default header

Ultimate Edition

Ultimate Stage Direction

Moderator: JC Denton

Ultimate Stage Direction

Unread postby icycalm » 29 Dec 2021 08:24

Image

What is stage direction?

https://www.yourdictionary.com/stage-direction

The definition of a stage direction is an instruction written in the script of a play that gives direction to the actors or information about the scenery.

When the author of a play leaves a note in a script telling the actor to read a line with a sarcastic undertone, this note is an example of a stage direction.


Remember that RPGs are a cross of videogame and theatre, and thus, unlike traditional videogames, stage direction can occasionally be important here.

Let's give one example to make it clear what I mean.

In the Ruins of Azlant campaign we're currently running, the characters are colonists on a ship that has just arrived at an abandoned outpost. The characters are sent ashore to investigate what happened to the original colonists and report back. As they explore the outpost they stumble onto a vegetable patch infested by a plantlike monster, which they dispatch after considerable trouble. Thereafter they decide to avoid the rest of the vegetable patches dotted around the colony.

Later they investigate what seems to be the colony's chapel, which is haunted by a kind of ghost that chases them out of it. So basically, the characters have so far been running away from almost every danger that they've met in the colony.

And this makes perfect tactical sense. I would have acted exactly like them if I was playing. But that's where my stage direction comes in, to help them grasp the bigger picture of their situation on the island.

The characters are part of a colonist mission consisting of 56 people. These people, plus the 21 sailors manning the ship that brought them there, are the only humanoids in the entire archipelago of Azlant, as far as the characters are aware (excluding the original colonist group, but they seem to have vanished), and the only settlement available to them is this abandoned outpost they are exploring. The entire reason for the trip is to reinforce the outpost and help build it up and grow it. The infested vegetable patches the characters are avoiding are the fields in which the colonists plan to grow their food. The chapel they ran out of is the place in which the colonists will worship, and worship isn't optional for a group of hard-working colonists alone in the middle of nowhere any more than eating is optional. This isn't an open-air dungeon you're traipsing through, this is supposed to be your home for the foreseeable future, and to find it infested with monsters is nothing short of a catastrophe. The entire colony has to be made safe for the colonists to inhabit it and work in it, or no one from the mission will survive, including the characters. This the characters of course know, but not the players, which is where stage direction comes in. The opening of the game went too fast, and within minutes of the start they were fighting monsters without having time to think about the situation they were in. This is one of the strengths of this campaign: how quickly it throws them into combat. But the downside of this sped-up prologue is that their understanding of the situation suffers, and that's what I am trying to address here.

Now the players might say, and why do we have to clear the outpost of monsters? Doesn't the mission also include six colonial soldiers, plus a few other adventurers? It sure does, and doubtless these people will join in the efforts when the colony leader tells them to. But presumably the characters are there to rise up the ranks and make their fortunes, and that won't happen if they sit back and let others take the initiative and do most of the work. By all means, if you feel you're overwhelmed, ask for help from the other colonists, but the more you do on your own, and of your own initiative, the quicker and further you will rise, and this too the characters know, but maybe not the players. Ergo my directions here.

Does this mean that you should clear out the colony door by door and dirt patch by dirt patch?

I don't know man, I guess it depends on how many monsters there are. If there are just a few and you can dispatch them in a few days, sure, but if they are lurking around every corner and it looks like it'll take you a month to get through them, then it's probably a better idea to mop up what you can quickly, and then head to the ship to report and ask for further instructions. And remember, your mission is to look for the original colonists and find what happened to them. That's what has to be in your report, as well as the condition of the colony.

How long do you have to complete your mission?

You didn't ask, and they didn't tell you. But, generally speaking, you don't have to worry about the ship going home and abandoning you. They didn't travel for six weeks only to go back because you were late in reporting to them a couple of days. So, to a reasonable degree, you can take your time.

Note that my explanations above do not take options away from the players, nor do they spoil anything. The players still remain masters of their characters and their destiny, but now they understand the situation they are in a bit more clearly, so can make more informed, and hopefully dramatically appropriate, decisions.

Ultimately, to return to the general subject of this chapter, the GM will always understand the dramatic situation far better than the players, because the game gives him hundreds of pages to read, while it gives the players only tiny bits of text here and there. Moreover, the GM has the entire campaign in his head right from the start, so can take the long view of the situation, while the players are zoomed into the game scene-by-scene for the entire campaign, and it's thus much harder for them to grasp what's going on and react appropriately. And remember that, since this is an RPG, we're not just playing here, we're also putting on a performance, not just for viewers, but above all for ourselves. When one of the players performs, he does this above all for the benefit of the other players, who are in turn inspired by his performance to perform back, and that's how we build our drama. And in my view it is the job of the GM, on top of setting the scene according to the adventures' instructions and playing the NPCs, to appropriately advise the players so that they understand the dramatic situation to a deeper degree, and can thus perform better. It's not spoiling, if it's done right, and it's not cheating by helping the players: it is part of the RULES, in my book, that the GM offer appropriate stage direction wherever he deems it suitable. Other GMs prefer to say nothing and let the players do as they wish, but that's the same people who don't bother running professional adventures but improvise bullshit on the spot. And of course in that case there's no stage directions to give because there's no stage, no situation, no drama. But when you're running cool shit like the Pathfinder campaigns, where atmosphere and drama are dripping from every page, you need to help the players understand the scene, and that's not always possible with the indirect means of storytelling and scene-setting. Sometimes direct, explicit stage direction is required, as in the example above, and that's when I'll be posting such directions in the relevant campaign threads. And if you have questions about these directions, you should respond in the thread, and we'll resolve them. Or you can initiate yourselves a discussion on stage directions—either in the campaign thread, or on voice chat in the game—whenever you are unclear about something.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Return to Ultimate Edition