tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post2959916943576581717..comments2024-03-27T19:02:58.368-04:00Comments on BARKING ALIEN: High Concept AnxietyAdam Dicksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-85992017884021752362021-09-13T07:29:03.308-04:002021-09-13T07:29:03.308-04:00Not the same group. You gotta know your audience. ...Not the same group. You gotta know your audience. 😉Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-50554740194906318982021-09-13T01:25:56.551-04:002021-09-13T01:25:56.551-04:00Love the fact that you can glide effortlessly from...Love the fact that you can glide effortlessly from saying my "suggestion" wouldn't fly with your group to a detailed write-up of exactly how you pulled it off. Thank you!Tim Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03845783872464372488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-25601696978100380942021-09-11T17:19:58.315-04:002021-09-11T17:19:58.315-04:00It would be very difficult for me to sell the base...It would be very difficult for me to sell the base game as, "You're going to be normal people in a normal, modern setting." I'd be lucky if anyone showed up to the first session and if they did it would be because they knew something was up.<br /><br />I once began a traditional Medieval Fantasy campaign by billing it as an experiment in using R. Talsorian's Interlock System (Cyberpunk 2020, Mekton II) for Fantasy. A test run for eventually doing something else. <br /><br />The players initially thought it was strange coming from me (knowing my general distaste for Dungeons and Dragons fare) but accepted it since they also knew of my love of Interlock. As we went on, it turned into a really good, though not particularly ground-breaking, campaign. <br /><br />Every once in a while I would throw in clues that something strange was afoot. At that point the players and PCs chalked some of the odd happenings and disembodied voices as the work of an Illusionist or some sort of Demon. <br /><br />The reveal was that the PCs had been trapped in some sort of Virtual Reality MMORPG, not unlike the Japanese Anime/Manga series' such 'Log Horizon' or 'Sword Art Online'. The system itself was none other than R. Talsorian Games' Dream Park. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-53157869255881655082021-09-10T11:00:34.280-04:002021-09-10T11:00:34.280-04:00As the definition debate seems to be settled (I wa...As the definition debate seems to be settled (I was going to post something akin to the other commentators), I have a broader question that relates to a question you posed on Twitter the other day.<br /><br />Given your good-natured "bait and switch" with your <b>Alien</b> campaign, and the release of a certain big franchise movie trailer yesterday, have you ever considered a <b>Matrix</b> style game where the player-characters are, for a couple of sessions, simply "norms", with a suspicion that "something is going on", until the curtain is pulled back by an external force (probably a key NPC) and it is revealed they are actually operating in a 'simulated reality'? Tim Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03845783872464372488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-19331996732608531852021-09-07T11:02:09.753-04:002021-09-07T11:02:09.753-04:00Right you are on all counts Dennis.
I've com...Right you are on all counts Dennis. <br /><br />I've come to the realization that I've really been using the term incorrectly all these years. I am guilty of taking it to mean 'Heavily Themed' and 'High Art' or actually some blurred definition lying somewhere in between. Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-54674152646893988382021-09-07T08:41:46.465-04:002021-09-07T08:41:46.465-04:00I think Gordon's right. "It's a war. ...I think Gordon's right. "It's a war. In space. We call it 'Star Wars'." High Concept. One (or a few) key concepts that the audience can easily grasp. "It's a story of human evolution, told from the earliest primitive roots of the species up through the creation of artificial intelligence and finally contact with higher dimensional beings." Highly artistic, but not 'striking' or 'easily communicable.'<br /><br />Of course, the post from Noisms seems to be using the term more to mean "heavily themed" which is a bit different from the dictionary definition. Dennis Laffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03053699552003336733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-82223187090356229712021-09-07T07:45:02.496-04:002021-09-07T07:45:02.496-04:00I love Avant-garde! lol
I think you hit the nail ...I love Avant-garde! lol<br /><br />I think you hit the nail on the head. When I think High Concept, what I am really thinking about is something more akin to High Art. <br /><br />Simultaneously, I don't think I am quite pretentious enough to see my games as 'High Art'. Not quite. :P<br /><br />Experimental vs Traditional might be the way to go.Hmmm...Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465863144787683153.post-57526994027187401832021-09-07T00:33:18.497-04:002021-09-07T00:33:18.497-04:00It sounds like High Concept corresponds with Block...It sounds like High Concept corresponds with Blockbuster and Low Concept corresponds with Art Film. In this case, it's "high" as in High Marketability, not High Art. So, D&D is High Concept, albeit "Low Art" (depending on your DM). I think instead of calling games High or Low Concept and changing the meaning of the terms, maybe it's better to use other terms. I'm not sure what those terms are. Perhaps traditional versus non-traditional, or standard versus experimental, or mainstream versus avant-garde.Gordon Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12907319916602597979noreply@blogger.com