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Message: <blockquote data-quote="practicalm" data-source="post: 7922670" data-attributes="member: 6777923">I haven't been able to make comments on this thread until now, but I see the point here is the same that video game designers have been trying to make, a language to discuss games.  This was very big after game designers looked at Christopher Alexanders "A Pattern Language" (1977) and there were some big attempts to build a language where video games would get the same treatment as architecture.One project is <a href="https://blinks.github.io/pattern/" target="_blank">A Pattern Language for Game Design</a>The idea that Tabletop roleplaying would have a similar pattern language is valid.  There are enough similarities in RPGs that would allow for a pattern language to be created. The key is the abstraction level.  Just as "A Pattern Language" discusses architecture from planning a building to planning a city, any pattern language for RPGs would also have multiple levels of abstraction and games would be similar at the high level but bifurcate as more detail or lower abstraction was discussed.  A campaign has a trajectory of behavior from campaign creation, to player creation, to player group formation, to first adventure, through to the nth adventure.  Some campaigns end and have a narrative path and others keep going with multiple narrative paths.A game session has trajectory of behavior as well, players arriving, recap, continuation of the adventure, back and forth between players and/or GM, to end of session. Players and GM make things happen, players and GM respond, record keeping happens, and characters live or die depending on the what the players and GM do.There is a pattern language for RPGs and each game will only use some part of that language. Creating it would be a good book.</blockquote>

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