The specifics of said character and world are more or less irrelevant to your enjoyment of the game, as evidenced by the fact that you could use your DnD rules to play space cowboys, herding animally aware asteroids to giant ore refineries in space or use your WhiteWolf rules to play a accurately detailed medieval farmer simulation.” You could just as easily say “The core Mechanic is the vehicle through which your avatar interacts with the imagined game world. It’ll be a different game (of course) but it works. ![]() Play your next D&D game using dice pools or play Dogs in the Vineyard with a d20. Pick your favorite core mechanic and you can probably graft it on to your favorite character definition system without much fuss. The two parts are actually surprisingly independent of each other. It can be even worse if you’re the GM, because even though the characters aren’t your looking glass, you have to write up and handle a ton of them. If the character definition system doesn’t sit well with you, if it doesn’t click with your mindset, you’re going to have a harder time getting into your character. The first critical step in gaming is relating to your character, your duly-elected representative and looking glass into the fictional world. What’s that you say? You think examining the core resolution mechanic is a much better test of whether or not you’ll like a game? You really want to know if you’re going to roll a bunch of dice or just one + X? Even if you don’t understand all the terms, you are getting an idea of what the system thinks is important or unimportant and how much detail it thinks it needs to define a person. When you do the character sheet test, you are getting a glimpse at the character definition system. The method for defining characters is something like “three physical attributes and three mental attributes, each with a number between 3 and 18, and a profession ranked in class levels” or “a zodiac sign, one dominant elements, two minor elements, a favorite color and a patron god.” Class-based, skill-based, point-buy, prose, whatever. The mechanic for resolving actions is usually something like “roll a die and add X” or “roll a handful of dice and count successes” or “roll a pile of dice and group them into a pyramid of matching primes.” Most games have one unified core mechanic, unlike the good old days when there were separate systems for every single thing you did (roll percentile dice to bend bars/lift gates!). Games Have Two PartsĪ roleplaying game really has just two parts: the way characters are defined and the mechanic for resolving actions. Prefer minimalist stats, prose stats, characteristics described as animals and colors? Rock on. Do you love long lists of skills, three sub-flavors of dexterity, numbers in the triple digits? Great, than that’s the game that will speak to you. There is nothing scientific about this test, nor should there be, because the kind of game I like may be quite different from the kind of game you like. ![]() Your brain will take care of the rest, consciously or not. Just ask yourself whether you like the way the character stat blocks look. On the other hand if the character sheet seems vaguely interesting, comprehensible, or if it arouses excitement or even a faint sense of curiosity, then the system is probably one that’s worth your time to try.ĭon’t think about it too hard. ![]() If your eyes start to bleed, you feel a faint nausea or dizziness, or you just get distracted and start thinking about more interesting things like getting flu shots or doing your laundry, then the game has failed the character sheet test. But when in doubt, I find I fall back on the character sheet test:Ģ) Flip through it until you find a character write-up When I’m struggling to decide whether a new game system is worth trying out, there are lots of different things that can influence my decision. Choosing New Games: the Character Sheet Test
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