thread: 2009-01-06 : Art, the State Thereof
On 2009-01-06, Brand Robins wrote:
1. More modular design. I'd like games where you can collapse and expand the mechanical systems based upon the social system's functioning at that moment. So, like, if you're playing and everyone really wants the GM to just decide you can totally GM fiat the thing without derailing the other mechanisms, but when everyone wants things to be more emergent you can roll it out without that disrupting the flow of power and status in the game.
2. Underground had this mechanic that linked character success directly to social justice in their neighborhood. Judd recently toke a stab at something vaguely similar with his "Changing the Century" hack for Spirit of the Century. All in all, however, I think this has been a very overlooked spot of development—ways in which mechanized elements track change in the world based on specific criteria.
3. A good history game. That is, not a game about a specific historical story (which we've got a few of), but a game about history unfolding through the actions of individuals. This game would take into consideration the real history of a place and time, and put the players into consequential positions within that history, and then see what pressures they struggle with and how their struggles effect the world to come. Oh, it'd also do this without getting bogged down in crap, or having the players need to be subject matter experts.
4. The game I listed in number 3.
