So, let's get dramatic for a moment.

<Draws cape over face in huge sweeping gesture>

...uh, not *melo*dramatic.

I wanna chat about dramatic fantasy.

But first...recap!

I have talked about action fantasy in a thread. The to;Dr is that action fantasy/fiction is a world where violence cleanly solves problems. https://mobile.twitter.com/qh_murphy/status/1276149564232421377

Best way to sum up dramatic fantasy is:

Actions have lasting consequence.

In action fiction, punching the right person solves the problem, but in drama it creates new problems and conflicts.

If action fiction is cathartic because it let's us have simple solutions to problems, the promise and catharsis of drama is that it let's us experience conflicts from a safe distance. We can view one or more sides of complex issue and puzzle over the ramifications safely.

Drama is about conflicts of many sorts, and is often centered around how our resolutions to external conflicts create internal conflicts which in turn create more external conflicts.

It's not that dramatic fantasy can't use violence, its just that when drama uses violence its just another tool to resolve and create new conflict; it is not given a special role as it has in action fiction.

And obviously, action fantasy without some lasting consequences becomes a slapstick Looney tune where everything resets after a scene.

I talk about the extreme ends of action and drama ONLY to clarify the midpoint where all good fiction lives.

And the point of that clarification is to provide a lense that we can use when we build TTRPG systems and run TTRPG sessions.

At the core of a lot of problems I see in TTRPG design and play are mismatches of action and dramatic expectations.

I've seen it so many times when someone is expecting a dungeon buttkick party but gets a political thriller...or someone wants deep internal character exploration and gets a hexcrawl.

These are extreme situations, but they exist in more nuanced forms too.

It's not wrong to want the dungeoncrawl or the political thriller, but it's important that we clear up those expectations.

Also, we want to make sure that the systems we use support what it is that we are wanting and expecting.

Action fantasy is best supported by things that can get us a real feel for the peaks and valleys of external conflicts. Stunts, combat, etc.
It helps that our characters are resilient and won't be hobbled every other fight.

To support drama, systems that support long term conditions and stressors, and provide multiple ways to have conflicts work well.

I'm not going into specific systems bc I wanna focus on the big picture before getting distracted with classification of systems.

The last place it's important to consider the action/drama divide is in our GMing and playing...you have to consider which contract you are overall using when you play.

It breaks the contract to have the long term psychological effects from fighting in an action game...

And it is equally a violation of contract to let violence just sweep away complex problems without extra effect in a dramatic game.

Knowing what you are going for overall is a big help in determining what will work in your game.

We are going to use action on our drama sometimes and drama in our action, but knowing what we aim for let's us set levels and keep to expectation to ultimately strengthen our play experience.

When we design systems we can examine what we are building for and optimize that.