#68: The R-word
I. Dear Reader,
Let’s talk about rules.
It’s funny that in English we use the same word for “how to play a game” as “the things your teacher used to make your life miserable”. Because the word ‘rules’ has this kind of messy association, I totally understand why some people don’t like them. Lots of folks - usually from the OSR playstyle - talk about rules as restrictions. They’re things that bind you or limit how you act in a certain way. And I totally get it. In the OSR playstyle, that might actually be true.
But it’s not true in storygames. Most people who like storygames - like me - get excited about rules. And it’s not because we’re weak-willed lambs who need these rules to tell us what to do. New games - and thus new rules - get us excited because they offer us the opportunity of telling new stories and having new experiences.
Let’s talk about recipes.
If you cook, you probably know where I’m going instantly. In my experience, people seek out new recipes because they’re opportunities for a new experience. It could be something you have never cooked before - or just a variation of something familiar. But you’re going to them for a specific point of view. Recipes are definitely a set of instructions for how to cook something. But they don’t seem to have the stigma of “rules”. People don’t think of “add turmeric 1 tsp” as a restriction.
They’re more like an invitation from somebody else to do things in a specific way and see what the results are like. The recipe writer is saying, “this works for me!”. If you don’t like the results, change something.
Here’s a good example of something that feels like a restriction but isn’t: “You can’t talk when… [insert rest of rule here]”. In The Quiet Year, when someone does something that your character doesn’t like, you can’t say anything. You can just take a Contempt token. You can look them pointedly in the eye when you do it but that’s about it. In Microscope, when someone is taking their turn, they don’t discuss it with the other players. It’s explicitly not about consensus. In Alice is Missing, you don’t talk out loud at all - only by text.
All of these games say when you can talk and when you can’t and the resulting experiences are very different! You might like one and not the other. You might not like any. But - hopefully - it’ll at least be interesting!
So yes, I don’t like the word “rules”. I think it confuses us. Asks us to think about authority and coercion and I don’t think any of these things are the best way to think about playing games. But thinking about them as recipes helps me so I’m going do that!
Adding salt to taste,
Thomas
PS. Going back to the original tension: maybe rules for storygames are more like settings or adventures for the OSR. A good adventure or setting is praised for it makes explicit and specific (and what it doesn’t). They’re praised for their modularity (and hackability). Nobody thinks of adventures as restrictions. It might not be a perfect analogy but there’s something there I think!
(And thanks to Aaron Lim for the conversation on twitter that sparked a rewrite of this post.)
If you’re here from Reddit, hello and happy to have you! It’s been a great week for the newsletter - we hit 1000, now we’re at 1150. It’s an early Christmas present as far as I’m concerned.
II. Listen of the Week
Marx Shepherd was on the Draw Your Dice podcast talking about their cool community projects - the Far Horizon Co-op, the Indie Zine, and more.
The Fear of the Black Dragon podcast took a look at another old Dungeon magazine… and really liked it? Turns out it’s a masterpiece if you like spooky, ghost stories.
III. Links of the Week
I did an issue about RPGs that existed as websites and seem to have missed Mnemonic, a series of different games set in a fantasy world which remembers its own history. The website doesn’t do a succint “what is this game about” but the itch page should help.
A review of Jon Petersen’s third book about the history of D&D, Game Wizards
A nice article in Polygon about PbtA games and why they’re good for new players
A setting generator that refreshes every five minutes and gives you locations, dungeons, inns and even rumours. If you don’t save the details, they’re gone forever!
Through reddit, I found this newsletter which is going to be a written, solo actual play of Stonetop (with inspiration from Ironsworn for solo rules).
Quiz: The TTRPG you should play next based on your reading habits
Jay Dragon writes about what it takes to make a RPG text work for new players - a genuine challenge! And the article very usefully describes how other games have tried to solve the problem.
Not sure if I’ve shared this before but was reading it again and it’s so good: how spaceships should be like submarines
IV. Small Ads
All links in the newsletter are completely based on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like your products to appear here, read the submission form.
Shanty Hunters is a TTRPG about collecting magical sea shanties in 1880! Check it out!
There’s a big bundle of more than 30 different indie cyberpunk games. Settings, solo games, lots of different options. (And I’m in it!)
This newsletter is currently sponsored by the all-new, fan-supported Fate-SRD.com. Built to be fast, attractive, and accessible, check out the site for rules, downloads, actual plays, and community.
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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