Explaining your system

[Onix]

I've had a thought that I can't really say is real original, but its a new thought for me. I've talked a lot about design decisions in blog entries, but I never considered actually discussing design decisions in the text of a game before. I'm sure someone has done it in the past, they must have.

It would just make sense that if you shared the whys of the system, players would have an easier time understanding how it works and how to put the system to work for them.

Have you ever done this? Did you get good or bad feedback from it?

[Evil Scientist]

Hmm... I always have a concept for my system, but I don't remember ever putting it to words and explaining it in the rulebook. Though I'm sure it could be a helpful feature.

The mechanics of Indy vs. Spade were geared towards the possibility of messing with other players' test results from the very beginning.

When we collaborated with Vic/Jester at They Walk Among Us, I remember that we settled upon "making a chaotic system for a chaotic world"... Not exactly a user-friendly approach, I admit but I think the system we created reflects the setting and reinforces it, and it's not that chaotic...

Nonetheless, I think both these games would have profited from a paragraph or two of "a word from the designer". To set the scene, to define a mindset.

[Onix]

I wrote a section on scientific accuracy and some of the difficulties of making a hard science fiction space setting in Jump Temp. I was just thinking it would be useful to say a few things about the intent and function of the system to get players in the right frame of mind while reading.

[kylesgames]

I tend to put an author's notes section in every game I write, except for 24/72 hour games with strict word count limits.

I don't know if they help a whole lot: I don't get a ton of feedback, usually, and the notes tend to fall behind what has actually been created, but they are made by me at some point.