Cinema Verite

 

Ok, I've been talking about this a bit on my YouTube channel.  Now, it's time to blog.

What is cinema verite and how does it apply to roleplaying games?

Basically, it's presenting life in a truthful or realistic way.  Instead of focusing on story, plot, or points of interest (like sandboxes do), verite or "truth" creates a space for characters to just be themselves, hanging out, wandering around, interacting with who or what's out there, etc.  Maybe the characters get into trouble, maybe they learn about where they are, or maybe they're curious about what's over the next sand dune?

It's experimental / documentary style filmmaking or gaming that allows for stylized setups and interaction between subjects.  The GM is encouraged to provoke the various elements or ingredients, including the PCs.  Story is minimal or limited, but it doesn't come from the GM.  Whatever flimsy excuse for a story there is springs directly from the PCs and what they make of things.

With cinema verite or whatever you apply verite to, you try to capture the reality of life without any artificial drama or artistic embellishments.  It focuses on the everyday lives of characters and relatable situations.  Obviously, this is a stretch with the RPG genres we know and love (fantasy, scifi, horror, etc.), but it can still be done.

Many sessions are unscripted, but how many feel like a slice of life or fly on the wall, akin to the reality tv format?  Has anyone codified a style of gaming that, like Seinfeld, was essentially about nothing?  Even Seinfeld questioned itself, if you remember the pitch meeting with George and Jerry.  George maintained that it should be a show about nothing.  Nothing happens!  However, Jerry hedged that it wasn't absolutely nothing, you still have some dramatic elements to keep people interested and entertained.  

Personally, I think that interplay is fascinating and provides food for thought.  How much nothing can a session have before it's not the least bit entertaining or worth playing?  If it has too little nothing, can it still be called verite?  I'm sure there's a balance that comes with those actually engaging in it.  Certain individuals will want less while others want more.  So it goes...

I've seen plenty of hybrids where there's some kind of story happening, but also a hands-off GMing style that lets PCs goof off, follow their nose, or do whatever - without shuttling them to the next location or NPC or monster.  I've run a lot of games like that.

And this style doesn't mean the characters are without goals.  They should be motivated by something.  We're not talking about using lifeless mannequins as our roleplaying avatars.  But maybe their goal is so far removed from the present that it's not a consideration, such as wanting to meet a leprechaun, or it is a consideration but more of an internal struggle, like trying to be a good person or live up to his family's expectations, rather than storm a castle to save the princess.  

What about hooks?  Keeping the borderlands safe because of one reason or another would constitute a hook, but not a story or plot.  I'm sure my thinking on all this will evolve over time and I'll be better able to codify it down the road.  

At the moment, I'm most interested in diving into pure (or more distilled) verite sesssions which I've dabbled with several times over the past few years, without realizing what I was doing.  I just never thought of it in those terms.  But it seems to me like a style that's different enough to be recognized and have its own name.  

And before anyone asks, there's no inherently right or wrong way to do RPGs.  This verite style isn't better or worse, just like impressionism isn't better or worse than expressionism.  They're two different categories of art.

I've got a poll up on Twitter right now for what this category or style of gaming should be called... verite, adventures about nothing, anti-story (perhaps minimal story is closer, actually), or slice of life.  I'm going to settle on a name in a couple days and blog / vlog about this more.

In the meantime, here is a video of me explaining cinema verite in this context.  This is a video where I explain the difference between verite and sandbox style gaming.

Your feedback is appreciated, so comment away!

VS

p.s. The Xma'as special for gorgeous hardcover Cha'alt books is still happening!  $90 for both Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise books and PDFs (that includes shipping inside the USA; outside add $40).  Hardcovers are numbered, signed, and personalized by me.