Really RPGs: using Really Rosie to think about RPGs

Monday, someone in my house was singing “Alligators All Around”. Originally, that was a book by Maurice Sendak, and in 1975 (according to Wikipedia), alongside other Sendak books, it was turned into the animated special Really Rosie. So we watched Really Rosie, just because. Tuesday, I had a bunch of the Really Rosie songs stuck in my head, and I’ve been humming them all week. And as I hummed them (and sang them), I started to recognize some of the things the songs are teaching me about RPGs. 

So I thought I’d talk about the lessons I learned from them and how I might apply them to my games. I’m not going to go in any sort of order, and I’m going to skip songs because a bunch of the ones on the soundtrack weren’t in the tv special and I wasn’t sure what other songs were teaching me. I’m also going to link YouTube videos of the songs where I can, in case you haven’t heard them, and if you want the whole special, it’s on the Internet Archive for free. 

The first song I recognized a lesson in was “The Enchanted One”, which is apparently officially named “Screaming and Yelling”. In this song, Rosie sings about herself, describing herself as the Enchanted One, who calms everyone down and makes the worlds they play in. To me, she’s really describing the role of the GM in an RPG. The GM does two important things in a lot of RPGs — dispute management and adventure/world creation. Of course, this isn’t in every RPG, and the GM often does other things besides that. But what Rosie’s song makes me think about is that these things go together. When the GM’s job is to make a fun game for everyone, they’re going to need an engaging story, but at the same time that person is going to need to be able to help resolve conflicts so people keep wanting to play the game. 

Another song I thought about was “Alligators All Around”. It’s an alphabet song, but it uses alliteration and alligators to show what the alligator does for each letter. I think the lesson it’s trying to teach me is about looking at something through a different lens and not base something on a traditional version just because I can. How many other alphabet books/songs use alligators as the extended example? None that I know of! It’s different, but it’s still an alphabet song. I could apply this by trying to look at why I’m using any given mechanic or something in a game and considering whether I really think the “traditional” thing to do is the best for the situation. 

Another one I thought about was “One Was Johnny”. It’s a counting song, but it’s really more a story; Johnny lives by himself until one day more creatures show up in his house, and eventually he scares them off by threatening to eat them, until he’s back to being alone. The lesson I choose to take from it (besides that threats work) is that it’s okay to want to play or design a game by yourself, and it’s okay to carve out that space without feeling guilty. That’s sometimes something that I struggle with, so I’m going to try to remember that when someone thinks I should let them see what I’m doing. 

The moral of “Pierre” is spelled out in the song: care. In the context of RPGs, I think that probably means that you have to care about the choices you make. If you say “I don’t care” about a choice when designing or playing a game, it’s going to be unclear to everyone else what they should do. It’s important to make intentional choices, instead of not caring and letting other people decide what they want to do with your game, which may not be what you want to happen. 

“Really Rosie”, the title song, reminds me to be confident. Rosie wants to be a star, so she acts like one and believes she’s a big deal. Even though the other kids on her street aren’t so sure she’s a star, she still goes ahead and tries anyways. I think that’s a great thing to remember: be confident when you put something out there. And believe in yourself; you have great skills and they’re useful for something!

I hope this diatribe makes sense to someone else than me, and I definitely think people should check out the whole animated special (and the books too!). If you have thoughts on these songs and their lessons, or other ones, please let me know!