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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 7583441" data-attributes="member: 75787">So, as a statistician, a lot of my job is to handle complexity. One of the measures used for complexity is the number of parameters that affect the outcome. So if I am trying to predict an outcome Y using an input X using regression, then a quadratic model is one parameter more complex than a linear model. A cubic model is one step more complex again.It's not immediate how to map that to a roleplaying game, but I think (as has been proposed up-thread) that it makes sense to take resolution of actions as the primary activity in-game and so try and evaluate that complexity. There is a separate out-of-play complexity around character building and the like that would need a similar analysis.So, for me, when I am playing a one-shot with pre-defined characters, all I care about is the complexity of playing the game, not the complexity of prepping for the game. And since I usually spend more time playing than prepping, that's really what I'll focus on even for long-running campaigns.With the mathematical definition of complexity in mind, our base criterion is: How many parameters (powers, stats, number, existence of feats, etc.) do I need to consider when resolving an action?For the theoretical "coin-toss" game where every result is 50-50, the answer is zero. This game could be said to have zero complexity. For every actual game the answer is different based on what action is being done. So I think we need to at least have a rough idea of the distribution of types of action to say what the "average complexity" of an action resolution is.Mathematically, we might weight the complexity of each action by how often it occurs and use that as an overall measure. Although every game and table is different, I think it's reasonable to make very rough estimates and make it work. In many genres we could probably get by by saying that 2-3 exemplars are good enough to judge a system of. Perhaps:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Attacking in enemy with the most common form of weapon in an attempt to kill them</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sneaking past an opponent</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Persuading someone to do something</li> </ul>So a very rough idea of complexity might be to estimate the number of factors that you need to consider for each of the above, add them all up, and divide by three.</blockquote>

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