#88: Narrative Permissions or Toys
I. Dear Reader,
So last week, I said that using stats to express your character wasn’t so interesting to me. And I said that I would talk about the technique of differentiating characters that is way more interesting to me: narrative permissions.
I know some people are already bristling at the time “permissions”. So let me assure you, I do not mean that to be taken literally. It’s just a term I’ve heard in game design circles. And I get it: permission sounds authoritative. Sounds like someone is your boss - the GM, the game designer, someone! Bah, who wants that. So if you’re in that camp, here’s another term: toys.
What do I mean? Well, you know when you get excited by a class in D&D or a playbook in a PbtA game? Usually, you’re getting excited about a concept - an opportunity to play with a new type of character that you didn’t think of before. (A Time Wizard? Neat!)
Well, that’s the stuff that “storygames” can supercharge. Designers can design hyper-specific and niche game design concepts that open up directions and dimensions for you to play characters. This might be a character concept (a Brainer???) or just powers, moves, and special abilities (“You can always tell when someone is lying.”). Stuff you read and get excited by and think, “Ooo, I cannot wait to see in this in play.”
Xometimes its mechanical but often it’s not. In a recent playtest, I wrote that one of the pregens could “talk to water”. Instant excitement! What does it even mean? I don’t know! There were no mechanics attached to that. Just a new permission - fictionally, this character can apparently talk to water. It’s just a new toy to play with.
And I think a really exciting character creation process feels like opening a box of new toys. A whole assortment of narrative permissions that I would never have thought of - if the designer hadn’t put it down.
Yours permissively, or should I say toyetically,
Thomas
II. Media of the Week
Bite Marks is right at the top of my wishlist and Dave Thaumavore does a good job of explaining why this game is exciting.
III. Links of the Week
Rae Nedjadi of Sword Queen Games has started a new blog with articles about pinterest as a GM tool, post-colonial design (part one), and three inspiring game design rituals.
Ian Yusem does a deep dive into the numbers and learning of the first Zine Month.
Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program 2022, an award for an up-and-coming game designer, now has a nomination form for you to submit your nominees.
On Polygon, a list of recommendations if you’re looking for games like Bridgerton or Our Flag Means Death.
The Dark Souls RPG designed on top of D&D 5e is apparently not good.
On the Githyanki Diaspora, a play report of the start of a Trophy Gold campaign and it sounds like a lot of fun!
Great article by Jason of Pretendo Games about the three “layers” of rules and why he designs rules-light games.
Aaron Marks writes another insightful essay on being a RPG collector and why we buy games that we don’t play.
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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I like the direction this newsletter has taken recently! Great to see mechanical musings.