You're standing in a village in ancient Japan, during the time of the samurai. A samurai walks past you, draws his sword, and chops a young man in half. The villagers cover the body, and collect it without comment. Shocked, you ask someone why he has done this, and the explanation is that it is the samurai's right to kill a lower caste person. Such a reaction is, among both the killer and the villagers, is so bizarre that few of us could relate. If you see it in a video game, it's even worse, because of the problem of suspending disbelief. So, what do you have to do for / to the player beforehand to make them view what happened as a strange (and likely horrible) event, but one that's a serious part of an alien culture? If you just get into town, and this suddenly happens, I sense that the player will consider it absurd because it's outside the bounds of what they're used to expecting. So it seems that you have to do a few things to "prep" them for this possibility, without giving it away. What tools would you use, how would you structure the world & give info to the player beforehand? * = Kirisutegomen means "to kill and go away" and was a common practice during the time of the samurai, at least until commoners started carrying weapons. ;P EDIT: Doh, yeah, Japan, not China! -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership... Edited by - Wavinator on October 12, 2001 11:59:02 PM

You might want to dip your nose into the post on this forum called: "Drama and the interactive medium." a couple of us discuss the ins and outs of storyline and world believeability.

To answer your question directly, nothing. The key is that you don''t do anything else that might seem absurd, so that the culture seems almost typical and then the Samurai (of Japan not China, Dactylos already pointed out your error) may simply cut a man down. I think you might want to make the villagers exude fear towards the samurai, to indicate this elevated social status. Other than that, there is very little needed.


- God created the world in seven days? I think I can one-up him!

quote: Original post by Wavinator
What tools would you use, how would you structure the world & give info to the player beforehand?

*dusts off pulpit used for promoting Jack Vance*

Have I mentioned Jack Vance, the author? Kirth Gersen carries around with him the Handbook of Planets, a guide to the planets and cultures of the Oikumene, the civilized part of Vance''s universe. The uncivilized part is known as the Beyond. Kirth Gersen, of course, is the protagonist in the Demon Princes series by Jack Vance. Also consider Cosmopolis, a magazine published for the citizens of the Oikumeme, with insightful, yet sometimes biased reporting on the events and more interesting people of the Oikumene. I say, until you have read of the culture of Dar Sai, in Vance''s The Face, volume four of Demon Princes, you have not fully enjoyed the wonderful and odd cultures awaiting you in the Oikumene.

Now, Wavinator, knowing in advance your goals and aspirations, I believe you are doing yourself a disservice by not reading this series. There is more imagination and food for thought in two paragraphs of these books than you might find in whole chapters of other author''s works. Likewise, Vance''s Planet of Adventure series is essentially an entire study of an Earthman''s reaction and assimilation of odd culture.

And what of The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel River, Lune XXIII South, Big Planet more commonly known as Showboat World. Master Appollan Zamp, captain of Miralda''s Enchantment, carried with him a guide to the towns and ports of the Vissel River, to be forewarned regarding any odd traits and cultural differences in each of the towns encountered up and down the river.

Let''s end by enjoying some cuisine of the Sarkoy, in the words of Vance himself...

Tonight only the Sarkoy cuisine was offered. The first course was served: a pale green broth of swamp produce, rather bitter, accompanied by stalks of deep-fried reed, a salad of celery root, whortle-berry and shreds of pungent black bark. . . .

The second course appeared: a ragout of pale meat in coral sauce, heavily seasoned, with side dishes of jellied plantain, crystallized jaoic, a local fruit. . . .

The third course was set before them: collops of perfumed paste on disks of chilled melon, accompanied by what appeared to be small mollusks in spiced oil. . . .

Edelrod looked up from the battery of bowls which had just been set before him, containing a hash of crushed insects and cereal, pickles, a plum-colored conserve and pellets of fried meat. . . .

Alusz Iphigenia had let the fourth course go untasted. The fifth course was served: a wafer of baked pastry on which were arranged three large steamed centipedes with a garnish of a chopped blue vegetable and a dish of glossy-black paste, which gave off an acrid aromatic odor. Alusz Iphigenia rose to her feet, departed the dining room. Edelrod looked after her solicitously. "She is not well?"

"I fear not."

"A pity." Edelrod attacked his food with gusto. "The meal is by no means at its end."

quote: Original post by Dactylos
I would just like to point out that the Samurai were Japanese warriors, not Chinese. (and Kirisutegomen sounds pretty Japanese to me.)

*AHEM* You didn''t see that!

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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote: Original post by bishop_pass
Now, Wavinator, knowing in advance your goals and aspirations, I believe you are doing yourself a disservice by not reading this series. There is more imagination and food for thought in two paragraphs of these books than you might find in whole chapters of other author''s works. Likewise, Vance''s Planet of Adventure series is essentially an entire study of an Earthman''s reaction and assimilation of odd culture.

Nice! Okay, consider it done! That''s a great reference, and even seeing that in text form in a SF cRPG would make my day! Thanks, bishop!

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Just waiting for the mothership...

Good thread. Yes, explaining piece by piece certain aspects of the culture might ready the player for the shock. Hell, you can even tell him in the game intro that sometimes samurais go around killing peasants. But overdoing this can waste the shock itself. The challenge is to tell the player enough that when the unfamiliar event happens he understands it, but little enough that he doesn''t expect the unfamiliar event, that he is caught off-guard when it happens.


Examples:

-Player starts the game as a samurai. He walks around happilly marveling at the graphics and sees a peasant, wonders why the peasant is so cautious, asks the peasant something, he may even threaten (game action) the peasant and then wonder why is the peasant so scared and so humble. But since he knows nothing of Japan''s ancient culture, he thinks that the peasants must be very cowardly and shruggs it off.

Then he sees a samurai cutting a peasant in half - the shock comes together with the realisation of why that peasant he bullied acted the way he did, and the added horror of realising what the peasants must think of him.


-And a much better example - likely one of the most violent movie sequences I saw: Pulp Fiction, the scene where the Travolta and Samuel Jackson (gangsters) enter a room with three teenagers who stole from the gangster boss. Look at how well prepared this scene is. All the talk between the gangsters, very funny, very casual, yet all the hints that something BAD would happen are there.