🚨RPG DISCOURSE ALERT🚨
This has always been the most obvious thing to me:
"TTRPGs are a conversation; how you get people into the conversation is design. How you describe a particular place, how you’ve drawn a particular character are as important as mechanical rules."
1/
This has always been the most obvious thing to me:
"TTRPGs are a conversation; how you get people into the conversation is design. How you describe a particular place, how you’ve drawn a particular character are as important as mechanical rules."
1/
"TTRPGs are a conversation", particularly-
It feels like a useless thing to point out; every instance of RPG play (that isn't solo play) is obviously "people, talking".
But I've come to realise that this simple observation underpins everything I want do, re: RPG design.
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It feels like a useless thing to point out; every instance of RPG play (that isn't solo play) is obviously "people, talking".
But I've come to realise that this simple observation underpins everything I want do, re: RPG design.
2/
The idea that everything said at the table-
"They've left a key on the table. Do you take it?"
"My character hates dwarves ..."
"Yes, but what *direction* do we flee in?"
Is play. Is the heart of the game, working. Not just when conversation triggers resolution mechanics.
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"They've left a key on the table. Do you take it?"
"My character hates dwarves ..."
"Yes, but what *direction* do we flee in?"
Is play. Is the heart of the game, working. Not just when conversation triggers resolution mechanics.
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The more I listen to RPG Design Discourse, the more I am conscious of its hierarchies:
Generally, RPG designers privilege mechanical matters:
Weighted / flat probability?
What dice to use?
How much of a bonus to give, to encourage this action?
What resolution mechanic?
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Generally, RPG designers privilege mechanical matters:
Weighted / flat probability?
What dice to use?
How much of a bonus to give, to encourage this action?
What resolution mechanic?
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This is what we think the designer's role *is*:
Graphic designer does layout;
Illustrator does the art;
Writer does the fluff;
etc.
Mechanics are the purview of the game designer.
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Graphic designer does layout;
Illustrator does the art;
Writer does the fluff;
etc.
Mechanics are the purview of the game designer.
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PS: the use of the word "fluff" intimates the hierarchy. "It's just fluff, what's the crunch?"
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Of course, discourse around this has gotten quite sophisticated- but it's still there. It is present when we say:
"How do we design mechanics to make social interaction meaningful?"
Ie: how do we make PCs talking to imaginary people crunchy? Otherwise it's just fluff.
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"How do we design mechanics to make social interaction meaningful?"
Ie: how do we make PCs talking to imaginary people crunchy? Otherwise it's just fluff.
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ANYWAY:
I *do* like thinking about mechanics. It's fun.
And they are great because they *do* help the conversation that is RPG play continue. Imagination is hard work; you want some abstracted handholds to lean on, for a breather.
But the crutch has become the whole tower.
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I *do* like thinking about mechanics. It's fun.
And they are great because they *do* help the conversation that is RPG play continue. Imagination is hard work; you want some abstracted handholds to lean on, for a breather.
But the crutch has become the whole tower.
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You see this when some designers try to course-correct. Vincent Baker coined the term "fruitful void", yeah?
How the *hell* did our shared imagination, the beating heart of RPG play, come to be known as a void???
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How the *hell* did our shared imagination, the beating heart of RPG play, come to be known as a void???
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(Ron Edwards coined "fruitful void" -sorry for the mistake!)
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To a hammer everything looks like a nail, yeah? That's how that truism goes?
RPG designers, because we think our role is to build the scaffold, have come to think of the scaffold as the whole building.
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RPG designers, because we think our role is to build the scaffold, have come to think of the scaffold as the whole building.
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And folks can build stuff in whatever way they like.
But! When RPG designers make claims about designing rule systems and mechanics to incentivise pro-social behaviour / stop colonial narratives / prevent racism / etc
I get antsy.
These things are too important to me.
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But! When RPG designers make claims about designing rule systems and mechanics to incentivise pro-social behaviour / stop colonial narratives / prevent racism / etc
I get antsy.
These things are too important to me.
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I'm not sure I'm explaining things well. Gonna try. Analogy time:
The temple is play. Rules are the scaffold. The gods of the temple are our ethics -the values inside us. We bring these to the table.
The scaffold does not carve the gods.
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The temple is play. Rules are the scaffold. The gods of the temple are our ethics -the values inside us. We bring these to the table.
The scaffold does not carve the gods.
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Sure, the scaffold may be necessary for us to physically reach the niches in the temple's face, where the gods are to be.
But *the scaffold does not carve the gods*.
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But *the scaffold does not carve the gods*.
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Our biases as game designers incline us to seek mechanical solutions to problems. That's fine.
But when it comes to stuff like ethics / changing colonial narratives / not perpetuating racism / etc -things with immense weight outside play ...
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But when it comes to stuff like ethics / changing colonial narratives / not perpetuating racism / etc -things with immense weight outside play ...
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I believe the focus on system solutions here is misplaced effort.
Rules systems are always abstractions. A rules system that penalises colonial behaviour or incentivises de-colonial behaviour abstracts this crushingly important subject into a ledger of bonuses and maluses.
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Rules systems are always abstractions. A rules system that penalises colonial behaviour or incentivises de-colonial behaviour abstracts this crushingly important subject into a ledger of bonuses and maluses.
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You care about subjects like colonialism?
Make a game system where it is possible for colonialism to come up in play;
Create stories, places and characters touched by colonialism;
Encourage a play culture where you can imagine those places and people with empathy.
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Make a game system where it is possible for colonialism to come up in play;
Create stories, places and characters touched by colonialism;
Encourage a play culture where you can imagine those places and people with empathy.
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PS: if you are wondering where the OP sentiment is from, Mun Kao and I talk about how it guides our work for #AThousandThousandIslands :
killscreen.com/mun-kao-and-ze…
killscreen.com/mun-kao-and-ze…
I am *vaguely* aware that this might be simpatico with / the emphasis of the FKR school of RPGs, but I dunno much about it - @surcapitaine FKR is your wheelhouse isn't it?
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