Numberless Mechanics

[CarpeGuitarrem]

[Onix]

Is there a reason that numbers are not boardgamey and anything else is? To me it would seem that numbers and therefore dice are a staple of boardgames. (Especially Yatzee.)

[Evil Scientist]

Let me reiterate!
"Boardgameyness" = when the mechanics dominate the gaming experience (be that numbers, cards, dom-dom-dom-dominoes, whatever). I can't formulate this any better. Board games concentrate on a single idea, and the mechanics are fine-tuned in a way to serve this sole purpose. A role-playing game would have a slightly more "universal" mechanic. Sort of.


And, once again, let me repeat that I have nothing against board games!

[Onix]

So maybe it's that we don't have to think too much about dice and some of these other mechanics require more thought and might interfere with the flow of play?

[Anastylos]

Maybe, but think of the possibilities. If we have no dices or other random stuff the game becomes more predictable and the stroy can not be ruined by rolling to high or low.

[level27geek]

Well, changing the topic somehow from boardgame-yness of the mechanic to something different: how do you guys plan to handle character generation without numbers?
Are we allowed to state "Choose 4 aspects/skills for your character" or something along those lines, in the rules? I would normally create pre-gens or templates for character, but I want to stay within 1 pocketmod, so space is an issue.
So I think, the question is - can we use numbers within the text as long as numbers are not used in the game mechanic itself?

Oh, and BTW: Hi guys, I am new here and I am planning on writing a 24h game this year

[Anastylos]

I think that is fine. As long as you don't have Agillity 4 or roll a 5 or 6 with a w6 you should be fine.

My game will require more space so I will have more than one pocketmod. The rules should easily fit one one mod, but the rest...

[Onix]

Hi L27G!

It has been noted that it would be very very difficult to not use any numbers anywhere in the book. That said, it's not a bad idea to try.

You could construct a character with something like this.

Select a Very Good skill
Select a Good skill
Select another Good skill
Select the last Good level skill

Etc. Although "another" and "last" are acknowledging that there is a quantity, there is no mention of numbers.

[level27geek]

Well, I am toying with an idea of no numbers anywhere in the pocketmod - it is a great challenge!

Onix - You approach is quite good, having few different statements for skill and such. I think I will go this way after I will think about it a bit more.... I might look into Numenera RPG, because they have a character creation (explained ) using a sentence and some descriptors... I might frankenstein it into my game.

Anastylos - I also think it's fine to use it in this way... hopefully we will get a official word from Rob soon

I am toying with using a deck of cards, and color of the card is important for narration/success. like the idea of running out of resources (cards).

[Rob Lang]

I wonder if there is a drinking-game mechanic that could be used. Very meta. Some drinking games include drinking with your left hand in the first half of the hour and drinking with your right in the second half etc etc.