RPG Design as a mental exercise?

[thwaak]

Heya Gang,

I was conversing with friends about indie RPGs, and the topic of the 24hr RPG, and Game Chef came up. While we agreed that it was all very neat, interesting, and worthwhile... we also wondered how much of it ever got actually played. Is it all just a mental exercise to create these 'compact' (for lack of a better word) indie RPGs?  Is the intent that the better ideas would spring-board to a full-size RPG? As advertisement for Indie RPGs in general? In essence, what exactly is the point of a RPG created in 24hrs? What purpose does it ultimately serve?

Thanks for your insight on this.

-Brent

[Andrew Cooper]

I think you'll find that quite a few of the Game Chef games get polished up and then published.  While they are in some ways a mental exercise and a way for designers to sharpen their skills, that doesn't mean that good games don't come out of the process.  I'm not as familiar with the 24 hour submissions as I am the Game Chef so I can't speak to how many of them actually get played.  I know from personal experience that Pace is totally playable.

[matthijs]

There's several good things about making an RPG in a short time.

First of all, you actually make a game. Instead of thinking about the wonderful work of art that you're going to create when you have five years of time to spare at some point, you just go and do it, because it's not a big deal.

Second, when you have to write something quickly, you get straight to the point - you pour raw inspiration into your keyboard. That way, your vision doesn't get the time to be compromised, examined from every angle and diluted. You write the game you want to play, straight away.

Whether the games get played: That's different for everyone. I've played all my Game Chef entries, some many times in different forms with widely varying groups. Others have published their games (Polaris, Bacchanal, Shab-al-Hiri Roach... more that I can't think of right now).