Games and Writing, Part 2

One aspect of gaming that can be very useful for writers is statistics. Various games have different ways of quantifying things, but all of them make you think about your characters in a practical way. What, exactly, are these people capable of?

For instance, if “intelligence” is a characteristic, measured on a scale from 1 to 20, where does your character fall? Are they an 9, about average intelligence, or are they a 21 that exceeds normal bounds? This can have a lot to do with how they relate to the rest of the cast. And, let’s be honest, 90% of storytelling is not about the world-building or the plot, but about relationships between characters.

Anyway, there are also ways to specify what skills and powers your character has. Especially if you have a team working together, you want to have a balance of abilities between them. Even if it’s a group, like a squad of soldiers with common training, one of them might be the radio operator and one of them might handle a heavier weapon.

Come to that, what about their gear? Does anyone have a special magical or technological item that sets them apart? Thinking in terms of game stats can help you get a handle on what the characters can realistically do. (I know, we’re all SF and fantasy writers, so what’s realistic can be a bit slippery.)

This isn’t something I do myself, but one of my friends had to write a complex battle scene with multiple characters on several sides. She helped herself visualize the scene by creating the characters and playing out the battle in her favorite role-playing system.

There’s more to say about this, so check back with me next Wednesday.

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