Conflicts and ways to resolve them
Life in modern society is full of stress (see “How to relieve stress and cope with nervous tension”), and the most common cause of stress is conflicts in which you, voluntarily or unwittingly, become involved.
Finding themselves in a confrontation with someone, many asked themselves the question: how to resolve this conflict? However, more often you have to think about how to get out of a difficult situation and still maintain good relationships or continue further cooperation.
Psychologists are increasingly saying that conflict is a completely normal state of personality. That any person throughout his life is in conflict with other people, entire groups, or even with himself. And the ability to find mutual understanding with the conflicting party is perhaps the most important life skill that strengthens personal and professional relationships.
However, constantly being in a conflict situation can have a destructive effect on a person’s personality, because he may feel oppressed, lose confidence, and his self-esteem will decrease. Therefore, it is necessary to escalate the conflict for a final resolution.
But in order to correctly determine what is better: to avoid conflict or resolve it, it is important to know the methods and styles of conflict resolution.
Part 1. What is “good conflict”?
Players always have a rough idea of “what to do next,” because they always have the opportunity to look at their character from the outside and choose the most appropriate course of action for him, based on his characteristics and description. So, “good conflict” is the same thing, but for the game leader. In essence, a conflict is a plan, by looking at which you can trace different options for the development of the situation several steps ahead.
Conflict is your guide to “what happens next?”
Conflict provides unprecedented opportunities for improvisation, not only for the host, but also for the players. It allows you to come up with interesting situations and events, even those not directly related to the scenario of the main adventure, literally “on the fly.” If a conflict situation is the central event of the adventure, its proper planning will allow you to create a truly exciting scenario. Take your time, think everything through carefully in advance, and the time spent will more than pay for itself when the “conflict mechanism” is finally launched and the players find themselves caught up in the cycle of events.
What is any conflict?
Conflict is when two or more people cannot come to an agreement and are forced to take some action. The usual start of a conflict is that the parties cannot reach a compromise, due to the current situation or because of their reluctance. And most importantly, on their own, without outside intervention, the conflicting parties cannot come to a solution that would suit everyone.
Conflict is made of people! Of people!
Conflict is always an interaction between people; it does not exist “separately” from them. Always remember that a conflict situation is always created by the opposing goals of the characters and exists only at their whim. And one more thing - different people give rise to different conflicts, even over the same issue. Hence the simple conclusion - the “interestingness” of a conflict, its sophistication, is directly proportional to the “interestingness” of the people participating in it. The intrigues that two archmages weave against each other are strikingly different in depth and complexity from the conflict between two bakers. For this reason, when creating a conflict situation, make sure that the characters taking part in it are at least as interesting as the main characters of your game. Consider especially carefully the reason why the character was involved in the conflict.
The role of the player in the conflict
A very important decision is how to bring players up to date. Will players "by default" be on someone's side before the game even starts, or will that be a choice they can make once they've entered the game and familiarized themselves with the balance of power?
A lot will depend on the answer to this question - the first option is of course much simpler, the player, although slightly, is “limited” by the plot and then moves along the established path (this option is ideal for adventures in which the conflict needs to be resolved very specifically - in favor of one clear candidate).
The second option can be much more interesting and unpredictable - after all, it gives players complete freedom of action, but at the same time it is much more difficult to implement. Weigh everything carefully and, if possible, discuss both options with the players, and before the game itself.
Outcome options
There are different options for resolving conflict situations:
- leaving it when one of the parties does not notice or pretends not to notice the disagreements that have arisen;
- smoothing out contradictions when one of the subjects of the conflict either agrees with the claims made by the other party or justifies himself;
- compromise, when both parties make mutual concessions in order to resolve disagreements;
- an increase in tension when the onset of a conflict is particularly abrupt and turns into a serious confrontation that is not limited in time;
- suppression of a conflict by force, when one of the parties or both subjects is forced to accept a certain point of view.
Part 2. Creating Conflict
I usually start simple - outline the main details, and then fill in the details as I go. We will do the same here. First, let's create two or three characters involved in the conflict, figure out why there are contradictions between them, and what they are doing (or could do) to change the situation. For example, an idea that came to my mind:
Darum wants his daughter, Alena, to marry a local baron “for convenience,” thus sealing a political alliance. Alena, in turn, wants to secretly elope with her real lover. Darum is the head of the clan, he is still strong, but the years are not the same, and with this marriage, he hopes to provide a secure future for his people, with a new strong leader. Alena inherited from her father a strong, fiery character and, in addition, the resourcefulness that was so characteristic of him in his youth. So, between these two, a clear conflict is brewing...
If you have no inspiration and can’t come up with anything interesting, I will share with you one secret, consisting of 4 methods for twisting the plot. This is quite enough to get a reliable “platform” that will form the basis of our conflict.
Method #1: Balance of Power
The “balance of power” method consists of the following three situations, each of which, in different ways, leads to an inevitable crisis and, of course, conflict.
A) Anarchy
The person who held the power recently disappeared (killed, disappeared, expelled, resigned, fired, ill, went crazy, etc.) or, on the contrary, only recently appeared (found, born, etc.)
B) Power belongs to the unworthy
Whoever is in power either abuses it too much, is incompetent, does not want to do business, or is simply unable to fulfill his duties.
C) Someone wants power to which he has no right
This person will either abuse power or be incompetent or unable to perform his duties. Since this person, for some reason, cannot openly claim power, he will inevitably turn to some not entirely fair methods of play. For the example given above, the “struggle for power” method is quite suitable - the father decides who Alena will marry, and until the wedding has taken place and a new leader has not appeared (and the old one has already retired), anarchy essentially reigns in the clan.
Method #2: Groups in Conflict
Think of two or more groups that are in conflict, for whatever reason. For example:
- political groups (official authorities and rebels)
- religious groups (religions, heretics, cults)
- military groups (army, police, private guilds)
- ethnic groups (majority, minority)
- criminal groups (guilds, small gangs)
If two or more groups are in conflict, then the characters who are members of those groups are also in conflict. It is important to pay attention to which groups are now in power, which are in disgrace, and which have emerged or arrived from outside in order to also join the fight. Also come up with several characters who work for all participants in the conflict at once and “sent in Cossacks” who conduct sabotage activities from within the group.
Method #3: Insignificance
This is one of the easiest ways to create conflict. Nonentities cause problems not only in the real world, but without a doubt in any other world. Just create a character who is a “nobodies” and give him any kind of power.
More often than not, the “nonentity” is endowed with some form of power and for this reason, finds itself “out of reach” of ordinary means of retribution. This character may be the “ideological antagonist” of another character, or simply the last bastard “in life” (there are no difficulties in creating such images - just use the “developments” that Mother Nature herself helpfully provided us
