Designing the Conversation
"You probably know this already: roleplaying is a conversation." (Baker 9) This idea has become fundamental to how I approach the design of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs): they're conversation games and can be designed that way. This is what I mean.
Conversation games are games.
I use Anna Anthropy's definition of a game: "A game is an experience created by rules." (43) Therefore game designers write rules to create specific experiences. For roleplaying games, a good way to do that is to hook the rules into the story–the conversation the players are having.
The rules of a conversation game depend on a conversation.
Pasión de las Passiones by Brandon Leon-Gambetta is a great example. Its rules depend deeply on the story the players are telling. Consider this rule from the game.
When you express your love passionately, roll with the questions:
- Are you dressed to impress?
- Do they believe that you are single? ... (75)
This rule only applies when someone passionately expresses their love. It entices and draws the conversation towards it. The accompanying questions then enrich the conversation deliberately. They demand answers. They make the game about dressing to impress, or failing to; about someone's assumptions of the relationship status of someone else. Players can't follow this rule without expressing love passionately, discussing how well they are dressed, and if they believe you're single. With this rule, Leon-Gambetta crafts the conversation—the experience of the game. This is what I strive for in my own designs. I ask myself "Where do these rules steer the conversation? What conversation is caused by these rules? Is that the experience I want my game to create?"
Conversation games are conversations driven by rules.
The connection between the rules and the conversation goes both ways in a conversation game. Not only do the rules depend on the conversation but they also drive it. A game with rules that depend on a conversation but without rules that drive it is not a conversation game. A drinking game is not a conversation game. The rule "take a shot every time someone brings up the Roman Empire" depends on a conversation, but it's a stretch to say that it drives the conversation. In contrast, the rule we've been looking at from Pasión de las Pasiones drives the conversation powerfully.
It continues,
... On a hit, your target gives themself to you or reveals a secret they probably shouldn't. On a 10+, they also tell you whether they love you or not, and who else they love. (75)
Look how powerful that is! It's hard to have a boring or indifferent responses to a passionate expression of love in this game. Instead, if you're following the rule, you'll get spice and intrigue! It tells the players exactly and specifically where to take the conversation and ensures it'll be exciting. It drives the conversation deliberately in a direction that the designer wants.
To bring it all together. This is my definition of conversation game and it's the foundation of my design style.
Conversation games are games whose rules both depend on and drive a conversation
Think about how your games in progress do this. Think about how the games that inspire you do this.
Where do the rules drive conversation?
What conversation do they demand?
Does that serve the experience?
This is the result of thinking for a long time about Lazy Play vs IIEE with Teeth by D. Vincent Baker. It's worth a read.
While this idea came from TTRPGs, it's fruitful to think about what else fits the definition. Robert's Rules of Order, for one, is a conversation game. So are some Agile software development techniques like Planning Poker and the Daily Standup. Robert's Rules of Order aims to handle disputes, move the conversation forward, give everyone an opportunity to speak, and manage interruptions. Agile techniques have explored rules for iterative processes, fostering group allignment, and just in time planing—all things relevant to TTRPGs.
Works Cited:
Anthropy, Anna. Rise of the Videogame Zinesters. Seven Stories Press, 2012.
Baker, D. Vincent and Meguey Baker. Apocalypse World. lumpley games, 2016.
Leon-Gambetta, Brandon. Pasión de las Pasiones. Magpie Games.