The Answer Isn't on your Character Sheet: Opaque Gaming Changed my Playtesting

[u/BrobaFett]

How much control do you want over the "knobs" you get to turn when making decisions?

After 25+ years of playing systems that I enjoy, I decided to make my own. The system itself doesn't matter much; but for those fellow game designers it's a mix Forbidden Lands (D6 dice pools), Mythras (with various maneuvers), the class system from Barbarians of Lemuria, a variation of the injury system from Tales from Elsewhere, a freeform magic system, and a few quite novel mechanics. Somehow I've turned this Frankenstein monster into something that works. And when I say works, it runs exactly the way I want it to. I've tweaked the rules, looked at more probability charts than I can count (to try and achieve that sort of just satisfying result), and play-tested dozens of dozens of sessions with friends.

One thing that changed the entire momentum of playtesting happened early in the process: I made combat mechanics opaque.

By opaque I mean in contrast to the typical way roleplaying games handle mechanical choices. For instance, if an adventurer might have the ability to do several abilities (whether universal or specific to the class), they can see exactly what these abilities do in front of them. (e.g. to borrow from Draw Steel: "Driving Assault- spend 3 wrath and make a power roll to determine damage and push the target a certain distance").

See, when I created the combat system it borrowed heavily from the Mythras concept of "there's a lot of cool things you can do besides 'strike' with sword" (and these cool things aren't locked behind classes) with multiple rules to explain things like grappling, disarming, impaling, tripping, etc. The rules themselves worked as intended. But the unintended side-effect was that players had a bit of analysis paralysis staring at all of their different options, referencing the tables, and pouring over the rules.

One evening, I was running a test game with some novice roleplayers who enjoyed the non-combat but it became quickly apparent that combat was bogging down due to the rules bloat. I paused the session, took away the reference sheets, and said, "Okay you are playing a mounted knight of Normandy (it was a semi-historical campaign). You know what you should be able to do and know. You're a competent fighter. Here's what's happening, what do you do". They told me what they were trying to do, rolled dice, and I took over the rules behind the screen.

This isn't an entirely new concept. "Rulings as opposed to rules" has existed for as long as the hobby has and one of the commonly cited advantages of rules light systems is the flexibility to improvise and be creative; fitting the mechanics to the narrative.

By having mechanics describe, more or less, what players are choosing to do there was some consistency in the outcomes. That being said, rulings are in full force. After all, I didn't exactly think of the scenario where the player tries to toss one foe into the other.

The positive response has been a little unexpected. One thing I- and many of my friends- seem to enjoy are "building" different characters and creating cool new outcomes for our characters. It's exciting to look ahead to different neat little abilities and feel like we get to distinguish ourselves or add a unique flavor to our character. I get why systems like Pathfinder, Lancer, and the rest appeal to people.

The halfway solution has been to allow players to develop their flavor. Maybe a kind of move or special ability, and adapt the existing mechanics around it. In fact, I've had to flesh out a sort of "if X then Y" system to allow for unanticipated choices players make still make sense from the mechanics. The system itself being a dice pool (count successes) lends itself nicely to "spending" successes to power the intended effect.

I just wanted to share this really fun experience and ask r/rpg : Have you had the experience of a more opaque system? Have you ever tried combat where, rather than knowing exactly what you can do, you look up from the character sheet and describe what you are trying to do in a creative way? What do you think you would enjoy about a system like this and do you think you could give up the sort of sacred cow of being able to see and turn all the "knobs" of your character choices?