Exploring how Rauha uses a tight 3x3 grid and tile-laying to create tough decisions and an interesting puzzle. How can we use similar grid-based mechanisms in other types of games?
It's always vexed me that, upon seeing the relative irrelevance of the grid in a game like D&D 5e, designers either move to abstract positioning entirely, or else double-down on the grid... without making the grid itself more interesting, or forcing the GM into the position of either designing or interpreting a grid in a way that's interesting to interact with.
There's lots of ways to improve on that. My game borrows from Cortex, letting you "mark" interesting environmental features with Inspiration/Advantage dice (a tree that grants a boon to ranged attacks; a wall that can be pulled down for +2d8 damage). Doing this also makes those spaces into contested resources.
Kingdom Death, which I think beautifully straddles boardgame and TTRPG, has prescribed terrain tiles that are part of each encounter and must be negotiated. Forced movement over the whole board is a BIG part of the game. (Forget "Shove 10 feet", we're talking "Suffer Knockback 20.")
The 3x3 grid could also be a great middle-ground for people who want more abstract/"zone"-based combat but are maybe overwhelmed by not having any visual reference. You could use index cards and have each card count as 30ftx60ft or something similar. Messing with scale to still follow RAW while creating a more bounded space that can then have different triggers/relationships between tiles sounds like a great place to start.
RE: Crystal biome - (because I am prone to jumping down rabbit holes) It didn't occur to me (or maybe it's just that I haven't had my coffee, there's a mountain of snow waiting to be shoveled and my brain isn't switched on just yet) that in science, biomes are categorized by climate and not ecosystem, but in many games "biome" is used to describe an ecosystem. This leads me to another question: As game designers, do we have a responsibility to use terms correctly? Or are we the agents of language change? (And is that why there's already a game for that?) What do you think?
I don't mind. Biome is a pretty common term in video games and it's shorter/easier to say than ecosystem. If the game isn't trying to be educational (Rauha is not) then to me it doesn't matter.
If i like...i leave a comment. Sometimes I cant comment with intelligence...so I forbear to do so. Its not that I become not smart but that I have very little of worthyness to share...
i'd be all here for a phase-round-turn article :) fascinating article, as always! definitely agree that a "fiddly" minigame seems really appropriate for a magic system especially (or cyberpunk hacking) ^^ always love these points that cross-pollinate between ttrpgs and board games :) thank you for sharing <3
It's always vexed me that, upon seeing the relative irrelevance of the grid in a game like D&D 5e, designers either move to abstract positioning entirely, or else double-down on the grid... without making the grid itself more interesting, or forcing the GM into the position of either designing or interpreting a grid in a way that's interesting to interact with.
There's lots of ways to improve on that. My game borrows from Cortex, letting you "mark" interesting environmental features with Inspiration/Advantage dice (a tree that grants a boon to ranged attacks; a wall that can be pulled down for +2d8 damage). Doing this also makes those spaces into contested resources.
Kingdom Death, which I think beautifully straddles boardgame and TTRPG, has prescribed terrain tiles that are part of each encounter and must be negotiated. Forced movement over the whole board is a BIG part of the game. (Forget "Shove 10 feet", we're talking "Suffer Knockback 20.")
The 3x3 grid could also be a great middle-ground for people who want more abstract/"zone"-based combat but are maybe overwhelmed by not having any visual reference. You could use index cards and have each card count as 30ftx60ft or something similar. Messing with scale to still follow RAW while creating a more bounded space that can then have different triggers/relationships between tiles sounds like a great place to start.
Rune from Gila RPGs uses a pretty small grid and it works well in that game.
I was just thinking of exactly that! Rune FTW.
RE: Crystal biome - (because I am prone to jumping down rabbit holes) It didn't occur to me (or maybe it's just that I haven't had my coffee, there's a mountain of snow waiting to be shoveled and my brain isn't switched on just yet) that in science, biomes are categorized by climate and not ecosystem, but in many games "biome" is used to describe an ecosystem. This leads me to another question: As game designers, do we have a responsibility to use terms correctly? Or are we the agents of language change? (And is that why there's already a game for that?) What do you think?
I don't mind. Biome is a pretty common term in video games and it's shorter/easier to say than ecosystem. If the game isn't trying to be educational (Rauha is not) then to me it doesn't matter.
If the game is trying to be educational like Genotype, then it matters: https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/genotype
If i like...i leave a comment. Sometimes I cant comment with intelligence...so I forbear to do so. Its not that I become not smart but that I have very little of worthyness to share...
i'd be all here for a phase-round-turn article :) fascinating article, as always! definitely agree that a "fiddly" minigame seems really appropriate for a magic system especially (or cyberpunk hacking) ^^ always love these points that cross-pollinate between ttrpgs and board games :) thank you for sharing <3
Thanks! I always enjoy your comments!
What system are you using for the cyberpunk hack?