dangerous Journeys er et rollespil med et usædvanligt meta-lag. Det er dels et fantasy-rollespil, som udspiller sig i vores fortid, men i en kosmologi, hvor der er flere paralleller universet, som gradvist vokser fra hinanden i takt med at tiden går og stadigt mere forskellige begivenheder finder sted.

Fantasy-delen er ikke klassisk Tolkiensk fantasy med orker og elvere, men med mytiske og mytologiske væsner som dødninge, varulve og enhjørninge. Som udgangspunkt er vi tilbage i tid, ikke længe efter at vores verden divergerede fra en parallel, hvor magi (‘Heka’) findes, og mindet om denne verden lever endnu videre i form af myter og legender. Der er også endnu overgange til parallelverdenen, så man kan finde ind til der, hvor magi findes, og er en alternativ “energikilde” til den “mekanistiske energi”, der driver vort univers og lader kemi og fysik være de fungerende spilleregler.

Hvad er det seje ved Dangerous Journeys?

Det seje er basis-reglerne, som er meget simple, og som forklares hurtigt og effektivt, og det er relativt let at læse den forventede spilstil ud af reglerne. Det kuriøse er, at i basisreglerne kampe naivt simple og meget hurtige (formelt set, da der er nogle problemer omkring skades-økonomien og rustninger, der kan trække det i langdrag), og situationen håndteres af spilleder, der tolker spillernes udsagn og handlinger til konkrete hændelser i fiktionen eller afgør hvilke terninger, der skal rulles.

The rules in the Mythus Prime game are intentionally simple and often deliberately vague. We want you to be able to unleash your imagination with a bare minimum of technical details to worry over. If and when greater complexity and more realism is desired, the Advanced Mythus game is an option, and, in fact, we recommend that all players of the Mythus prime game eventually progress to the advanced rules.

– Dangerous Journeys, p.33

Sidenote: Levn fra AD&D

Kamp begynder med runde 0, som er “overraskelsesrunden”, og derefter følger de almindelige runder, der hver indledes med et initiativrul fulgt af angrebs- og skaderul. Denne struktur er den samme som AD&D og har samme simple elementer i sig. Forskellen er mestendels, at Gygax anvender (Chaoisums) Basic Roleplaying til kampen (skill checks på d%, skaden rulles, og værdien trækkes fra rustningsværdien), undtagen når det gælder skade (livspoint er lig den fysiske stat, men inden døden indtræffer, har man nået et Wound Level, hvor den sårede tildeles ekstra minusser skabende en “Spiral of Death”, hvilket også har paralleller i BRP).

Med de avancerede regler føjes derefter en masse ekstra til, men det er en anden historie. Overordnet set har Gygax bevaret sin AD&D 1st ed-tilgang til regler og til kamp, men han har erstattet D&D-reglerne med en slags Basic Roleplaying-regler (som vi kender dem fra Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, ElfQuest, Stormbringer, Nephilim). Advanced Rules rummer en masse flere detaljer, som jeg måske vil tage i et senere indlæg, men komplicerede og besværlige synes de at være.

Gygax’ rollespil

Et tilbagevendende element i DJ er forholdet mellem spilleder og spillere, og de sociale forpligtelser, der påhviler henholdsvis spillederne og spillerne, og hvorledes hver part løfter sit ansvar.

Et andet element er ønsket om at skabe en levende verden – at simulere en fiktionsverden, som er klart adskilt fra spillernes verden, og hvor karakteren – Heroic Persona – er spillerens værktøj til at interagere med fiktionsverdenen.

Lidt om spillederen

Because a fantasy roleplaying game (FRPG for short) is a long-term acitvity, aGM must have material prepared for game action spanning days, weeks, months, and possibly years of roleplaying acticivty byt the player group.

– Dangerous Journeys, p.6

Og lidt længere nede i samme afsnit hedder det

As an impartial and disinterested participant in the story, the GM serves both to help and hinder the player group. The GM lays out the scenario, provides information tp the players, acts the roles of minor characters, adjudicates disputes between the player’s personas and characters they meet, interprets the game rules and crtiques play after the completion of an adventure by awarding merits to individual players for the skill with which they played during the game.

– Dangerous Journeys, p.6-7

Og lad os kigge lidt mere på det med belønninger

Here’s An Example: Alyssa’s player has been sure to attend every session of the game that she could and has projected her lively personality at every opportunity. The GM decides that she deserves to be classified as an “active” player for that adventure. The actual mission itself, however , didn’t go quite so well, as two of the other HPs were killed by foes, and the remainder of the party had to be rescued by Other Personas, having nothing left of their expedition gear save the clothes and equipments on their persons. They did, however, succeed in destroying the altar of the EPs’ [Evil Personas, red.] deity (albeit by the skin of their teeth), and their adventure is thus classified as a “marginal victory” by the GM. Futhermore, the GM decided that this particular scenario counted as “long”. As the base for “active” is 5, the bonus for “marginal victory” is 2, and the modifier for “long” adventure is 2, Alyssa would, at most, receive an additional 14 AP/Gs ((5+2)x2=14) for that adventure. Nothe had her player missed a session or two, her rating for participant might only have been “moderate”.

– Dangerous Journeys, p.303

Bemærk hvorledes det både karakteren og spilleren, der optjener erfaringspoint til at styrke karakteren med – mere om dette nedenfor, men først lidt om erfaringspointene.

En del af disse point kommer fra “at rollespille”, og et af de rigtig gode steder for forståelse af et rollespils opfattelse af rollespil er at kigge på belønningen for (godt) rollespil. Vi hopper nu baglæns i regelbogen for at finde en beskrivelse:

Roleplaying (-1 to +2APs): This should be determined individually for each HP that participated. Things to take into account includes how many sessions the player showed up for, whether or not the player tried to project the HP’s personality, and how much the player contributed during play when present. Did the player actively participate or just sit and daydream? Did the player listen to the GM or spend more time socializing? How much thought did the player put into solving the scenario? Someone who did well on all counts should receive a +2, while good perfomance on most counts (someone who didn’t show up for all the sessions but contributed greatly while there, for example), might merit a +1. A 0 would be average performance, and lower scores would reflect a need to improve.

Someone who only a made one session out of for and did little while present might only deserve to receive 1 AP (or none) for the whole adventure. Remember, make your players work for their APs.

– Dangerous Journeys, p.40

Det er ret interessant for “rollespil” dækker både over det sociale samvær (hvor ofte dukkede spilleren op, hvor meget bidrog spilleren med, hvor opmærksom var spilleren?), plotløsning og at udtrykke rollen. Med undtagelse af at udtrykke rollen (project the HP’s personality) handler det om spillerens opførsel over for spilleder: Kommer du, og koncentrerer du dig om mit scenarie? Rollespil er ikke rollespil, men at overholde din part af den sociale kontrakt.

De to andre kilder til APs er graden af succes i scenariet, og hvor langt scenariet er – dette er således karakterens performance. På sin vis er der igen den mærkelige dobbelthed, at det er både spiller og karakter som optjener AP – begge får for længden af spillet (spilleren for antal spilgange, karakteren for scenariets længde) og for graden af succes (spilleren for at have bidraget og lyttet til spilleders oplæg, karakteren for at gennemført plottet, som spilleren har bidraget og lyttet til).

Og hvad var det, man skulle gøre som spiller?

You aren’t the HP, but the HP is yours. Without you the HP wouldn’t exist in the game milieu that the gamemaster builds for you.

[…]

The most important aspect of roleplaying is, well, roleplaying. The more that players can perfect their ability to project their Heroic Personas’ personality, the better. Roleplaying skills improve the quality of the game and increase enjoyment. […] The purpose is to assume the character, inclinations, qualities and faults of […] the Heroic Personas, as they struggle to survive and conquer awesome monsters, discover ancient secrets, and so on.

Not only do you need to understand the rules – the “laws” of the campaign universe – but also your HP and as much anout that persona as is possible. That is also the reason the game goes into so much detail regarding what makes up personas: […] Whenever there is free time and you’re in the mood, spend a bit of it on futher development of your HP. Just get out the HP Profile Sheet and add to it! […] While doing so, some actual research on geograpjhy, knowledge, skills, and legends and mythology will add to your enjoyment of the game.

[…]

(1) Develop and know your HP.

(2) Know the game and the campaign.

(3) Know real facts, especially those which relate to your HP.

(4) Know about the genre of fantasy.

That is all well and good, but you need to do more to be a truly expert player. There are other factors involved, so it is necessary to consider them as well. The gamemaster works hard to provide entertainment and enjoyment for you and your fellow players. If you know and understand what the GM is doing […] you’ll be helpful and a good player too. That makes the whole campaign better. There are also the other players to consider as well. If you know them personally, understand them, and assist each of them to play better, the overall experince improves. […]

[…]

If another player seems to know more and play better than you, don’t hesitate to follow the example and learn from the individual. Conversely, try to help those who don’t do as well to become better players. Not all GMs are expert, either – in fact, they can learn a lot from their players. If you can assist in that process, then please do, but manage it with a friendly attitude and a lot of tact. […]

[…]

(1) Learn from your fellow players.

(2) Help your fellow players to be better.

(3) Assist the gamemaster to be the best.

(4) Be considerate of all others in the group.

– Dangerous Journeys, p.30

Nu har vi dækket en masse omkring, hvorledes man er en god rollespiller, og at en god rollespiller er en, som er ferm til at opretholde sin sociale kontrakt, og at der er et fascinerende meta-spil mellem karakter og spiller. Nu vender vi kort blikket mod spillets proces for at se, hvorledes spillets struktur også udtrykkes i dets proces.

Sådan fungerer det:

The typical procedure goes something like this:

(1) The gamemaster tells the players about the Heroic Personas’ current enviroment – […]. The GM will always also allow the players to ask certain questions about their HP’s surroundings, and answer correctly these queries if they are relevant and would be something the HP could know normally.

(2) Based on various factors – […] – the players decide upon what things their HPs want to do. […] Then the players inform the GM of their individual decisions; […]

(3) The GM decides which actions will require a dice roll. […]

– Dangerous Journeys, p.19

Når man “køber” udstyr til karakteren, fastsætter man først hvor velhavende karakteren er, og derefter vælger man hvad udstyr, man synes karakteren skal have – man køber det ikke, som i D&D – og derefter forhandler man med spilleder:

Next we sit down with the GM and discuss what Christoff’s possessions would be like. Noting the high roll for Christof’s Net Worth and the general fact that Christof – as a mercenary – would need to own some tools of the trade, the GM agrees that he would at least have some decent weapons and armor. After some negotiationg (because a good GM never gives in without at least a little haggling) we determinae that we have the following possessions […]

– Dangerous Journeys, p.17 (textbox)

Sidenote: Jorden og Iorden, spilleren og personaen

Often referred to in roleplaying as a player character, this make-believe person will become your alter ego, a brave adventurer in a world of high fantasy. Therefore, in the Mythus FRPG such an alter ego is called a Heroic Persona (or HP for short). This isn’t flattery or exaggeration. Your Heroic Persona will fight against the most vile and malign forces in the multiverse. That is truly heroic!

– Dangerous Journeys, p.7

I den spekulative ende er der implicit en spejling af spillerens forhold til Heroic Persona og forholdet mellem Earth og Ærth-kosmologien i DJ, da Earth og Ærth har samme rod, men med tiden spalter de sig stadig mere og mere bort fra hinanden, da de hver deres “energikilde”, henholdsvis “elektricitet” og “heka”, hvor førstnævnte tillader Jordens teknologiske udvikling og sidstnævnte tillader Iordens magiske udvikling. Mindet om magi og mytiske væsner i sagn og sagaer stammer fra steder, hvor de to jorder stadig ligger tæt på hinanden (og gjorde det mere i fortiden end i nutiden). Ligeledes er karakteren og spilleren i hver deres verden men dog forbundet.