TTRPG Design: Manyfold
Expanding vocabulary: Talk the Talk
Welcome to the Glyph and Grok - A “weekly” blog-letter exploring topics in the tabletop gaming arena. We explore design, execution, and culture relating to anything played on a tabletop.
Introduction
After submitting my first complete entry into a game jam on ITCH.IO earlier this month, I have more design juice flowing than time to use it. This felt like an important step in the direction of becoming the designer I want to be. My goal this year is to be making more roleplaying content, and I've been happy with the results (mostly). I am one of 126 entries in the Cabin Fever game jam and we should hear from the judges on the winning entries by sometime next week?
My largest aspiration is wanting to create an entire setting/game system. Find my perfect homebrew ruleset and flesh it out, record it, and present to the world to explore. This goal is a constant in the back of my mind.
I have a vision for the setting and I plan to put forth much of my design process in this publication. I hem and haw about making the setting for an already existing game, or taking on creation of a game system at the same time, or some hybrid of the two options. It changes daily.
There is one mental hurdle I've run up against multiple times when thinking about what MY game system would look like. I want to maximize the fun I have at the table with my friends, because that brings me great joy and I know that will enable others to do the same. But how do I figure out what that even is? What are the parts of different game systems that I like? What would I change? Multiple times I've come to this crossroads and gotten stuck.
Just recently in my readings and ponderings, I came across "Manyfold" which has an excellent shorthand and definitional vocabulary for what people find fun about their TTRPG games and so I think we’ve got something interesting to talk about here.
What is it?
The Manyfold theory glossary for tabletop roleplaying, By Levi Kornelsen, is the source for the technical definitions explored here-in. The three major groups of the thing are "What you like", "Stance and Depth" and "Playstyle Clusters".
The document seeks to define and highlight the things players enjoy in their games at the table of a TTRPG session and thus provide a critical insight into different directions that a game could be designed to explore. This is useful to think about even if you’re just trying to coalesce your group at the table and maximize everyone’s good times.
What You Like
I've noticed when pondering this list that I believe I have different weights of all of these depending on the game, the group, and my mood at the time of play - which I'm sure would be common to many players. I also feel I gauge them differently between playing board games or tabletop role playing games. Focusing on TTRPGS, I believe these are my top five as a player and as a game master:
Player:
EXPRESSION - Creativity at the table
LUDUS - Serious Engagement with rules/mechanics
FIERO - Feeling of overcoming adversity/challenge
KENOSIS - Deeply engaging with a stance (CHARACTER/PLAYER/AUDIENCE)
ALEA - taking big risks and the associated tension win or lose.
DEFAULT STANCE: CHARACTER/PLAYER
GM:
LUDUS - Serious Engagement with rules/mechanics
KAIROSIS - Feeling of fulfillment when arc of fictional development completes
KENOSIS - Deeply engaging with a stance (AUTHOR)
EXPRESSION - Creativity at the table.
DRAMATICS - Desire to perform for others
DEFAULT STANCE: AUTHOR
I know my stance changes many times over the course of a game sessions, so the default stance is the gravitational center I feel in the role of either player or game master.
The Stances (attitudes of the player towards play at a given moment) as defined by Manyfold are as follows:
What are your top 5? What's your default stance? Comment below!
Conclusion
This feels like a difficult but excellently rewarding thing to think about when running or designing games. Exploring this topic has me thinking to re-visit a pre session-0 google form player survey I’ve used in the past when running games for people across the internet or even with my regular player group.
Check out the current version here: https://forms.gle/mscZaAYBfyiJv8119
I am thinking to re-work this survey and add the concepts from this manyfold theory to help define the game I want to run at my table.
At the very least, as I slowly work on my own settings and game systems, I will be keeping this kind of thing in mind and looking for more!
What I Am Up To
TTRPG Reading: Knave 2E, Maze Rats
TTRPG Production: The Glowing Gunpowder Spot
Audiobook: Light Bringer - by Pierce Brown
Useful Things For Your Games
Spotify Playlist Add - Tavern and Town