Does chance favour a good story?
Unforgivingmuse:
Quote from: Erik Weissengruber on March 11, 2011, 09:17:20 AM
Many games let chance (which is not the same as upredictable player input) affect that matrix through the use of dice, cards, etc. Such Fortune mechanics have lead, in my experience, to the creation of good stories but only because the range of possible outcomes dictated by those mechanics had well thought-out relationships to System and Colour.
So you're saying: a good story only happens by chance, not by design?
Judd:
Quote from: Unforgivingmuse on March 11, 2011, 09:44:48 AM
Quote from: Erik Weissengruber on March 11, 2011, 09:17:20 AM
Many games let chance (which is not the same as upredictable player input) affect that matrix through the use of dice, cards, etc. Such Fortune mechanics have lead, in my experience, to the creation of good stories but only because the range of possible outcomes dictated by those mechanics had well thought-out relationships to System and Colour.
So you're saying: a good story only happens by chance, not by design?
That is not at all what he is saying. He is saying that there are games that will make the range of possible outcomes on the dice interesting and full of adventurous possibility.
Unforgivingmuse:
Okay I think I'm getting there: so the story can be determined more by the well designed mechanic of the system, than the designs of the Game Master/creator of the scenario.
Judd:
It isn't a matter of which is more important: players, GM, System or a good fireplace or snacks. We don't have to choose just one.
My lame-ass metaphor is about swimming.
We've been GMing for years. We're good at it. Our friends like gaming with us. We've developed certain creative muscles.
I had good and fun games before I played Burning Wheel and Apocalypse World and Sorcerer. I had fun hacking Ars Magica to bend to my will and do what I wanted to do but I was swimming against the current, trying to make Ars Magica do stuff it wasn't meant to do. It is easier with games that go along with the priorities me and my friends enjoy. We're swimming with the current, so to speak, rather than swimming against it or finding strange rocks in our way.
You've designed your own game and I'm betting you designed it to compliment your own creative musculature.
Chris_Chinn:
Hi Simon,
I guess a useful question, tying back to your original post- have you asked the player what his motivation was in choosing to do what he did?
This is actually a pretty useful question when you're playtesting a game and trying to figure out when you see certain things, including expected behaviors (sometimes the reasons why something is happening might appear different to different folks).
Chris
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