OOC - Rock, Paper, Scissors
The Structure of Power and How To Play Fair in Any Kind Of Role Play In Any Kind Of Game
This is a document that I had typed up a few years ago, and decided to post it here after having made some recent edits. It's kind of long, or about three pages worth of writing. Some of this might not be totally accurate or could have some exceptions, depending upon how it's interpreted and what kind of setting or game it is. Just some thoughts and comments of mine about roleplaying that I wanted to share.
Thought this might be of interest to people.
***
Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Structure of Power & How To Play Fair In Any Kind of Roleplaying Game
~~~~
There's something to be said for the above title of this most likely long "article". Or rather my long-winded thoughts and light-years long verbosity of mental musings I am about to subject you all to. So, without further adieu....
Whether you want to call what characters can do in any kind of game, be it storytelling or collaborative writing of some sort, dice-based and statistics-heavy RPGs like D&D and Pathfinder, or play-by-email, play-by-group, play-by-forum, play-by-journal or "journal games", play-by-chat, or whatever other gaming format you might like to get involved in, some or a lot of characters are likely to have some kind of power or ability that may or may not be beyond the norm.
Take the power of ‘Pyrokinesis’ for instance. The ability to channel fire through the hands, the eyes, the mouth, or any other bodily orifice one deems to allow their character or characters to have, such as an organization, faction or guild called the “Order of the Fire-Breathing Dragon Souls”, a special organization of various individuals that have some sort of connection to dragons, whether it be through genetic draconic bloodlines, a random magical or energetic surge of wildly draconic proportions that has occurred in a certain area where one or more dragons has dwelt for some time, the drinking of dragon blood in order to give one special powers, such as Enhanced/Supernatural Strength, binding one's self or soul to that of a dragon in order for the two to have some sort of symbiotic relationship with each other, or what have you. The sky (and beyond) is the limit here. Or any other type of fiery power that may branch off from the overall umbrella power that is ‘Pyrokinesis’, ‘Ignikinesis’ or ‘Fire Manipulation’, such as the ability to detect any/all sources of fire, whether mundane or magical. Sounds like a great fire detector in living form, in which to have guard a particular place of importance, yah?
Such an ability may seem extremely powerful or downright unstoppable in its usage, depending on whether or not a character gets a small part of the whole (one sub-power), somewhere in between with certain sub-powers they can wield, but not others (two or more sub-powers), or the whole pie (the entire umbrella power with little to no limitations, or in other words, all sub-powers). One may wonder how can such an individual or association of such persons be stopped should they get out of control?
The answer is simple enough for those people who take the time in order to give their characters weaknesses, which in this case, also includes certain limitations, weaknesses and restrictions on the kind of powers they are able to wield, if any. Superpower Wiki dot com or the Power Listing site does a great job of trying to give every single power listed on that site some kind of weakness or restriction, no matter what it is. Something that can stop, hinder and/or counteract it in some way, whether it be another power that is its polar opposite, a person of immense spiritual strength, a magic item such as a wand of negation, some architectural or natural structure imbued with mystical powers by the gods, and potentially other higher forces as well, depending on the setting or ‘verse itself.
Basically, the moral of the story is simply this. “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” This can counteract that, while in turn be counteracted by this, and so forth. Everything has some kind of rule, law, loophole or workaround that can be used to stop, destroy and/or hinder something or someone else. A Ghost may be able to cause temperature drops and send people running in fear for their lives with its eerie ghostly countenance, via powers such as ‘Cold Aura’ or ‘Cold Embodiment’ (for some specific type of ghost, spirit or apparition that is strongly associated with the cold), and ‘Fear Inducement’. Yet such powers (and the creatures that wield them) may stand little to no chance against someone like a cleric, a priest highly trained in exorcism, or a ghost hunter of some sort. While in turn, the priest or ghost hunter example might have their a** handed to them by beings or creatures wielding certain powers and abilities that they cannot easily counteract or detect in any way. Such as a dragon of great majestic power, who could easily swallow them up like just another appetizer on their daily draconic menu. Or breathe fire, ice, lightning, or etc. at them and dispose of them that way.
Yet going full circle, the dragon cannot harm the ghost or earthbound spirit, as the latter is insubstantial and already dead anyway, typically existing beyond time and space in its own "spirit realm" or "self-imposed limbo", the latter in the case of 'unfinished business'. Going a step further, the ghost could potentially possess the dragon and control such a grand beast however it wants to. The spirit/ghost could even use telekinesis to stop the dragon's heart if the spirit of the dead person or other creature had a mind/consciousness to do that, and the dragon would likely have little protection against such or means to stop it since one exists on what's typically called the "material plane" or "physical dimension of existence". While the other exists on some sort of "ghostly" or "spiritual plane of existence". The dragon could try to resist and may even succeed at that, but if the ghost is persistent enough, he/she/it might very well win the day in the end on that front.
In any case, powers have weaknesses, drawbacks, limitations and restrictions, just like any character would. Something that can be used against it in some way, shape or form, be it a beneficial power, malicious power, or something more in "the gray area" of understanding. So if a "game" or fellow "roleplayer" dares to say that such and such a power cannot be counteracted in any way, because said power is thought to be the ultimate/supreme power or whatever, then I'd most likely give such a person or group a wide berth and go RP somewhere else where they're not trying to be King/Queen of the RPG World/Universe/Multiverse/Omniverse in order to sate their own super-ego. Or because they're too d**n lazy to think about how/what else could be used to counteract or diminish such an ability of their character's or a magic item their character possesses in any sort of logical fashion. Or whatever other trollish reason they might have to try and justify their bigotedness. After all, it's not just a matter of courtesy, but also that of good writing, logical understanding, sound reason and maintaining a good, solid story/game/RPG overall for all players/writers/gamers involved.
Rock, Paper, Scissors, ya'll, it's the ‘Grand Music of the Spheres Of Power That Runs The Entire RPG/Storytelling Multiverse’. When someone thinks they're above all that, and has or shows signs of some ulterior motive to snatching the "cosmic key" behind how it all works, so that they can control the ‘Music of the RP Spheres’ themselves in which to suit their own selfish needs, then that's a good sign they are not going to be someone you'd want to interact with. But on the other hand, for those who do understand such a concept, and follow it in their own way that makes sense to them, as well as others and does not overstep any bounds, whether they be game-wise, player-wise or reason-wise, then that's all good, flying banners of happiness all around.
‘Power 1’ is counteracted by ‘Power 2’, which in turn is counteracted by ‘Power 3’, and is itself counteracted by ‘Power 1’. It all goes full circle, there being many 'rock, paper, scissors' in which to slake one's proverbial thirst or alleviate one's metaphorical hunger with. More than you can shake a fist at. Pun intended. While there might be a few powers that have hardly any limits at all, those powers, if they even exist, are few and far-between, even "meta-powers", such as being the Bearer of some sort of ‘Cosmic Keystone’. This too, no matter how powerful such a power is, could in fact have some rival/opposite power or two, or something else that limits it to some extent. Mainly such seemingly "unstoppable" powers are usually not what they appear to be, one just hasn't examined all possibilities on what could be used against them, or haven't taken enough time in which to do so.
So, if any of you bothered to read this whole diatribe of mishmashed stew of thoughts, psychological brain games and cerebral musings on my part, then I commend you highly. A toast to any power that can be counteracted by something else and is not all powerful no matter how much you may try to view it otherwise. To avoid becoming that monstrous 'power-player' that everybody hates or intensely dislikes and wants to steer clear of.
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Rotten Tomatoes? Hopefully, none of the latter.
:)