Symbolism in your games******

[dema]

General thoughts***

Hey all-

I was thinking about symbolism in RPGS and table top games like DnD. How do you incorporate symbolism and foreshadowing elements into you game? Do you have some univeral truths that you use, and the party is aware of?

Like in Alfred Hitchcocks movies a bird means chaos and stuff, what do your player think when you tell them a dead dove lies in the path before them? or if they are in a dungeon, and you tell them they find an old gold coin etc .. .

Just throwing this out there, see what we can get from each other with this.

-de

 

[fusangite]

Well, you have two options:
(a) you can design a symbol system for your world
(b) you can design a world based on existing symbol systems

Either way, this must be done at the world design stage. It is very hard to graft it on later.

 

[Pyske]

Either way, this must be done at the world design stage. It is very hard to graft it on later.

I've got to disagree there. Generally, when I bother with symbols, it serves a theme. I build my symbols to suit the theme, by repetition and association, and the symbols I use may very well change between games, even if they are set in the same "world".

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[MarauderX]

I make it obvious, since I tend to use a lot. I have a few sheets of notes for myself to remind me of when to employ different details, such as markings in blood, iron shackles above a bed, fur on bedding material, etc. I may mention things a few times before the players catch on, such as automatically spotting a hawk overhead 10 minutes before something happens, and soon they will learn to watch the signs when in a given land.

I don't really associate the signs with much more than something they can react to, as having a crow symbolize death, etc., is kinda pointless for the players to recognize, as it will be a forshadowing of either their demise or the death of their foes. I like to run a fast(er) game, so I tend to cut out a lot of the "who cares" stuff from things such as symbols. It's not to say I forget detail and refuse to paint a proper picture, I just don't wanna create a scene from a movie like 'Twin Peaks.'

 

[dema]

all wonderful replies thanks*

 

[pezagent]

Hi Dema,

I think this is a great topic. I like flavor. It makes the world a lot tastier.

Symbolism and themes give a story a great deal of dramatic impact. It certainly would make a game more interesting than "You're in a room. There's a table, a chair, a lamp, and an OGRE!"

Ug.

I think storytelling is an art form, and it's one of the fun bits of roleplaying. Incorporating symbolism into area descriptions can be quite easy. Even if the players aren't really catching on, the imagery would certainly be more spectacular than not.

A lot of online dream dictionaries might help you include symbolism in your stories. Perhaps you could start from there.

/johnny

 

[Dogbrain]

Hi Dema,

I think storytelling is an art form

All well and good, but except for the pinkie-in-the-air pass-the-grey-poupon crowd, "storytelling" is not necessarily identical to "playing a rousing fun game" Symbolism has its place, but it can become miserably trite, especially in a setting not suitable for it. After a while, it's a Frau Bluecher.

I prefer the illusion of verissimilitude to the illusion of "storytelling" when I run a campaign. Players like it and I've never gotten a complaing about insufficient "richness" for my worlds merely because I don't adhere to the literary fad du jour. Symbols are the creation of minds, and my universes are relentlessly naturalistic. Thus, when something "symbolic" happens in my campaigns, its as remarkable and memorable as when something "symbolic" happens in our own world.

Likewise, from a purely "storytelling" standpoint, in a world where "symbolism" is common, symbolism becomes meaningless. If the "symbols" look like eerily appropriate coincidences rather than something that can be merely expected, they retain their power.

As a rule of thumb, every repeat of a literary device weakens every use of that device N-fold, where "N" is the number of times the device is used in a given story.