I was wondering, how you envision the setting and worldbuilding to differ between RPG games and narrative fiction? In my head they are pretty similar/parallel processes until on the RPG side you need to derive the mechanics for how in universe things will work in game. Of course there is always some variation between game mechanics in a setting derived from novels, and novelizations set in worlds originally encountered as RPG settings. This has been a frustration of mine in the past with having cool ideas in the narrative fiction that don't work within the game mechanics, but I also play a lot of games with special mechanics for specific characters/factions/etc. that violate some of the core rules a player character are supposed to adhere to , but I also accept fairly easily
While I was reading this one, it reminded me of the feeling of elegance with which some systems intertwine with the particular narrative of the setting. I remembered -many years ago- when I played Alternity for the first time (this was before the d20 system, of course) and the feeling of combat rules allowing so much more cinematic narrative on combat scenes. Since then, I have sort of a bias towards systems that seem to evoke more naturally from the narrative of the game (e.g. some heavy storytelling games just don't cut it because their system seems so vague that it's hard to feel that the system's got your back as a GM). Hitting the spot seems so damn hard for most games. Maybe accepting the reduction of the game scope is the logical path (product differentiation)? Isn't that what Stealing Stories for the Devil is also about? Making the scope more specific in order to obtain game mechanics that are tightly designed to display the specific narrative context? Away with the universal or large pretentious game systems or settings. Maybe those were more for us 20th-Century-gamers and our long campaigns, steady characters, long-term goals, etc.
I’m curious if you have advice on exploring story through certain rules you’d like to explore more. I thought in Ptolus there were rules you wanted to test and curious how you built story/adventure/setting around this concept.
Very interesting, and informative.
I was wondering, how you envision the setting and worldbuilding to differ between RPG games and narrative fiction? In my head they are pretty similar/parallel processes until on the RPG side you need to derive the mechanics for how in universe things will work in game. Of course there is always some variation between game mechanics in a setting derived from novels, and novelizations set in worlds originally encountered as RPG settings. This has been a frustration of mine in the past with having cool ideas in the narrative fiction that don't work within the game mechanics, but I also play a lot of games with special mechanics for specific characters/factions/etc. that violate some of the core rules a player character are supposed to adhere to , but I also accept fairly easily
While I was reading this one, it reminded me of the feeling of elegance with which some systems intertwine with the particular narrative of the setting. I remembered -many years ago- when I played Alternity for the first time (this was before the d20 system, of course) and the feeling of combat rules allowing so much more cinematic narrative on combat scenes. Since then, I have sort of a bias towards systems that seem to evoke more naturally from the narrative of the game (e.g. some heavy storytelling games just don't cut it because their system seems so vague that it's hard to feel that the system's got your back as a GM). Hitting the spot seems so damn hard for most games. Maybe accepting the reduction of the game scope is the logical path (product differentiation)? Isn't that what Stealing Stories for the Devil is also about? Making the scope more specific in order to obtain game mechanics that are tightly designed to display the specific narrative context? Away with the universal or large pretentious game systems or settings. Maybe those were more for us 20th-Century-gamers and our long campaigns, steady characters, long-term goals, etc.
I’m curious if you have advice on exploring story through certain rules you’d like to explore more. I thought in Ptolus there were rules you wanted to test and curious how you built story/adventure/setting around this concept.