Monday, May 10, 2010

Experiment in Play tools

Converting all options and aspects of a Character aspects into cards? Its been done way before, but I'm thinking of breaking down the game system I'm designing into printable cards sets.

Tangibility helps in Awareness of options as well as going through every option one at a time. Notebooks and writing augments the rationalization process by allowing the medium to act as augmented memory in order do certain operations using other intelligences. Cards and the way ideas are organized and separated into them help coordinate focus.

This will require me to shorten my descriptions more and rework those special rules into the Game Physics sections. In other words, simplify what medicine skill does and moving the large chunk of explanation to the healing and recovery chapter.

Cards:
Background (Race, communal/formal education, and profession)
Special Skills
Equipment
Allies
Combat Options

I've also made Flow-charts for some of the game mechanic rules. I was reading the DnD 1e description of how Suprise Rules work in OSRIC and I wanted to throw the book across the room. The urge to shout at the book hoping communicate to the guys who first wrote those surprise rules back in the day and reprimand them for how counter intuitive and difficult to understand the rules overcame me after rereading it for the 10th time. 1st 5 times was thinking i misread it, the other proceeding times slowly realizing: Yes this does not make any sense and is difficult to understand without some very complex Flow chart.

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