Thinking About Actual Play As Nonfiction
Hey Party People! Work on the newest season of Party of One is underway. Read on for a look at what’s new with the show, as well as a little bit of what has been on my mind lately in Actual Play.
If You Listen to Just One Thing
Marvelous Mutations and Merry Musicians! with Aaron Joy
I think this is genuinely one of the best episodes we’ve ever done, and an example of what Party of One can do better than most other shows. This was an incredible experience, getting to watch someone fall in love with tabletop games in real time.
What’s On My Mind: Nonfictional Actual Play
I’ve been feeling increasingly out of place in Actual Play (AP) circles for the past few years. More and more, the same moment has been recurring:
I’ll be in conversation with other folks involved in AP, usually in a space devoted to analyzing the artform (shout-out to the Many Sided Media Discord, my favorite). Someone will make a statement of what makes good Actual Play media. How much banter you should include, or what role music and sound design play, or tricks for getting better performances out of players, or how to manage silences in play. Any number of things.
Almost every time, without fail, I’ll have the same thought:
“That doesn’t apply to Party of One, and really, I think Po1 is better for it.”
Usually, the reply will be something to the effect of, “You’re right… but Party of One is a weird exception.”
And, look, I’m not opposed to considering Party of One to be exceptional art. Please, continue to feed my ego. But the more I sit with this, the more I have been thinking less in terms of exception, and more in terms of opportunity. I think there is a lot to Party of One that is exceptional, but doesn’t need to be.
I’m starting to believe we’re viewing Actual Play through too narrow a lens. I believe that by defining AP as strictly fiction, we’re limiting our possibilities of how to approach the artform, how to create within the artform, and how to analyze the artform.
In short, what would it mean to place AP not as artistic fiction, but artistic nonfiction?
Examining Fiction-First AP
Since its inception, certainly since the influx of shows circa 2020, and most particularly since the rise of Web Fests in 2021(1), Actual Play has been primarily filed as audio fiction.
It’s easy to understand why. The centerpiece of Actual Play is people telling a story together. It makes sense to center that story, to emphasize it as the main attraction. If we are storytellers, it’s only natural to frame that story as the main attraction.
When viewed through this lens, AP becomes a neighbor to improv, or devised theater. Performance becomes a key metric; being able to lose yourself in a character becomes an essential skill. Obvious points of inspiration come from audio drama, radio shows, and scripted entertainment. Tools such as music, sound effects, audio and video editing, overlays, and character art become tools to erase the performer and center the character. The end goal isn’t watching the people, but exploring the world being created. The art is judged on the story, and its ability to present a fleshed-out world with living, breathing characters.
It’s a valid approach, and one through which several shows have been able to find real, meaningful success. But I’m not convinced it’s the only approach to the artform.
What Would a Nonfictional AP Look Like?
Now that we’ve discussed what the AP space looks like now, what would it look like to reimagine an AP show that was in conversation with nonfictional art instead?
Examining Our Inspiration Points
It’s easy to look at audio drama as a first-cousin to Actual Play. But if we’re looking at AP through a nonfictional lens, what are our cousins on this side of the family?
The Traitors. This could more broadly apply to any number of reality show competitions, particularly those with a narrative overlay (Mission to Mars, Special Forces, etc.). There is a narrative to a game like The Traitors; both on the literal level, with a castle and “murders” and the like, and on an interpersonal level, examining individual plays and the shared histories between competitors. We’re following the story but we’re here for the interactions and personalities. This is significant.
Hot Ones. In some ways, this is the opposite of The Traitors. Because if there is narrative under the surface of The Traitors, there is a game beneath the surface of Hot Ones. That game is, of course, “answer a question while dealing with a spicy wing.” But we equally pay attention to both parts, which work in unison to create something better than the sum of its parts. But the play happens in the conversation, when the game interrupts the natural flow of the interview.
Let’s Plays. Obviously, for better or worse, AP has pulled a lot from the video game Let’s Play scene (there’s a reason Twitch is one of the predominant platforms for AP). But while there is an audience who seeks out LPs for the sake of discovering the story of a game (hi, it’s me, I don’t like video games), that’s often not what brings us to the table. I’m here because I want to watch this particular streamer bring their personality to the game. There is a story unfolding, but the nonfictional element (watching a player interact with a game, and processing the game through that player’s reactions) are the draw.
Professional Sports. There is of course narrative in sport, both on and off the field. We care about the decisions, we care about the strategy, and we care how players react to the unexpected. And we pay attention to the individual experiences a player brings to each game. When Devonta Smith catches a 46-yard touchdown pass in the Super Bowl (Go Birds), it matters as much that he spent his career being told he was too small to make an impact as it does that it nets the Eagles six points.
Putting the Pieces Together
With all of that in mind, what can we imagine a nonfiction AP to look like?
Obviously there would still be a game, still be a story, and still be all of the narrative elements we might expect from fiction-first AP. In the same way The Traitors includes all of those elements, or a Let’s Play still includes the game itself, we can still see those elements in a nonfiction AP.
Where the artforms differ is nonfiction AP never shifts its focus from the player to the character. Instead, we emphasize the conversation over the story. The story being developed is fodder for the conversation, and how the narrative impacts the conversation itself. The banter and the table talk become the throughline driving the show, rather than the fictional world.
We care more about why players make narrative decisions than the narrative decisions themselves. This comes in the form of discussing influences, storyboarding decisions on the fly, pitching ideas, and building something closer to a writer’s room experience.
Play becomes less defined by big performance than creative conversation. The goal is less about exploring a fictional world than getting to know the people behind it.
These are subtle changes, but when taken to their logical conclusions, can create something vastly different than a great deal of AP out there right now.
And I think that fucking rules.
Where Do We Go From Here?
There is more to discuss on this topic. There are sub-forms that emerge when we start to examine possible APs under this umbrella (pedagogical, conversational, competitive, etc.) There are thoughts about what we might gain from this viewpoint. There are thoughts about what we lose from this viewpoint. And there are thoughts on how we can use this viewpoint to inform how we approach fiction-first AP, and vice versa.
But I think those are topics for future newsletters.
Necessary disclaimer: I am both the audio fiction organizer for Minnesota Web Fest, as well as heavily involved with the Audio Fiction World Cup. The call here is coming from inside the house. I am not a random or casual observer; I’ve been in the room, doing the work for many years.
What’s New On Party of One
The Ultimate Fantasy Character Creator with Jeff Stormer (Feat. Riley Hopkins)
You'll dig this episode if you like: Billy Joel, Star Wars, the existential question of "what is in my character's pockets"
You'll dig this episode if you like: TRAINS, train stations, the various small-town weirdos who you'll find there, the feeling of watching the last train of the night pull into the station
Demonic Deals with Morgan Eilish
You'll dig this episode if you like: Faustian bargains, corporate demons, watching someone play a dangerous game with their very soul
Clever Girl with Christian (AFluffyGoomba)
You'll dig this episode if you like: JURASSIC PARK, listening to a desperate scientist square off against a rogue raptor in a failing dinosaur-filled theme park
What Else Is New
We launched our first-ever listener survey, complete with a chance to win my new book, The Ultimate Fantasy Character Creator!
Speaking of, I wrote a book! If you haven’t checked it out, I’m pretty proud of it.
All My Fantasy Children celebrated 200 episodes with one of our best (and most personal) stories ever.
Something I Liked, That You Might Too
Hundreds of Beavers
It’s hard to even know what to write here. But if you like Buster Keaton movies, Let’s Plays, Looney Tunes, surreal humor and even more surreal horror, and the vibe of hanging with your friends in the woods making goofs, you might love this movie.