Okay, so as you probably aren’t aware, I’m a huge numbers nerd and I love having a plethora of options. It’s not because I plan to use every damn combination possible in a game system. It comes down to one simple truth that bothered me to no end when I was younger: forced limitations.
Now, while I know in an RPG this isn’t as big of a deal, in many games, the options available in open-world design are prohibitively limited. I understand that a lot of this has to do with how space/memory constraints affect what can be included in a box or a computer program. In my younger days, I chafed at this like nobody’s business.
Okay, so I still do, just not as much. Happy now?
To avoid feeling constrained, I tend towards games that let me experiment with different combinations, which provides hours of fun with failure and head scratching. So, when I write sourcebooks that have a universal theme or can be applied to practically anything someone needs to develop, I really go hard on the tables.
The multiplier effect is what makes this such a huge deal for me. With even a modest number of choices, you can take a system of 3 tables with two options each and create six to eight options–assuming no selection in two tables is an option.
The tables in Malmart work like this. So do the tables I wrote for Cosmos Builder and Castle Builder Reforged. I did this with a single goal in mind: I shouldn’t be the one dictating what choices you have. Roleplaying games are story-driven and the rules are dictated as much by the setting as the engine, if not more. To that end, I work to build tables that give numerous options.
Case in point: the modular housing system I created for Malmart generates 900 rooms, but the configuration possible explodes that number into some extremely large numbers when you can put those 900 rooms in six adjacent positions for the first room and then each other space has five or four remaining spots open to fill. And, given that the typical self-contained home needs at least three spaces, (living area, kitchen, and bathroom), You’ve just escalated the combinations to more that 6,000.
This brings me to the drones section I’m currently laying out. There are six tables used to define the drones: primary programming module (currently ten options), hardware platform (eight options), size (seven options), drone quality (six options), drone upgrades (currently forty-seven), and drone downgrades (currently ten). Four tables require a choice, the upgrades/downgrades are optional. Some options can be selected more than once, but ignoring that for now, you can make over 1.6 million drones (adjusted to account for conflicting combinations).
Imagine the numbers when you add weaponry and additional programs the drones can access. This means your options approaches closer to the trillions range.
If that’s not enough choice for you to tailor the gear to the game, I have no idea what else to include for you, but there’s plenty of examples for designing new options for your game.