Rules, instructions, and guidelines are a core component to games. Rules can be part of what makes play fun, and in some cases you learn more about a game from its rules than simply how to play. For example, the Arkham Horror living card game has about six paragraphs in its rulebook devoted to the word “then.” Another rule states that if you ever don’t know what to do, you should choose what is the worst option for your characters. You have now learned almost everything you need to know about the sort of game Arkham Horror is. How often do you learn what a game is about by its rules? There is something ultimately calming about following rules or instructions — it can be reassuring to know what to do. Here are a few examples of games which pare down to just instructions and, I think, do it best. Anna Anthropy’s 21-24 October Tabletop RPGs I already wrote about Anna Anthropy last week, and I can’t believe she went and dropped four stellar role playing games just before writing my column for this week. So it goes. Released over the course of a week, Letters That Will Never Arrive, Someone on this train, The Artifact, and A Gift Arrives! are all available on itch.io and can be played by just one person. They are games half-played by reading their instructions, in a style of prose which evokes the feeling of their play. “Someone on this train (or bus) is… [Read full story]
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