thread: 2006-03-06 : Unpopular Idea #2: Punish the Loser
On 2006-03-07, Chris wrote:
It's not hard to see the correlation between what we're discussing here and the issue of "predictable stories". A lot of stories tell you up front whether the hero is going to win or lose, whether you can expect to feel good or have a tragedy, but people can still enjoy them. Where people lose interest is where the scene-to-scene fiction is predictable.
If we're talking about the Fruitful Void, endgame mechanics don't "paint in" the canvas- they frame it. But at the point of no return (or rather, high improbability of no return) in a death spiral, the canvas is pretty much already painted in, people are now just wasting time rolling dice/drawing cards/whatever and what's at stake has already been resolved.
A key design concept that allows you to punish the loser/reward the winner without falling completely into a spiral is to give the player tactical options in the resolution in order to offset the penalties and make comebacks. While lucky comebacks is one way to do it, actual choices keep people engaged. The loser struggles harder instead of giving up, the winner stays on his or her toes to not lose the advantage.
This tactical choice can be crunchy like Riddle of Steel or Burning Wheel or it can be really loosey-goosey like earning Fan Mail, Gift Dice, or Sorcerer's roleplay bonus dice.
The problem is historically in many games, there hasn't been much in terms of tactical choices that really matter- hence once death spiral kicks in, it's game over.
