The Conical Rabbit

Anything that’s a part of the game is going to shape how the game is played. A great example of this is alignment. Alignment is a game mechanic common in fantasy tabletop RPGs, and a very controversial one. People have argued about whether or not alignment is an essential part of Dungeons & Dragons for decades. The latest edition dropped the concept entirely, and there are many games that don’t use alignment at all. Alignment as a game mechanic is an easy target for problems. It’s often presented as an absolute, and if a character does something that doesn’t fit with the alignment, then it’s a matter of poor writing, or poor understanding of the game, or simply poor roleplaying. (I’m not going to get into whether or not alignment is good or evil, or how it works or doesn’t work. That’s not really the point here.) But even if alignment isn’t used during play in a given game, it’s often still a concept that’s very present in the game. If a game is set in a fantasy world with multiple...

 Encounter-based gaming is one of the hallmark features of D&D and OSR games. A series of encounters is a structure for allowing players to interval train their characters. Interval training is a concept from fitness training whereby one exercises for a set period of time, takes a short rest, and then repeats. For example, I might set a timer for a minute and then walk as fast as I can. When the timer goes off, I stop and rest for a minute. I repeat this until I have reached my desired distance. Interval training is more effective than sustained exercise when trying to increase aerobic capacity and it is also a more time-efficient method. In other words, it is a great way to exercise if you have a limited time. Encounter-based gaming allows players to exercise their characters, i.e. to develop the characters’ abilities and to increase their resource pools. This structure is also time-efficient, so it is ideal for short gaming sessions. An encounter-based structure also allows p...

 What do you do when your players decide to smash down a locked door? Here’s what I’d do: I’d ask my friend what sort of damage they’re dealing, and then I’d make up a number that seems appropriate. If my friend is swinging a two-handed greatsword and dealing 40 damage per hit, I’m thinking that they’re not going to need to hit the door more than seven or eight times to get the job done. If my friend is swinging the same sword but dealing only 20 damage per hit, I’m thinking that they’re going to need to hit the door fourteen or fifteen times. If my friend is just kicking the door—no weapons, no armor—I’m thinking that it’s going to take them a lot longer. If this is a one-time thing, and the door is just a simple plot device, I think that’s fine.  If this is a recurring thing, and the door is protecting the secret entrance to a villain’s lair—or something similarly important—I might want to take a second to make a note of how many hits it took to break the door, and then use ...