The cynics say that we keep reinventing the wheel. They say we have too many RPGs, mostly doing the same thing, and why bother to write yet another RPG about elves and magic swords? And they have one thing right - we should stop re-writing RPGs from scratch. Instead, we should change them.

Knave started as a …

The RPG scene has suffered for too long under its assumption that every positive feature in a system (realism, choices, fancy-looking hats) must imply more work to understand the system, and more time to resolve every action.

1   (easy but nonsensical)                (realistic but Maths)
2 …

The classic World of Darkness system has some impressive features.

System Summary

1. Add the character's Attribute + Ability,
2. And roll that number of D10's.
3. Each die which meets the difficulty number (default: 6) means one 'success'.

Bust in the Door!

• Strength 3 + Crafts 3 = 6
• Roll 6D10 (difficulty 7): 7, 4, 4, 3, 1, …

Chekov's gun poses a real threat to some games.

If a group playing Vampire: The Masquerade ('VtM') encounter a Ravnos, spinning illusions, and confusing mortals, then the next time they hear about unusual events, they will assume that the Ravnos did this. Clearly - the Ravnos is part of the plot! After all, VtM draws …

In some sense, you don't care about your washing machine. You have no clue where that powder comes from, or where those particles go after the wash. But you care a great deal when your washing machine breaks down.

In the same sense, everyone playing RPGs cares about what the chosen system does, because that's where the …

When looking at RPG Attributes, one fact returns to me constantly: Olympic Athletes cannot compete in every sport.

• Top wrestlers are stocky, and cannot compete in basketball.
• Top basketball players move quickly, and cannot compete in weightlifting.
• Weight lifters cannot compete in climbing events.

A certain amount of …

RPGs with a shared narrative mechanic - where players and the GM both come up with interesting people, results, and situations - come with a cost. They pull focus away from the puzzle elements of the RPG, and that's my favourite element, so I can't see myself enjoying shared narration mechanics.

Let's start with an …

Domination

In Vampire: the Masquerade, the first level of the Dominate ability lets the vampire issue a one-word command, which the target instantly obeys. It might be 'sit', 'stay', 'fight', 'run', or any other one-word command. It's flexible genius, because it clearly defines what the ability does, but can still …

RPGs have dungeons...well more often those dungeons are caves...no, actually RPG plots often feature caves, which we call 'dungeons'. Anyway, these caves look rather strange, because people began drawing them on graph paper, and later they made sure to fit the entire map onto a single square at the top of a page.

RPG …

Why is it always the same old elves, and hobbits, and +1 swords? Can't people come up with anything different?

...I hear this every so often, and I wonder if any of these people actually pick up the myriad gonzo-RPGs with novel races (or at least 'novelty races'). Of course, many have the extra barrier of 40 pages …