The unknown, unsolved, and unpredictable nature of games is exactly what makes them intriguing. As soon as you know that tic-tac-toe or Candy Land are deterministic activities, they lose all sense of engagement. Uncertainty, therefor, is the key factor in making an activity, a game.
In his carefully thought out book, Uncertainty in Games, Greg Costikyan lays out eleven unique sources of uncertainty that actually apply to all forms of entertainment, not just "games", suggesting that it is the unknown nature of something that makes it "fun". Everything from a good book to the most complicated of MMORPGs has some unpredictable behavior that we the consumer interact with to find enjoyment.
Through the next twelve blog posts, I will explore each of these sources of uncertainty, and comment on how they apply the tabletop role playing games. It is my hope that through this exploration I can narrow in on exact aspects of our hobby, the ones that really make it tick, so that we can all better understand how they contribute to the tabletop experience.
If you are interested in board games, video games, puzzles, or really just how movies and books also have the same "uncertainty" as some games, I highly encourage you to pick up Uncertainty in Games!
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
The Power 19 for Hostargo (12-19)
This is the last stretch for answering the power 19 for Hostargo. I've made a post specifically for the big three, and have answered 4-11 on this post. The finish line is in sight!
12) Do characters advance in the game? How?
Yes, characters advance by spending XP, which is earned by completing story objectives. XP can be spent on gaining new skills & abilities, or upgrading current skills & abilities. Hostargo is designed to be more horizontal in advancement than vertical, but I've found that there are a lot of fun in upgrading your favorite abilities and plenty of design space to do that without just increasing the "raw numbers".
In addition, the party as a whole advances, based on which style of play they choose. But in the core of each, players will always gain access to new technology, magic, and connections that expand their repertoire of combat and roleplaying options.
13) How does character advancement reinforce what the game is about?
With each newly gained skill, ability, tech, magic, or connection, the players' toolset for solving problems grows. That increased complexity represents the chaos of Hostargo's rapidly expanding population and the opportunities the players will encounter within the city. In addition, the power gained from these new abilities helps the player characters stand out from the thousands of other people pouring in.
14) What sort of effect do you want the game to have on your players?
Excitement. Adrenaline. Victory.
The game aims to provide the players with the tools to succeed in a tense, action-packed world. It also aims to equip the GM with the crazy & cool scenarios that spark interesting conflict.
15) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
Character creation gets a lot of color, because it's the first thing the players encounter. If they aren't invested in their characters, there's a lower chance that they'll become invested in the game world. Hostargo is not a game where we need to jump right in, so character creation is part of the experience.
Advancement gets extra color because that's what hooks players to keep playing. Each session should introduce some new element, some new experience the players haven't had. Eventually, this might get out of hand, but that's the idea! Only those who can control the chaos rise to the top in Hostargo.
Finally, action sequences get most of the color (over specific roleplaying or exploration scenes), because that's the best place to use the powerful tech, abilities, and magic they characters have equipped. It drives both excitement, risk, and victory.
16) What part of the game are you most excited about? Why?
I am most excited for the various special character abilities. I have designed them to fit a variety of play styles, so I hope everyone can get enjoyment from them. It has certainly been fun designing both straight "power" abilities (e.g. magnetic smash!) and the more complex, open, but creative abilities (e.g. mind hacking).
17) Where does your game take players that other games don't?
Hostargo has a unique set of magic and tech that is familiar, yes, but has never been packed all together into a tiny space, in a reasonable sized RPG packaged, with a clean ruleset and limitless adventure.
I'm walking a fine line between crunch, streamline, creativity, and tactical gameplay. Other games do one thing well, or offer a single, very fined tuned experience. Other toolboxes try to explore too much, be too generic, and often end up being too large.
I want Hostargo to be packed full of all the good stuff without having to be a system master to run it. I never follow the rules when running other games, and I wouldn't expect the players to do so here either. Instead, I want to enable them; let their imagination run a wild but grounded game.
18) What are your publishing goals?
The goal is to do a personal kickstarter. Just to say I did it. I want to gain some money to get art, get a professionally laid out book printed, and say that I contributed to the world of creativity. I want my foot in the door, but with a BANG of a game.
19) Who is your target audience?
The game is designed for people like me. There's no denying that. The closer in interest you are to my own, the more you'll like this game. Luckily for me, I have some fairly common interests:
People who like Magic: The Gathering will enjoy my ability design. It's grounded in rules, but open to creativity for those willing to find it.
People who like tactical games like Rainbow Six will enjoy the action economy system, and the freedom that such a simple system gives to the tactics of the game.
People who enjoy high-action video games like Overwatch will appreciate how combat both requires teamwork while also giving a bright spotlight to the character's actions.
People who like a variety of RPGs, rather than just "old school" ones or just "indie" ones, will enjoy the variety and depth of Hostargo while also appreciating the streamlining. Sway too much in one direction and something about this game will annoy you for sure.
People who enjoy the "Wild Sorcerer" class in D&D will enjoy how anything can and will happen in Hostargo.
People who enjoy weird dice mechanics will like my roll-under system that still ends in excitement.
People who play to find out what happens will like Hostargo. Don't over-prep, but come prepared.
If I had to choose a demographic, it would be simply millennials, as that is the experience pool and paradigm perspective that I come from.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
It's my job!
When you get enough feedback on something, such as your "classes & callings" system, it's important to take a hard look at it. Even though the classes & callings are a fun idea, and work well in the game, it's actually the terms themselves that I've gotten some pushback on... and enough of it that I'm giving in.
I have two ideas to label a character: what they do, and how they do it. How they do it I called their "calling"; how they go about solving problems with whatever abilities make them special. "Classes", on the other hand, was my version of a party "role"; what their responsibilities are or what they're best suited to do.
But I got into a good conversation with a friend recently about what those words actually mean. "Class", or classification, is what one normally would consider the external label. Someone "is a class". They "are a wizard", or "are a fighter". They are recognized by their abilities: how they solve problems.
D&D and other classic games do not have the "role", necessarily, or rather most classes fit into a role (e.g. tank, healer, the face) so well that there is no need for the separation. But you wouldn't call a bard a healer unless he used his magic to do so.
"Callings", as I was calling them, are much more akin to a vocation, job, or skillset. While it can be how people do things, as I was using it, it fits much better with what people do. But "calling" is also an overly generic term, which has caused this confusion in the first place.
Instead, we debated over words like vocation (too flowery), role (too plain), and job (too hardline). It's a difficult word to get right, because we want the players to feel awesome about their role. In Hostargo, I have "cool" words like Reaper, Warden, and Eddy to describe the roles. For now, my friend had the idea that, when asked why the character did something, they can say "It's my job!"
So, I am officially switching what I used to call "Classes & Callings" to "Jobs & Classes" respectively. Here goes a period of confusion and chaos until the new names sink in haha! Additionally, if you have any ideas for better words, please shoot them over to me. I'm not sold on anything until the book is in print ;)
I have two ideas to label a character: what they do, and how they do it. How they do it I called their "calling"; how they go about solving problems with whatever abilities make them special. "Classes", on the other hand, was my version of a party "role"; what their responsibilities are or what they're best suited to do.
But I got into a good conversation with a friend recently about what those words actually mean. "Class", or classification, is what one normally would consider the external label. Someone "is a class". They "are a wizard", or "are a fighter". They are recognized by their abilities: how they solve problems.
D&D and other classic games do not have the "role", necessarily, or rather most classes fit into a role (e.g. tank, healer, the face) so well that there is no need for the separation. But you wouldn't call a bard a healer unless he used his magic to do so.
"Callings", as I was calling them, are much more akin to a vocation, job, or skillset. While it can be how people do things, as I was using it, it fits much better with what people do. But "calling" is also an overly generic term, which has caused this confusion in the first place.
Instead, we debated over words like vocation (too flowery), role (too plain), and job (too hardline). It's a difficult word to get right, because we want the players to feel awesome about their role. In Hostargo, I have "cool" words like Reaper, Warden, and Eddy to describe the roles. For now, my friend had the idea that, when asked why the character did something, they can say "It's my job!"
So, I am officially switching what I used to call "Classes & Callings" to "Jobs & Classes" respectively. Here goes a period of confusion and chaos until the new names sink in haha! Additionally, if you have any ideas for better words, please shoot them over to me. I'm not sold on anything until the book is in print ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)