I love Moonwalking with Einstein! Even though I never remembered the logic (or absence thereof) for the card nomenclature...let alone the actual names. I did try using the Memory Palace technique to memorize every amino acid and every disney animated movie...because neither list meant anything to me, and I thought that was a good way to test it for myself. I probably held the amino acids for a couple of years, but the disney ones degraded much, much sooner since I wasn't very invested in them. I probably should be training my memory more, with less mundane lists.
One idea I thought of about making rules memorable is too out there, I don't even think it's applicable to many games. But what if rules (such as action options) are anchored by some weird movement, like a charades-as-rules? It sounds embarrassing, funny, and ideally symbolic, which might help not just the rules giver but the party remember it.
Another idea might just be naming the actual actions, but giving it names that has a story in them, like how playing cards are given names. Weird names, but somehow thematically linked.
I think an example of techniques used to help certain rules stick in your brain is the way Czech Games Edition inserts humour into their rules explanations. It is hard to pull off just right, which is why I suspect that it has not become very popular. It also depends a lot on the tenor of the game, you wouldn't want a grim and brooding setting to have slapstick jokes peppered through out it, that would break the magic circle principle.
When it comes to outrageous stories I see them more as a double edged sword. You want to generate some memorable experiences, but you also want to maintain the general cohesion of the narrative. Often these two can be at odds with one another. If fighting a kraken blind and one-armed is exciting it tends to create a single focal point for the story rather than a particularly interesting episode in a larger progression. Sleeping Gods is the only story game that I have played so far that does a good job in staging its climatic episodes adequately. Again, connecting to a previous discussion, getting these outlandish events to occur close to the conclusion feels more appropriate and neatly tops off a longer memorable adventure.
You point out the importance of verbs/actions, while attributes being more easily forgettable. Locations are equally important, and are key in the Memory Palace approach. This is something that Arkham Horror the card game does very well, since it uses cards as locations that can be arranged and connected in different ways. The nature of the scenarios (every time with new places to go) help to make every adventure memorable. Also, when tied to actions, you have the full combo for the Memory Palace (character+action+location). How to forget when we were fleeing through Istanbul Bazaar, how our belongings fell out of the mountain cliff or how a train disappeared at our backs? This is something that fixed boards have a harder time to recreate, since you will have many games at the using the ‘same space’. I don’t know how intentional this part of the design really is but, to me, it’s what makes the game shine.
I love Moonwalking with Einstein! Even though I never remembered the logic (or absence thereof) for the card nomenclature...let alone the actual names. I did try using the Memory Palace technique to memorize every amino acid and every disney animated movie...because neither list meant anything to me, and I thought that was a good way to test it for myself. I probably held the amino acids for a couple of years, but the disney ones degraded much, much sooner since I wasn't very invested in them. I probably should be training my memory more, with less mundane lists.
One idea I thought of about making rules memorable is too out there, I don't even think it's applicable to many games. But what if rules (such as action options) are anchored by some weird movement, like a charades-as-rules? It sounds embarrassing, funny, and ideally symbolic, which might help not just the rules giver but the party remember it.
Another idea might just be naming the actual actions, but giving it names that has a story in them, like how playing cards are given names. Weird names, but somehow thematically linked.
I think an example of techniques used to help certain rules stick in your brain is the way Czech Games Edition inserts humour into their rules explanations. It is hard to pull off just right, which is why I suspect that it has not become very popular. It also depends a lot on the tenor of the game, you wouldn't want a grim and brooding setting to have slapstick jokes peppered through out it, that would break the magic circle principle.
When it comes to outrageous stories I see them more as a double edged sword. You want to generate some memorable experiences, but you also want to maintain the general cohesion of the narrative. Often these two can be at odds with one another. If fighting a kraken blind and one-armed is exciting it tends to create a single focal point for the story rather than a particularly interesting episode in a larger progression. Sleeping Gods is the only story game that I have played so far that does a good job in staging its climatic episodes adequately. Again, connecting to a previous discussion, getting these outlandish events to occur close to the conclusion feels more appropriate and neatly tops off a longer memorable adventure.
Thanks for a great article, as always.
You point out the importance of verbs/actions, while attributes being more easily forgettable. Locations are equally important, and are key in the Memory Palace approach. This is something that Arkham Horror the card game does very well, since it uses cards as locations that can be arranged and connected in different ways. The nature of the scenarios (every time with new places to go) help to make every adventure memorable. Also, when tied to actions, you have the full combo for the Memory Palace (character+action+location). How to forget when we were fleeing through Istanbul Bazaar, how our belongings fell out of the mountain cliff or how a train disappeared at our backs? This is something that fixed boards have a harder time to recreate, since you will have many games at the using the ‘same space’. I don’t know how intentional this part of the design really is but, to me, it’s what makes the game shine.