RE: (TFT) Hackers

[David Michael Grouchy II <david_michael_grouchy_ii@hotmail.com>]

Jay,

     I'm frequently confronted by people who want to design games, fall short
of appreciating the existing game.  For instance I knew one guy who wanted to
design new weapons for TFT.  He has an extensive knowledge of Asian weapons
and weapon names.  His list is a fascinating read, but it lacks on design.  I
won't reproduce it here, as the work is his, but I do present this one
specific example.

His Katana
ST 12, does 2D+1 damage

TFT broadsword
ST 12, does 2D damage

     The list price was exactly the same.  I said to him, after your list
comes out no one will ever use a broadsword again.  Besides aren't Katana
legendary as finely crafted weapons?  TFT already has a system where a Katana
can be made and it costs 10x what a regular broadsword costs.  Well...
apparently I had hurt his feelings, because he held his list close and didn't
discuss much after that.  In fact I can point to that event as the beginning
of the end of our collaboration.
     In my opinion many people represent themselves as modelers, or as just
introducing new scenarios, but it reality they are sneaking in new rules, or
rules inflation.
     The beauty of the Hacker book, and the story of Greensblat is that he
just couldn't stand the tangled spider web of wires under the table and stayed
up 3 days straight to fix it.  At the very end he had a logical system, hadn't
disturbed a single model on top of the table, and everything ran better.  The
only draw back was he was three feet short on a bit of wire to connect one
last switch.  So he went out into the hall to the coke machine he had been
fighting with all weekend.  He broke it open, _Hacked_ out the wiring and
rewired it on the spot.  The railroad table was finished, and the coke machine
ran better than before.  This contains the elements of a classic Hack.  It
violates a rule, but serves to improve the situation.

David Michael Grouchy II



> From: selfinflicted_wounds@boardermail.com> Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 06:29:49
+0800> Subject: Re: (TFT) Hackers> > on a side note with the Hackers thing has
anybody read this one? His history goes back to the MIT model railroad club
back in the 50s. According to his entomology (I've heard a couple of others,
my impression is that this one is like where was the Cocktail invented?
Depends on the city in which you ask... anyhoo) the guys who worked on the
switching systems and wireing underneeth were the first hackers. What I found
intresting was the description of 2 distenct "types" of people; the hackers
underneeth and the modelers up top, comming together to make the hobby work. I
have some thoughts about how this analogy applies to RPGers but I'd be curious
to hear y'alls thoughts.
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