Last week I finally finished reading the Myth of Sisyphus by Camu, it was a recommendation from my therapist. And, of course, most of my reflections were not RPG related, but some of them are.
The synopsis of the book is: “Influenced by the philosophers Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus argues that life is essentially meaningless, although humans continue to try to impose order on existence and to look for answers to unanswerable questions. Camus uses the Greek legend of Sisyphus, who is condemned by the gods for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again once he got it to the top, as a metaphor for the individual’s persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life. According to Camus, the first step an individual must take is to accept the fact of this absurdity. If, as for Sisyphus, suicide is not a possible response, the only alternative is to rebel by rejoicing in the act of rolling the boulder up the hill. Camus further argues that with the joyful acceptance of the struggle against defeat, the individual gains definition and identity.”
It was recommended to me due to my recent loss, and some stuff that I'm getting through, but not suicidal thoughts(please don't worry).
In a section of the book, Camu argues that you should find meaning in life (or the continuation of it) even though it can seem a not particularly reasonable one. So basically, to live is to roleplay, to RP.
The two RPGs’ thoughts I had while reading it, were:
What “absurds” do the players have to accept/figure out to play at any RPG setting or session?
If the Gods, and the relationships between the mortal beings and them are so clear, eternal life is an indubitable truth. What would it be, in any RPG setting which has clerics, the: uncertainty, instability in reality, things that absurd man should reframe? I have an answer: MAGIC.
I am not going to write today about the first topic, maybe at another time. Feel free to DM me for a chat or write something about it, if you feel like it.
Magic, in any setting like the one I talked about, is an uncontrolled, chaotic, unpredictable thing. This thing can make you climb a hill becoming a very powerful god, or roll down this hill through corruption.
People, as death in the real world, must fear, reframe and find logical explanations for what they do not randle, to gain definition and identity to their own existence in this fantastic world. Even if things with gods and divinitys in your setting do not work in a very clear way, making magic absurd, in one of your settings should make things fun.
At some point in the book, Camu writes about Kirilov, who is a Dostoevsky character in his Demons novel. I have read this novel in the past, and as Camu reminded me, Kirilov, between the metaphor of the nihilist Christ and some deep thoughts, was a guy who claimed that the absolute freedom was to die, to prove his complete independence and to be like a god. So, if you consider the absurd magic, Kirilov is the definition of a Lich!!!! Besides a cool name for your next campaign lich, Kirilov didn't have to resignificate life, he understood all its meaning and extrapolated his own existence to transcend it. If end of life equals magic, you have the perfect definition of a lich, or a magic god-like being.
So, this could be expanded, but the main thing I am thinking about here is: magic is the inexplicable, almost uncontrollable and weird variable, of any fantasy and other “revealed gods” settings. It should be explained in illogical, irrational, metaphysical and superstitious ways. And it also should work like that.
Take it easy guys, and thanks for reading my crazy thoughts here, any comments and contributions are more than welcome.
Edited by C. A. Bertliz
Finally got to read this (recovering from my recently removed teeth, so not at work hehe)
ReplyDeleteI really like your take of thinking of magic as the absurd in settings where death and the struggle of life don't work like we know in the real world - and I'd say it sounds better yet in settings that take magic as a big part of existence and world politics!
But I also like thinking of the absurd in RPGs (to get back at your first point there) as in the concepts of the theatre of the absurd; that in which characters go onto the stage and struggle to understand why they're there.
Diegetically, it doesn't seem like that much fun by itself: why would players play characters that don't know what they want? But I think in a metagame sense it's a very interesting arena, and people constantly enter it, on purpose and otherwise, during RPG play. What is realisation of an adventure being railroady, if not the absurdity of trying to follow a pre-scripted story you've never read?
Anyway, a bit rambly here, but things I've been keeping in mind while trying to design mechanics for an absurd game lol
Great thoughts, I was thinking about talking the objectives of the characters and you are correct.
DeleteThanks for the inspiration and thoughts.