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LEADS

A System Reference Document dedicated for hackers and game designers, in order to create game by Following the LEADS. · By Nicolas "Gulix" Ronvel

A curiosity question about the influence of a mechanic on player choice

A topic by DeReel created Oct 13, 2021 Views: 212 Replies: 3
Viewing posts 1 to 3

(I have read the document in french) Out of sheer curiosity : From the document, I gather that the player knows when their choice will open the possibility of a “Piste”. I mean, the instruction of adding the cards from this Piste must be visible on the card, right ? There’s no way, like in a gamebook, to separate the choice of following the Piste from the realization of this consequence, that new cards will be added to the deck. If that is correct, (how/) does it affect player choice ? If that doesn’t make sense, just jump to the end of the message.

In any case, thank you for the good work !

Developer

It's intentional game design. 

When a "Lead" (Piste in french) is declared on a prompt, it means following it will disrupt the current story (well, in fact, the current deck). Following a Lead is a strong move by the player (and one of the only ones available in the game). When you follow a Lead, you explicitely say to the game : "I want this theme to be added to the story".

I would gladely read/play a game where this notion is twisted.

(2 edits) (+1)

I get it : the choice is made knowingly by the player. If I were to design around this, I’d use a few secret cards, appart from the deck, that sometimes lead to a Lead (!) and sometimes are just “nothing special” flavour text or even a setback, for investigations, where asking too much questions could trigger some unwanted pushback. I like this element in noir stories.

I’ll try to oblige you and flesh this idea out before 2023.

(Piste = Leads… bon sang mais c’est bien sûr !)

I’m regularly coming back to this SRD with a longing in my heart and an aprehension of failure. I think I just need to fill a table with prompts and see how it goes, then playtest and adjust. Thanks again for the SRD!