Story and Math!

            Alright, it is time for another Design Monday! If you missed my last one these are the posts where I talk a bit about making games and game design. So, if you got a game you want to get done but are unsure of how to do so then these are the posts for you.

            So today’s topic is Story versus Rules. This is one of the first things I asked myself when I first got into game design was “Do my rules reflect my story or should my story reflect my rules?” I am sure I am not the only one who thought this.  I suppose to really answer this question we should examine something else.

            Every game has rules we know this. That is the point of a game right to gain victory in a controlled set of circumstances? So I suppose we can ask ourselves why we need story.  Let’s look at my favorite game Arkham Horror, in this game player’s run around a town collecting things to fight an ancient evil and save the world. It is very similar to the game Elder Sign I talked about in my first post. Now what makes this game fun? Is it that I get some number that tells me to roll some dice against other numbers? No, the fact I am an average guy fighting against the forces of evil makes this fun. When you boil it down yes, I am just doing simple math and it’s no more fun then homework. It’s this overlaying story that keeps my interest.

            So, back to our first question, does story reflect rules or does rules reflect story? With my first game I started with a full blown out story and all these characters and world and it was the most amazing thing I have ever done ever! Then the rules part came. I became very frustrated because I could make rules to fit everything in my story. So I went the other way and I ran into the same problem. I could not make story to fit all the rules I had wanted to put in. So I suppose in a nutshell the answer is: a bit of both. You need to build your story and rules at the same time.

            This has a lot of advantages I have discovered. If you have a cool rule you come with it is usually pretty easy to incorporate it into your story and vice versa. If I were to attach a metaphor to this it would it is easier to insert new bricks while building instead of after it is done. Those of you with Legos know how this one goes. So I urge you all if you are starting a game build it a piece at a time. Don’t fully flesh out the story and don’t fully lay out all the rules.

            I suppose that it all I have to say on this subject tonight. Check out next post this Wednesday for my first full on review!

Good Gaming Everybody!