In those decades, since I first stepped into the vast media landscape of various genres of science-fiction and fantasy it never occured to me, what the term „genre“ really is about. I mean, frankly speaking I didn’t care that much, as my own mode of storytelling always incorporated different ideas and themes from multiple so called genres. I think, if I had to describe my early creative processes, it would be re-mix and mash-up of art, music, graphic novels, books and tv mingling with original ideas and finally translating into something, that could be described as somewhat viable content. As I grew older – as a human just as much as a storyteller – I began to think more differentiated. I tried to incorporate ideas in my stories, which reflected my experiences in the real world as much, as any author does. And naturally, those experiences included real world problems, which I deemed all new and original; not understanding, that I simply wasn’t able to see, that they had been there too in those aforementioned cultural products, I had comsumed over the years. Well, maybe you need to grow into adulthood, to understand adult problems…? Most of those stories were developed for my hobby N°1: table top role playing games, as I’m a Game Master with about 35 years of experience now. Not that experience necessarily amounts to anything. You can do the same thing for about 35 years and the results are still shitty. Growth in skill can’t rely on experience only; truly REFLECTIVE practitioners are the ones, that evolve and develop REAL SKILL (thank you Donald Schön). It took me quite a while indeed, to recognice those facts…
Nowadays my look at storytelling is quite a bit different. I still tell stories in a rather genre-agnostic way, as I simply don’t see, why external conventions should set boundaries as to what is possible in any given story, as long as internal logical coherence, the laws of physics (well, at least as long, as they apply – not really true, when magic comes into play), and story continuity are maintained. Yes, I do call my different settings by a given theme or genre, so that my players have at least an idea, what the adventures will be all about. It would be more than just a little annoying, if I would invite them to a new heroic fantasy campaign, just to transport their characters into a nightmare-filled world of steampunky gothic horror within the first session of play. But even with a given name, I don’t cling that hard to typical conventions, as I like to subvert expectations at least a bit. The idea here is, to bring some freshness and novelty to games, that otherwise could become stale and unattractive. My first look is always at the non-player-characters and their motivations, goals, strengths and weaknesses. You might see a dim similarity to a classical SWOT-analysis, straight out of a businessplan. And yeah, the process is indeed more than just a bit similar. When you need an NPC for a bit of exposition, it always needs to be subtle. Like in a movie, you don’t narrate the key ideas with words, but you rather show them with imagery, reflecting the inner workings of those characters involved. You build tension by establishing conflicting goals and worldviews and let the heroes of the story – a.k.a. the player characters – decide, how to resolute that tension. The true art here is to find images that fit that bill of giving the players an idea of what is really going on inside the head of the antagonist, they need to overcome. Or, if they really need to overcome those NPCs? Sometimes the solution doesn’t necessarily mean, that they have to resort to violence. But, at that point it’s up to the players to decide upon the road, they’d want to take…
Genre or theme is there to inform an idea, what kind of setting you’re navigating in. But it needn’t to be a border not to be crossed to honor someone else’s older definition of what this or that needs to be. Because, in my head that sounds like a fantastic recipe for a redundantly repetitive experience; just another little bit more of that same old stew. Maybe you like the taste – but for sure no seven days a week. Don’t get me wrong – I milk any given genre for anything it’s worth. You get your feverish nightmare dreams in fog-filled backward alleys, while being chased by shadows, that are all too real for any good if we’re in victorian London. I will present you with knights in shining armor and dragons breathing whatever will make your characters scream in agony, while traversing the lands embedded in the ocean of clouds, that could only be travelled in magic sailing-ships of unrivaled elegance. And you will fear the forearm-blades slashing through concrete walls, as if they were made of paper, while that cyborg you pissed of with your gambling skills is trying to get his money back. But you will also get so much more, if you don’t let yourself be stopped while getting really creative. And you need to remember, that any theme or genre is just here to inform about the general course, we’ll be taking within our fantastical journeys. Nevertheless the ocean of creativity waits to be traversed – and there are many islands, we haven’t set foot on, so let’s get travelling, shall we?
The only thing, the storyteller needs to be aware of is, that a theme/genre isn’t a substitute for the aforementioned building blocks of entertaining narrative, namely: logical coherence within the story. Believable motivations and goals for the antagonists. Breaking of the fourth wall only, if absolutely necessary. Expostion through imagery rather than dull monologue. And, the players retaining their agency to rock the story, how they see fit. Sounds easy, goes awry much too often. Sometimes I hear people rambling about the distinct difference between high culture and popular culture, talking about you need to get cultured by being exposed to products the first, but not so much to those of the latter. Seems, that I shoould clarify myself: I BEG TO DIFFER! Like Van Gogh painted his works, to be exhibited in museums and used as a field trip goal to be studied by pupils, who simply don’t get what his art was all about, because he lived in a totally different time; I mean… yeah, sounds totally logical, doenst’t it. Or might it be, that he simply did what he did, because he thought he had to say something to the people of his time through his art? Or maybe, that he hoped to earn a little money with his pictures? I don’t know for sure; but there’s one thing, I know: that in his time nearly nobody gave a fuck about his new way of expressing what could be seen. If you don’t get, what I mean, please do a little research on your own. What I do, what many people do today might be considered products of popular culture. I can’t predict, how precisely somebody in a few decades from now on might judge those products. But they will surely have an opinion distinct from what would be said by people looking at any given popcultural works today. So I have faith, that those little stories of mine, which are especially intended to bring joy and fun to my players have a worth; a worth which might go beyond instilling fun. But that jugdement will come in a time and galaxy far, far away. Have a nice day and remember – always game on!