Exploring how Glatisant, a GM-less TTRPG for two players, uses specific communication limits and a secret victory condition to create an Arthurian story. Also: Vote in the Bloggies!
I feel like Arthurian stories often have a theme of having a goal but not knowing its true nature or consequences. Or conversely, the sense that the outcomes are preordained. The limited communication in Glatisant, and the Beast's manipulations, seem to combine to create a very Arthurian story: the Knight appears to be pursuing a random Beast but is actually moving inevitably towards their own destiny. I'll have to try out.
Having recently played The Mind, I remember that we drew the line at saying words. All other communication (usually through stern glares) was allowed. I agree with your assessment that that game would be unplayable without breaking that rule (i.e. if you were playing as a play-by-post and just had to type your number into the channel when you thought it was next). The limited communication here in Glatisant sounds much more reasonable, and enjoyable, especially since the Knight player knows that the information will be hidden, and they must try to deduce it during play.
i voted 'not sure', but more as a proxy for 'it depends' ^^ it all depends on the implementation; of it 'makes sense', then sure, that sounds like fun! but i could also see it being frustrating, and generally i think it requires a strong 'reason' for it.
asymmetry in games is really interesting. there are definitely different kinds of it, too! 'you will die in this place' by Elizabeth Little is another (upcoming, but free preview (of 200 first pages) available) game with (extremely) asymmetric player classes :) but sure, to some extent even classes in dnd are 'asymmetric' in some sense of the word ^^ and there's also usually some asymmetry in 'gm:ed' games between 'gm' and 'pc'!
Glatisant seems like a fascinating game, anyhow, interesting to learn about the lore too :) seems very thematic and fun :D thank you for sharing <3
The original post did not include links to Glatisant! Here they are...
PDF: https://graftbound.itch.io/glatisant
Print: https://graftbound.com/product/glatisant/
I feel like Arthurian stories often have a theme of having a goal but not knowing its true nature or consequences. Or conversely, the sense that the outcomes are preordained. The limited communication in Glatisant, and the Beast's manipulations, seem to combine to create a very Arthurian story: the Knight appears to be pursuing a random Beast but is actually moving inevitably towards their own destiny. I'll have to try out.
From the few stories I've read, that does seem to make sense. The quests are never clear and honestly rarely make sense to me as a modern reader. :)
Having recently played The Mind, I remember that we drew the line at saying words. All other communication (usually through stern glares) was allowed. I agree with your assessment that that game would be unplayable without breaking that rule (i.e. if you were playing as a play-by-post and just had to type your number into the channel when you thought it was next). The limited communication here in Glatisant sounds much more reasonable, and enjoyable, especially since the Knight player knows that the information will be hidden, and they must try to deduce it during play.
That sounds right. Good insights!
Thanks!
i voted 'not sure', but more as a proxy for 'it depends' ^^ it all depends on the implementation; of it 'makes sense', then sure, that sounds like fun! but i could also see it being frustrating, and generally i think it requires a strong 'reason' for it.
asymmetry in games is really interesting. there are definitely different kinds of it, too! 'you will die in this place' by Elizabeth Little is another (upcoming, but free preview (of 200 first pages) available) game with (extremely) asymmetric player classes :) but sure, to some extent even classes in dnd are 'asymmetric' in some sense of the word ^^ and there's also usually some asymmetry in 'gm:ed' games between 'gm' and 'pc'!
Glatisant seems like a fascinating game, anyhow, interesting to learn about the lore too :) seems very thematic and fun :D thank you for sharing <3