Wednesday, August 21, 2019

RPGaDay Challenge 2019 - VAST




Vast.

Space is Vast but I've already talked about Space.
There are a Vast amount of RPGs out there, but I've talked about that with Plenty.

Stuck for an idea, I took a look at what my fellow RPGaDay participants had to say on the subject and it seems I am not alone in not having much to discuss about a word that means 'Immense' and 'Of great extent or quantity'. 

That seems rather odd doesn't it? It's almost counter intuitive. One would think there is a Vast amount of things you could say about Vast, being that it is so, well, Vast and all. 

Hmmm.

I could talk about the Vast number of different rules systems that have been developed over the years to determine the outcome of everything from combat to romance and inventing to friendships. Professional Game Designers and fans alike love to read, write, rewrite, tweak, and kitbash game mechanics. There are so many ways to simulate and emulate the adventures, characters, settings, and genres we love to experience and explore and it's astounding to see the Vast array of them laid out before us in such wonderful abundance. 

The Vast number of players and the diverse nature of them, of us, is also amazing. I have gamed with artists and actors, politicians and police officers, parents and their children. My own groups have always consisted of a mix of ethnicities, religions, genders, orientations, and ages. So many people, so many personalities, all united by a love of gaming and invested in whatever campaign we were participating in together. True, some more than others, some more compatible with each other than others, but over all there for the same reason, the same end goal; have fun, tell a good story, make happy memories. 

Memories are also Vast. Think of all the memories you have of the games you've run and played in. Realize that you are in the memories of those who were in those games with you. Surely, some moments have been forgotten, but perhaps they are recalled by the games other party members. Perhaps the GM told the story to a friend who regaled a group of fellow gamers with the tale at a convention. Are our stories just ours? Is this a form of shared memory, a modern age oral tradition, a strange immortality? Memories are the mentally recorded stories of past events and nothing, nothing is more Vast than stories. 

Vast is so big, so all-encompassing a word, it is difficult to know where Vast begins and ends. It is hard to determine quite where one is with Vast. Within the Vast it is easy to get...

AD
Barking Alien




No comments:

Post a Comment