My Rules Are Better

Chris asks why Tom needs his own rules. They explore the previously mentioned archetypes and how to counteract problems through games. How about the sheet grabber? There are some benefits in keeping a game in your head. Tom wants to talk about miniatures. Squares or hexs or neither. With stores it is either famine or feast.

Tom welcomes on Mathew Gibson. They discuss Mathew's early experiences and Tom tries to talk about the religion of ADnD with the sadness that RuneQuest did not stay with Mathew long after his evangelism. Is there a contrast between richness of environments and complexity of rules. Tom asks about miniatures and provides some discussion of miniatures in Australia in the 1980s. They discuss narrative and whether it is possible to have a game with no rules. Tom outlines his plans with the First Chechen Wars rules and also a ruleset covering 600-1000 AD in England. The questions delve deep into the introduction of ideas through role playing.

Tom starts talking with Chris about Unearthed Arcana. They briefly touch on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle rules (circa 1985). Chris starts the discussion on house rules. This digresses quickly into a discussion of realism versus fun. Tom asks about Chris' house adventures. Magic seems to cause all kinds of problems. Tom raises the scarcity of weapons and the late-1980s idea of freeform role-playing where battles are few and far between. When you create games should you consider player archetypes? Mass battle concludes the recording with the promise of much more.

Tom covers a few topics solo with the promise of Chris' return.

Tom welcomes Chris Abbott onto the podcast and they discuss origins stories, ye olde games systems and favorite dynamics of Chris' in games. Tom asks about Chris' renaissance in role playing. Tom touches on the loss story and returns to the renaissance aspect. He then asks Chris to explore nurturing through role playing.

Tom revisits solo play testing for a listener, talks a little bit about attribution framed in Kev Adams addiction and welcomes the possibility of some dialog coming up.

Tom starts the exploration of board game rules in contrast to roleplaying games and war-games. He explores strategy, resources and diplomacy.

How do weapons impact gameplay? Are there interesting areas to explore when creating rules around weapons.

Tom explores the potential to create interesting rules around wounds or health in a game. What impact does the representation of these statistics have on gameplay.

One of the defining factors in any game is how movement is coordinated over turns. Tom looks at the many possibilities when creating rules of movement in games.