Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5228320" data-attributes="member: 42582">I agree fully with the last sentence. I agree with the spirit of the first sentence, but you could replace "task resolution" with "conflict resolution" and still have a true sentence.So yes, a short game has to be pretty focused. But it could use conflict rather than task resolution - perhaps even to advantage, as a generic conflict resolution mechanic is perhaps more likely to be applicable over a wide range of challenges, whereas task resolution systems have a habit of spawning page-consuming subsytems that are specific to each type of challenge.Sure. Ariosto has given a few (EDIT: really, a lot of) suggestions. And from the games I'm familiar with, I'd be starting with either (i) HeroQuest and/or Maelstrom and setting a list of descriptors that will give you the fantasy flavour you want, (ii) a stripped-back version of Runequest, HARP and/or Rolemaster, or (iii) a stripped-back version of Basic D&D, OD&D and/or T&T.Option (i) will give you a "modern"/indie-sort of game, that uses conflict resolution and features PCs grounded in a flavourful word via there descriptors.Option (ii) will give you a gritty game, perhaps defaulting a bit more to low magic, with PCs grounded in a flavourful world via their skill and spell lists that feed into the task resolution system. Weapon, spell, armour and skill lists will have to be kept pretty concise if you're to keep to your page limit. Both RQ and RM give good models for short but punchy monster stat blocks.Both (i) and (ii) will mean that the design of the PCs dictates a fair bit of the direction of play, at least initially, because PCs come into play with a lot of pre-existing baggage. They're therefore likely, I think (although obviously not guaranteed) to default to serious, even earnest, play.Option (iii) will give you a bit more of a wahoo-game, I think (even if the death rates for low level PCs are high), in part because the PCs are quicker to create and bring less baggage with them at the start. In a game like (iii), the early sessions of play will have a bigger influence on setting the tone for the PCs, and for the game as a whole.</blockquote>

Verification