Captain Anorak's Guide to Gaming
The Realm of Game Mechanics

Many game mechanics systems have really severe flaws. These can make a game miserable to play. When writing a game, it's important to avoid this pitfall.

Introduction

The Golden Rules of Writing Game Mechanics
1. A rule must be transparent.
2. A rule must balance simplicity and realism.
3. The more rules a game has, the more bad rules it will contain.
4. It should not be necessary to understand the rules to roleplay a character.

The nature of stats
Primary Stats
Skills
Distribution of Stat Levels
The Pool Test for Skill Systems
Can word-names replace numbers as stat values?
Psychological Stats
Combat Psychology

Combat systems
1. Fundamental Considerations
2. Melee Combat
3. The Realities of Missile Combat
After Combat Ends

Vulnerability to death and injury

Basic rules considerations
Risk versus fudging: fixed rules or the GM's judgement?
Modifying the rules as needed
Rules exploitation
Games with No Rules
Task Resolution
The Stepping Problem
Dice Rolling Systems: The Dicex System

Character Creation