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Spells can definitely pose a challenge depending on how they are done in a system, especially if spells operate under essentially their own rules. I try to keep that from happening in my homebrew system by tying spell usage to a check. In general, if a spell would allow you to do something in...

This seems more of an issue with games that encourage heavily specialization because the characters are expected to face challenges their specialities can overcome. If I make a bard that can talk an unstoppable force into taking a breather, I probably want to do that on occasion. Otherwise...

@pemerton had the right of it. I’d moved some stuff to the top of the list without adjusting references, which created a couple of off-by-2 errors. One of the reasons why I post =682741&c[users]=kenada&o=date']recaps in the 5-words commentary thread is to provide actual play examples of how the...

Nice catch, thanks. I had added some items to the list but failed to adjust references when the numbers changed. It’s fixed now.

I happened to catch this right before bed, but I wanted to post something before the thread got moving too quickly. These are (roughly) principles I have for designing my homebrew system. If I missed something, that wasn’t intentional. I preemptively blame its being late. The list is numbered...

As I noted in post #400, I’ve been using MDA and DDE interchangeably because DDE positions itself as a reformulation of MDA, but there are things DDE includes beyond what MDA does. As I indicated in post #266, I like DDE more than MDA as far as these frameworks go. I’ve been trying to signal...

MOBAs (League of Legends, Dota 2; originating in the DotA AllStars mod for Warcraft III) as well as class- and team-based shooters (Overwatch, Team Fortress 2; originating in mods like Team Fortress for Quake) too. Even RPGs started out as something akin to a “mod” for another game (Wesley’s...

While video games don’t allow the creation of mechanics on the fly, that doesn’t mean that the resulting dynamics are narrow. Consider Final Fantasy XIV’s nightclub culture. The game’s programming does not have mechanics for setting up clubs per se, but it does support certain dynamics (such as...

It’s still available via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20191119031642/http://story-games.com/forums/discussion/20273/the-big-model-rip.

I’ve been using them interchangeably because DDE positions itself as a reformulation of MDA, but it’s an explicit goal of DDE to incorporate those missing elements. It claims to be equivalent, but that’s really only true for gameplay. The question is whether it’s possible to apply such a...

Even in a system that allows the GM to decide a situation in whatever way, the decision is still about that situation. That is suggestive of certain dynamics. How the audience feels about that is the area of experiences not dynamics. The point of a framework like MDA and DDE is to organize your...

The paper is proposing a framework, so that’s not surprising. It’s outside the scope of what it’s proposing to go heavy into application. I’ve said a few times I think there is tabletop RPG theory that can be reconciled with it. For something like mixing static and emergent narratives, I think...

I’ve mostly checked out of this discussion, but it seemed like there was a misunderstanding of what Walk was trying to say in @AbdulAlhazred’s response, so I added some clarifying content. That’s part of the section from which I quoted, but I didn’t want to cite the whole thing. It didn’t seem...

There’s a discussion in DDE paper towards the end that’s worth reading. It’s similar to the discussion of “games as story machines”. The “antagonist” are the dynamics that emerge to oppose what DDE calls the “player-subject”. As the paper describes it, narrative emerges from the unique journey...

Manifestos tend to be prescriptive. If it’s not, then what’s provocative about it? The formalism is important. By adopting a specific way of approaching your process, you reap certain benefits. When I say I prefer reasoning about dynamics, I’m making reference to that formalism and finding it...

The other part is if someone doesn’t foreground consequences, then the one who wants something gets it. It originally had two purposes: removing discretion over when a check can occur, and avoiding incongruous results that can happen when the referee has to come up with consequences on the...

I hadn’t seen that before. Thanks for the link. It’s interesting to think about in the context of the opposition skill check issue in my homebrew system I discussed in post #309. If you want certain consequences to be possible, you have to foreground them. Otherwise, it is bad play to try to do...

Skill checks are roll versus a target number. It’s static + factors. Combat works on the same basic math, but the target number is the target’s Armor defense (= Proficiency + Block / Dodge / Parry). The key difference so far is both sides take swings while PCs make skill checks. This change...

Speaking of separation. My homebrew system mostly uses player rolls. I don’t do that in combat, and there’s an open question of how to handle non-combat “attacks” (for lack of a better way to put it). A game like Blades in the Dark makes this part of the scene framing. The GM makes a move, and...

Separating roles has some historical base. I linked one such example in post #191. In practice, it seems that maintaining a split is pretty difficult. That kind of play is not (and presumably was not) typical. I don’t think what you’re suggesting and what I’d like to see are incompatible. It...