Levels of Conflict

Something I've been thinking about lately is the way conflicts are decided in games, both in LARPs and tabletops. There are several different levels on which conflicts can be decided, and I think a lot of the feel of your game depends on where the mechanics/system focuses.
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Good Company

Inspired by tweets by @redroselet; see also the resulting blog post.

There is no such thing as a good person.
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Mechanical Purpose

Ok, so one thing Chuubo's has me thinking about more is the purpose of mechanics. It's easy to think something like, "ok, our game has combat in it, so we need a combat mechanic", without really thinking about what the mechanic is doing for your game.

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