It always seems that RPGs are reaching new frontiers. Whether you look at traditional, indie, or the fringe of RPG design, the variety and scope of innovation can be bewildering. There is a whole world of design space available, much of it barely explored. These are not places that have been mapped. They are a frontier, territories waiting to be explored.

Journeys of a Game Design Wanderer

The purpose of this series of articles is to give a sense of the open space for RPG design and some of the experiments and explorations that have delved into it. The scope of these new places are unknown as is their potential. So I've decided to take a page from earlier explorers and wanderers and treat this as a journal of travels, some my own, some by others.

I'll be describing these new places as an explicit metaphor of an exotic journey beyond the known. I'm trying to give a sense and a feel for these frontiers, rather than codify things in terms of what has already been done. So let the ideas wash over you, this isn't a lesson in geography, game theory, or culture. It should, instead, be a place to seek inspiration.

Some structure, however, is needed. For that I've laid out some cardinal directions, which will help unify the frontiers I'm describing. These are guidelines, ways to organize my own thoughts, and suggest some directions in which to walk from what is known, to what is only glimpsed.

As always, remember this is just one perspective of the frontier. The best way to see it is to journey there yourself. Challenge your designs and push beyond what you know. It's the only way to expand our horizons.

North

North is the direction of roles, fixing obligations, authority, and responsibilities to different individuals during the game. As we journey North we see games with more complex role structures, breaking apart the player, the GM, the audience into new and different forms. Also in the North are games where different roles are not equal, at least for the same people.

South

South is the direction of transformation and flux. Here are the games which change and evolve as they are played. Whether adding rules, changing focus, or even becoming an entirely new game after a little while, the South is a place where the winds of change course through, shaping and reshaping everything in their path.

East

East is the direction of resolution, the ways in which people come to agreement and synthesize their ideas together. Games of the East push different ways of resolving things, and ways to resolve things besides events or outcomes. Resolving emotions, identity, relationships, and other things more abstract, or more concrete.

West

West is the direction of uncertainty, playing on the gaps and holes, developing the unknown as the focus of play. Whether simple randomness, hidden information, or exploring the interplay of points of view that do not resolve into one, Western games are built around a void of one sort or another.

Above

Upward is the future of RPGs. Here are constellations of RPGs expanded by technology and decentralized across people and places. These RPGs are distributed, expanding and contracting like living things. Their scopes may vary, but the ultimately they challenge our ideas about what is a game and what is a culture.

Below

Underneath all of this is the past, the complex, often contradictory, ancestry of RPGs. These RPGs reflect theatrical practices old and new, ritual and ceremony, games of more conventional sorts, and even the unstructured play of children. Even when histories are false, they can still lead us to uncover games that have never seen the light, hidden in the depths.

Known Lands

When travelers return home, they bring more than stories of their journeys and sketches of far-off places. They also bring a new perspective on the lands they know best. There are wonders to be found closer to home, but we need fresh eyes to see them, and so we return to the known, to seek what has been forgotten or overlooked.

Beyond

Not all innovation is follows the paths we expect, and there are always places to explore beyond the ones we have seen. A catch-all perhaps, but some RPGs are simply unexpected, fitting their own internal logic and relationship with their brethren. These lie beyond the horizon, somewhere fanciful and half glimpsed, this is the furthest and most exciting of frontiers.

As always, remember this is just one perspective of the frontier. The best way to see it is to journey there yourself. Challenge your designs and push beyond what you know. It's the only way to expand our horizons.

Next Month: Territories: The North