Monday, August 03, 2015

Game Theory

Have fun.

I think that is the most coherent game theory there is. Have fun. At Gencon I had quite a few discussions about game mechanics and set up, but at the end of the day, if the game is fun to you, play it.

For me, rules, whether in a RPG or board game, are tedious and take away from what I'd rather be doing  . . . which is really fighting zombies in the apocalypse . . .  and keep me from getting to the meat of things. But there is another side of the discussion.

Some gamers really enjoy mechanics, the complexity of figuring something out, with equal emphasis put on the playing field that allows them to better figure out their odds of survival. If I have  X and X skill and he has X and X skill, then I have an X chance of overcoming it. This is gambling at its heart, which is what most games are, some form of gambling, however complicated.

It all began with the caveman running the odds against spearing the cave bear!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

First Rolemaster Companion came out, I had a lot of fun creating characters. I could spend a couple hours tweaking point allocation to maximize the return. (Actual gameplay, on the other hand...)

--Jeff

Anonymous said...

Rules are the physics of the game world. Some people like physics. If the rules (physics) of the game world are inconsistent it can detract from everything else, lessening the fun.

Troll Lord said...

Davis LOVES role master. It kept bleeding into C&C while he was developing it. haha. And agreed, rules can wreck the house if not done well.

Anonymous said...

RM wasn't for me, especially playing with rules lawyers. I like your style of GMing. Keep it moving. Roll, glance, adjudicate. As long as the players feel the rules are being applied consistently, it's all good. Just never stop the flow of the game.

--Jeff

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