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<article id="colors">

  <articleinfo>

    <title>System Color</title>

    <subtitle>A typology of RPG mechanics</subtitle>

    <abstract>

      <para>Role playing game design is an art, <quote>a system of

        principles and rules for attaining a desired end</quote>.

        However, it's an art in its infancy.  Although many models

        have been available to describe the experience of role-playing

        game, not much have been done regarding mechanics.  We have

        the DKF description, some designation regarding levels of

        design or mechanics elements but mostly nothing about goal of

        mechanics, or only in a very abstract form.  This article aim

        to explore a single aspect of game mechanics, which is to

        determine which qualities are necessary or at least desirable

        in all role playing games.  This, we hope, will be a first

        premise to more characterization of mechanics, helping us to

        discuss and evaluate different systems, and, with the help of

        other tools, finally create a real science of role-playing

        game design.</para>

    </abstract>

    <keywordset>

      <keyword>GDS model</keyword>

      <keyword>role-playing game</keyword>

      <keyword>system design</keyword>

      <keyword>simulationism, gamism and narrativism</keyword>

    </keywordset>

    <author>

      <firstname>Fabien</firstname>

      <surname>Niñoles</surname>

    </author>

    <copyright>

      <year>2002-2003</year>

      <holder>Fabien Niñoles</holder>

    </copyright>

    <revhistory>

      <revision>

        <revnumber>0.5r3 :</revnumber>

        <date>2003-06-02</date>

        <revdescription>

          <para>Add a paragraph about the link between Beauty and

            colors. Add some keywords to the document.  A small

            remarks is add about the adaptability section.</para>

        </revdescription>

      </revision>

      <revision>

        <revnumber>0.4r4:</revnumber>

        <date>2003-01-26</date>

        <revdescription>

          <para>A lot of minor revisions. Reverse Cyan and Magenta

            association.  Mixed up colors, sorry! Nostalgic Magenta is

            now called Expressive Magenta, and Dream Blue is now

            Immersive Blue. I think a lot about adding a new chapter

            about this.  Also, change the title since this is really a

            Typology of mechanics.</para>

        </revdescription>

      </revision>

      <revision>

        <revnumber>0.3r2 :</revnumber>

        <date>2003-01-10</date>

        <revdescription>

          <para>Add Brightness description.  Move Transparency into

            Brightness and add a note about difference Transparent

            system and Transparent <emphasis>Color</emphasis>

            system.</para>

        </revdescription>

      </revision>

      <revision>

        <revnumber>0.2 :</revnumber>

        <date>2003-01-10</date>

        <revdescription>

          <para>First complete release (public).</para>

        </revdescription>

      </revision>

      <revision>

        <revnumber>0.1 :</revnumber>

        <date>2003-01-01</date>

        <revdescription>

          <para>Initial release (incomplete).</para>

        </revdescription>

      </revision>

    </revhistory>

  </articleinfo>

  <section id="intro">

    <title>Introduction</title>

    <para>What's the art of game design?  The Webster 1913 defined art

      as a system of rules and principles for attaining a desired end.

      So, what are those rules, those principles, and more important,

      what's this desired end?  For this last question, I think you

      can have as many answers as there are role players.  Although

      some people have defined and described carefully the motivations

      and goals of players, not much have be done regarding how those

      goals can be satisfied.</para>

    <para>The goal of this article is to make a new step in this

      direction.  What I try to do is to answer to a single question:

      <quote>What's desirable, if not necessary, in every role

      playing game system?</quote> That's a very hard question to

      answer since most role playing games have different goals,

      different settings, different ways to make the role playing

      experience exciting and fun.  But strangely, this appeared to be

      the easier obstacle encountered on this road.  The bigger

      obstacle I met were the lack of a common vocabulary among

      designers.  No designer has the same way of naming things, and

      that's true either in French or English.  Also, people often

      used the same word for talking about very different things.  So

      to avoid this problem, I chose a very different approach: I

      decided to use a color metaphor.  Since colors are a bit opaque

      to role playing system terminology, which doesn't help at all

      for a tool aim to help communication, I had to add some

      adjectives to them, just clear enough to hint the new reader

      about the possible meaning of such colors.</para>

    <para>The first version of this paper will solely be about those

      colors of mechanics, as well as a short presentations of

      examples.  I however plan to add more to it, especially

      regarding other aspects of role playing, like the relation

      between those colors and the already existing typologies, like

      GNS.  But for the beginning, we have to define first what

      constitutes a role playing game, and especially, what's a role

      playing game system.</para>

  </section>

  <section id="rpgdef">

    <title>What's a Role Playing Game?</title>

    <para>This section is not about defining in details what's a role

      playing game but mostly to propose a common vocabulary about

      what constitutes a role playing game, so that we can know what

      we are talking about.  A typical role playing game can be seen

      to be constituted of two parts:</para>

    <itemizedlist>

      <listitem>

        <para>a description of an imaginary universe called the

          <emphasis>setting</emphasis>;</para>

      </listitem>

      <listitem>

        <para>a set of rules to handle events resolution in the

          setting, called the <emphasis>system</emphasis>.</para>

      </listitem>

    </itemizedlist>

    <para>Usually, the setting is divided in many more elements, like

      the characters we can encounter in this particular universe, the

      environment (either social, technological, historical and/or

      geographical) in which those characters evolve, examples of

      situations those characters can encounter, as well as notes

      about the intended atmosphere of this universe.  Some or even

      all of those elements can be omitted or more or less detailed.

      When most elements are omitted, or without specified with much

      details, we call this kind of system universal or generic.  I

      prefer the second appellation because, although most generic

      system pretend to be usable in any setting, they are often just

      a generalization of one or many settings, sharing some common

      elements.  Except for this small difference, we will now only

      talk about setting and generic setting as a whole, without

      addressing more concerns about their internal elements.  Is not

      that those elements aren't important in designing a good role

      playing game, but it's a way to stay on our focus.</para>

    <para>Systems are also often divided into multiple parts,

      classified in multiple differents ways, etc.  Systems often even

      contains some elements of setting, like particularity of the

      environment.  For now, we just want to consider systems as a

      whole.  We only make one distinction: system elements that

      contain no element which can be considered part of the setting

      would be called mechanics, and mechanics or system elements that

      contains or describe part of the setting (including situational

      elements like combat or character description) will be called

      rules.  This is certainly not enough for a more in-depth

      exploration of system composition but it will be sufficient for

      our purpose.</para>

    <para>Meta-gaming elements are elements often external to a role

      playing game.  They included things like the location where the

      game is set, the current mood of the players, their perception

      of the reality, the quality (access, language, medium) of

      communication between them, the presence of materials, their

      relationship, etc. They are aspects of the gaming experience

      which can be seen as out of the current setting but are still

      part of the role playing experience.  Some systems or even

      setting elements can influence or help to make some meta-gaming

      elements either less intrusive or more fun and interesting.

      They can also adapt to accommodate some less optimal meta-gaming

      elements, like the presence of a noisy environment.  Meta-gaming

      elements can often influenced both (although the designer have

      mostly no control over them except written recommendation) and

      some role playing games even used them to enhance the role

      playing experience.</para>

  </section>

  <section id="colormodel">

    <title>The color model</title>

    <para>The color model are composed of the three primary additive

      colors: red, green and blue.  Just like any colors, some people

      prefers some of them more than the others.  That's OK, from

      taste and colors, one can't discuss.  However, we want to make a

      small exception to this rule: we will supposed that everyone

      will prefer bright colors instead of darker one.  Brightness

      represent the adherence of a system to a specific color (mix are

      allowed).  So, since we supposed that any color are at least

      desirable, you'll always prefer a brighter mechanic instead of a

      darker one, as long as it is of the right color.  Take note that

      a system that mix all colors will be white and bright.  And a

      system that have no color at all will be black.  Maybe you still

      prefer darker colors in real life (like most role players, if

      you look at the way most of them are dressed up), but make a

      small effort now or use negative vision.  Elsewhere, you'll just

      fall in the darker side of role playing game, full of munchkins

      and rules lawyers.  Are you sure you want to go there?</para>

    <para>To help to better understand the concept behind each color,

      especially when talking to a non-initiate, an adjective is

      added to each of them.  You are free to used it when you think

      is necessary but try to make a link to this page for reference

      so people know what you are talking about.</para>

    <para>Here is the three primary colors and their definitions:</para>

    <variablelist>

      <varlistentry id="reddef">

        <term>Consistent Red</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>Consistent Red is the color of system that are

            consistent with the setting elements they are supposed to

            describe.  If your setting describe, or more often

            suppose, swords as more lethal than daggers, the system

            should respect this and not make daggers equally or more

            lethal than swords. A dark red system tend to interfere

            with <literal>Suspension of Disbelief</literal>. Break in

            Suspension of Disbelief is a phenomena which can be best

            described as players rolling their eyes toward you, the

            mouth wide open in an expression of incredulity, and

            leaving your table to never came back again (and no,

            that's not because their lost their way to the

            refrigerator).  Red was chose because of the its relation

            with this <emphasis>stop attitude</emphasis>, as well as

            the tendency of very high red system to be a bit bloody in

            action.  <emphasis>This is not, however, a universal

            characteristic!</emphasis></para>

          <para>A good example of system with a strong red color is

            <trademark>RoleMaster</trademark> with their very detailed

            systems for med-fan universe<footnote> 

              <para>Really, I'm not sure if this is a good example.

                Any better suggestions welcome.</para>

            </footnote>.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="greendef">

        <term>Fluid<footnote>

            <para>Don't like this name but I want to avoid using

              Simple in it, since Green is much more than only

              Simplicity.  Fluid is currently the only word I can

              think.</para>

          </footnote> Green</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>Fluid Green system are easy to learn and have often

            low search and resolution time.  They can however have a

            lot of options to chose from, as long as those options are

            clear and easy to handle.  Those systems are often perfect

            for beginners or people wanting quick pace systems,

            without stopping to details.  This is two good reasons to

            give them the green color, this color being often

            associated with beginners and speed.</para>

          <para>A good example of a green system is <trademark

            class="copyright">The Window</trademark>, a free RPG game

            with very simple mechanics.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="bluedef">

        <term>Immersive Blue</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>Immersive Blue rules help to sustain a particular

            atmosphere in a game.  This atmosphere can be either

            dramatic, heroic, epic, scary, peaceful, imaginative, or

            all of them at the same time.  Just like the Consistent

            Red, blue rules are strongly associated with the setting.

            Blue was chose because of its association with atmosphere

            and emotions.</para>

          <para>One of the bluest system that the author know is

            <trademark class="copyright">eight</trademark>, a free RPG

            where all of the few rules participate to the setting

            atmosphere.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

    <para>All of the three colors can be mixed together, in different

      quantities.  This give us 4 more different colors<footnote>

        <para>Remember, this is the three

          <emphasis>additive</emphasis> primary colors, just like your

          television but unlike water painting, which used primary

          <emphasis>subtractive</emphasis> colors.</para>

      </footnote>:</para>

    <variablelist>

      <varlistentry id="yellowdef">

        <term>Clear-Sight Yellow (Red and Green)</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>Usually, when you want brighter red, you compromise on

            a darker green, and when you want brighter green, you

            often compromise with darker red.  So this color is quite

            rare, and yellow rules are real pearl of wisdom.  Yellow

            systems are able to give a maximum of consistency and

            details from your setting, without removing speed and ease

            of play.  They promised really good play for those who

            like to explore different elements of the setting.</para>

          <para>As I said, yellow rules are quite rare.  Yellow

            systems even more.  I failed to see a system where this

            color dominate.  If you think you have one, please tell

            me.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="cyandef">

        <term>Dramatic Cyan (Green and Blue)</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>One of the most popular color in new games presently.

            The Cyan systems bring to front a very narrative aspect

            with quick pace and easy rules.  Consistent is not really

            important since GM will just adjust the plot consequently.

            This however give somewhat limited play and one should be

            careful with the Suspension of Disbelief syndrome which

            often augment with those kind of systems.</para>

          <para>One popular example of Cyan systems are

            <trademark>Nobilis</trademark> and the

            <trademark>Storyteller</trademark> system (at least by

            intentions).</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="magentadef">

        <term>Expressive Magenta (Red and Blue)</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>A rare combination: Magenta systems tend to immersed

            you into details.  <emphasis>Many</emphasis> details.  You

            will be transport in a world where everything, actions or

            materials, are described to the finest element.  The trap

            is that, too often, the lack of green in those systems

            lead to a very hard to use and very slow progression of

            the action.  The players must be patient or the GM a real

            expert to be able to handle such systems.</para>

          <para>Good examples of those systems included mostly

            science-fiction or military oriented settings.

            <trademark>Heavy Gear</trademark> can be described as one

            of them under certain aspects.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="whitedef">

        <term>Pure White (Red, Green and Blue)</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>White system can be think as the perfect system and

            can be easy obtain for a very limited and specific

            setting.  However, such settings are often very limited in

            use and, as we will see later, white system tend to dilute

            (we call this a lack of Tenacity) and get darker very

            easily.</para>

          <para>I have no really good example of such systems.  As

            said, most white system tend to became darker with usage

            and/or a new color quickly dominate.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </section>

  <section id="freedom">

    <title>Freedom</title>

    <para>Since both the red and blue colors have deep root in the

      setting, we also want to know how colors are affect by change to

      the setting.  For this, we defined two different movements or

      degrees of freedom for the color:</para>

    <variablelist>

      <varlistentry id="tenacitydef">

        <term>Tenacity</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>Tenacity represent how much a system retains the same

            color when the setting change.  This is a researched

            quality for generic systems, but also for RPG with a very

            diversified setting.  Systems that are limited to a few

            character types or situations (like only combat) doesn't

            need a great Tenacity in their colors.</para>

          <para>Example of system with a good Tenacity is

          <trademark>GURPS</trademark>.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="chameleondef">

        <term>Chameleon</term>

        <listitem>

          <para>Chameleon systems are able to change their colors to

            fit better with the new setting.  This is a very rare

            quality, mostly research for generic system.</para>

          <para>The only system I know which try to be chameleon is

            <trademark>Multiverser</trademark>, a system with a bias

            parameter for fitting with different universes.</para>

        </listitem>

      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

    <para>Both degrees of freedom can appear together for a particular

      system and react differently.  They can also keep their quality

      only for a specific range of settings.  For example, the D&D

      system has a Tenacity mostly in general medieval-fantastic

      settings.<footnote>

        <para>I think the best way to describe of this components is

          talking about inertia and direction changes, but this add a

          new level of metaphor so I ended up inventing new terms that will

          fit better with the metaphor.  What do you think about?</para>

      </footnote></para>

    <remark>I currently doesn't like this section much.  The old idea

      behind adaptability is not well enough represent.  But for this,

      I should probably work a little more with the background

      setting.</remark>

  </section>

  <section id="beauty">

    <title>Beauty of the system</title>

    <para>The colors aren't the only important qualities of a system.

      One very important, if not the most important one, is the fun

      factor.  We are doing role playing for only one thing: having

      fun.  However, fun is a very personal thing where everyone have

      opinion about.  Some people can find one system fun and other

      can find them dull.  Since fun are <quote>in the eye of the

      beholder</quote>, we use another quality related to our painting

      metaphor that have the same characteristic: Beauty.</para>

    <para>Why some people find something beautiful and not something

      else?  Well, there is too much factors to enumerate all of them,

      but colors can have something to do with it.  Someone can prefer

      the red color, and another one will prefer a yellow color.  Same

      thing for mechanics.  Some people can prefer Red Mechanics,

      other want Yellow mechanics and dislike Blue mechanics.  Could

      you satisfy all of them?  Well, the golden rule in RPG is that

      if you dislike a rule, ignored it.  It's very easy to ignore a

      rule, less easy to change it or replace it.  In the color

      metaphore, this is equivalent to wearing colorized glasses.  If

      you have some white light and wear yellow glasses, you'll see

      the world in yellow.  But if you only have blue light, your

      yellow glasses will block it and you'll see nothing.  Same thing

      for mechanics.  White mechanics are good because you can please

      everyone by simply using the right filter on everyone.  If one

      color is lacking, however, whatever the color of your glasses,

      you will not be able to create it, except if the mechanics is

      sufficiently <link linkend="transparency">Transparent</link>, a

      matter we will see later in <xref linkend="brightness"/>.</para>

  </section>

  <section id="visibility">

    <title>The visibility of the rules</title>

    <para>Systems are composed of rules, but not all rules are

      necessary of the same color.  How each rule influence the global

      system apparency is called the visibility of the rule.

      Visibility represent mostly how often a rule can be used and

      what will be their influence on the current game.  This is an

      important aspect when designing a role playing system.  Often,

      you can make a tradeoff in a not so much visible aspect of the

      system without affecting the whole color.  By

      <emphasis>hiding</emphasis> such color into less visible aspect,

      you can, for example, achieve an overall more reddish system,

      without necessary affecting the green brightness.</para>

    <para>Visible rules are often the resolution mechanism, combat

      rules (in action oriented settings) and PC statistics.  Less

      visible rules are often the initial creation mechanism (you just

      used it once) and evolution mechanics of the character (which

      usually only happens at the end of a game).</para>

  </section>

  <section id="brightness">

    <title>Brightness and Transparency</title>

    <para>Before going further, a little more clarification is needed.

      What is Brightness?  How it affects the role playing

      experience?</para>

    <para>Well, Brightness in this model looks more like a spell of

      Light, and is opposite, the spell of Darkness.  Dark colors will

      not only have a low effect but even make your settings and your

      whole role playing experience <emphasis>darker</emphasis>, which

      means less fun and less interesting.  On the opposite way, a

      brighter system will not only let your setting and GM talents

      show up, but will enhance your experience, sustaining and even

      creating a more fun and entertaining experience.</para>

    <para>So one should not think that ignoring a color will do no

      harm.  All colors are necessary, but some settings and/or GM can

      provide their own light to the role playing experience and so

      don't need much.  So, the point where a rule color switch from