Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 9462153" data-attributes="member: 71699">Perhaps in that sense like acting in or being audience to a live performance of a play, which will not be edited during the performance. Where that performance is shaped by a script comprising dialogue and stage directions, TTRPG is shaped by a text comprising rules, cues, and descriptions. I mean "text" here in the broad sense of game-as-artifact that can be critically analyzed, so description may include illustrations etc. I'm not sure if the parameterization ought to be counted separately from cues, as the same set of cues can form substantially different instances depending on the tuning of their parameters. Above I used the term "signifiers" which I would revert to here for the meaning-carrying content of the text, which includes cues as a subset.I feel like playtesting and tuning could serve purposes for games analogous to editing for film or novel. So game texts of various sorts (beyond typical adventure paths) will still have benefited from those common best practices. An example is where I author a rule, play that rule with various groups, and then substantially revise or cut it... which seems analogous to making editorial choices over other media. A game text can also go through editing of the same sort as other media, such as when an "editor" is appointed to direct wording, layout and arrangement, with generally some say over content.</blockquote>