Archive for the ‘Caught My Attention’ Category

A bit ago, Daniel Solis posted this image on his blog, about an observation on RPG design from intent to play, which Luke Crane titled the Starvo Principle (after the guy who came up with this, John Stavropoulos):

I’m having a complex reaction to John Stavropoulos’ model, because I agree with the base ideas, but see it differently.

User Interface, not Tools

What John calls tools I see as the user interface, the things that the players directly contact with. But it’s not just character sheets, dice, etc. It’s also the text, post-layout. Not only because pages can be printed out in order to to be ad hoc cheat sheets, but also because layout is the tool by which a book cements certain key ideas into the minds of readers.

Which is to say that if rules are the (or an) implementation of intent, and text is the implementation of rules, then user interface is the implementation of text. Although that’s someone strange, because much of user interface is developed in concert with rules, and text is a product of merging the two.

Intent and Play Culture

Here’s where I have a really weird reaction. Intent is treated as a separate thing, and to me, intent is all over that chart, like jam on toast. What I would put in its place is play culture, or reaction to play culture. And our interface axioms start from there.

I’ve been big about discussing play culture over the years. The indie scene in its early days (and sometimes still today) was pretty bad at creating books that required an understanding of the designer’s play culture in order to successfully execute. Or, as my good friend Paul Tevis said about one indie game[1] back in 2007, “The game isn’t in the book. It’s an oral tradition that happens to also have a book.”

Minimalism makes the assumption that the reader either is in or understands the play culture intended by the designer. That understanding is a context channel. It’s easy to unintentionally be deficient in explaining how your game works beyond it’s mechanics if you’re not used to explaining your play culture.

However, when your game is the result of your reactions to a play culture — usually when there’s something you really don’t like or doesn’t work for you in a certain mode — it becomes prudent to go beyond minimalism and explain said play culture. Which, to go back to John’s model, carry your intent all the way through the rules, text, and tools. I’ve had this experience working on Mythender, because the way the GM is suppose to act is a reaction to what people have called “epic” games in my play experience.

This is why I see intent not as the bottom rung but as a separate input to rules & text. Intent as expressed by mechanics & rules isn’t the same as intent as expressed by advice, which is in the realm of text. Which leads us to…

A Place for Advice

There is no clear place where advice or best practices hooks it. It doesn’t really hook directly into text, because it’s parallel to rules. It’s developed along the same time as rules, even if not yet clearly explained until a first draft[2] is written. Some instances of advice live in the intent/play culture layer, yes, but not all of it. And because of the language used in the chart, rules are prioritized far over the idea of advice & best practices.

Unless you consider advice to be “rules” along with mechanics. Then cool. But many people don’t see that definition of rules. (I do, but I tend to have to explain such things assuming that a good portion of my audience doesn’t, thus this entire section.)

To phrase another way: the when & why of rules is as important to the interface as the how.

John Is In No Way Wrong

It may sound like I’m criticizing John, but that isn’t my intent (hah). John has gotten me to think about my own model, and in blogging about it, made some of those thoughts concrete. I invite you to do the same — I know some folks have around the internet.

John Stavropoulos is one of the sharpest guys I have ever had the pleasure of chatting and dining with. He could write papers on RPG scholarship, GM practices, group dynamics, all sorts of things. he’s achieved something pretty cool here (which Daniel has then turned into something somewhat larger, by applying a visual tool to John’s text[3]).

So, what has it made you think about?

- Ryan

[1] Remember, I never talk about a product publicly unless I think there’s some merit to it, however flawed.

[2] Tomorrow’s blog post (which was actually written before this one was).

[3] Which is a great illustration of the top tiers of John’s model.

There’s been some great blogging happening recently, so I thought I would share some with y’all.

The Game Mechanic

My friend Jesse Coombs (@TheGameMechanic) has started a really cool tumblr: gamemechanicoftheday.tumblr.com. Jesse takes a game mechanic from a board game, card game, RPG, video games, whatever he’s been playing, and talks about it. He’s talked about how in Jason Morningstar’s Downing & Falling, putting items found on a post-it note rather than on a character sheet promotes an interesting dynamic; the social effects of taunt mechanics in Street Fighter; the value of “defenders win ties” in Risk; etc.

Check it out. He’s got some really neat thoughts to share.

Joe McDaldno on Kickstarter Best Practices

Joe McDaldno recently completed his crowdfunding campaign for Monsterhearts, and has been on both sides of crowdfunding endeavors. He shares some thoughts on best practices when you engage in crowdfunding, not just for creators but also for consumers. If you’re looking to engage in crowdfunding, or have before, check it out & share your thoughts.

Quinn Murphy’s New Project: Thoughtcrime

Quinn Murphy’s putting his game passion back to work on a project/blog called Thoughtcrime. It’s a new project, and he’s doing it with Ryven Cedrylle and David Welsh. If you recall how passionate he was doing At-Will, you know to expect great things from Thoughtcrime. It’s pretty new, so rather than point out individual articles, I invite you to browse what’s there.

Rob Donoghue’s Back to Blogging

One of the brightest minds in the RPG blogosphere, Rob Donoghue, has started up again. He talks about looking at the d6 in Cortex Plus as normal, two lessons we can learn from Bulldogs!, and I expect more great stuff from him.

That’s it for now. If there’s something you think should be on my radar, let me know!

- Ryan

There is a toxic side to the RPG world, as there is with all such worlds where money changes hands. Some publishers lie through their teeth, break their own terms, withhold payment, and use freelancers as scapegoats. It can get ugly, and right now I’m in the middle of that ugliness.

But if I’m not careful, I could let that make me bitter and hateful at the whole RPG world, and then walk away from making cool stuff with cool people. So instead I’m going to take a moment to congratulate the folks who worked on the Marvel RPG on their launch. A bunch of my friends have worked hard to make this game happen, and I’m proud of them. Rock on, gang!

- Ryan

(The real message here is that if we don’t make effort to celebrate the successes of others when we’re being kicked down, we risk becoming horrible people. And that you should check out Marvel.)

It’s time for another installment of Folks I Admire! Today, I talk about the dynamic duo of Bully Pulpit Games, Jason Morningstar and Steve Segedy. They’re the minds & talent behind games like The Shab-al-Hiri Roach, Grey Ranks, and of course Fiasco.

But I want to set aside their games for a moment, because they really do speak for themselves. It’s the two behind them that are worthy of praise.

Jason is a kind and generous guy. One of my first interactions in indieland was talking on my LiveJournal (yeah, back then) about getting to finally play The Roach. Jason responded with a comment that made me feel like he was excited to hear about folks playing the game. It’s that interaction, where Google Alerts is used or whatever to see people talking about your game, and coming in to say “thanks”, that I still think about to this day. He’s been kind even when people he’s dealt with online have been assholes to him and his work.

Jason is the high water mark for being magnanimous.

Steve is much like Jason, generous and awesome. He’s taking up the mantle of Games on Demand this year for Gen Con, and naturally as a skilled editor I find in him a kindred spirit. When you talk with him, you feel like you’re important, that he thinks you’re worth the time for conversation. He’s engaging and friendly. And you way away from a conversation feeling somehow more awesome than you did before, either because of just pure niceness or because he dropped a bomb of wisdom in your mind.

Ka-boom.

I guess I’m using many words to say “They’re two of the most decent, generous folks you’ll meet.” So…they’re two of the most decent, generous folks you’ll meet. Seriously.

And as craftsmen of games, I seriously admire the work they put into development. I got a peek at their process when I gave them some notes on Durance, and I’ve had post-play test conversations with them about Fiasco and Nine Roosevelts Against the Impossible. The questions they ask, the way they mine feedback, and how they process it is one of the most mature processes I’ve seen to date, and I’m including all I’ve been involved with.

Steve & Jason are wonderful people, they make great games and they’re serious about the work.

I raise a glass to you two fine gentlemen.

- Ryan

The totally kick-ass Elizabeth Sampat has a new project that I’m (a) totally excited about and (b) totally not involve in! :) She’s making a game called THEY BECAME FLESH[1], which is about the fall of a third of the Host and their exile to the mortal realm. I was privvy to an early rules draft, and was really intrigued by what I saw.

Check out the Kickstarter video:

If this sort of thing sounds up your alley, a PDF is as low as $5. $12 for a print as well, and from there.

Rock on, Elizabeth. You may have just made the angel game I’ve been waiting years for. Here are some highlights, for those just tuning in:

• Play during the game, and the decisions you make, will drive your fallen angel toward an endgame, much like in Polaris, or if you’re not familiar with that like Fiasco’s aftermath (though, it doesn’t feel like Fiasco at all, just there’s an endgame you’re going toward).
• There are two GMs, one playing God/the forces of Heaven/cosmos/etc. and one playing Humanity/people who need & want stuff & have feelings and junk. (And may or may not be as emo as I just suggested, your play will vary.)
• It has the same sort of vibe as, say, My Life With Master, where the things that you are…well, not so much “good at” but “are inclined to do” is based on descriptive phrases. Each one is tied to their connection to God, to Humanity, and to their Fallen brethren. What sort of connection you use is important, because that informs your direction. It’s, of course, the job of the GMs to challenge that.
• It uses far fewer dice than Mythender. :)

So, yeah, I’m all over it.

- Ryan

[1] Yup, all caps. Like God is saying it, in the way that God is depicted as speaking in media. If I were a thoroughly heretical person, I would recommend that someone tell God where his caps lock key is. (Pro tip: I totally am that person. :)