Higher Level Gamer

No, this post isn’t about The Little Mermaid. Rather, I’ve been thinking about how I, as a DM, can make players feel as if their characters are part of a bigger, wider world. Oftentimes, the story’s focus on the party makes it appear that they’re the center of the universe as opposed to one small (albeit extremely important) part of it.

I remember the first time that I felt that my character was part of something bigger. It was during the first campaign I ever played, and the party was infiltrating a keep while some Lord’s army was assaulting the fortress’ outer walls. We’d chosen to teleport on its roof and work our way down. The plan worked reasonably well, but what I remember most is Gaines’ character climbing a rampart and using a makeshift flag to signal the assaulting army that we’d taken the keep and that they could…

For a franchise with friendship as a central theme, Pokemon has been shockingly remiss in offering trainers ways to form bonds with their companions. Battling notwithstanding, opportunities to interact with one’s Pokemon have been virtually nonexistent across the series. The games’ plots dictate that the love and trust between player-protagonist and Pokemon are powerful. It is due to those strong bonds, the games emphasize, that the player-protagonist is so exceptional as to both become League Champion and take down the various crime syndicates threatening the world. But the growth of this love and trust between trainer and Pokemon is a gap that players must fill in on their own. It is not developed onscreen.

When I was a kid, I had Barbie: Race and Ride (1999) for the PC. I despised Barbie. I wasn’t a kid who played with Barbies. But I was a kid who hoarded horse figurines, read books on horse care, studied tack magazines, and asked for a horse every birthday and Christmas. I was also a kid who couldn’t afford riding lessons, let alone an actual horse of her own. So to satisfy my wish for a horse, I had to content myself with my toys and my books and my daydreams—and occasionally a game like Barbie: Race and Ride.