This is the second in a series of articles. In the first I talked about designer intent, and mechanical procedures. As discussed in the previous article, designer intent is important but only so far as it is successfully communicated and/or implemented through the game text. We’ve talked about how the procedures of play can shape […]
Category: Theory
How does system matter? (part 1: designer intent, and mechanical procedures)
There seems to be a mini-rash of “system matters” discussion happening at the moment. I’ve often found these discussions get lost in differing definitions – you can’t agree whether system matters if you don’t agree what system is. More importantly, different aspects of system matter in entirely different ways. So rather than debate whether it […]
Push and pull mechanics
A popular mechanic which crops up in a lot of excellent games is Conditions. A Condition is a problem that’s affecting your character, like “broken leg”, “on fire” or “suspected traitor”. The idea is that the GM will hit you with trouble when your Condition would be relevant, or penalise you when it would get […]
How I run investigation games (part 2: in-session)
Last time I wrote about how I prep investigation games. I’ll talk a bit more about that here, but I also want to move on to talk about what I do during sessions. My aim in running an investigative game is twofold: Make the players feel smart Make the investigation challenging Those two aims seem […]
Breaking down hard moves
Apocalypse World introduced the concept of Hard Moves, i.e. the individual interventions the GM makes in response to players’ actions and rolls. Subsequent PBTA games have tended to distinguish between “hard” and “soft” moves. But they vary wildly in how much time they put into explaining the distinction. Here I’m going to talk about the […]
How I run investigation games (part 1: prep)
A really juicy mystery, with the cool feeling of piecing together clues and coming to the correct conclusion, is one of my favourite things in roleplaying. It’s also something that I feel isn’t well delivered by existing RPG systems. Here I’m going to talk about my approach to building a mystery and enabling real investigation. […]
Is it ok to fudge rolls?
I was bodding about on Twitter recently and I came across this: Three opinions I always get yelled at about on the internet: 1. D&D is not perfect.2. The GM rolling dice and ignoring the results is a violation of the social contract of RPGs3. Marginalized people deserve to see themselves represented in games. Every […]
Indie games aren’t all about narrative
I hear a lot of people saying that indie games are more focused on narrative or story. This is said in implicit (or explicit) contrast with traditional games, which are more… I don’t know… gamey? It often flows from the said people having read and (IMO) misunderstood GNS theory. So here’s the thing: it isn’t […]
How to be a great RPG player
I’d like to talk a bit about how players can contribute to making a roleplaying game as much fun as possible for everyone. The headline is: Don’t expect your GM to make all the effort, or to make the game fun for you. Roleplaying isn’t like going to a movie – your contributions are as […]
PBTA – Moves overload
Part of the job of a game designer is to consider the level of cognitive burden and handling time required to run a game, and pitch that at a level which works for the intended audience. I have been noticing recently how that counts in spades for PBTA. The player-facing side of most PBTA games […]