AnSR Games
  • Home
  • News
  • Games
    • CH35S
    • ManaSeekers
    • U3 RPG
    • YMOR Games
    • ZipWarZ
  • Upcoming Games
  • About
  • Home
  • News
  • Games
    • CH35S
    • ManaSeekers
    • U3 RPG
    • YMOR Games
    • ZipWarZ
  • Upcoming Games
  • About

News and Musings

WyshMaykers Designer Notes - Creativity and Ambiguity

9/22/2011

 
In the game of WyshMaykers, characters can make anything they wysh come true. Anything. Because Anything is such a large swath of possibilities, two things had to be ingrained in the game system: Creativity and Ambiguity.  

***Creativity***  
Becasue anything is possible with a Wysh, we really kept the game mechanics light. Or rather, we used the light game mechanics from -U- the Game of Stories. See, in core game of -U-, there aren't a lot of crazy modifiers or target numbers or difficulty charts and whatnot. Characters just get a number of chances to succeed at things and roll dice to see if they succeed or not. That fit really well into encouraging the open creativity of the game that we wanted to have. We wanted players to be able to shock one another with the crazy things that they wyshed for. We wanted Story Referees to try to account for wyshes that might unbalance the game. We wanted players to have to react to the unexpected using their mind, their stats, and their dice. The lack of heavy math and terribly complicated charts lent itself to this free-flowing no-holds-bared experience very well.

***Ambiguity***
As we played the game, it became apparent that sometimes it was nice to have something mechanically that the Story Referee could use to limit the players in some way. We came up with the optional Modifiers table. With the modifier table, Story Referees could reduce the number of chances a character had to succeed at making a wysh. Some of the restrictions were easily identified (number of people affected). Some we left ambiguous on purpose (like complexity and beleivability of a wsyh). The ambiguity worked well and allowed the Story Referee to justify and control the flow of the story in the face of creatively destructive players. This then fed into the the creativity of the game even more as it allowed Story Referees the chance to be creative in limiting players, and players a new boundry to be creative within. 


Both Creativity and Abmiguity play into each other heavily in WyshMaykers. Give the game a try: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=94202&affiliate_id=229603

Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from KrautScientist, Francois Karm, wwarby, rodtuk, stevendepolo, Fareham Wine, mikecogh, davis.steve32, Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0), vidurskye, Cubmundo, Ivan Radic (CC BY 2.0), Ramon Oromí Farré [calBenido], Phil Roeder, byzantiumbooks, Creative Tools, MerelyRachel, SarahDobbs, tedeytan, dirkb86, dejankrsmanovic, MIKI Yoshihito. (#mikiyoshihito), Linux Journal, marcoverch, mikecogh, Phil Roeder, symphony of love, wuestenigel, Ivan Radic, NCinDC, FutUndBeidl, Tim Reckmann | a59.de, wuestenigel, wuestenigel
  • Home
  • News
  • Games
    • CH35S
    • ManaSeekers
    • U3 RPG
    • YMOR Games
    • ZipWarZ
  • Upcoming Games
  • About