We've talked about that in terms of mechanics, but in terms of themes and character, it's very much worth repeating, yes! I think a big theme for all of Alternity was appearance vs. reality (which also goes to Deb's original observation), or more on a more granular level: What characters say vs. what they do.
Another thing that strikes me is how nearly every character had fears that they expressed, either blatantly or by trying really hard not to let them show, that were eventually made manifest in the game.
Harry's inactivity is a really special case, though. I think we struggled - and EVERY player who handled Harry struggled - with how to make him an active protagonist without also simply breaking the game. In canon, Harry simply makes up his mind to do things and does them. If Harry had done what he wanted to do, what his impulse told him to do - in Y3 or Y4 or even Y5 and 6, we would have skipped to the end really darn quickly. (I'm reminded of the t-shirt that says, "Neville would have done it in four books" - to a very real extent, that was our problem with Harry in the context of these journals and this structured sort of play. Even after Harry has a forum for his grievances (which, jeez, was way too freaking late, in game terms!), we constantly butted up against the problem of holding him back so that the game would not jump its grooves. As a result, I think Harry wound up spending a lot of time sidelined, and limiting his interaction to characters who didn't really help him become more heroic.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-09-16 06:01 pm (UTC)Another thing that strikes me is how nearly every character had fears that they expressed, either blatantly or by trying really hard not to let them show, that were eventually made manifest in the game.
Harry's inactivity is a really special case, though. I think we struggled - and EVERY player who handled Harry struggled - with how to make him an active protagonist without also simply breaking the game. In canon, Harry simply makes up his mind to do things and does them. If Harry had done what he wanted to do, what his impulse told him to do - in Y3 or Y4 or even Y5 and 6, we would have skipped to the end really darn quickly. (I'm reminded of the t-shirt that says, "Neville would have done it in four books" - to a very real extent, that was our problem with Harry in the context of these journals and this structured sort of play. Even after Harry has a forum for his grievances (which, jeez, was way too freaking late, in game terms!), we constantly butted up against the problem of holding him back so that the game would not jump its grooves. As a result, I think Harry wound up spending a lot of time sidelined, and limiting his interaction to characters who didn't really help him become more heroic.