Quote from: Levi KornelsenThere are enough people who enjoy playing it to please the author.  It has turned a profit sufficient to please the author.

By my lights, that makes it a success.

I think even by the intentionally limited definition of success I used in this thread, widespread play beyond the author's peer group, it's probably a success.

Part of the reason for that limited definition by the way, is that I think when designing an rpg one should think what will constitute success in that design.

All too often, people have dreams of widespread play which I think are simply unrealistic, the answer is either to have another definition of success in mind or to abandon the design.

Aiming low will never lead to excellence.

TV shows are for girls.

Really, look at it: No guys-TV anmore.

No:

Fall Guy
Airwolf
Riptide
Dukes of Hazzard
A-Team
Battlestar Galactica
etc.

Instead:

Greys Anatomy
ER
Desperate Housewifes
Telenovelas
"Battlestar Galactica"
Gilmore Girls
C.S.I.
Criminal Intent
ad nauseam

At least over here, the (majority of, statistically speaking) young males don´t watch TV anymore. The stations have lost them. They play computer games in order to explore guy-themes.

For guys:

The Sheild

24

The Wire

Third Watch

Doctor Who

My Life On Film

My Name Is Earl

Big Love

Guys over there should look up the TV listings more often.

Maybe for guys/girls :

Lost

Heroes

Weeds

Spooks

Hustle

etc

Regards,
David R

Only 24, Lost and Third Watch are on TV here.

And those are definitely not what a ten year old would like.

Is Hustle on in America anymore? My wife & I enjoyed it a lot but we haven't caught it on A&E in a long while.

Anyway, your claim that video games are sucking away part of the TV audience, and affecting what TV shows are made for the remaining audience, is an interesting hypothesis. Unfortunately I can't evaluate from personal experience because practically all I watch are cartoons and sitcoms. Plus Smallville.

Quote from: SettembriniOnly 24, Lost and Third Watch are on TV here.

And those are definitely not what a ten year old would like.

By young males you meant ten year olds...

Regards,
David R

QuoteBy young males you meant ten year olds...

...or twelve year olds.

It´s not a hypothesis of mine, though. It´s a study that fielded those results.

They did their own research and found out about TV stations recent shifts in programming. They found out, that TV stations found out, that women/girls are the ones who decide what is watched. TV stations reacted to that.
Another study showed that most young males (10-18) spend way more time playing electronic games than watching TV.

It really changes commercial placement strategies and thereby the program.

I say: TV is losing it´s mainstream appeal, because it ignores the next half of a generation.

Personal Note:
I cannot fathom any TV show that I´d like to replicate with PtA. TV shows are all railroaded, and the examples I´ve read so far about where mostly about drama.
Add to that, that any TV show I´d like to replicate

QuoteFall Guy
Airwolf
Riptide
Dukes of Hazzard
A-Team
Battlestar Galactica
etc.

is better replicated with an Adventure Game. A bit circular logic, but it´s a personal note after all.

EDIT: I like(d) the abovementioned shows, because cool shit happens in them. Cars jump, Cylons are blasted etc. But I do not like the meta-rules of those shows. So, I dig the action. But not the narrative structure.
I´d assume Gilmore Girls Fans also like the cool shit, and not the dramatic structure or meta-narrative-rules. The emote with the Gilmore Girls because of suspension of disbelief. They aren´t watching and going: " Wow, the author did ad some witty dialogue!"
They laugh, because at the time the watch it, it´s the Gilmore Girls that are being witty.

So PtA is never the answer for anything mainstream. It absolutely is a meta-view on TV shows.

And "nobody" wants that.

Happily the American broadcasting companies haen't figure that out yet (if it's true here). I still get my guy TV.

Quote from: Settembrini...or twelve year olds.

It´s not a hypothesis of mine, though. It´s a study that fielded those results.

They did their own research and found out about TV stations recent shifts in programming. They found out, that TV stations found out, that women/girls are the ones who decide what is watched. TV stations reacted to that.
Another study showed that most young males (10-18) spend way more time playing electronic games than watching TV.

It really changes commercial placement strategies and thereby the program.

I say: TV is losing it´s mainstream appeal, because it ignores the next half of a generation.

Well, then you should have said the viewing habits in Germany and the fact that TV stations don't cater to male kids in Germany. Also taste change, the old shows you mentioned are not popular with male kids today, at least in my country. There are plenty of shows that appeal to male kids....just that they are not shown in Germany....apparently.

QuoteAnd "nobody" wants that.

:shrug: I don't understand what you're going on about, so I'll refrain from commenting.

Regards,
David R

Let it put me differently:

Is PtA about recreating the experience of watching a TV show?

Quote from: SettembriniLet it put me differently:

Is PtA about recreating the experience of watching a TV show?

Yes and no. It's a system for making up stories and playing scenes, using the author's take on TV as a structuring device.

Objectively, the main features are the Scene Presence rules, the Fan Mail economy (including the GM's Budget), and the explicit Issues for characters.

Television serves as a conceptual guide to what you're trying to achieve, which is simply to create something original: "The greatest TV show that never was." It's a chance to yarn on about what you'd really like to see on TV, basically.

Quote from: droogYes and no. It's a system for making up stories and playing scenes, using the author's take on TV as a structuring device.

Objectively, the main features are the Scene Presence rules, the Fan Mail economy (including the GM's Budget), and the explicit Issues for characters.

Television serves as a conceptual guide to what you're trying to achieve, which is simply to create something original: "The greatest TV show that never was." It's a chance to yarn on about what you'd really like to see on TV, basically.

Quite, it's about structuring gameplay so that you get the experience of being a character in a good tv show.

But to be clear, each player has one character, that character is a character in the game world rather than an actor playing a character, so for example a character might be an asteroid miner working in the belt or a cop in Chicago.

Quote from: BalbinusQuite, it's about structuring gameplay so that you get the experience of being a character in a good tv show.

But to be clear, each player has one character, that character is a character in the game world rather than an actor playing a character, so for example a character might be an asteroid miner working in the belt or a cop in Chicago.

Damn, this sounds perfect for my Day Of Living Dangerously campaign. Oh well, Over the Edge is working out great too...

(But, it would have been cool to try this system out, since the campaign is based on the documentary Our Brand Is Crisis and the TV show 24 )

Regards,
David R

QuoteTelevision serves as a conceptual guide to what you're trying to achieve, which is simply to create something original: "The greatest TV show that never was." It's a chance to yarn on about what you'd really like to see on TV, basically.

This needs a certain degre of reflection upon the medium television, and a certain amount of critical distance, too.
Not what I would call mainstream.

Watching TV and discussing TV are very different. Don´t know about the exact mainstreamness of pop-cultural discourse in Anglophonia, though.

EDIT: Adventuring without the "meta" definitely is mainstream. Computer Games, LotR/WoW MMORPG etc.