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General Tabletop Discussion
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RPG Writing and Design Needs a Paradigm Shift
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<blockquote data-quote="Anon Adderlan" data-source="post: 9275907" data-attributes="member: 53053"><p>But there already <em>was</em> a paradigm shift in this design space. It's called #MagicTheGathering. And I think it's as close to peak human design as we can get.</p><p></p><p>Beyond that, I go by a catchy set of design guidelines I call the Three Eyes: Index, Instruct, Inspire. A system needs to show the player <em>where</em> to find the information, <em>how</em> the mechanics work, and <em>what</em> can be done with it. And <em>everything</em> you add to the game should be doing all three to some degree. But here's the key: You need to account for the medium, as a website is not a book is not a card. Hell even a touch/mobile website isn't the same as a mouse/desktop one, and <em>you can't design for both</em> without serious usability compromises.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Invested effort doesn't equal consumer value despite how much the producers may <em>feel</em> it does, and they need to get past that if they expect to actually market their work.</p><p></p><p></p><p>#Wildsea</p><p></p><p></p><p>Far more RPGs are bought to be read rather than played however, and the reason 300+ page tomes are still a thing is because dividing them into several smaller works would be far less profitable. Much of what we're seeing is simply due to market forces.</p><p></p><p></p><p>A system can neither prevent unskilled players from performing poorly nor disruptive players from being disruptive. So if your game is about slaying a dragon and requires tactical thinking to achieve that end, then there's nothing you can do to prevent any player who is bad at tactical thinking from doing poorly, or taking actions which interfere with that objective from being disruptive, <em>without entirely changing what the game is about</em>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Anon Adderlan, post: 9275907, member: 53053"] But there already [I]was[/I] a paradigm shift in this design space. It's called #MagicTheGathering. And I think it's as close to peak human design as we can get. Beyond that, I go by a catchy set of design guidelines I call the Three Eyes: Index, Instruct, Inspire. A system needs to show the player [I]where[/I] to find the information, [I]how[/I] the mechanics work, and [I]what[/I] can be done with it. And [I]everything[/I] you add to the game should be doing all three to some degree. But here's the key: You need to account for the medium, as a website is not a book is not a card. Hell even a touch/mobile website isn't the same as a mouse/desktop one, and [I]you can't design for both[/I] without serious usability compromises. Invested effort doesn't equal consumer value despite how much the producers may [I]feel[/I] it does, and they need to get past that if they expect to actually market their work. #Wildsea Far more RPGs are bought to be read rather than played however, and the reason 300+ page tomes are still a thing is because dividing them into several smaller works would be far less profitable. Much of what we're seeing is simply due to market forces. A system can neither prevent unskilled players from performing poorly nor disruptive players from being disruptive. So if your game is about slaying a dragon and requires tactical thinking to achieve that end, then there's nothing you can do to prevent any player who is bad at tactical thinking from doing poorly, or taking actions which interfere with that objective from being disruptive, [I]without entirely changing what the game is about[/I]. [/QUOTE]
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