The roleplaying game really should not be about YOU. They should be about the world and the events going on in that world. After all, you are always in a party unless you play solo. As Lowell commented in the Ars Magica breakdown, there is a lot to be said for building up the party. The Ars Magica rules for that are pretty cool. So if the game is about you, then why are all of you cooperating together.
If you are in a party, it is because there is some kind of goal higher than you. You are just a cog in the wheel. And while it is great to flesh out your character and really invest in them, ultimately the story is not about you.
Lord of the Rings is not about Frodo. It really isn't. It is about a fantastical world with amazing inhabitants. That's why people love the Lord of the Rings. Just as the Hobbit is not really about Bilbo. They love the world of the Misty Mountains, Smaug, and so on.
All this is not to diminish the role of the player. They are integral. But they are exploring a much larger world than themselves. And I think if RPG design is ever going to deliver the feel of that fantastical world, we have got to design products with the intent to deliver it.
Designing games that are not build-fests is a good start, but I think we also have to incorporate this into setting design. I am working on some ideas about how to present the world in an RPG supplement. Not just presenting a dungeon with some monsters stats. Not just an expansive country described in three paragraphs, with a special extra paragraph about the capital city. Devil's Fork is going to be the demo of these new ideas.
I have written about environmental art before. I think we have a real shortage of it in the industry. And that is one area where I am going to be focusing. For example, the art piece below is quite evocative.
But I am going to be going beyond just art. Stay tuned.
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