DOARN quality

[flykiller]

elsewhere we read of the concept of ...

DOARN quality (Design Only As Really Necessary)

when I run games the thing that most strikes me about them is their unpredictability. the players do unexpected things, the situation takes off in unexpected directions, the die rolls indicate something more than that which I expect and prepare for. doarn would seem to limit games and game action to what is expected and anticipated, and this would seem to limit traveller to an algorithm rather than a living game.

 

[robject]

DOARN in context is a term I just coined based on MOARN of course. So that means I have to define it.


DOARN, Design Only As Really Necessary: This means, when preparing for a game, budget your time with the toolsets to the degree that the players and adventure requires. For example, when Designing a starship, what you need to know about it depends on its use: you might only need to know (up front) its jump capability, number of staterooms, and cargo hold size.


Three examples of this is using Book 2 Ships, CT animal encounter tables, and CT characters in Traveller5.

You can spend the time re-creating Book 2 starships in T5 ACS.... or you can just use them as-is (DOARN).
You can build brand-new animal encounter tables using T5.... or you can just re-use the CT ones (DOARN).
You can roll up new characters in Traveller5, or you can just inflate the skill levels of CT characters and use them (DOARN).

Maybe this is for a convention or a pick-up game, or maybe you don't have a lot of time to prepare. Unless there's a reason to redesign and rebuild. That's DOARN.



Does that help?

 

[flykiller]

This means, when preparing for a game, budget your time with the toolsets to the degree that the players and adventure requires. For example, when Designing a starship, what you need to know about it depends on its use

you know what your players and adventure are going to require? you know what the ship's use is going to be? I always think I do, and then it all spins out of control within the first thirty seconds of first player contact.

I find it's much more efficient to spend as much time as possible developing the situations and the ships. detailed deckplans, detailed ship explications, detailed npc's, detailed cultures, detailed animals, detailed settings, all standing by. this 1) allows in-game rulings and decisions that stay consistent with the game, and 2) any details not used immediately get used elsewhere eventually.

detailed background generation allows for success in the next game and in future games. DOARN sets you up for limitation.

 

[Nick H]

My last-but-one Traveller campaign was really a case of DOARN. The captain of the ship could be very unpredictable when it came to choosing a destination. For example, I might have Adventure 1, The Kinunir, The Hunting Trip planned and maps of Knorbes and the NPCs and various encounters designed only to have him say "change of mind, we'll go to Dinomn instead".

Running Traveller from a laptop and using the classic and MT CD-ROMs for reference was a boon, and using the online Traveller map as well. In the end, I found 76 Patrons and BITS' 101 books a life saver: I could run things more on the fly with them.

No good work is ever wasted though: Those maps, NPCs and encounters would get used later on...just not quite in the way I imagined.

 

[robject]

Fly, I agree with everything you've said.

I think we're just on opposite ends of the same line.

Preparation is never wasted.

 

[Sifu Blackirish]

detailed background generation allows for success in the next game and in future games. DOARN sets you up for limitation.

Very true. all that detail you slaved over and are now unable to use because the characters went to system y instead of x is still valuable. file off the serial number, change the body lines and reuse your data elsewhere. players think you are prepared for anything, and it turns out you are, too.