RPG Theory
Are you getting into the philosophy of play? psychology of roleplaying? ludology of tabletop... View more
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Models of Play
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Models of Play
We’ve all been over the GNS discussions and all that. Forget them! Let’s start fresh.
In your own words, how would you describe your most common or preferred play model? What’s the core goal or point of it? How does it engage players? How does it relate to the rules as written and/or spirit of the rules? You could answer other questions and frame it in any number of ways. I just want to hear how you personally view your main play mode.
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I hadn’t put too much thought into my own personal style. But if I had to nail it down, I would probably say my main goal as both a designer and GM is engagement through choice. I know I’m not reinventing the wheel here, so 🤷♂️. I keep a wary eye out for mechanics/situations that have players going through the motions without making real choices. I want to avoid players slipping into passivity.
Even if a mechanic provides an outcome that a spectator might find narratively interesting, without a choice it doesn’t require the player’s input. I think its possible to run a PbtA game without any dice, and just use the 7-9 result for every situation that a die roll would be called for. I’m not saying that I WANT to do that, but you could. I don’t know, maybe I’d do it just to see how it goes.