34 thoughts on “System matters, but play culture matters more.”

  9. Robert Bohl I would assume: as a player: active listening, letting other player characters shine, prompting quiet players, playing your own character like a “real” person (depending on genre). As a GM: setting expectations, distributing the spot light etc. Stuff that is vital for a good session but not necessarily part of the rules.

  10. Robert Bohl I would assume: as a player: active listening, letting other player characters shine, prompting quiet players, playing your own character like a “real” person (depending on genre). As a GM: setting expectations, distributing the spot light etc. Stuff that is vital for a good session but not necessarily part of the rules.

  11. Robert Bohl I think you can take this as narrowly as “the people at your table in this one session” or as broadly as “the prevailing assumptions in your community of players (which in turn play out at your table in any given session).” The rules can help facilitate a certain kind of game / story, but can’t make up for a group that shows up intent upon playing a different kind of game, which can be a function of a specific group’s preferences AND/or a reflection of broader modes of thinking.

    (I am reminded of a certain blog post I read recently by an OSR fan who resented that Monsterhearts demanded that she engage with themes related to interpersonal relationships and teen sexuality, as if these should only be incidental to the game. No rule set that actively seeks to encourage a specific kind of play, rather than an open ended tool set or sandbox, can get around that kind of play culture assumption.)

  12. Robert Bohl I think you can take this as narrowly as “the people at your table in this one session” or as broadly as “the prevailing assumptions in your community of players (which in turn play out at your table in any given session).” The rules can help facilitate a certain kind of game / story, but can’t make up for a group that shows up intent upon playing a different kind of game, which can be a function of a specific group’s preferences AND/or a reflection of broader modes of thinking.

    (I am reminded of a certain blog post I read recently by an OSR fan who resented that Monsterhearts demanded that she engage with themes related to interpersonal relationships and teen sexuality, as if these should only be incidental to the game. No rule set that actively seeks to encourage a specific kind of play, rather than an open ended tool set or sandbox, can get around that kind of play culture assumption.)

  17. AMEN

    You can’t pack much “play culture” into a book but you can nurture it with your own crew and spread that good stuff like wildfire online / at cons / by inviting others into good games.

  18. AMEN

    You can’t pack much “play culture” into a book but you can nurture it with your own crew and spread that good stuff like wildfire online / at cons / by inviting others into good games.

  19. I was thinking play culture more as everything we bring to the table. If everyone is having fun you’re doing it right, inclusiveness, the X card…that sort of thing.

  20. I was thinking play culture more as everything we bring to the table. If everyone is having fun you’re doing it right, inclusiveness, the X card…that sort of thing.

  23. I don’t think there’s a difference between the two, except traditionally only one was written down. I have seen a lot of “play culture” as part of system in say the past 20 years though.

  24. I don’t think there’s a difference between the two, except traditionally only one was written down. I have seen a lot of “play culture” as part of system in say the past 20 years though.

  27. There is a good possibility that I am missing something. My first thought is a game that is one or two pages. Let’s say it does not even explain what an RPG is. The game seems not to reflect any kind of game culture, to me. Again, if I am missing anything please awaken me!

  28. There is a good possibility that I am missing something. My first thought is a game that is one or two pages. Let’s say it does not even explain what an RPG is. The game seems not to reflect any kind of game culture, to me. Again, if I am missing anything please awaken me!

  29. parrish warren in that case most of the system is implied and for the players (including any GM) to work out based on the play culture. It will probably work well for a similar play culture to the author, and fail horribly outside that group.

  30. parrish warren in that case most of the system is implied and for the players (including any GM) to work out based on the play culture. It will probably work well for a similar play culture to the author, and fail horribly outside that group.

  31. ^ Or work well/terribly in a variety of ways depending on group.

    There’s a good (Baker?) post somewhere about how “the Rules” is always going to be a mishmash of the System as the designer laid out as text on a page, then how that information is conveyed to players, then how all of that is filtered through the assumptions of everyone at the table and their own practices and experiences.

    Jason Morningstar’s right, player culture absolutely injects itself into the system-as-played.

    It fills in the gaps in a presented ruleset and probably overwrites whole swaths of whatever we do commit to words.

  32. ^ Or work well/terribly in a variety of ways depending on group.

    There’s a good (Baker?) post somewhere about how “the Rules” is always going to be a mishmash of the System as the designer laid out as text on a page, then how that information is conveyed to players, then how all of that is filtered through the assumptions of everyone at the table and their own practices and experiences.

    Jason Morningstar’s right, player culture absolutely injects itself into the system-as-played.

    It fills in the gaps in a presented ruleset and probably overwrites whole swaths of whatever we do commit to words.

  33. At the same time it’s not static. You can’t just say “welp, play culture is play culture, and nothing in this book will change any of that one bit for the game”.

  34. At the same time it’s not static. You can’t just say “welp, play culture is play culture, and nothing in this book will change any of that one bit for the game”.

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