How about some #RPGtheory?
I think by far the hardest thing for RPG gamers is being able to look at a game's mechanics and procedures and perceive if they're inspired and good.
I think by far the hardest thing for RPG gamers is being able to look at a game's mechanics and procedures and perceive if they're inspired and good.
Mostly we fall back on trying to perceive if they're functional. We compare them to other games we've played, and try to make a decent guess about if they're functional.
And because functional procedures aren't something to get excited about, we pin our excitement on other factors, like style, worldbuilding, cleverness, and production quality.
To actually perceive if unfamiliar RPG mechanics are inspired you need to have a specifically attuned theory of mind, informed by an insightful understanding of human motivation, and how people collaborate and communicate and enjoy interacting, in verbal and...
... non-verbal ways, and you need to mentally crunch that together with your reading of the game's mechanics.
Then maybe you get a glimpse that a designer could be doing something inspired. And your excitement is driven by wanting to find out for sure.
