Game in the Brain

 I’m currently working on another book for DTRPG drawing from my Homebrewing. 

simplifying maintenance, repairs, and damage. Making one wholistic mechanic so that you can think of repairs and maintenance as almost interchangeable while – damage as more serious wear and tear. 

 Seeing Technical Debt = Damage. Using thresholds for conditions.  Reducing the Dice rolls and the number of Factors. Applying Bounded Precision (the diminishing returns of modifier and options in a situation)

One of the strange paradoxes of Simplifying a system is that sometimes we elaborate on A system, but make it apply to more areas. So our brain doesn’t switch to different modes as much. 

One of the weirdest old-school sacred cows is changing the mechanics per sub-system. from D&D2ER vs D&D3+ the consolidation of the mechanics from the proficiency checks, initiative, attack rolls, saves, to be all very different to d20+modifier vs DC. 

I understand the nostalgia bomb of such mechanics, but when I’m teaching someone new or I want the Hobby to survive PAST me – I’m like WTF is this!!! I want this hobby to survive past me and teaching multiple sum mechanics when mathematically speaking we can create the same statistical odds. 

My son is 10 and I’ve been trying to get him into TRPGs and I’ve helped and taught people both in Games and for Work (QA and IT related) its really a tangible barrier for me to teach multiple mechanics.  

i get the nostalgia bomb – I have friends hard-wired for Exalted, I’m hard-wired for GURPS and D&D3E. But I want the Hobby to survive me – so just because its easy for me because i take it forganted back in the 90s there were fewer Competing distractions – this generation has so many other competing distractions that if the System took 5 more minutes to understand I can lose the audience. I have to make every Elevator Pitch intriguing and I’m not Charming or Charismatic or Convincing; I’m a plain geek. 

The system gotta be at least easy to grasp if it cannot be charming. Well at least for those who want mechanical elegance. I know that I’m not the person you go to if you want a really exciting story – I’m the guy that gets involved when there is a problem that people would need another set of eyes or a different point of view.