Though that might be a functional working model for me moving forward.
There is an interesting thread going on on /tg/ right now (not when you read this, that thread is long-since oblivion) where everyone is posting PDFs that they want within the roleplaying game community and it is share and share alike. Not that I am complaining mind you- though the prevalence of PDF theft in the RPG community is surprising. Though EA Games does show in the electronic world that security measures within the gaming community can be used to quite a negative effect. (as Yahtzee points out)
I'll admit, I know very little about blogging, and that fear has translated into a lack of posting. I write essays and short-stories, and my essay writing (particularly in the legal realm of the open forum for public consumption) is coupled with a rather poor sense of properly citing my sources.
Anyway- the thread on /tg/ is about roleplaying game books, and the larger subject of the reciprocity that the expense of most roleplaying game books is what stops most gamers from buying them and thus fueling the 'secret underground black market roleplaying game community', THE MORE INTERESTING SUBJECT is all the one-shot free-to-play single page roleplaying games. I made one even (though admittedly whether or not it fits in a single page is a matter of proper formatting).
I like the single-page game community. You have to be interesting to stand out in this world. This would normally be the point where I go on about Motherfuckin' Crab Truckers or Simple 6 or one of the many rules-light versions of 2nd Edition D&D out there.
But in truth, I use EVEN THIS SUBJECT as a segway to another TWO SUBJECTS.
Odd Thought 1: The Even More Secret Fahrenheit 451 style MEMORY Market
"That's Tommy- he's Rogue Trader; Seth is Apocalypse World, and Steve is BESM"-a sentence that has never been spoken
So my readership is small at the moment (*cough* Ryan) but certainly anyone whom has ever have had the privilege of being a FOREVERDM, but after a while, most GMs can run games in their sleep (and often do (so I am told)). It is an odd thought if you think about it- RPGs oven may be oversimplified into a series of rules (for both negotiating impasses and stimulating creative gameplay) and a setting- and book and sheets and what-have-you aside, eventually, you stop looking down at your paper sheet and you close your eyes and dream.
So pleasant, no?
But then one day the game ends, and where as you, the Player, have gone off and lived your adventure, someone (aforementioned FOREVERDM) has a roleplaying game in their head now [arguably, so does the player, but who asked you anyway].
They have that pretty much forever, so long as memory serves. Now they did this for fun, and could have been playing a game for years. But what are they supposed to do with a game in their head? One would hope place other games in there head and then have it coalesce and fuse into what you would hope was some gestalt ubergame (though in practice, the more forceful mechanics live out, forming to a loud and annoying waste of space [Google image search: "Penis Hat" and do not filter explicit results for visual reference] ).
But the idea of a textbook installed into your head is a pretty interesting image (oh how I love the Locke and Key, one day I shall run a one shot of thee using the Locke and Key card game and the Official Layout Map of Keyhouse (and likely Unknown Armies, GUMSHOE or even Over The Edge (or maybe even WaRP- like the devilish independent game developer I am. ))).
Sorry, one moment, I lost track of my parenthesis. And my Thesis.
Overall, not that is a bad thing. I don't think. I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Odd Thought 2: Novel Mechanics in Game Development for Tabletop Games
"A bonsai is not a mystery-- it is a challenge....to turn a tree into a bonsai, you must heavily prune its branches and roots, and pot it in a container that fits the overall design. The size of the bonsai is maintained by seasonal trimming of new growth and periodic root pruning and [re-potting]"-The Pennsylvania Society of Bonsai, Bonsifact Page, http://pabonsai.org/bonsaifacts.html
If there is a history of the odd world of Game Mechanics, I like to believe it began of...
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
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| This is what unicorns jerk off to. (IN THIS CAPTION: worst things I have written) |
It truth, this is a delusion- the game was made in 1998 for HEAVEN'S SAKE. Still- it is 24 pages (which is a fair size a book to stick in your head) and all in all deals in having a kind of trumps game of bullshit at a fanciful dinner party. It should be noted it is best played at fanciful dinner parties, which are really a thing you should be having.
Still, that does say something a sight more then GURPS or even D&D.
In a tangentially-related-further-anecdote, I believe it was Greg Stotlz (for the love of God, correct me if I am wrong), who related a story about trying to make a roleplaying game with Johnathan Tweet (or maybe it was Robin D. Laws) for Wizards of The Cost. Or something like that. POINT BEING: at some point, the realized what made the amazing game wasn't the system- the only way to commercialize the game would be to place a little amazing tabletop game developer in each box and have them DM the game for you. Which sure as shit ain't gonna happen.
So what does this all have to do with anything? I'm glad you asked.
Our dear little friends, the One-Page roleplaying games I mentioned earlier have to, in one page, create a roleplaying game that is capable of being enjoyable. Now I'll not hear any of you silly deconstructionist ruining my groove by saying that arguably any game can be simplified into basic rules, cut out all the fluff, and pasted on a page in tiny font. As a matter of fact, most major RPGs do contain such a page, calling it a 'quick reference', or a 'player reference'.
I'll even be charitable enough to argue a fair sight of MOST of what these one-page games turn out to be is an over simplified D&D or Simplified GURPS [lol, I'm just fucking with you], but I would say not.... All of these games are, or what they should try to be.... perhaps I should show you.
And I'm tired. Ok. enough blog for one day.
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