Parmandil wrote: ↑Sat Mar 22, 2025 8:42 pmVery interesting! Could you, please, elaborate a bit about these eight forms of gaming - perhaps giving some examples?
Whoa - a big subject, but I can give a few links and examples, maybe. Treatises and books have been written about game design aims and philosophy, but as an example of particularly good stuff try
here.
Going through the various types of game:
Adventure Games
I guess D&D is the original example, as it developed from around 2nd Edition onwards. You have characters engage in 'adventures' with fairly well defined objectives and, often, a pretty standard 'Joseph Campbell-esque' story structure (leave home territory, pass tests, quest to big bad and engage with the nub, returning with loot or special powers).
Story Games
These approach the 'story of play' from a different angle; often the rules are set up to adjudicate plot developments rather than success or failure of specific actions. An example: a character plans to break into the prince's chambers and steal the letter from the suspect nobleman. The purpose of the rules structure is not to see if the character picks the lock successfully or sneaks past a guard successfully - it's to see whether or not they get the letter. If they fail, maybe it was because they failed to pick the lock - or maybe the letter wasn't there, or maybe there was a permanent guard set on the chamber who wouldn't be lured away or bribed, or...
Basically, the rules decide who gets control of the story in the moment, and the reasons why what is decided upon happens is up to the players. For an example, the original would be Apocalypse World (played as set out in the rules; this is actually a potential issue, as players with an established 'tradition' of play will often tend to drift toward what they are used to rather than what was intended by the rules writer).
Soap Opera Games
My original foray into this space was actually the 'Hallmoot' scenario I ran at the first HârnCon in Vancouver. Since then the form has developed independently in a few areas - notably with things like 'Legacy: Life Among the Ruins' and
M*A*S*H*E*D. The aim of these games is sipmly an extended campaign of low key play, developing the (relatively unspectacular) lives of the protagonists.
Minor Strategy Games
The poster child for this was D&D 4th Edition. The 'adventures' could be basically structures to hold the tactical challenges of party versus monster combat. The combat was a really complex tactical challenge, not just a die rolling competition; much of the enjoyment was derived from showing off how you could leverage the moves you had. A few other games have tended in this direction, but none so clearly or with such purity of purpose.
Experiential World Exploration
My old 'Hallmoot' scenario touched on this as well, but the deeper recent oevres have been things like
Good Society (although that maybe fits into 'Genre Emulation' better?). The poster child is maybe
Bluebeard's Bride.
The aim in these games is to let you feel as though you are actually there in the game world; Hârn can fit the bill extremely well, but is fragile in the sense that it is susceptible to drifting into other modes of play.
Genre Simulation
Games directed firmly at emulating a specific 'genre reality'. I have already mentioned Good Society, but the old 'Marvel Superheroes' game was arguably a classic of this type. For a really unusual approach,
PrimeTime Adventures is an interesting 'play the TV series of your imagination' game.
Roleplaying-themed Gambling Games
Games where, in the guise of a character, you are challenged to 'step on up' and try your chances in a world/system where luck plays a dominant part. Tunnels and Trolls perhaps played with this back in the day, but modern games that do similar things might include 'Mork Borg' and its spinoffs.
Wish Fulfillment Games
Full disclosure: this is not, as far as I know, a game style that anyone actually aspires to consciously, but some games with extreme levels of GM power can slide, ignominiously into it as they (consciously or unconsciously) play favourites and set rules parameters so that their preferred story emerges. Often, but perhaps not always, a dysfunctional and unintended 'style'.
, but not in 1986 (Kaldor Kingdom 1st ed.). So, 350 = (59 + 11) x 5. The correct number would be 295 for Nenda alone.
