Campbellian Roleplaying

Jackal · 03-08-2018, 09:21 AM

@SJ - you are most welcome. None of this would happen without you.

@Jim Kane - thanks, once again, for your thoughtful comments.

My goal with this post to plant a seed: a seed that might grow into a tool that helps TFT GMs realize their vision.

That tool would be a bit of a Swiss Army knife, necessarily: a framework to hang ideas from, like I provided; a writer's trick bag with useful narrative tips & techniques that I'm sure you could create; perhaps some snapshots of genre or historical milieu. And some turnkey utilities, like the economic model in ITL, or a small village with NPCs and farms and crafts and festivals -- and rumors and grudges and hints of things not quite right -- that GMs could use as a starting point.

Why bother? Because I think TFT's longevity will depend on having an adventure pipeline, and on making it easy for GMs to create their own adventures easily.

"But Jack," I hear you say, "isn't that what GURPs is for? TFT is a cool little arena combat game. Why muck it up with RPG stuff? Why recreate the wheel when we already have an entire game system providing it?"

Because I think the simple beauty of TFT lies in it's lack of abstraction. Direct mechanics modeling how life works means the system doesn't stand in the way of our creativity. The interface doesn't expose the implementation, in designer-speak.

The hobby is moving in two directions: the table-driven abstraction of Pathfinder & DCC vs. the narrative-driven abstraction of Fate & Apocalypse.

TFT is neither. If we want a future for TFT, I think we need to show people how a neat little game is not only fun, but how splitting the difference between those abstractions frees gamer's creativity.

Cheers!

03-08-2018, 09:21 AM	#5
Jackal Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: New England	Re: Campbellian Roleplaying @SJ - you are most welcome. None of this would happen without you. @Jim Kane - thanks, once again, for your thoughtful comments. My goal with this post to plant a seed: a seed that might grow into a tool that helps TFT GMs realize their vision. That tool would be a bit of a Swiss Army knife, necessarily: a framework to hang ideas from, like I provided; a writer's trick bag with useful narrative tips & techniques that I'm sure you could create; perhaps some snapshots of genre or historical milieu. And some turnkey utilities, like the economic model in ITL, or a small village with NPCs and farms and crafts and festivals -- and rumors and grudges and hints of things not quite right -- that GMs could use as a starting point. Why bother? Because I think TFT's longevity will depend on having an adventure pipeline, and on making it easy for GMs to create their own adventures easily. "But Jack," I hear you say, "isn't that what GURPs is for? TFT is a cool little arena combat game. Why muck it up with RPG stuff? Why recreate the wheel when we already have an entire game system providing it?" Because I think the simple beauty of TFT lies in it's lack of abstraction. Direct mechanics modeling how life works means the system doesn't stand in the way of our creativity. The interface doesn't expose the implementation, in designer-speak. The hobby is moving in two directions: the table-driven abstraction of Pathfinder & DCC vs. the narrative-driven abstraction of Fate & Apocalypse. TFT is neither. If we want a future for TFT, I think we need to show people how a neat little game is not only fun, but how splitting the difference between those abstractions frees gamer's creativity. Cheers!