TEXT: The Literary Edge 
   
  by Robin Laws 
  Copyright 1992 Atlas Games 
   
   
  Note: This text was first printed in Over the Edge ( 1st edition) from Atlas 
  Games, copyright 1992 John A. Nephew. It is reproduced here without permis-
  sion as a sampling of views on RPGs as art.  
   
   
  Role-playing games changed forever the first time a player said, "I know 
  it's the best strategy, but my character wouldn't do that." Suddenly an aesthetic 
  concern had been put ahead of a gaming one, i.e. establishing characterization 
  over a scenario's "victory conditions." At that unheralded moment, role-playing 
  stopped being a game at all and began quietly evolving into a narrative art form, 
  a junior cousin of drama, film, and literature.  
  OTE is, among other things, an attempt to further the development of 
  RPing as art. GMs will find it fruitful to approach decisions as an artist creating 
  a collaborative work with players. The idea of collaboration is important; the GM 
  is not a "storyteller" with the players as the audience, but merely a "first among 
  equals" given responsibility for the smooth progress of the developing story.  
  The closest analogue to RPing is improvised theater, in which actors in-
  vent scenes as they go along. Participants must be receptive to the contributions 
  of others and use their own input to build on them. The Prime Directive of the 
  improviser is "never negate," which means that the actors must accept all ideas 
  as they come up and work with them.  
  In RPing, however, the GM is often called on to say "no" to players' de-
  sires for their characters; this is because roleplaying games are ongoing epics 
  centered around the adventure genre rather than brief comedy skits. The GM is 
  responsible for decisions about characters' successes in the physical world, and 
  will often decide that attempts at given actions fail. After all, stories in which the 
  leads breeze over every obstacle without opposition are undramatic and there-
  fore fail to entertain.  
  But GMs should also be prepared to say "yes" to players when a sugges-
  tion inspires new possibilities for the storyline. In fact, a good GM will work to 
  incorporate player input into his plans. In drama, character is the most impor-
  tant thing, and this element belongs to the players. The GM is not a movie direc-
  tor, able to order actors to interpret a script a given way. Instead, he should be 
  seeking ways to challenge PCs, to use plot developments to highlight aspects of 
  their character, in hopes of being challenged in return. GMCs should not be de-
  veloped in a vacuum, but conceived to interact with the central characters, the 
  PCs, in illuminating ways. Some GMCs will be foils, allies whose personalities 
  reflect those of the PCs; others will be antagonists, more starkly contrasting 
  types who oppose them.  
  
  Think of all your actions as GM as literary devices. When you decide 
  what the weather is, make it reflect the mood of the PCs -- or, just as effective, 
  contrast with it. Pace the story so that it has the speed of an exciting movie, with 
  fast-moving action sequences interspersed with slower, subtler ones that de-
  velop the PCs; making them seem more real and sympathetic. End sessions with 
  rip-roaring climaxes (these can be emotional climaxes, not just fight scenes) and 
  cliffhangers.  
  When viewing RPing as an art form, rather than a game, it becomes less 
  important to keep from the players things their characters wouldn't know. When 
  characters separate, you can "cut" back and forth between scenes involving dif-
  ferent characters, making each PC the focus of his own individual sub-plot. This 
  technique has several benefits. First, it allows players to develop characters to-
  wards their goals without having to subsume them to the demands of the "party" 
  as a whole. Secondly, it quickens the pace, allowing players to think while their 
  characters are "off-screen," cutting down on dead time in which players thrash 
  over decisions. When a character reaches an impasse, or an important climax, 
  the GM can then "cut" to another character, giving the first player a chance to 
  mentally regroup. Finally, the device is entertaining for players out of the spot-
  light, allowing them to sit back and enjoy the adventures of others' characters.  
  The price of this is allowing players access to information known to PCs 
  other than their own. But it's simple enough to rule out of play any actions they 
  attempt based on forbidden knowledge. This doesn't mean there will be a short-
  age of mystery. Any OTE GM will still have secrets to spare. In fact, by allowing 
  the number of subplots to increase, the GM is introducing even more questions 
  the players will look forward to seeing answered.  
  GMs who employ this multi-plotting device will find it changes the na-
  ture of PC interaction, making meetings between them more remarkable and 
  meaningful as they become rarer. Now PCs will interact because they want to for 
  reasons arising from the story, not merely because they have to as part of a team. 
  After all, parties of adventurers in roleplaying sessions are often made up of 
  wildly disparate types who would never ally with each other, except for reasons 
  outside the storyline: the players all want to be included, and the GM has one 
  plotline prepared, so they all get shoehorned together. Often the result is much 
  time diverted to strains within the artificially-formed party, or damage to the 
  willing suspension of disbelief. With the "cutting" device in play, PCs can briefly 
  team up, oppose one another, or simply never meet. (Clever GMs will, however, 
  be alert to opportunities to make separate storylines cross over -- since the PCs 
  are the developed, complex focus figures, encounters between them will tend to 
  curry a high degree of emotional impact.) If PCs do choose to form a stable 
  "party" spontaneously, it will be a stronger one, with fewer strains that lead to 
  tedious intra-party feuding.  
  For years, role-players have been simulating fictional narratives the way 
  wargamers recreate historical military engagements. They've been making spon-
  taneous, democratized art for their own consumption, even if they haven't seen 
  it in these terms. Making the artistry conscious is a liberating act, making it eas-
  ier to emulate the classic tales that inspire us. Have fun with it, and enjoy your 
  special role in aesthetics history -- it's not everybody who gets to be a pioneer in 
  the development of a new art form.  
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Over the Edge/Over The Edge [2nd ed]/Unofficial/RPG-Robins Laws-The Literary Edge (Excerpt from Over the Edge).pdf