A few days ago, I wrote up a manifesto of sorts that covers how I run roleplaying games. If you have not read the first post, you can find it here. This post is a semi-Socratic critique of this manifesto, from the point of view of a roleplaying game hobbyist.
Table of Contents
- Critique of Concealed Mechanics
- Critique of Living Worlds
- Critique of Hacking Media
- Critique of Rulings, Not Rules
- Critique of Trust
- The Three-Letter Acronym Controversy
Concealed Mechanics
Hobbyist: The first value you mention a “Play Worlds” table has is a desire to conceal mechanics. This seems stupid. Isn’t it GM Fiat? I saw that on Reddit.
Dante: Well, “GM Fiat” is a sort of derogatory term that people use to describe the GM doing whatever they want. Often this term is used when the GM removes a player’s autonomy, “railroads” a narrative, or changes a rule for their own favor. The latter only occurs in antagonistic tables, where players and GM are fighting one another, using the rules as a medium. I don’t support tables like that. But to answer your question, hiding mechanics is not fiat. The mechanics still exist, the players just don’t describe their actions through mechanical terms.
Hobbyist: Okay, I guess it’s not GM Fiat, but I don’t like it! It’s fun to have game mechanics or “buttons” I can press as a character. Like I have this 5e Sorcadin tha-
Dante: Yeah, yeah, I don’t need to hear about your YouTube Luke Skywalker Sorcadin build. I get it! Games are fun! There’s a reason I got a degree in game design. As an example of fun mechanics, Elden Ring has fire weapons deal less damage when you’re standing in water, while lightning weapons deal increased damage. In a “concealed” roleplaying game context, if that mechanic exists the players might not know and never take tactical advantage of it.
Hobbyist: Exactly. So you shouldn’t hide anything otherwise I won’t play right.
Dante: However, the inverse is also true. If that mechanic does not exist in the unconcealed system, then a player may never come up with the idea to use lightning grease to power up their weapon in the water.
Hobbyist: Why wouldn’t they come up with it?
Dante: Of course they could, and a GM may rule that it deals increased damage, but from my own experience, this type of behavior is less common in traditional roleplaying games. Sometimes GMs don’t allow their players to gain a benefit if the system doesn’t allow it, but more often when system is visible the players engage with the system first, rather than the fiction. For example, very few rogues in 5e actually “hide”. They just use a bonus action to perform the hide action to roll a die to determine if they get an attack bonus and enemies get an attack penalty. Tactical, maybe, but imaginative? Not even close. What benefit can a 5e rogue have by engaging with the fiction when most GMs just allow them to get a huge bonus to attack and defense by stepping behind a bush?
Hobbyist: That’s true, rogues do hide in a lot of silly places. Okay, so I see how concealing the system might mean someone engages more with the fiction. But why is that better? How does that actually increase immersion?
Dante: Well… honestly, it doesn’t increase immersion for everyone. Some people can be just as immersed playing Wanderhome, Lancer, and Monopoly. However, I’m willing to bet concealment increases immersion for the average player. It definitely increases immersion for me. You should try it out yourself to see how it makes you feel.
Living Worlds
Hobbyist: I mostly agree with this one, but like why does it need to be stated? What problem is it solving?
Dante: Have you ever played a video game RPG like Skyrim or Dark Souls? You know how sometimes it feels like everyone in the world is just standing around waiting for you to fast travel back to them? It sounds silly, but why do none of the shops ever run out of business in a video game? Why does the Dawnguard wait around for me to return to perform the climactic confrontation with vampires?
Hobbyist: Well, those are video games. It would be difficult for the developers to build the content for like simulating the entire world in the background. Plus, like I don’t want to miss out on content because I didn’t travel back to a location fast enough?
Dante: That’s fair, for video games. But lots of roleplaying games employ similar logic. Some of my favorite adventures will have faction play and timelines to solve this exact problem. As adventure writers, we should focus on a world that continues to change, regardless of player interaction. As GMs, we should prepare tools that simulate the world changing and not restrict them to the current player character’s location/actions.
Hacking Media
Hobbyist: Okay, I like Star Wars, right? And I know George Lucas definitely took inspiration from Dune or Samurai films. Don’t we all? Does this need to be stated?
Dante: Hacking media goes beyond simple inspiration though. I think many who come into the hobby from traditional games like D&D have encountered the idea that a threat, be it trap, monster, or rockfall, needs to be “statted” or its not fair, or even playable. But let’s consider Smaug from the Hobbit. He’s a big, fire-breathing dragon. Cunning, cruel, and greedy. For many in the hobby, this is not enough to roleplay a game with Smaug. They want to know his HP, his Strength score, how much damage his claws do, the radius of his fire breath… Enough! Enough I say. I just don’t care about these things. My earlier descriptors are a better tool for running a game with Smaug. Many will disagree with this, but I have NEVER played a game with a dragon where it actually felt like a dragon. D&D dragons are more like big bears that use fireball twice an encounter. Disgusting. A shame upon draconic storytelling.
Hobbyist: I think you got off track talking about dragons…
Dante: Yes, ah, sorry. The point is that hacking media isn’t just using media as inspiration, it’s using other media as gameable content. You read a book of whale facts? Take a few whale traits, add one fantastical trait, and apply them all to a bear or something and you have a new, fascinating river monster. You watch The Third Man one night? Now you have a perfect setup for a town poorly run by three separate factions that you can just reskin for a sci-fi game. You visit the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal and take some pictures of the interior? That’s a battlemap.
Hobbyist: I’m not sure I understand how to actually do that though? Like how do I take pictures of something and turn it into a battlemap?
Dante: It’s a good question. It takes some practice I think. But if thousands of people can use dry-erase boards with a few colored markers to represent unlimited spaces, then I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to figure out positioning and movement in a photograph.
Rulings, Not Rules
Hobbyist: Now THIS sounds like GM Fiat.
Dante: Wrong. There should always be a logic to a ruling that disregards a rule. For example, D&D does not have a penalty to swimming in plate armor. In real life, the penalty to swimming in plate armor is death. So should a GM follow the rules, or make a ruling that a knight falling overboard drowns? If the GM does not rule the drowning, where does the logic end? Such a play culture lends itself to Peasant Railgun logic. I am not a fan.
Hobbyist: Okay, but what if someone else at the table does HEMA and insists that they could swim a little bit in plate armor?
Dante: Well… they’re still wrong. But maybe I would give them a few more seconds to try and grab onto something, or roll a few dice at some low chance to get out of the armor before it kills them. Rulings, like the entire roleplaying game, are a negotiation between players. Ultimately, the GM is the arbiter, but everyone at the table should come to reasonable resolutions in the fiction together.
Trust
Hobbyist: I like the stuff on trust, but I mostly play online with strangers because it’s difficult to meet people in real life anymore. The last time I talked to someone at a coffee shop they looked at me like I had five heads. How do I do all this new stuff you’re telling me to try with strangers who mostly just want to play 5e D&D?
Dante: Difficult question. I think the unfortunate answer is you have to offer to run a game, explain in-depth how you want to run it with this approach, and ask people to trust you. If they’re on the fence, tell them “the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” Some people may not enjoy the experience, in which case you part ways. I think there’s a lot of people who are scared to get out there and try to find people to play with, but I also see a huge amount of people looking for games online. Before you can trust people, you just have to meet them.
The Three-Letter Acronym Controversy
Hobbyist: Wait a minute! Isn’t this approach just FKR? Are you trying to deceive me?
Dante: Eh, yes and no. Yes, there is a LOT of overlap with FKR concepts here. But no, I do not consider myself, or my approach, FKR. I will explain why, but first, a tangent.
Dante: There’s been an explosion in TLA (Three-Letter Acronym) RPG spaces in the last six years or so. Each TLA is supposedly tied to RPG design and play “theory” defined by blog posts, adventures, systems, or PDF manifestos. In practice, most TLA spaces are communities with prominent members. When the prominent members leave, or the new community members clash, the space mutates or collapses. This isn’t always a bad thing! For example, the NSR Cauldron Discord server recently discussed renaming to remove the NSR acronym from the name as they believe it is no longer necessary and the OSR has re-absorbed the NSR movement. In the case of FKR, there were a few prominent bloggers around 2021 and a Discord. That Discord collapsed, and several folk from there moved over to a new Discord. That Discord was pretty strong for a while with a lot of new folk joining, daily text conversations, and weekly voice chats. Then there was some ✨drama✨. The server leadership changed and now it’s effectively dead. While there are some FKR blog posts that still pop up, the prominent bloggers have gone quiet.
Hobbyist: Was there a point to the tangent?
Dante: Yes, sorry. If the FKR is a space made up of bloggers and social media, and both are quiet/dead, then the FKR is no longer a community. I have no reason to associate with it or the proper nouns they’ve introduced.
Dante: Furthermore, a lot of “theory” posting has the problem of being obscenely dense or packing a lot of hidden meaning in simple words that general hobbyists cannot parse. For example, consider the psychic fury tied to the phrase “system matters.” To my friend who casually plays D&D and Monster of the Week, the phrase just means “system affects what happens at the table” and they’ll go, “well, yeah.” But of course, the phrase has a long, charged history starting with Ron Edward’s System Does Matter essay.
Dante: This is why my manifesto uses simple and straightforward language. It is a set of values anyone can parse, anyone can follow, and anyone can enjoy. I think more people should codify their approach this way instead of chasing the eternal new “Proper Noun” or “Noun Hyphen Noun” loaded terminology that roleplaying spaces commonly employ.
Hobbyist: So it’s not FKR, but it’s like FKR, but I shouldn’t care about that?
Dante: Just try to play a game with the Play Worlds approach and ignore all the internet stuff. We learn better through practical play than any amount of theory posting.
Hobbyist: Okay. I’ll give it a try.
If you are interested in discussing this approach or playing some games that embody it, feel free to join the Play Worlds server on Discord.
The Dolent Chronicle is an RPG blog produced by Dante Nardo. If you liked this post, please consider sharing it on whatever doomed planes you reside.