Interesting RPGnet thread on Wushu. In case you’re not familiar, Wushu is a game by Dan Bayn that’s focused entirely on action – the mechanics basically just do two things:
- pacing a conflict (usually a fight)
- incentivizing free narration, where each extra embellishment on your action gets you an extra die to roll towards your ultiamte goals
And beyond that, it’s quite nearly free narration. So reading this thread (and hwo people have internalized how Wushu works) is interesting, because I see two things going on here.
Firstly, Wushu’s rules are focused towards just those two things there (pacing conflicts and incentivizing narration).
But secondly, Wushu’s rules don’t give you ANYTHING else towards playing into a genre, and it seems like the consensus is that while you can add crunch to Wushu to fit it into a genre, it runs contrary to how many people play. Getting play to fit a genre or other expectations seems to be accomplished by the group at the social level, and with the rules just getting out of the way.
So it’s both: focused rules that also get out of the way. (It reminds me of dicussions of designing what matters vs designing what doesn’t matter.)
March 24th, 2006 at 9:46 am
I am SO using this principle the next time I write an RPG.
April 1st, 2006 at 11:54 am
Yay! My exploits have passed into the blogosphere!
I’ve been rewriting the Wushu rules into a (by my own standards) more complete and immediately understandable document, which has led me into some hard thinking about what each rule actually represents and accomplishes. What, in short, it IS. Which is why I’ve been a bit forward (or daring or challenging or dick-like) in my posting on the subject.
I’m convinced that this particular discussion (which I’m not quite finished with) is more-or-less secretly about the Veto rule, which is the real advance that more games need to incorporate.
Wushu’s Vetos first struck me as an enormous no duh. I mean, come on! That’s what we all do in every game, right? This was soon (one hour) followed by no duh #2: The “Oh shit, I rarely do that in a way conducive to everyone’s fun.” The horror of Fiat, quasi-codified and semi-democratized, is transmuted to the glory of Veto.
To me, it’s _the_ acceptable antithesis to “Say Yes or Roll Dice.” It’s not universally applicable (horror games seem one big failing), and it’s not the only alternative, but it’s the kernel of my stance on the “Say No Sometimes” debate I see some people embroiled in.
PS: I found your blog by complete chance, while spidering and indexing all the ones I could find, for future information mainlining. So it’s a small world.
PPS: I like it! Keep up the me-related stories!
April 4th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Kicker: that sounds damn cool! Drop me a line when you finish up your ideas and I’ll be happy to link them. I’m always looking for secret (sssh) informants.