Many video game RPGs are built on the premise of a power fantasy, where the player character is inherently competent and destined to succeed against all odds. This often offers an appealing escape from real-world struggles, allowing players to embody a hero who can overcome any obstacle. However, this consistent success can lead to a predictable and ultimately dull experience.
While games aim for player success, even when introducing challenges, this approach isn't unique to modern titles. For instance, a player's poor decisions in Baldur's Gate 2 could lead to an in-game consequence where a companion, Jaheira, decided the character was too far gone and needed to be eliminated. This highlights an older design philosophy that acknowledged the potential for significant failure.
Tabletop RPGs (TTRPGs), in contrast, often embrace misfortune, with games like Mothership and Call of Cthulhu thriving on difficult circumstances. This is where the appeal of not being the "Chosen One" and instead being an ordinary person who messes up due to bad luck or poor choices truly emerges.
The Joys of Incompetence
Experiencing failure in an RPG can lead to more compelling and humorous situations than constant triumphs. Games that embrace this, like Baldur's Gate 3, offer a power fantasy driven by dice rolls where failure is a constant possibility. The Dark Urge origin, for example, introduces elements of accidental violence. Similarly, Disco Elysium is renowned for its embrace of player ineptitude, allowing characters to make absurd choices that lead to comedic or unexpected outcomes, such as becoming a communist paranormal investigator fixated on the apocalypse.
More recent CRPGs are increasingly incorporating these TTRPG sensibilities. Titles like Zero Parades and Esoteric Ebb provide numerous opportunities for players to spectacularly fail. In Zero Parades, a character can experience a mental breakdown during a simple phone call. In Esoteric Ebb, players might ignore their primary quest to focus on an unrelated election they aren't even running in. These games offer a wide array of options, making emergent storytelling possible, where even improbable actions can succeed, thus making actual successes more impactful.
Critical Failures Lead to Better Stories
How a game handles failure is crucial. If a game presents many ways to fail but ultimately punishes or eliminates the player, it suggests a single correct path, reducing the player to a flawless hero or a failure. A quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance demonstrated this effectively: after a botched attempt at larceny to set up a tournament, the player's team became underdogs due to the consequences of their actions. This made their eventual victory far more meaningful.
Effective role-playing mirrors improv, where a permissive Game Master allows for creative solutions and explores interesting outcomes, even in failure. This collaborative approach leads to a richer, more surprising narrative than a conventional hero's journey. By allowing players to be "idiots," RPGs can unlock a more engaging and memorable storytelling experience.