| From: | Gurth gurth@******.nl |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Centering vs Penalties |
| Date: | Mon, 23 Aug 1999 19:33:12 +0200 |
the street was...
> That doesn't discount the ineffectiveness of the rules though. A game
> designer needs to be acutely aware of probabilities, realism, and
> game-balance when writing rules because otherwise they won't be used
> (and hence don't add anything to the game) or will be abused.
Realism? In a magic system? LOL! <GridSec>Nobody shall even try to make a
"real life magic(k)" thread out of this -- and I mean it.</GridSec>
> I would sure hope that everyone that designs supplements and writes
> rules in FASA or any game either does extensive out-sourced playtesting
> or extensive in-house playtesting. They should also be familiar with
> PLAYING the game and not just writing it.
I'm sure most of them are (sourcebook authors, anyway; about the novel
authors, well, going by some of the novels, I'm pretty certain the author
has never played SR). But I have a feeling most of them try to write up
rules that "feel right" rather than ones that _play_ right. If you're a
good game designer, then those two will very often be the same thing. It
may need some tweaking based on actual use (read: testing) of the rule,
but often enough they should work pretty well.
However, I don't think every rule can be playtested. Think about the
amount of books that get written for games for a moment. Just the sheer
volume rules out extensive playtesting of every rule, either by the game
company or the author (especially the most prolific authors -- I doubt
they have the time to test everything even if they want to). Game
companies will want to play-test books that are very rules-heavy, but
apart from that...? Also, I doubt playtesting can cover everything --
problems are bound to appear even after a given set of rules has been
thoroughly tested.
--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
De plaag is terug...!
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