KittyKiero
The Iwatobi Scarlet
I had to wonder since I've been playing the third one again recently. Hijinks is always fun, isn't it?
Is it possible to roleplay Saints Row?
- Thread starter KittyKiero
- Start date
I had to wonder since I've been playing the third one again recently. Hijinks is always fun, isn't it?
Ashurbanipal
Junior Member
The first one could be done in a roleplay. It'd be a darker, rougher gang drama. The others are more difficult -- the world quickly lost any semblance of sense, and became a whacky vessel for irreverent and vulgar shenanigans. You could play in it, but it'd be a very silly roleplay.
KittyKiero
The Iwatobi Scarlet
Hm... I guess.
Ashurbanipal
Junior Member
If you want to do it, go for it, but the Saint's Row series after the first game isn't a serious series, it's a comedy game. Just keep that in mind when deciding how you want to do it.
KittyKiero
The Iwatobi Scarlet
I guess I don't have really much of a... drive to do so. I guess it was just a question to be... questioned.
Grey
Dialectical Hermeticist
It's certainly possible, but it'd take a fair amount of work, and you have to ask whether or not it would be worth it.
Like Ashur says - if you draw from the first one, you wind up with a gritty gangland drama. That's comparatively easy to assemble, and can be quite rewarding largely because it becomes about the narrative, the characters, the location....
Trying to base something on the latter games requires, ironically, that you structure it pretty strictly. The fun of a Saint's Row game doesn't really come from the narrative - that's context for wacky fun and makes up a pretty low amount of the total playtime - but relies on how it feels to play. It's in the aesthetics, the mechanics, the moment-to-moment gameplay with colour-commentary and amusing set-pieces.
This is one of those times you have to ask why wasn't this a roleplay to begin with? Answering that might help you to adapt something similar.
Like Ashur says - if you draw from the first one, you wind up with a gritty gangland drama. That's comparatively easy to assemble, and can be quite rewarding largely because it becomes about the narrative, the characters, the location....
Trying to base something on the latter games requires, ironically, that you structure it pretty strictly. The fun of a Saint's Row game doesn't really come from the narrative - that's context for wacky fun and makes up a pretty low amount of the total playtime - but relies on how it feels to play. It's in the aesthetics, the mechanics, the moment-to-moment gameplay with colour-commentary and amusing set-pieces.
This is one of those times you have to ask why wasn't this a roleplay to begin with? Answering that might help you to adapt something similar.
Because you can't sell roleplays is the biggest and most obvious answer, but it isn't the only one.
Miz
Level 20 Mizard
*Editors note - I wrote most of this forgetting the first Saint Row game was actually serious(-ish).
I agree with Grey. Its possible to play anything and if you have fun doing it: great! However purely comedic roleplays in my opinion don't particularly fair well beyond the short-term. That's not to say that roleplays can't be a comedy (in terms of fiction or narrative) or that they can't be humorous. Its just that if you are making a game solely to be funny and expect players to be funny, you might be disappointed. This is because, well, being a comedian is hard...
People get making jokes and comedy confused with one another. Everyone can make jokes, but you'd be surprised how quickly making joke after joke can lose its magic and not be engaging. People like randomness and think its funny but that can hamper a roleplay that usually relies on coherence for players to make sense of it or at least feel like they are making a difference in the game. For a successful comedy you need both jokes and coherence.
Another issue that comes to mind is, how do you deal with people adding their own content that maybe isn't that funny for the group but they think it is? After all, comedy is subjective.
The comedy in later Saints Row games was written by comedians and edited by comedians and refined by more. That's why you can have so many stupid things happen and it still be somewhat enjoyable. As Grey mentions, the mechanics and wackiness of the whole game assists in that endeavor greatly. You would not have those kinds of tools to employ to build coherence. All you'd have text.
For a roleplay based on Saint Rows, you'd have to make sure there was more in the game than just the random violence and nonsensical comedy. I think possibly the best route to go would be to make a very serious plot, perhaps with serious characters, in a world that is humorous or nonsensical. Maybe give each character's a little crazy backstory of their own. Then you might remember that the characters from Saints Row are not particularly detailed themselves (they have some major traits but they become more or less caricatures by the end).
So all I would have to ask in the end is: why would making a Saints Row roleplay be any better than making your own whacky adventure? True, there are already some jokes written for you and people understand the world, but if you just rely on other people's jokes the comedy roleplaying will get old.
Overall though, I think the issue ultimately depends on your group of players, if you find them funny, and whether or not everyone will play a part in making sure that in that crazy world there is still something connecting your players together (plot or no plot, character backstories or no backstories or if its just the pure wackiness of the place).
I agree with Grey. Its possible to play anything and if you have fun doing it: great! However purely comedic roleplays in my opinion don't particularly fair well beyond the short-term. That's not to say that roleplays can't be a comedy (in terms of fiction or narrative) or that they can't be humorous. Its just that if you are making a game solely to be funny and expect players to be funny, you might be disappointed. This is because, well, being a comedian is hard...
People get making jokes and comedy confused with one another. Everyone can make jokes, but you'd be surprised how quickly making joke after joke can lose its magic and not be engaging. People like randomness and think its funny but that can hamper a roleplay that usually relies on coherence for players to make sense of it or at least feel like they are making a difference in the game. For a successful comedy you need both jokes and coherence.
Another issue that comes to mind is, how do you deal with people adding their own content that maybe isn't that funny for the group but they think it is? After all, comedy is subjective.
The comedy in later Saints Row games was written by comedians and edited by comedians and refined by more. That's why you can have so many stupid things happen and it still be somewhat enjoyable. As Grey mentions, the mechanics and wackiness of the whole game assists in that endeavor greatly. You would not have those kinds of tools to employ to build coherence. All you'd have text.
For a roleplay based on Saint Rows, you'd have to make sure there was more in the game than just the random violence and nonsensical comedy. I think possibly the best route to go would be to make a very serious plot, perhaps with serious characters, in a world that is humorous or nonsensical. Maybe give each character's a little crazy backstory of their own. Then you might remember that the characters from Saints Row are not particularly detailed themselves (they have some major traits but they become more or less caricatures by the end).
So all I would have to ask in the end is: why would making a Saints Row roleplay be any better than making your own whacky adventure? True, there are already some jokes written for you and people understand the world, but if you just rely on other people's jokes the comedy roleplaying will get old.
Overall though, I think the issue ultimately depends on your group of players, if you find them funny, and whether or not everyone will play a part in making sure that in that crazy world there is still something connecting your players together (plot or no plot, character backstories or no backstories or if its just the pure wackiness of the place).
Grey
Dialectical Hermeticist
Actually, just want to chime to note that SR4 is actually a masterclass in pacing, structure, and comedic timing - so Miz very much has the right of it with regard to a straight-faced underlying plot.
