Element dramowy w RPG: zarys projektu przemiany gracza

Abstrakt

Elements of creative drama in RPG. A draft project on player transformation

Role-Playing Game RPG has existed for 40 years and yet they are hardly recognized in Polish popular culture. The author points out the dual character of playing such games: an inherent tension between “playing a game” and “role-playing”, or between following the game system rules laid down in a book and trying to succeed in randomized situations on the one hand and assuming a role and entering into the character being played on the other. Next, attention is drawn to a certain similarity between entering into a role in an RPG and playing a role in a creative drama, especially an educational one. With reference to storytelling games, exemplified by the Vampire: The Masquerade system, an attempt is made to show that RPGs create great opportunities for generating strong emotions connected with moral choices and ethical assessment of the player’s own actions. In this, the author perceives potential for opening towards the Other, to a cultural and other variety of cognitive perspectives and hierarchies of values, which is consistent with postmodern philosophy.