Beyond Rules and Fiction: The Future of Roleplaying Game Design

A shift in how we talk about them

• Introduction

  ^{The many different explanations of the same looping interaction model}

• How Players Create Reality

  ^{The game space is filtered through the player’s mental models}

• The Constant Rewrite of Reality

  ^{Every loop, where the player interprets new information, breeds engagement}

• What Makes Games Different From Stories

  ^{Several loops are releasing each other at the same time}

• Why Uncertainty Matters

  ^{Serve patterns to awaken anticipation, releasing emotions when solved}

• The Many Ways We Find Fun

  ^{Trigger the players’ mental models by targeting their motivation}

• A Diagnostic Tool for Debugging Engagement

  ^{Use the effects as rewards, let the players know they are on the right path}

I want to introduce a paradigm shift: moving away from viewing roleplaying games as collections of rules, setting elements, fiction, and techniques, and instead seeing them as interaction models.

We need to recognize that the reality of the game—whether represented through miniatures or purely through narrative—is mirrored within each participant’s mind. These internal representations form the foundation for decisions based on each person’s interpretation and assessment of the situation.

Those decisions lead to actions, which produce responses from the game world, and the individual’s internal representation is then updated. The more we move through this loop, the more engaged we become as we move closer to finding the pattern.

This also simplifies our understanding of different play styles, because the foundation is no longer found in the rules themselves, but in the dynamic relationship between game and player—in other words, in the act of playing, answering WHYs and WHATs.

Uncertainty is an essential element; without it, the game becomes predictable and boring. Everything we do during a session is an act of constructing meaning, and we understand that meaning by forming a story: creating fiction within our own minds.

I truly believe that if we design with this loop in mind, we can create more efficient games. Games that are more to the point of how to be played; games can skip a lot of the work before playing; games that will engage faster. Games that are easier to figure out why the session failed.

Two of my games below showcase how roleplaying games can be built with loops in mind, and by going through these loops, fiction will emerge as a result:

The Murder of Mr. Crow

^{2 pages long, 1 hour of play}

The fun in playing this game lies in seeing a scenario grow in front of us while

contributing to it by following these three steps:

✓ Creating suspects.

✓ Revealing motives.

✓ Revealing the murderer.

Imagine

^{6 pages long, 1-2 hours of play}

Creates a shared feeling of togetherness in the group while playing out at least three situations, where we will follow several fictitious people and explore their memories and hopes.

Link to the two games