Come and join @lostguidegames.bsky.social and I over @ twitch.tv/corrosivesquid where we're talking about Carrier-Bag theory in relation to both psychology, and philosophy. JOin us for good conversation, chilled beats and easy times.
Come and Join me and the Valiant Rangers over on twitch.tv/corrosivesquid as they stand in the ashes of the first ball of the social season.
Join us Gentle-viewers for Sentai & Sensibility: An Affair of Arcana | Season 2 | Episode 8 | There was Once a Town called Meung
Please come and join me and @lostguidegames.bsky.social for our weekly stream, this time we're playing Godling by Skyler K. Swift. I'll be playing the mortal, a washed up gambler who stumbled across a nascent godling played by Squidsy. Come and join us on twitch.tv/corrosivesquid
No Jokes here, but plenty of quips. Please come and join dear gentle-viewer as the Valiant Rangers as we go live on twitch.tv/corrosivesquid
Come and watch this week's Sentai & Sensibility || episode 7 of season 2 || A Bang Up Ball
thinking disparate ideas of ttrpg crunch and trying to nail down the ideas and my terms for:
- breadth (how many moving parts and variations)
- depth (how deep the rules, how fine-grained)
- load (complexity and cognitive load, average across rules, biased by peak)
Something like that. Thoughts?
I am a bias creature though, and I'm a mechanic's guy at the end of the day. So take this, and all of my thoughts with an exceptionally large grain of salt.
System/Narrative Cohesion is how well the two parts of the game's story telling interact, sometimes the mechanic's have just as much to show in the storytelling as the narrative aspect does. Even complex systems feel smooth when the game's style and storytelling bolster those choices.
Fudgability is how much the GM can hand wave or shift the odds to the player's favor before the hand of the author starts to show, this can be either on the mechanical, or the narrative side of the game. USSUALLY this shows up easier in 'smooth' games with a higher focus on narrative than mechanics.
High Tunability:
Lancer
FATE Games
Most d20 Modern games
Low Tunability:
Goblins Grabbed my Dice!
Honey Heist
Most 1/2 page games
Tunability, how much freedom does a player have in the mechanics to do their own thing. This rides along with role complexity but the player buy-in and feelings with it are different. Role complexity is the mechanic depth for the player, tunability is the breadth of options a player has to work with
Intelligibility how self explanatory the game is. I break this down into levels of familiarity with the hobby. Someone who plays multiple systems, a single system player, and someone new to the hobby all have different understandings of how games work and will take different things reading a game
High Role Complex games:
Most FATE Games
Triangle Agency
Medium Role Complex games:
Most PbtA Games
ARC Doom
Low Role Complex games:
Most multiplayer INDIE games go here, anything where the difference between classes is minimal accept maybe the numbers in each stat
Role Complexity is more specific, how much does a single player have to keep running in their head in order to play the game as intended. How each individual character's powers and abilities intersect with other systems. Things like spell lists, connected and nested abilities and unique mechanics.
Examples of Rules Heavy complex games
Shadowrun
Gurps
Examples of Rules Light Complex game
Fate
any of the Borg derivites
Rules heavy non-complex games
13th Age
Worlds without Number
Rules light non-complex games
Honey Heist
Fuck! It's Dracula
Operational Complexity is what most people THINK they mean when they ask how crunchy a game is, its how many moving parts that are active at any one time. This can mean either a tight set of rules that carry over to everything, or a large amount of single use rules that don't interact.
Some examples of High Load games:
Shadowrun
Ars Magica
Wrath and Glory
(Most GURPS derivates and Complex d20 Modern)
Medium Load:
CyberPunk RED
Lancer
(Most FitD/PbtA games, lighter d20 Modern, and FATE)
Light Load:
Honey Heist
Three goblins in a trench coat
(Narrative Indie games)
Mental load: The overall amount of cognitive strain to play a game, this isn't a judgement of the game itself, I've played games with a super high mental load that have been fantastic, and low load games that are awful, and vice-versa. A lot of the vibes of a game can be found in it's Load.
When I look at a game from the designer's point of view I break down the idea of 'crunch' into 7 parts I have them listed here and will follow up on each with examples:
- Mental Load
- Operational Complexity
- Role Complexity
- Intelligibility
- Tunability
- Fudgability
- System/Narrative Cohesion
Today for #W.I.P.Wedensday I'm working on an ongoing project for Ouroboros Counseling on a solo-TTRPG workbook that is designed to help people work on goal setting (SMART goals), Value Exploration, Mindfulness and Self-Kindness.
Feel free to share your #W.I.P.Wedensday projects below.
#TTRPG
Looking for a work along with discussions on Second Chances Shakespeare & Freud by Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Phillips over @ twitch.tv/corrosivesquid come and join us for cozy-co-working and discussions of the philosophy and ethics of change and growth
For those of you who need more Sentai in their life, please answer our cordial invitation to watch the Valiant Rangers finally attend a ball!
www.twitch.tv/corrosivesquid
Come and join @lostguidegames.bsky.social and I over at twich.tv/corrosivesquid for a game of Badger and Coyote, by @pandiongames.com where she's playing as the Carefree Coyote, and I'm the Ornery Badger.
For those of you who need more Sentai in your life, you are cordially invited to join the Valiant Rangers of Sentai and Sensability: An Affair of Arcana Season 2 over at twitch.tv/corrosivesquid, this time: ASCENDING ASEERTATIONS ATTRIBUTE TO ABSOULTE ABSOLVTION OF AMBIANT ANIMOSITY
For those of you who need more Sentai in your life and a flair of the Regency, you are cordially invited to join the Valiant Rangers of Sentai and Sensability: An Affair of Arcana Season 2 at: twitch.tv/corrosivesquid
Wednesdays 9:30 PM Eastern
Tonight's Episode: On the Subject of Superstitions
The Sun-Catcher Tree from Suncatcher, it's a tree with 6 Roots and a crown of branches with 16 leaves. The Quote above the tree reads "Together, we can catch the Sun." and on either side of the tree is 'Failures Cut Roots', and the other side has 'Success Fill leaves'
I'm not going to promise that I'll stay on top of it but I'm going to try and start doing WIP Wednesdays, sharing what I'm working on and encouraging others to do the same, #WIPWednsdays #INDIETTRPG #TTRPG #Sologames
I'm currently working on polishing off a 1-page (f/b) Solo-TTRPG, Suncatcher
If you need someone to work along with please come join @lostguidegames.bsky.social and I over @ twitch.tv/corrosivesquid as we have a cozy co-working stream, we'll be using a 20/10 pomadoro timer and can't wait to see you there!
For those of you who need more Sentai in your life, you are cordially invited to join the Valiant Rangers of Sentai and Sensability: An Affair of Arcana Season 2 over at twitch.tv/corrosivesquid
PERILOUS PROMENADE OF PONDEROUS PERFUNCTION! AN EQUITABLE EXCHANGE ESCALATES INTO EFFUSIVE EXPLOSITIVES!
Come one, come all to enjoy the continued adventures of the Valiant Rangers in Sentai & Sensibility: An Affair of Arcana Season 2.
As the mystery deepens how will our dear Rangers know who to trust?
Live at twitch.tv/corrosivesquid, Wedesndays 9:30 PM Eastern / 6:30 PM Pacific
#TTRPG #ActualPLay
If you're looking for some chill times or need some people to work along-side, we are going live for a co-working stream, hit us up over @ twitch.tv/corrosivesquid we have lofi beats, spicy takes and sometimes even philosophical debates on the validity of spray cheese.
To all Gentlefolk who have missed us, rejoice. Come one, come all to enjoy the continued adventures of the Valiant Rangers in Sentai & Sensibility: An Affair of Arcana Season 2.
Live at twitch.tv/corrosivesquid, Wedesndays 9 PM Eastern / 6 PM Pacific
@9thlevelgames.bsky.social
#TTRPG #ActualPLay