[In the Lab] Rulers - Mechanics


Because I'm not entirely settled on one situation just yet, I haven't given much serious thought to mechanics or systems. I don't like designing a system without first knowing what mechaphor that system is supposed to emulate or evoke.

Verbs
First, there are some loose things to consider, like what characters will do in an average session. In this early step of the design process, I look at these as simple verbs like Explore, Acquire, or Fight. I can refine those verbs and create specialized roles by adding adverbs like Quietly, Strongly, or Quickly. I can also do this by adding nouns like Monarchs, Armies, or Rulers. So here was some initial brainstorming from people on story-games.

» "A stat for Rule-making, a stat for Rule-breaking, and a stat for avoiding Rules."

» "What about something vaguely Polaris-esque, where there's regular narration and then Special narration?
Maybe key phrases that only Rulers can use?
Maybe more powerful Rulers (if there are such a thing) can use more of these key phrases?
If certain people, using certain words, are able to tap into truly epic powers, it seems fitting to have a somewhat solemn "ritual phrasing" mechanic going on."

A Polaris discussion tree would probably be interesting as a sub-system for some kind of negotiation duel, though. I was also thinking about how specificity makes it easier to predict and control the effects of rules, but that usually requires lots of words. So perhaps the length of a rule might also be a measure of its power, within a certain structure, but also leaves open plenty of loopholes.

Obedience, Success, and Failure
Gregor Vuga had a whole lot of ideas from working on a game of his own. Mostly these involved interactions between different levels of Authority. Higher Authority meant it was easier to win conflicts when someone tries to disobey your rule (or when you try to disobey someone else's rule).

However, obeying rules is the far more beneficial route to take, since it wins favor with whoever imposed that rule. It's partly just being polite, partly a ploy for power, partly a system to create good citizens. That allows you still more opportunities to climb the ladder and increase your authority.

At first, I was thinking that task resolution would be a generic system and there would be a mini-game for ruling. However, ruling is too big an elephant to relegate to the sidelines like that. So, there is not task resolution per se. Instead of a spectrum of success or failure, there is a spectrum of obedience.

If you "fail" at a task, it's only because you stumbled into a rule that forbids you from doing that thing. Now you know a little bit about that rule. As a player, you can then start exploring the boundaries of that rule until it is completely known.

» Rulers - Introduction and Situations

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Graphic Design and Typography Tips for your Card Game

Image
Chris Farrell of Illuminating Games just wrote a thorough critique of card games setting their body text to be so small that they cannot be read at arm's length, let alone across the table. Here's an excerpt, but the whole thing is worth a read for any would-be card game designers out there. (Myself included.) Break out your copy of the base set of Dominion, and look at the Chapel. This has a text box roughly 3.5cm by 4.5cm. It's got a single line of text. That line of text is 1 (one) millimeter high. 1mm! For me, it's only clearly readable at half an arm's length even in the bright light of day. (...) Compare this to a more sane game like Glory to Rome, where the font size is 2-3 times as large (text is 2mm high, keywords 3mm and usually highlighted). I can generally read Glory to Rome cards across the table, and can certainly see the important keywords. To heap insult upon injury, not only does Glory to Rome have far more legible text than Dominion it also has...
Read more

Low-High Dice Game

Image
A dice game inspired by the stock market (and playing lots of Martian Dice). Roll a bunch of dice and choose which sets to keep. Choose your strategy wisely! Stuff You Need Two-to-Six PLAYERS A PENCIL and PAPER to keep score Thirteen standard six-sided DICE How to Play The shortest player takes the first turn. On your turn, first roll all thirteen dice. Several dice will have matching results. These are called SETS. (A single die result is a set, too.) You must choose a set to keep. For example, your first roll results are 111124445555 . The sets are four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, and four 5 s. After keeping a set of dice, lock them up in a row. This is called the GOOD TRACK. For example,  you could keep the set of four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, or four 5 s . You decide to keep the four 1 s and line them up in your good track. After keeping a set, you may end your turn or re-roll the remaining unlocked dice. When you re-roll, immediately set aside any results tha...
Read more

One Thing to Avoid in Game Design

Image
When game designer Paul Peterson was interviewed for the upcoming Titans Series of games from Calliope Games, there was one segment at 1:55 that really caught my attention (emphasis mine): "A couple years ago I was teaching people how to play Guillotine and I hadn't played in a while. The first thing I did was say, 'The first thing you gonna do when you open your game is you look through this deck and you take this card.' I pulled out the Callous Guards card and threw it over my shoulder. Everybody laughed. I said, ' That's the biggest mistake I ever made as a game designer in my life.'" Oof. Those are strong words. What's the big deal? For context, the game Guillotine is all about collecting the heads of French nobles during the revolution. There is only one guillotine, with a line of nobles waiting for their grim fate. On your turn, you play action cards to change the order of the line, then take the Noble card from the front of the ...
Read more