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General Tabletop Discussion
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How can you add more depth and complexity to skill checks?
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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8090990" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>That's just a way to rephrase "I want more complex checks."</p><p></p><p>This is like asking, "What would a more complex spaghetti and meatballs recipe look like?" Well, what problem are you trying to solve? Saying, "Well I want it to have more flavors," doesn't explain anything. You've got to be able to explain what's wrong and why you think your recipe needs improvement.</p><p></p><p>The question is: What <em>gameplay problem</em> are you trying to solve by changing the game? What is your design <em>goal</em>? How can you tell if your change is better if you don't know why you'd make the change? You can't really begin to make game design choices about potential solutions until you have stated the problem that you're trying to fix as clearly as you can.</p><p></p><p>For example, let's say you change every skill check to require a die roll and looking up the result on a table. No matter how simple the check, you have to make a die roll and reference a table. That's more complex. Can we stop designing there? Does that solve the problem? How do we know? Do we need to make skill checks like rolling for treasure hoards? Rolling twelve times on six different tables? Do we need to have a 300 page book just about skills and skill checks? Is that <em>too</em> complex? How do we know?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yeah, but you've already decided on the solution: make skill checks more complex. What we don't understand is <em>why</em> that's your solution. We want to know not just how you arrived as "increase complexity" as your solution, but what prompted you to improve the game in the first place.</p><p></p><p>What do you mean by "mechanical hook"? What does the game currently do? What does the game fail to do that you think it should do?</p><p></p><p>It feels like you're asking people to brainstorm designs that are more complex and then you'll evaluate them to see if you like them better. That's like making a better spaghetti and meatballs by asking everyone else to make a new recipe and then tasting every single one and then picking one.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8090990, member: 6777737"] That's just a way to rephrase "I want more complex checks." This is like asking, "What would a more complex spaghetti and meatballs recipe look like?" Well, what problem are you trying to solve? Saying, "Well I want it to have more flavors," doesn't explain anything. You've got to be able to explain what's wrong and why you think your recipe needs improvement. The question is: What [I]gameplay problem[/I] are you trying to solve by changing the game? What is your design [I]goal[/I]? How can you tell if your change is better if you don't know why you'd make the change? You can't really begin to make game design choices about potential solutions until you have stated the problem that you're trying to fix as clearly as you can. For example, let's say you change every skill check to require a die roll and looking up the result on a table. No matter how simple the check, you have to make a die roll and reference a table. That's more complex. Can we stop designing there? Does that solve the problem? How do we know? Do we need to make skill checks like rolling for treasure hoards? Rolling twelve times on six different tables? Do we need to have a 300 page book just about skills and skill checks? Is that [I]too[/I] complex? How do we know? Yeah, but you've already decided on the solution: make skill checks more complex. What we don't understand is [I]why[/I] that's your solution. We want to know not just how you arrived as "increase complexity" as your solution, but what prompted you to improve the game in the first place. What do you mean by "mechanical hook"? What does the game currently do? What does the game fail to do that you think it should do? It feels like you're asking people to brainstorm designs that are more complex and then you'll evaluate them to see if you like them better. That's like making a better spaghetti and meatballs by asking everyone else to make a new recipe and then tasting every single one and then picking one. [/QUOTE]
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How can you add more depth and complexity to skill checks?
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