Observations of the Fox

Quite some time ago, I was writing about the Vector Theory (wow, that was 16 year ago), describing a perspective on how games are run. It used illustrations like these.                     I still think there's some value in these ideas, however my current thoughts are less about specific flowchart paths that a story MUST follow, and now my thoughts tend to flow more organically because we can't account for crazy choices that players might make, or every type of action that characters might choose to engage.   So everything basically collapses back to the "Simple Path" or "Path of Clouds" in the images above.   The point here is that the Three Way Tension doesn't always only to the GNS triangle, the actual essence of the model applies to the specifics of the GM, the Players and the Rules.       We can look at this a few ways when considering the dynamics at the table. With each player pulling on the di...

  [ I forgot this was coming up, but even when I remember I usually do the "daily" posts. It's always interesting to read other people's responses to the prompts when I can find them as well.   1. Discipline Naturally, when it comes to TTRPGs, the first idea that comes to mind with the word "Discipline" is the range of supernatural abilities possess by the kindred in "Vampire the Masquerade". So, the next thing that I thik of is the bizarre range of disciplines possessed by the unusual clans and bloodlines in the game. Vicissitude for the Tzimisce, allowing them to transform into horrific demonic forms...Valeren for the Salubri, with the twin paths of the warrior and the healer.  So yeah, I was really annoyed with the changes made to the 5th edition of Vampire which culled all of those fun powers and stripped all the abilities down to the core Discipline paths, then made everything else a clan specific combo effect from the core paths. I can kind o...

The last bit of this descriptive stage for the three-way tension theory pulls the concept into a more graphical format so that readers can observe the concept from a visual perspective. I'm doing this because I'm more of a graphical/visual thinker, and because sometime text can be a bit dry.  Let's look at what we've discussed so far... The whole things fits onto a triangular grid.  We can probably break down the types of games into that grid. Of course there's going to be debates over the labelling of the types of games, because if there's one thing we always debate about in game design circles, it's terminology, but bear with me for the moment...  GM/Narrators (I really should find a better single-word descriptor here) may aim to facilitate a game, tell a story with their players, provide an immersive setting experience, or some combination of the three. Players may be looking to complete the session by winning it (or at least ending up with characters in ...

The last post broke down the various stereotypical tensions between a GM/Narrator and their players. However, the players are not a monolithic block who all want the same thing from their session experience. There will often be tensions between players who have different requirements or who are aiming toward different session experiences. A session will often (but not always) work smoothly when the entire group is after the same type of thing.  If everyone has a Narrativist aim, they'll all be working toward producing a tale and exploring the unfolding story as they follow character goals as they work toward a logical and satisfying conclusion, or just generally meander with no particular goal or direction to see where things might head (working out a narratively satisfying tale from the events of the session later). The biggest tensions here will come from interpretations of how goals might come into conflict. If everyone has a Gamist aim, there will generally be a friendly (or no...

(If recent days are anything to go by, this post is going to be generally viewed by a few people, maybe discussed a bit...but lose traction pretty quickly.. then in 10 to 1t5 years, it'll suddenly be popular. Maybe the ideas in it will be announced by someone who happens to be the indie darlig of the scene in the mid to late 2030s, and I'll say things like "I was saying this years ago"... anyway, here goes.) If you're still with me in this description of how I see the mechanisms at play in a TTRPG session, you'll accept the ideas that there are three different forces at play, and there are three different types of session those forces will be looking for. Two of the forces are personified by the participants in the session, the GM/Narrator, and the Players, while the third force is embodied by the rules being used as a framework for the session. Each of these pulls on the others, and it's the interplay of the ways that they pull that makes (or breaks) a se...

   8-bit gaming...actually, I think the colour range above is closer to 16-bit gaming. When I started working on this idea, it was called BYOM (Bring Your Own Miniatures), because I knew I wouldn't have the resources to release a range of miniatures to go with a wargame (or even a skirmish game), and because I've got heaps of minis from companies that have gone bust, or simply one-off minis from indepedent producers who never had their own rule set to work with. I wanted to make a fun set of rules that worked on a basic grid, where players could bring their minis from a variety of genres to explore a variety of settings and scenarios.  It's still a valid idea, but these days players could 3d-print their own minis and terrain, or still buy stuff from assorted vendors who are designing a wide array of interesting stuff. I've seen so many new terrain and miniature manufacturers in recent years that I've thought about revisiting this concept. I had been looking (a few y...