Like me, I think a lot of campaign Arcs players adore playing games like TI and Here I Stand, but haven't found games that fill similar niches. All those fast "epic" games feel paper-thin. The fundamental strategy of Arcs's campaign was to chop the the big experience game rather than compress it. - ThreadSky

colewehrle.bsky.social • 74 days ago

Like me, I think a lot of campaign Arcs players adore playing games like TI and Here I Stand, but haven't found games that fill similar niches. All those fast "epic" games feel paper-thin. The fundamental strategy of Arcs's campaign was to chop the the big experience game rather than compress it.

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danbullock.bsky.social•74 days ago

I think some affection for long games is actually nostalgia for a time in our lives when we had more opportunity to play long games. The glut of 90min games neglects that great play experiences come in a wide variety (similar to adherence to three act structure in film).

colewehrle.bsky.social•74 days ago

I think that's certainly part of it and, to be fair, nostalgia can be a great creative force. But, it's always amazing to me what folks end up deciding to sacrifice when doing that kind of compression--as if they are bad readers of their own previous experiences.

meepleriot.bsky.social•74 days ago

I have a love-hate relationship with long games. I love the epic and in depth experience they provide. I hate that they are so hard to bring them on the table, which results in the games not being played as often as they deserve it.

meepleriot.bsky.social•74 days ago

Same goes for games with higher player counts. Love the epicness and interaction. Still bring 4-6 people to the table is something that's pretty rare, if people also have daily struggles that need their attention. 2-3 player and a playtime if 2+/- are just perfect for me right now. #sweetspot

colewehrle.bsky.social•74 days ago

It feels funny to reflect on this now while working on Oath, a game that is designed to never end. But this is actually a place where Oath is just fundamentally different from Arcs. Arcs is interested in big experiences where Oath is interested in the game that exists almost outside of the game.

colewehrle.bsky.social•74 days ago

Oath is essentially an exercise in shared worldbuilding and that process seeps out of gameplay into all sorts of things, session reports, poems...heck, even a cookbook! The best way to play Oath, at least for me, is to play a few games in quick succession and then to let it simmer for awhile.

colewehrle.bsky.social•74 days ago

It's a game about revisiting and becoming estranged from oneself and ones history. It's certainly a complex game and it's one that rewards investment, but it doesn't demand players play X number of sessions in order for it to make sense. All of those elements have only become more pronounced with NF

colewehrle.bsky.social•74 days ago

My model here is how I like to play TTRPGs. Which is to say, a short campaign here or there, maybe a long campaign if we've got the right group, and then, occasionally, a one off with whatever random character sheets I happened to stuff into the binder when we last played the game years ago.

colewehrle.bsky.social•74 days ago

The great commonality is that these games are designed with play patterns in mind. Games are only games if they are played. As designers we should always think about how they exist physically and how players interact with them. All our other ambitions have to sit within those restrictions.

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