9 thoughts on “A quick discussion on the narrative/tactical rpg spectrum.”

  3. This article doesn’t really seem to be saying much apart from an overly simplistic ahistorical single-axis analysis of RPG design. I assume the author doesn’t know any better.

  4. Jakob Oesinghaus it’s very true, I am speaking only from my own perspective and experience. Thank you very much for reading it though. 🙂 I’d love to hear your thoughts on a more accurate picture of an RPG spectrum, what I’ve missed, and where to fill in the gaps (Of which there are plenty, I’m sure).

  6. Adam Stephens Sorry for being so ruthless! There are a few things in the article which rubbed me wrong:

    1) The chart. There’s no way that all editions of D&D are straight in the center here, unless the same x-value means different things depending on where you are in the y-axis (and even then…). What does the y-axis even mean, it’s not time for sure? All D&D editions are not in the same place when it comes to “narrative” and “tactics”. The lines seem to have been drawn randomly, with no apparent connection to genealogy … I could go on, but I guess you get my point.

    2) “Essentially RPGs started off largely as being tactical and focussing on the tactical element of any interaction in the world, namely combat.” Wrong. D&D (1st edition, do you mean AD&D first edition or OD&D or BECMI? It’s not quite clear) didn’t start out as being about combat above all else. The focus on “combat encounters” and the like came about later (at some point in AD&D, solidified with the advent of 3.5).

    3) The discussion somehow blends together the start of WoD (which is a traditional system with very little narrative elements, but which claims to be about the narrative – I’m aware that this is less true nowadays) and Fate, which is a game whose content is playing the narrative.

    4) The descriptions jumps all over the place when it comes to time – e.g., it gives Starfinder as an example for tactical games, but Starfinder has come out very recently; it’s not really a good example here in that it hasn’t had time to inspire other games.

    Again, sorry to be so harsh; exposing the inner workings of your mind is a brave act regardless of accuracy (and I certainly don’t claim that I’m very knowledgeable on this subject).

  7. There have been countless attempts to represent the hobby as a continuum between “tactical” and “narrative” poles, equally shallow and reductionist. This one comes with a history lesson, which is one big heap of misconceptions. The first time I ever see someone associate White Wolf with non-linearity. Just take about any D&D module written by Gygax and compare it to any V:tM chronicle.

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