In anticipation for the release of Chain×Link, my semi-cooperative dungeon-defying RPG, I am covering one aspect of the game’s design and development each week in July. Obtain a copy of the game by subscribing to the RPG Zine Club by Plus One Exp before August or purchasing the game directly from the Plus One Exp store once available.
Concise Communication
One of the welcome challenges of writing games in a zine-format is that concision is crucial. Great zine-sized games are packed with evocative phrases and succinct rules text that capture the heart of the game without sacrificing communication.
That’s not to say that full-size hardback TTRPGs do not benefit from concise and clear writing. Rather, hardback books can afford to allocate full pages, if not chapters, to worldbuilding. Zine-sized games, especially games that are not built on existing systems, need to bef more judicious with how they use up their pages. And if you are using that space to describe the rules o the game, you can’t use that space to elaborate on the world the game takes place within. Or can you?
Implied Setting
A game with an implied setting is a game that doesn’t explicitly tell the player what the world is like in the game. There is no devoted chapter on Factions or Kingdoms, no sections on religion rituals or cultural practices. Instead, the game implies the existence of such things by including fragments within rules text, stat blocks, limited character creation choices, or leading questions.
Implied worldbuilding is something that happens whether a game designer is conscious of it or not. It’s an exercise of dictating just enough for the players to hold on to as a compass, but giving them the freedom to decide where to go with it.
Character Creation Picklists
In Chain×Link, implied setting is achieved through character creation pick-lists and GM roll tables. In character creation, players are presented with different Reputes and Factions. Reputes are presented as picklists where players select their Breaker’s crime (and therefore, their skills), how they were caught (starting experience), what they brought with them to the Grave (starting equipment), and their Repute ability. Each of these selections are presented as a pick lists of three options.
Pick lists are a powerful implied setting tool, as the options presented could be viewed as mutually exclusive, or coexisting. Some GM-less or storygames use pick lists exclusively, as in pick one of three options to set the theme or genre of your game. In Chain×Link are used inclusively where the selection of one crime still implies that the other crimes not selected exist…and yes, there’s probably someone in the Grave that was sentenced there for committing that crime. Not only are picklists player-facing, they also provide the GM with a small roll-table or list of potential oppositions.
Crimes are especially juicy for implied worldbuilding because it says one thing when a possible crime is Harbor Outlaw, and it says something else when the possible crime is Tempest Worship. The game goes even further by assigning skills to these crimes, which appear at-odds with the crime convicted. What does it mean when your crime is Relic Theft, but your skills are restore, amend, translate?
Picklists also provide the benefit of faster play. I could have rolled all the possible crimes into one large roll table, but by dividing them into loose thematic categories and limiting the choices down to three, players can focus their attention and spend more time thinking about the implications of their choices on play and on the world.
Roll Tables
Roll tables were a late addition to Chain×Link as a way to provide GMs with a set of tools and their own implied worldbuilding pick lists. Roll tables are essentially pick lists where you’ve ceded selection to the gods of fate. GM roll tables come in many forms such as random encounters, weather tables, NPC names, “What’s in my pocket?” and so on. Roll tables provide a suite of possible worldbuilding choices and inspiration for a GM. A roll table of enemies implies antagonistic relationships between factions, a roll table of precious items implies cultural value.
The benefit roll tables have over pick lists is that they are linked to a roll. While it would make sense to have ten options on a roll table if you are rolling a ten-sided die, there is an additional layer of worldbuilding that can be achieved by providing weighted chances of success. What does a table or random encounters say about an environment if you get “goblin scouting party” on a roll of 1-4, but only find a “starving bear” on a roll of a 5? The game isn’t telling you explicitly that goblins are encroaching into the forest, but it’s definitely implying that the lack of wildlife is connected to the rise in goblin sightings.
Rewarding Interest
Implied settings require more intense comprehension than explicit settings. It asks a little more of the reader and the players, but also rewards the players by inspiring them to fill in the gaps. A fun feature of implied setting is that they can be used to reward careful and dedicated readers.
Blades in the Dark was the first game I encountered that demonstrates this so well. Players have picklists for their character’s rivals, and their crew’s contacts. Each rival or contact has a name, a role, and a leading question. That alone makes for a great implied setting. Careful readers will notice that some NPCs appear both on a rival list and a contact list. Players may never notice this if they didn’t pick that option, let along play that particular playbook or crew, but a dedicated reader is rewarded with an extra tidbit of information. Is that to say that there’s “secret canonical lore” within the rulebook? Like any TTRPG, the world belongs to the players at the table, and no one is left wanting if they don’t notice the connection. But for those who do, it’s a fun little surprise.
Chain×Link is full of little connections and opinions about the world. Rarely is anything about the world explicitly stated or to be taken at face value. In fact, the rules rely on it.