Questions Without Answers
 |
What can change a person's very nature? How can the broken be made whole? What does it mean to be a hero?
In a world where most people still dismiss genre fiction as ‘trash' or ‘pulp¸' it should be no surprise that role playing games don't have a reputation for literary value. And¸ to be fair¸ I can understand why: most adventures are just for fun¸ and are not intended to be particularly literary.
On the other hand¸ though¸ neither are most novels written to be literary¸ and I don't see anyone pointing at Twilight and saying¸ "See? If that's a book¸ books can't possibly be literature!"
While not all games should be literary¸ the stories we tell with them can be literary experiences. And one thing that separates literature from 'trash' (even fun¸ satisfying trash)¸ at least for me¸ is the asking of a grand question.
So¸ drawing on more than two decades of combined gaming and teaching experience¸ I offer a list of 50 Questions Without Answers¸ and brief advice on using them in three ways: As a player running a character with a grand question¸ as a GameMaster planning a story with literary drive¸ and as a game designer who wants to support this kind of play.