>>5882673I actually found this framework really useful diagnosing some of my own game settings, which feature a lot of items or places or intricate lore etc, but it seems like players never delve very deeply into them, interact with the possibilities or do not use the items or abilities or assets etc because perhaps they are too nonobvious or complex with many hidden implications. For me because roleplaying games are about establishing a scene (unlike videogame precoded logic or art assets) the fun for me is to find "the hidden thing" the secret meaning bridging the narrative omissions or imaginary emptiness spanning the fantasy world, I don't like the mechanics to be made obvious eg roll to look at secret trapdoor etc or pbta playbook moves etc but maybe there are better ways of encouraging this sort of gameplay for other audiences.
Also, I tend to think my games are highly nonlinear, with true randomness and high consequence high threat sharply divergent choices, I think I am the only person incorporating explicit random tables in my games, but perhaps the nonlinearity is not always attaining full potential because of some of these game design nuances the author of that old gamasutra article is outlining.
I also am very interested in combining this game analysis approach with the old Caillois ludology,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man,_Play_and_Gamesgames as Skill, Luck, Mimicry, Sensation ("vertigo" hehe remember how there was a faction called Vertigo Pact in my last sci-fi game setting, that was a meta game design reference hehe) I am very interested in a mechanism to "procedurally generate catharsis" ie ROLL RANDOM TABLE FOR DRAMA yay but ideally coherent and emotionally meaningful drama. This is something I am always investigating, hehe
