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The meeting of two worlds...
There are two worlds in your mind. There is the one made up of the actual experience of physical existence. You feel that in the morning when you fight gravity to sit up. The other one exists in your expectation of consistency in the physical existence in the other world. That is, there is one that is real and then there’s one you think might be happening if everything you believe is actually true. Only one of those two is flexible and bends to accommodate change in expectation. I’ll let you guess which one it is...okay, give up? If you said the second one, the mental one based on the expectation of physical constancy, I believe you are correct. (If you said the other one, kindly smudge me from existence in there.)
That flexibility is called the suspension of disbelief. It is the wonderful power of your mind to know it doesn’t have all the answers. And while this ability isn’t always readily apparent in some people, it is there sure enough. This ability is what allows roleplaying to happen. Without it, DnD is a game of books, dice, carbonated beverages and fast-food. With it, it is whatever you want it to be.
A state of Suspended Disbelief
Disbelief becomes activated when something unfamiliar is introduced to the mind. It relaxes and expands when that old familiar constancy is recognized. That constancy can be based on physical experience but it can also be based on non-physical constancy, such as social conventions and language. That constancy is called verisimilitude. It is that essence of truth that makes things predictable, reliable, and permanent to your mind. As long as your expectations are met and exceptions to the constancy are readily “explained” satisfactorily the mind will continue to suspend disbelief.
Verisimilitude is initiated by stating a premise. The mind can willingly accept most premises because it has no presumption of absolute knowledge. That premise can be the expiration date on your milk. It has a date on it. It says that the milk expires on this day. Your mind accepts that after this day, the milk will be bad. You have no evidence to support that the milk will spoil on this day but you give the idea support. You accept it as true and move on. Stating that there is a magic power that makes the milk go bad is one step too far (for most people) and that premise is rejected. Why do you reject it? There’s no solid evidence against a magic/milk going bad connection. But, you reject the notion (hopefully) because magic is too much of an assertion to accept without further proof.
Stating that there is a fairy land far, far away that does have milk that goes bad because of magic is a somewhat more acceptable assertion. You might not totally buy the idea but there is no reason to deny it. It’s far, far away in a fairy land that has its own rules and problems with gnomish dairy-saboteurs. They’re not in your fridge making your milk spoil. Now that your mind has not rejected the idea of the far, far away fairyland, the idea can be accepted that there, in magic fairy land, the milk is spoiled by magic powers.
The power of the imagination...
The human mind has another very powerful feature (though it isn't seen functioning in every brain). It is the imagination. The ability to pretend that you know what is going on allows that flexible mental world to progress forward, ahead of known constancy onto expectation of possibility. It’s that little voice in your head that recognizes that you are not in fact Batman just before your seven-year old body jumps from the “Gotham City” storage shed in your parents’ backyard (I briefly was Batman until the constancy of gravity broke my collarbone). Normally, imagination is thought of as a tool for creating beyond the realm of the possible but its primary function is to allow us to “imagine” likely outcomes previous to experience.
Adapting these two principles of the mind, suspension of disbelief and imagination, produces a roleplaying game (abbreviated as RPG). Roleplaying games, in the tradition of DnD, use those functions of mental reality to allow a kind of “escape” from physical constancy. Now DnD is not the first time the suspension of disbelief has been used for fun. Literature, math, and religion have all built and destroyed empires based on the power of this function of the mind. DnD and most other roleplaying games have the distinction of being the only mostly harmless adaptation of the function. It is based in fantasy from the onset of each game. This limits the scope of the function to the setting, built completely by, and contained within, the mind of the player and the facilitator (DM).
The promise of a premise...
Like verisimilitude, DnD begins with a premise. The very first premise is three-fold. The game assumes that there is A Player, A Character, and A Player-Character. Each of these is independent of the other. Consequences occur to the Character. Choices are made by the Player-Character (or PC). The Player gets all the credit for both. This premise must be accepted before the Player can engage in a game (and enjoy what is happening). This form of roleplaying creates a filter through which a fantasy world can be shared with other characters (where other PC’s make choices and multiple Players share credit).
This meeting of the minds is made of members who are known as the gaming group, or simply “the group”. The characters exist in the same setting and occur during the same imaginary continuity. When these characters are bonded into a common purpose, they are called a party of adventurers, or just “the party”. At this point the “party” must accept a premise. Their premise is that they must work together to accomplish a goal or several goals. This premise supplies the motivation for the game to progress. The characters' reasoning for accepting this premise is determined by the PC. It is based on knowledge (called “meta-knowledge”) held by the player. The goals that draw the PC’s to their ultimate decisions are provided by the DM.
Now, as with the dated fairy milk example, once the first block of premises have been accepted, other premises can be attached. These fall to the facilitator to develop. The facilitator is commonly called the Dungeon Master. This person has to accept their own premise. They are not a Player, a Character or a Player-Character. Their premise is that inside their mind there is another place with its own entire sets of constancies, some of which might be similar to physical existence as the person knows it and some might be completely creative (such as magic milk-spoiling gnomes).
Now the first relief from accepting this premise is the knowledge you are only responsible for maintaining the constancies that the players experience through knowledge gained by the consequences of choice (also known as “continuity”). The other relief for the facilitator is the premise that players also have minds that work ahead by using imagination. The DM can be readily freed from the bulk of the responsibility of building verisimilitude by relying on the players' imagination to fill in details.
Putting it all together...
Once these two parts of the game have been established (the acceptance of the founding premises), the final piece of roleplaying falls into place. It is playing at pretend. This is the real purpose behind the game, the premises, and the suspended disbelief. All the pieces exist to set safe boundaries for game play. As exampled by my broken collar bone, playing pretend in the real world has inherent hazards. As long as the division of Character and Player are clear, the pretending ends where the real world begins.
Great roleplay is produced by combining three elements; pretending/play, verisimilitude, and (yet to be described) the power of suggestion. The DM and the mechanics of the game work to maintain verisimilitude. Pretending play is done by the players and the DM. The power of suggestion, a rarely examined element, is shared by all members of the group during the game. The DM facilitates the rules, the setting, the characters living in that setting, and maintains the fair exchange of the power of suggestion (they keep the game moving forward by resolving party conflict. This is also called using “Rule # Zero” or a DM Ruling). All of these elements working together is called “game balance”. The DM is also responsible for initiating the pace of the game, the leading story elements that guide play, and adjustments to continuity as the suspension of disbelief might require.
The safety-dance of pretend play...
Gravity is a constancy that makes its force apparent on every mind. It is present in nearly every game setting. It has effects, benefits, and limitations that are intuitively understood. Its danger is also very clear. By the time a person has reached adolescence, that constancy is well established. Another constancy that is just as present but whose danger is not readily apparent is the power of suggestion. Suggestion is the use of premises, verisimilitude, and the imagination of the person undergoing suggestion. Used lightly, it guides the game through smooth transitions, helps other players maintain interest in the games development, and helps everyone involved in the game focus on the actions as they take place. But suggestion is a power that needs limitations on it. It can become dangerous, especially if the danger is not recognized and possibly more so if it is.
Most children have at one time taken on the role of doctor, superhero, bride and the occasional seasonal foray as an undead on Halloween night. The idea behind roleplaying is a fairly simple and readily understood concept. But that understanding is not always complete. Pretending to be something that you are not is one thing. Knowing the difference between who you are and who you are pretending to be can be difficult. In the real world, the vehicle that allows safe roleplay is costume. When it is on, you are one thing. The game ends when you take the costume off.
The format of premises underlining DnD (and all other pen & paper game systems) is there to protect gamers from the power of suggestion. The flexible mental world bends to forces of constancy. Compelling social constancy, which depends on the power of suggestion, can drive teenagers to dye their hair blue, pierce their septum, and engage in risky behavior like pep rallies. Without a clear understanding of the division of Player, PC, and Character roleplaying can be a dangerous thing to do. The divisions limit the power of suggestion to the imaginary setting. Its effect is largely dulled by channeling its influence through the character. By design, when the session ends, the period of suggestion also ends.
What’s the point...?
The purpose of the game is not always clear to the uninitiated. But the foundations of the game should be easy to understand. People roleplay everyday as doctors in white robes, judges in black, factory workers in blue or prisoners in orange. They have a role that they play in life. It’s not always fun but it is a role. When the robes and coveralls come off they become someone else. A father, a wife, an ex-con are roles that have more subtle costumes. At their core though, under all the façades of compelling social constancy, there is a person. They aren’t entirely sure how they got where they are but it works. DnD and other RPG’s are for this person.
Throughout life the roles you are required to play are, for a large part, determined by forces outside of your control. You might decide to play the role of a wizard in real life but unless other people agree that that is your role, you might find it hard to feed yourself. RPG’s offer players the opportunity to decide what role they want to play. They also allow the player to experiment with these roles without any serious physical consequences. It is also an exercise in creativity. It allows the stretching of otherwise inflexible constants like social, physical, and mental constraints.
The human mind is a powerful tool for organization, observation, and recording. But it is a tool that can be fooled. Adapting momentary uncertainty and combining this with the ability of the human mind to follow any path of reasoning (based on any principle true or not) allows the process of roleplaying games. It is fantasy. There is no objective to the game, as in no one wins. The game has a purpose though. It serves the mind of the player by allowing it the experience of choices, consequences and reward, and the building of relationships with no real penalty for failure. It has a clear beginning and a decided end. When the story has reached its natural end, the line of choices and consequences has affected only the memory of the group playing and the party they played.
Most players and DM’s don’t think of the game in quite this way. It is simply a game of dice and fantastic adventures. The underlining principles don’t really require explanation for the game to be enjoyed. Some believe that prying the principles apart and studying them undermines the suspension of disbelief that allows the game to exist. I think that that is silly. I believe it is important to recognize the basic components of roleplaying in order to fully understand how and why the game is what it is, a game of the imagination.
We all (well there’s me, at least) want to live a life filled with extraordinary experiences and meaningful relationships. Life happens in a real world of horrendous choices and terrible consequence. Humanity has built a society to help temper the severity of this life. RPG’s allow the human mind to peek past the veil of society, that force of suggestion that tells us we are civilized and in control of the progress of history, and see life in any manner in which we want. Whether brutish, nasty and short (as with a half-orc barbarian character) or in a state of heightened awareness and long-life (as with an elf ranger character) we can envision life on our own terms.
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