I was strongly opposed to theory for a long time. Part of the reason is the opaque nature of some of the terminology, one reason I like Levi's straight-shooting approach to theory. THe one I want to talk about in paticular is Narrativism.
For the longest time I couldn't figure out what that was about. Well it has 'Narrative' right in there, so it's about telling a story, right? Well no, say the theroyheads. It's about addressing a premise.
Whating a what now? That makes no sense to me. What do you mean a premise, and what do you mean addressing it? Well, they'd reply, it's about Story Now and dealing with social issues. Still not getting it. No idea how that could relate to RPGs. Social issues? So you're pontificating to each other? No, here read these huge dense essays on the forge. Fuck that, if you're theory can't be summed up so the average gamer can figure out what you're on about, it isn't worth a shit.
Then Vincent, the dude who wrote Dogs in the Vineyard, finally explained it in plain english. I'm an example kind of guy, so he came up with a good example.
Die Hard. I've seen Die Hard, and what's more I could imagine an RPG where stuff like that happens. One could say that one of John McClaine's essential traits is that he was Loyal, and in that movie his Loyalty gets put to the test. Now that I can understand - my guy is Loyal, and we're going to see if he really is loyal. Now we're getting somewhere.
So I could understand this now, and when my Buffy game started I thought I'd try it out. I didn't tell my players "okay we're going to do this high falutin' theory thing because it'll make us feel smart", I just tried it to see if it made my game better. Buffy kind of lends itself to this. First the Qualities and Drawbacks provide some clear pictures to this. I know that one character cares about her little sister. I know that another is a hero on one hand and has a dark side on the other. Second, its part of the genre. In the show the monsters and challenges the cast faced were blatent symbols for the things teenagers go through in life.
Overall they were all a bit of the unlikely hero, so I chose that as my theme. The game is asking the question "Can these people be heroes?" It was an interesting question because some were self centered, others were misfits, and others still were slackers.
It has made for some phenomenal gaming. One has at least partially fallen, another feels that the answer is clearly 'no, he can't be a hero'. Another may fall yet. What it has really done is made sure that the characters care about the events in the game. They are personally invested, and the things going on are not merely the monster of the week but are really putting them to the test.
Like anything else, it isn't for everyone I'm sure. And I don't think you have to devote the entire game to it - there's plenty of good old fashioned vamp bashing and roleplaying in the method actor vein. (it's a group full of musicians and community theatre actors, so that's to be expected) But it makes it all more important. Even the most ardent hack and slasher will enjoy the fight that much more if they are fighting for something they care about.
So that's my serious theory thread for the night. Feel free to comment or call me a navel-gazing fatbeard, as you like.