#30: The Believing Game

Good day, readers! I launched the playtest kit for HyperCity, a cyberpunk hack of Ironsworn. It’s probably only playable if you know the original game but I’ve added at least three good ideas to the mix - including the structure for a “solo together” mode. If that sounds interesting, check it out.

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I. RPGs and the Believing Game

These are two ‘games’ that people play when they search for truth, according to Peter Elbow: The Doubting Game and the Believing Game. The Doubting Game looks for errors, contradictions, flaws, lacunae, etc. Another word for it might be “skepticism”. Where this skepticism fails, we find truth. The Believing Game works a little differently. You start by assuming the assertion is true - really, really true. And you observe what that means. You observe the subtle frictions in your existing beliefs and how you overcome them. You stand in the shoes of the assertions and then look at the world from its point of view, noting what has changed. Where the Doubting Game’s default position is “No unless…”, the Believing Game’s default position is “Yes so…”. Where the Doubting Game is a puzzle, the Believing Game is … well, a RPG. (Sorry.)

The Believing Game means approaching something by first figuring out who it was meant for and what it was trying to give those people. And then trying to experience that. Or using that information to further the conversation in some way.

The painting above is by Kim Holm (licensed under a CC-BY 4.0) and shows a performer at a heavy metal concert. The difference between Doubting and Believing is the difference between thinking <It’s bad because…> or <I don’t like it because…> or even <It’s not for me because …> versus thinking <What kind of person loves this art-style and what does that tell me about the art, myself, the world, or all three?>. If heavy metal was turned from music into painting, what would it look like? This? I mean, sounds good to me. At least, we can now have a conversation that isn’t a debate.

But the Doubting Game has, as Elbow says it, “a monopoly on legitimacy in our culture”. Playing the Doubting Game feels “rigorous, disciplined, rational, and tough-minded” but playing the Believing Game feels “unintellectual, irrational, and sloppy”. But I think when you read or play an RPG, you’ve got to be a little sloppy. Embrace it. We write our games like technical manuals but damn, the difference between a good experience and a bad experience with a game is too fragile to assemble from instructions. We shouldn’t be surprised when a game doesn’t work, we should be surprised when they do. The Doubting Game assumes the default stance is “Game, prove to me you’re good.” The Believing Game’s default stance is, “Game, what will it take for us to play well together?”

(Addendum: This has almost nothing to do with the logic behind the question, “What should I spend my money on?” Now, that’s a hard one.)

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II. Watch of the Week

I’m enjoying these short videos published by PlusOneExp where they talk about indie games with great panache.

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III. Links of the Week

• Game In Lab and Analog Game Studies announced that they’ll be organizing GENeration Analog, an academic conference around tabletop games side-by-side with GenCon.

• A zinequest hit from last year, Beak Feather & Bone, released a neat SRD. Seems like a solid and simple rule set for someone to make their own map-labeling game.

• A fun video interview with Philip Reed, CEO of Steve Jackson Games, who also ran more than 12 RPG-related kickstarters in his private time last year.

• The person behind RPG Tips, a youtube channel focused on solo play, is putting together a Solo Primer. It’s barebones right now but looks to be expanded into something useful.

• Someone on Reddit asked, “Is there a Shitty Toy Cartoon: The RPG?” And I love the fact that the hobby has multiple answers to this very specific question.

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IV. Small Ads

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Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. I’m half-man, half-beast, half-journalist, half-game designer.

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