Nolan's Game Thread

[masqueradeball]

Completely agree... I have no idea just how Traits would work in actual play... I want to play this game. It has some ideas that I know are solid and implementable, but I have no idea if this implements them well, and I know that the text fails to really explain WHY you do what you do, and I'm not even sure if I nailed how... I plan on updating and re-releasing the whole thing in a much nicer and more complete format, maybe with some stuff dropped that was mainly included to accommodate Game Chef, but thanks a lot for all the interest, Jeff. Really helps to have someone to talk this stuff over with.

[Vulpinoid]

Honestly, if you know how the game needs to be implemented, but you don't think it explains why it functions in this way, there's one thing to do...

Provide a coupe of play examples.

Show how certain events within the mechanisms reflect the narrative. And conversely, how the narrative brings out certain aspects of the game mechanisms.

By "reflecting the narrative" I don't mean that every game has to be narritivist in the Forge sense of the term. I'm just saying that a reflection of the events in the game world should appear in the mechanisms that drive play and vice versa.

In the context of the typical games submitted to Game Chef, I'd rather play a game with 2 or 3 pages of complex rules and a dozen pages of carefully constructed play examples that show the minutiae of the mechanisms and how they can be used to the advantage of the GM and players, rather than a game with a half dozen pages of rules that just expect you to "get it" and work out any details for yourself when you sit down at the table.

[masqueradeball]

I agree completely. I spent too long waffling on mechanics and had to rewrite the rules a number of times... I know how I would go about writing the game now, but there was a time limit, so, there you go. Examples are one way, personally, I prefer little asides explaining why the rule exists and how to implement it. If I were to rewrite the game text I would keep the very procedural rules, and in an opposite column, have little notes talking about how the rule is meant to be used and why its there, and have all that be followed by a long example or maybe a series of examples. I would maintain the Introduction and Concepts sections in a fairly similar manner to how they exist now, and try to integrate the setting more strongly into the mechanics.

Live and learn.

[Vulpinoid]

I guess I can't complain too much...

I basically stripped out all the play examples from my last game design, added in a bunch of new rules to make it fit my new vision for this project then...

....ran out of time.

I had planned to expand the game by a dozen pages or so, just filled with play examples. It's still what I'm hoping to do over the next couple of weeks.