Episode 138: We Are All Gamers Old In Wickedness

Role-playing games Improvised Radio Theatre with Dice
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Roger and Mike
Don’t like
The structure of haiku.
How about you?

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Now try a villanelle:

The villanelle consists of five stanzas of three lines (tercets) followed by a single stanza of four lines (a quatrain) for a total of nineteen lines.[21] It is structured by two repeating rhymes and two refrains: the first line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the second and fourth stanzas, and the third line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the third and fifth stanzas.[21] The rhyme-and-refrain pattern of the villanelle is:

Refrain 1 (A1)
Line 2 (b)
Refrain 2 (A2)

Line 4 (a)
Line 5 (b)
Refrain 1 (A1)

Line 7 (a)
Line 8 (b)
Refrain 2 (A2)

Line 10 (a)
Line 11 (b)
Refrain 1 (A1)

Line 13 (a)
Line 14 (b)
Refrain 2 (A2)

Line 16 (a)
Line 17 (b)
Refrain 1 (A1)
Refrain 2 (A2)

Here, “a” and “A” lines rhyme, and A1 and A2indicate two different refrains which are repeated exactly. It can be schematized as A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2.[6]

The villanelle has no established meter, although most 19th-century villanelles used trimeter or tetrameter and most 20th-century villanelles used pentameter. Slight alteration of the refrain line is permissible.

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I have been known to commit sestina, though only under extreme provocation.

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Apologies if thread necromancy is frowned upon here, but I’m working my way through the IRTWD archives and just listened to this episode, and Roger and Mike’s first (?) experience of BITD. One of the things they said was that it wasn’t clear to them what they were supposed to do as players and rather than shout at the radio (metaphorically speaking) I thought I’d link to this article, by Iain Macallister, about his thoughts on how to play and GM BITD. How to Play, and Run, Blades in the Dark - The Giant Brain

I don’t agree with everything he says entirely, but I do think it’s a good indication of the mental gear shifts that more traditional players and GMs might have to be comfortable with to enjoy the game.

I’d especially call out his reiteration of the player principles, namely:

  • Embrace the Scoundrel’s life

  • Go into Danger, Fall in love with trouble

  • Don’t be a Weasel – Make the relevant action roll

  • Take Responsibility

  • Use your Stress

  • Don’t Talk Yourself out of fun

  • Build your character through play

  • Act Now, plan Later

And the oft quoted ‘drive it [your character] like you stole it’ :slight_smile:

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I think Mike had played it before; I hadn’t, though I had read about it.

All that “do wild and crazy stuff” doesn’t go well in my mind with a system that seems determined to make you fail often and punish you when you do.

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Ahh - that’s interesting. I don’t think it is a system that encourages you to fail - quite the opposite. In my experience, it’s one which makes it very easy for you to succeed, if you’re willing to pay the cost.

But I do think it’s quite a different way to think about a game, both as a player and GM, hence the link to Iain’s post.

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