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I prefer A5-sized books, but digest is fine if the alternative is a traditionally larger size. In terms of page count, I want something succinct and easy to read and use. I don’t want totally dry text. While OSE is easy to ingest, it’s a pretty bland read. In terms of organization, I’d like to...

@pemerton appears to be denying the claim it’s inimical to immersion. I may be wrong, but you both seem to agree.

I’m not following because the other designs don’t do what I want. If I were willing to use those systems, it’d save me a lot of work. I got by for years tinkering with and modifying other games, but I ended up in a situation where I had the opportunity to make something that does do what I want...

By “establish situation”, I refer to situational authority. When the players say they are going into the dungeon, it’s the GM’s job to describe what they see. When they go into a bar looking for a contact, it’s the GM’s job to describe who is there and how the contact behaves as they approach...

I’m not sure whether or not you’re saying my system wouldn’t be to your taste, which is fine if not, but one thing I do want to clarify is that I am trying to systematize as much of the resolution process as possible. I say as much as possible and not fully because the GM does need the ability...

The Elusive Shift touches on this. Early versions of D&D used transcripts structured as dialogues as a teaching tool, which Peterson suggests comes from Korns’s Modern War in Miniature. This is how Peterson describes play in that game. The core idea of the referee reached D&D through other...

I’ve been running (or attempting to run) hexcrawls for years. I can’t recall whether I read that back then when I got started or here later, but it looks familiar. Regardless, I don’t agree that those are the only remedies to the Quantum Ogre problem, which is something I discovered while...

“As far as I'm concerned, the purpose of X …” and “(I think) X should be …” seem to be saying the same thing to me. Baker’s phrasing is provocative, but I don’t think it’s hard to discern his meaning (so not esoteric). I also want to note that he’s drawing a contrast with live negotiation and...

I think it makes sense for the kind of conflict Baker was incorporating in the games he was developing at the time, but it’s possible his thinking has evolved. He posted an article a couple of days ago about conflict and task resolution that went on to discuss other types of resolution (that are...

I’m having trouble following the logic in this discussion. The quote @pemerton posted was Baker’s saying why he thinks RPGs have rules — that as far as he was concerned, they served this particular function relating to the unwelcome and unwanted. Maybe he’s right, or maybe he’s not, or maybe...

I’ve played Blades and had writers’ room occur in my game. The experiences were very different. There’s a difference between the GM’s asking for input on a Devil’s Bargain or some kind of consequence. The GM still has a say over what happens and how it manifests. When I had writers’ room happen...

I a list of several games in the other thread: post #4; but I only voted regarding WWN here. The poll is missing options, which I’ll elaborate below. I’m also going to cover my criticisms of my homebrew system after that. If you don’t care, I’ll provide a link to jump to the next post. 5e...

A non-iterated design would have to get everything right up front without any kind of feedback loop (from testing or otherwise). I think it’s so unlikely that such an approach will produce a functional game that it can be assumed as impossible. Building anything non-trivial requires a feedback...

I voted “very satisfied”. While the frequency of our games would have me vote only “satisfied”, that doesn’t appear to be in the intended scope of the poll, so I disregarded it. I have a few quibbles (e.g., players lapsing into bad habits or making baffling decisions), but overall everyone is...

Monsterhearts isn’t unconstrained though. The conversation is supposed work like it does in Apocalypse World. I can see how a move like Run Away could be mishandled, but that’s on the MC. I think Ron Edwards is making good points about authority and constraints, but he needs to use actual...

Is that 1e? I only have 2e, and my search isn’t turning up anything.

I elaborate a bit more in post #69. Yes, silly (or out of tone) replies can be regulated through the social contract: we agreed to play a game with X tone, and the GM is screwing that up by being (too, not enough, etc) silly. It’s well-meaning but inappropriate responses that are the problem. I...

It needs to be read in context, which was as a response to a dichotomy being presented between designed and is art. There isn’t. A game is designed, and it is art. When played, a game may evoke certain emotions in the players or prompt them to examine certain ideas they have. How to do that and...

My discussion of games-as-art is about the actual games themselves (as artifacts). How they are consumed would be a separate discussion.

I voted somewhat satisfied with my homebrew system. Yes, that probably sounds weird. There’s more work to do, and there are things that need revision. If I were satisfied, then I’d be done working on it. I’m unlikely ever to vote “very satisfied” because I have a tendency to hold myself to...