7 Things Dungeons & Dragons Taught Me About Storytelling

[RobbieBlair]

Hoo boy, this is the sort of post I always flinch at. So, up-front-ness: I just wrote an article on LitReactor that had a shockingly positive response. In it I talk about the storytelling lessons I learned from D&D, including a brief discussion on role-playing physics (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0145.html).

I thought you guys might enjoy. And I'd love to hear your thought on the same. Here's the link: 7 Things D&D Taught Me About Storytelling (http://litreactor.com/columns/7-things-dungeons-dragons-taught-me-about-storytelling)

[Almaseti]

Cool article!

[Barsoom]

I am stealing the ex-husband idea.

[Manly Man]

Bookmark'd, and agreed with wholeheartedly. Role-playing was, and still is, my biggest motivator in terms of making stories, whether it's on scales of cosmic, continental, regional, or even personal degrees. The intimacy part is what got me the most, though; it's a powerful truth, and an important one as well. It explains why one is a tragedy, and one million's a statistic. I've had that sort of feeling, the hatred towards someone who was no genocidal lunatic, but just a rather unsavory guard captain who did, ultimately, rape one of the characters (it was a blackmail-ish thing, presenting the player character with an ultimatum), though I'd rather not detail it, partly due to whatever sensitivity to it there might be on the boards, as well as my own sensitivity on the subject. I've gone and made, while DMing, a black dragon with whom the party sympathized, and they couldn't bring themselves to kill him. In return for sparing his life (or, most likely, just sparing him the trouble), he had granted the party aid in a moment of dire need.

Being able to make himself the size of a rather large housecat helped with their connection, since it's pretty hard to argue with something so cute.

[Debihuman]

Pacing is the difference between a mediocre DM and a memorable one.

Debby

[Dyslexic Poet]

I loved this article! Thank you so much for sharing. :smallbiggrin:

I will say that what D&D taught me is that players will solve problems in ways that you could never expect.

[rt_tlp]

The formatting on the site isn't my favorite, but that's not your fault. That's a great article though! Thanks!

[mcbobbo]

I will say that what D&D taught me is that players will solve problems in ways that you could never expect.

I thought this would be one of the seven, actually.

Since it isn't just a player lesson, I would put it this way: There are, at any given time, at least thirty seven ways between points A and B.

[FrankLuke]

Thanks for the article and the site.

Question for you. You mention a thesis regarding teaching creativity. I was thinking about something related the other day. Seeing my children play and knowing how others played myself included, I wonder if creativity is something we are born with and then lose from non-use. Has your research gone into that area?

[TuggyNE]

Question for you. You mention a thesis regarding teaching creativity. I was thinking about something related the other day. Seeing my children play and knowing how others played myself included, I wonder if creativity is something we are born with and then lose from non-use. Has your research gone into that area?

Anecdotally, I don't think that's the case. I used to play various imaginative games with my younger siblings and cousins right around the time of puberty (pretending to be adventurers fighting shadow creatures, mock wars, tiny artificial civilizations complete with money and laws, stories centered around the exploits of Lego people, and so on and so forth), and so I got a good look at the process of not being able to play along any more. Specifically, over a period of six months or a year, my heart stopped being in it, and while I tried to keep it up, it just didn't really last. And it wasn't because of disuse, because there wasn't any disuse until the process was over; it was simply that it didn't feel right anymore.

To quote someone considerably wiser than I, "when I became a man, I put away childish things".

[huttj509]

To quote someone considerably wiser than I, "when I became a man, I put away childish things".

"Including my fear of being perceived as childish."

-C.S. Lewis

[TuggyNE]

"Including my fear of being perceived as childish."

-C.S. Lewis

Indeed, but, especially at the time, it wasn't so much that I felt superior or something as that it just didn't work anymore.

I still read children's books though. :smallwink:

[RobbieBlair]

Whew, you guys liked the article. :) The difference between a spammer and a valuable community member is often as thin as whether people like the content that's being pushed.


You mention a thesis regarding teaching creativity. I was thinking about something related the other day. Seeing my children play and knowing how others played myself included, I wonder if creativity is something we are born with and then lose from non-use. Has your research gone into that area?

Yes, I've gone into this area. Sir Ken Robinson has a fantastic TED Talk on the subject, and he's both a hero of mine and a major source for my research. (Also, he smells of pine needles. I discovered when we met. And hugged. Long story.) Sadly, his work is theoretical rather than practical. Actual research to verify whether our current education systems do kill creativity, and whether there's a way around that, has yet to be researched.

I'm starting my first batch of survey research at the end of this summer. As my focus is specifically in composition and creative writing, I'll be looking to see whether students gain greater confidence in their creativity as they take more comp classes or whether their self-perceptions of creativity change for the worse. I'll also be looking at whether students like writing more or less after taking these courses.

It's simple research, but there hasn't been nearly enough data-based research into this particular question. For any of the (fantastic) theories to do us good, we need to know where we actually stand.