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By Root 411 0

which actions to take next. Other players are likely to articulate questions such as “would your character really do that?” Likewise, players who apply their own knowledge to their characters, often called meta-gaming, are likely to be called out in the social sphere. For example, a long-standing D&D player may know exactly how to defeat the monster that his character has never seen before. If the player takes full advantage of that knowledge, either the DM or other players may question whether or not that character would act as the player intends and the result would be negotiated. In fact, it was only when Wrestfur’s player did not respond to these social pressures that the DM resorted to narrative punishment.

In terms of rewards, Mark was rewarded by extra experience points for Cuthalion’s expertly crafted speech to the orcs. Experience points and treasure are the biggest rewards in D&D. When players complete quests or defeat enemies, they receive experience points that allow their characters to go up in level and gain additional skills and abilities. They also are often rewarded with treasure that includes items for their characters or gold that is used to buy items for their characters. Characters in gamebooks and text-based adventure games are merely rewarded in terms of uncovering the story, not by advancing their characters. Because the reader expects to navigate a satisfactory outcome to the story, this hardly seems to be a reward at all.

The Continuation of Interactive Narrative

The 1970s was a key time in the development of interactive narrative. As authors sought to break free from the traditional constraints of the print medium, they experimented with genres such as gamebooks, adventure games, and TRPGs. However, the type of interactivity that proved to be the most influential in the long run was more productive than selective. It was also collaborative and revolved around character, in addition to plot. Finally, it allowed for tangible rewards, such as experience points, for the reader’s interactive efforts. As interactive narrative grew, we discovered that it is not enough to uncover the story; the reader must be able to shape that story.

The genres of the gamebook and the text-based adventure game have waned in their popularity to the point of near extinction, yet TRPGs have continued to experience success. As the first of this genre, D&D is not only significant because of its influence on new types of texts, but also because the original game continues to be played. Wizards of the Coast estimates that an average of 2.5 million people play D&D each month (Dancey 2000), which shows that neither new literary or game genres have replaced traditional TRPGs.5 Yet, text-based adventure games have generally been replaced by other forms of computer games that rely heavily on visual cues rather than requiring the user to enter only textual commands. Likewise, gamebooks seem to have been replaced, to a large extent, by new media alternatives. Hypertext, which has garnered far more scholarly attention, is now heralded as the medium for interactive literature. Much of the success of TRPGs may be to due to the affordances of the social medium, and as digital texts have continued to evolve they, too, have sought this social interaction. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), for example, involve textual negotiation similar to that engaged in by the players of a TRPG.

Why have TRPGs persisted when their generic cousins have been replaced by new media? Although the technology is quickly heading in that direction, the digital medium can not yet afford the same structure of interactivity as the social medium of the TRPG. The flexibility I have outlined here is very much an advantage of a face-to-face medium. Players are more often than not rewarded rather than punished for creativity, and the social structure of the game allows for flexibility that is simply not possible in even the best new media texts. In the the next chapter, I will continue to explore the way that D&D has influenced current