I. Dear Reader,
This week, considering its the halfway mark of 2021, I posted a list of all the games Ive played this year on twitter. Most of them were one-shots of games that were designed for campaigns. Which means I got a taste of them but not the full meal. This got me thinking about how we talk about getting the best out of games.
I think we all agree that when you’re first learning the rules of a game, that’s not necessarily the best experience of a game. Games tend to really sing after you’ve got the hang of the rules. When the mechanics kind of drift to the back of your mind and you can focus on just playing. This is what people mean by “system mastery”, right? “Player skill” is something that comes up a lot in OSR circles but we don’t talk a lot about how you can get better at storygames – but you totally can!
What does being better at storygames mean? Getting a hang of the rules is a part of it. (Which is part of why some games definitely need campaigns, not one shots.) But there’s also a whole bunch of other stuff: riffing on ideas, weaving details back, asking questions, setting up moments for others, etc. And most of this stuff is common across systems.
When I play videogames that value mastery, once I get really good, I tend to get bored. When the challenge is gone, it’s time to move on. But with storygames, it’s not like that. The better you are at them, the more fun you can have, not less. And that’s pretty great.
Just having fun,
Thomas
II. Listen of the Week
One of my favourite interviews this year. On the Draw Your Dice podcast, Taylor LaBresh of Riverhouse Games talks about how he’s demonetized his game design, the pleasure of mini-games, and how to make your games more queer and joyful.
The whole thing felt like an antidote to the cynicism that can sometimes grab the indie design world in a chokehold. Ironically, Taylor has his own interview podcast, Game Closet, which is also wonderful.
III. Links of the Week
Articles
An interview with the editor of Wyrd Science, a beautiful, physical TTRPG magazine.
On Trollish Delver, 10 things to love about Against the Darkmaster
On the Gauntlet blog, a two part series on running games set in schools with tips for GMs as well as players.
How Lowell AF runs 200+ games over 25 systems in a year
I’m a big fan of collaboratively creating campaigns with the players and here’s one framework for D&D 5e and similar.
Vincent Baker does another lightning round of PbtA Q&As.
Reviews
A review of Cuticorium, a soft game of bugs exploring the world and discovering secrets.
A review of Adrenaline, near future cyberpunk-ish forged in the dark.
A review of Sig: City of Blades that doesn’t flinch from pointing out the messy parts of the game while still affirming that it’s a good time. It’s a hard line to walk.
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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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