In Praise of the Game System

It's no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of taxonomy. I think it's interesting when trying to identify play cultures/movements posthumously, fickle when trying to use in advertising and quite quirky fun when looking to for inspiration. Most taxonomies I've seen when it comes to games are woefully subjective, painfully limited and anything but comprehensive.

While I'm very happy that Ben "The Hands Man" Milton recently read out an interesting blog post from yesteryear (and I myself want to do a big ol' manifesto on my takes on Princess Play and what it means to "win" in more freeform games), I usually find discussion on how a thing does or doesn't fit the expectation of a taxonomical category to be a bit... eh. I get why it exists and who it's for, it just often feels unproductive from what I've seen and how I've developed things (and assisted others in developing things). In my opinion you don't get exceptionally inspired avant-garde works by working in these prescribed genres.

Usually when I explain to people the goals, activities or inspirations of my own works (which I've come to usually just label as "Games" or "Tabletop Games") the ever mind-numbing "that's not an RPG" or "that's not what XYZ game audience would want" comes up, and I am forced once again to reckon with the consequences of not labeling my things and letting others insert their own assumptions of what it is or should be. For a while I've been thinking that labeling all my works as "House Rules" may be the answer. It captures a DIY spirit and quite explicitly articulates who my games are for: The people I choose to run for at my house. But I think there exists another sublime label that I wanted to take a moment to appreciate, and it originates from one of the greatest games of all time:

What is HeroQuest? A board game? A level design toolkit? A lite dungeon crawling near-RPG? When it first released in 1989 the game's subtitle was "High Adventure in a World of Magic" which certainly fits the game well enough. But of the many changes HeroQuest underwent before coming to the states, my favorite was a new subtitle, creating the end all be all of what HeroQuest is.

The best thing about HeroQuest is that it is a Game System, a cornucopia of tools, treasures, toys and trials that can provide all kinds of experiences. One that can be expanded with compatible modules to explore icey peaks, mystical caverns and plenty of goodies to stuff into your table's homebrewed content. What I love about labeling something as a Game System is it deftly avoids the more mind numbing taxonomy of "Is this a board game or is this an RPG?" while boldly describing some things you can expect quite succinctly.

First of we know HeroQuest is a Game (duh) - It's a thing that you play and can be played with. It has rules, procedures, parts that work in tandem. There's rules for making new rules, there's rules for what characters (generally) can and can't do. It is assumed everyone is there to sit at the table and play (to a degree) by the rules to experience something instead of just flipping the table or keeping their arms crossed and refusing to engage. This is nothing new, both RPGs and Board Games are games. So which is HeroQuest? Huh? Huh?

Well, HeroQuest is a Game System. It's a modular toolkit. It has a way to play the game that is pretty much just a board game (if a marginally less conventional / competitive one). And yet everything about its system practically screams at you to get creative in a way most board games simply do not. The game gives ample tools (and lots of encouragement) to make your own dungeon, evocative (if very simple) characters whose stories you can live out, a sweeping story that is (if only basically) affected by your choices. Advanced HeroQuest (released hot on the heels of the original) looks even more like an RPG, further blurring this line. But instead of saying it's one thing or another, HeroQuest just says "Yeah we're a Game System, use it as you see fit."

There's also an implicit expandability when you call something a "Game System." It conjures the idea of a game that can be slotted with all kinds of modules and extras to make something truly unique. Yet the best module for HeroQuest (which the game seems aware of) will always be the one made by and for the table that's playing it! I'm no board game expert, but I really can't think of any other board game that leans this hard into homebrewing and DIY while still providing plenty of marketable goodies. It's the promise of Play, Create, Share in 1989.

That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter. Nothing too revelatory or profound, I just love the term "Game System" and the way it skirts around limiting taxonomy and proudly declares itself as a "just a game that can be expanded and played in different ways" without leaving too much room for taxonomical debate. Obviously you still can have these debates (even interesting ones!)[*1], but the game (I'd like to think) speaks for itself in this regard. There's arguments to be made for if HeroQuest is a board game or an RPG and what rules and elements do or don't fall into these categories, and HeroQuest's designers seem wholly uninterested in making the game one thing or another, and simply desire to make a game that is playful within a system that is exciting.

Maybe it's my love of Boxed Sets. Maybe it's my loathing of Taxonomy. But for me, making something that is well and truly a Game System feels aspirational for my bigger future projects.

Additional Reading [Because I always like shouting out preservations projects]

• Yee Old Inn has been instrumental in my own research, comparison and musings of HeroQuest
• This landing (with tons of amazing links) on Recivs Projects has been a huge touchstone for me when looking into Advanced HeroQuest (and one homebrew remake of it)

[*1 : One day I'll post my thoughts on Capsule Games but not today. It is something that I all at once love but also think needs some outside eyes and opinions on... More on that eventually...]