#94: Rules-Lite Game Type
I. Dear Reader,
This week I’ve been thinking about the term “rules-light” (or “rules-lite” depending on your fancy). It’s a quality of a game that a lot of people really appreciate. And for good reason! It’s nice to not have to read hundreds of pages. But at the same time, it feels a bit like some people think of it as a “type of game”.
I think a part of this comes from the OSR which has claimed “rules-light” almost as a pillar of their design framework. But at the same time, there’s nothing about being rules-light that makes a game particularly suited for the OSR playstyle. Or any specific playstyle. And this is the point I want to make really.
To use the terms popularized by S John Ross, games have visible and invisible rulebooks. OSR games have very small visible rulebooks. Because they rely on invisible rulebooks. These invisible rulebooks are, by definition, not written down. But at the same time, you’re expected to know them. Usually because you’ve participated in the mid-western folk tradition of D&D that has existed for half-a-century. But what if you haven’t participated in that tradition? Like say, there’s an explosion of new players that meet on the internet. Well, then, sometimes people write down the invisible rulebook. Think of the Principia Apocrypha which is basically an attempt to write down (systematize?) an unwritten rulebook for a playstyle.
Let me approach this another way. Honey Heist is a rules-light game. But the main way that I see the game played is a trad way. It can be played in other ways potentially. The game doesn’t say much about its preferred playstyle. But Critical Role can play Honey Heist in a way that is functionally no different from the way they play D&D. Same with Lasers & Feelings. And of course, one of the original, famous trad rules-light games, Risus. How does this happen? Because people draw from the invisible rulebook of the trad playstyle.
Storygames also deploy invisible rulebooks. If you’ve ever played a “vignette game” (basically any game that asks you to “just frame a scene”), you probably know what I mean. Framing a scene is kinda hard. Most games don’t really even try to explain how to do it. It’s just something that they hope you’ve done before. And if not, well, you try it and you get better at it with time.
I’m not suggesting books go “rules-heavy” or try to explain their rules as if they’re speaking to an alien or anything like that. I’m just reiterating the minor point that rules-light is a quality that exists across playstyles. But across these playstyles, it achieves this by leveraging an unwritten culture. And it’s good to acknowledge that.
Yours but rules-slight,
Thomas
II. Media of the Week
An excellent interview with Stras Acimovic, co-designer of Band of Blades and Scum & Villainy, in the Third Floor Wars podcast. Stras is a great interviewee and talks a lot about how important rigorous playtesting is to his design. I’m a big fan so I absolutely just gobble these interviews up. Also, there’s a really wonderful story about an Australian teacher who ran a 40-person game of Band of Blades for schoolchildren that is not to be missed.
Also, here’s a short intro to Apocalypse Frame, a tactical mech combat game from Binary Star Games.
III. Links of the Week
The New Yorker does some stellar reporting on larps in LARPing Goes to Disney World: “The Galactic Starcruiser encourages guests to help build the circle. After a simulated ascent into orbit, passengers arrive in the hull of a spacecraft, where crew members ask what planet they’re from. And then the game begins.”
The original fantasy version of Quest is now free to play for everyone
DriveThru RPG was hacked in a “security incident”. They’ve assured that no personal information was stolen but I know some people are saying you should change your password.
My friend, Aaron Lim, has a newsletter now. In the latest issue, he discusses playtesting and how it’s something you should embrace as play rather than as work.
On the Sword Queen Games blog, big thoughts about music, gender and art in TTRPGs and how Rae combines in their design.
Linda Codega’s Gaming Shelf takes a lot at the new games including Navathem’s End from Sin Posadas and Pam Punzalan.
A long, text interview with Tomas Härenstam, CEO of Free League Publishing, about their Blade Runner game as well as Free League’s other titles. No talk about the business of publishing but lot of enthusiasm for their house system, the Year Zero Engine.
On the Bones of Contention blog, a lovely review of my body is a cage by John Battle.
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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