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Again such a lovely write up, thank you! Do you know of any exercises that challenge you to state the intentions of the game a clear and as enging as possible?

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Playtest with many different people and find what they are asking to do.

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Great article about Intentions - not Actions or Mechanics - being the real heart of a game. Thanks Monte! ⚔

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"Game designers can fall into the trap of thinking too small. They focus on the proverbial trees and not the forest. To put this a different way, they think too much about actions and not about intentions."

Just minutes ago, I was reminded of a good example of an early experiment with "how to game-ify social interactions?" The Ties system and the Repartee duels expanded the options for non-fighting characters.

https://openhearthrpg.substack.com/p/lace-and-steel-great-rpg-covers

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