Hello All

[Onix]

Hi Gents! (Do we have any ladies?)

Sorry for my prolonged absence. Rob poked me in the email yesterday and I guess I've been bad by being a hermit. I'm a bad hermit I admit it.

I do have to say that not checking forums or updating blogs was hard at first, but I have been more relaxed not checking on things all the time. I've inadvertently started and finished some things that I don't think I would have been able to do without being away. Still, being a hermit isn't nice.

I haven't been as productive on the projects I would have undertaken, had I been here on the forums. So there's that downside too.

As far as RPGs go, I've been taking a slow meditative look at what I think is good design. I'm making slow but deliberative progress there but so far I haven't come up with anything that hasn't been in a game already. If anything, I'd rearrange how games are presented, and I don't mean rearranging chapters in a book.

You see, I don't think systems need to be different, I think the presentation of how to think about an RPG needs to change. Put simply, I want to offer the player three buttons. The buttons may do different things in a changing context, but there's still the three.

I point you to the most iconic game controller in history. The NES controller. There are three buttons. Yes, technically there are eight, but in the player's mind, there's only 3 different elements to keep in mind.

Sure, over time there's been a proliferation of buttons on a lot of controllers, but the NES controller was the gateway that took video games from a fringe activity, to mainstream. Not coincidentally a lot of arcade games of the time had the same set up, a direction control and two buttons.

RPGs need an NES controller.

I've got an idea how to do this but it needs polish.

If anything this idea is a crutch, but a crucial one. There are plenty of people that play on Playstation or Xbox controllers that are far more complicated, and that's fine. The thing is to get players involved in the game via the simple controller and then add buttons (like the SNES did).

How the game itself plays, via mechanics or story is immaterial. It should be adaptable to the controller and while a lot of finesse is lost and probably a lot of options, that's actually the point.

So my current model is to have three cards, Physical, Mental, and Social. To have the effect of each card very plainly understood is also key. To have a number of results possible from each "Button" is a matter of shoehorning in the system at hand.

Granted, some games might seem to not enable some of the three buttons but that's entirely ok.

To keep play interesting, each button would also be tailored to the individual character. It's in this that I'm still working on making things more straightforward in applying the tailored effects.

In any event, I hope everyone is well.

Please feel free to regale us with your current theory on RPG design.

[maledictus]

Very interesting! For a time I also toyed with the idea of three basic atributes. I definitely wnat to know how all this develop.

Myself, I have become more and more obsessed with the idea of one simple rule to solve all kinds of conflicts. Most games use one mechanic to solve some tasks, like social interactions and negotiations, and a whole other series of mechanics just for combat. I just want one rule.

I have written the system, it is very inspired by the games of and, not very consciously, (mine uses less math!). All of it along with the character sheet fit in one single page.

I have not yet published it. First I want to write various ambientations, all of them one page long. I also may write a page with advice for Game Masters (Is a simple game to play but it require some expertise from the GM).

So far is only in Spanish, I migth also translate it to English.

[Onix]

[Rob Lang]

It's wonderful to have you back. I did the same, I went away and created. I've realised that I need a balance. It's not distraction, it's support. But I need the right sort of support! The sort I get here, with you fine fellows.

Speaking as another author of a massive tome-game, I agree that complex mechanics can often get in the way. If they are so complex, they often don't get used.

I like your three buttons idea. It feels more like traits than attributes. But traits still have an absolutely value. You're speaking more about ways of solving the same problem. I think this would be a great way to solve the "go to a place, kill everything" that many scenarios degenerate into.

Check out that I reviewed recently. It is big but has the same idea that a character is made up of actions they can perform. The effort is in the powers/skills/traits descriptions. You might find some inspiration there.

[maledictus]

[Onix]

[Onix]