Treasure: Part 5
Putting out a game that tries to change, or question, how RPGs are played presents its own problems. To start with, a full 200pp+ system can make learning ‘the basics’ seem like a ‘task’ for new players and players who’ve bought into other games. Treasure’s use of novel approaches to play can also mask the simplicity of the rules or go against what players are used to.
Most tabletop RPGs get round this by following the AD&D model. New players are guided through the basics by a gaming group. Over time, some of those players go on to run games of their own and pass on the skills.
If Treasure is to make RPGs available to a wider audience it needs to offer a ‘crunch’ that doesn’t rely on weeks of tutoring or continued spending. Making the game completely customisable does help, because the rules can be shortened and adapted, easily and permanently. But that isn’t enough!
It makes sense to use text and graphics to show how to play a game that uses text and/ or graphics, so we’ve been looking at how to offer charts that help to visualise how to play Treasure. We’ve started with the Quick Order of Play Table and the Order of Play Options Table.
The first is a very simple list of steps. It shows that Treasure’s ‘crunch’/ key mechanics are no more complicated than a Fighting Fantasy book:
- Adventurer’s Slot in Each Turn
- Check On-Going Events and Actions
- Move
- Reveal
- Act
- Check and Mark Outcomes
The options for each step are now together on the single page SVG or PDF Order of Play Options Tables released with Treasure v 1.13 earlier today. This guides players through a streamlined ‘crunch’ where there’s no need for initiative rolls or several rolls of the dice. Zonal movement and combat also simplifies play, making turns come round fast. Players are free to keep track of simple alarms, bonuses and modifiers without slowing play down. They also start to talk and collaborate more, because Treasure’s ‘crunch’ moves you away from raw fire-power RPGs.
Planning, critical thinking and sharing decisions becomes more important. It’s a lot like going from draughts to ‘team chess’. There aren’t many rules to understand and it’s how they work together that counts most.
See you soon . . .
Jenny
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