To make things worse, Transhuman Space was primarily designed to be an interesting setting for the sake of having an interesting setting, without any real consideration or focus given to the types of stories/games that can be told in that setting.This struck me as quite insightful on the specific setting at hand, but also a key to why I find some settings and games to be hard to get. I have never managed to get enthusiastic about Harn and sometimes I think this is also the problem with the original Mage game. It's especially true for the latter, where clearly even the designers didn't know what to do with it, but it became boring in later editions when they got a clue. I'm quite sure there's a lesson in there, for both scenario and world creation.
A blog about roleplaying games. I talk about old school, and new school. I talk about ways to tell stories, explore new worlds and have fun with your friends. I love many games but Tunnels & Trolls by Ken St. Andre has a special place in my heart. It reopened Pandora's Box, again.
Tunnels & Trolls is a trademark of Flying Buffalo Inc.
In memory of Dave Arneson.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Why some games are hard
I just read the following by Justin Alexander about why the Transhuman Space game is known to be hard to get into.