Ozymandias' most controversial mechanic.

All throughout making Ozymandias, there was one idea I kept coming back to, and kept changing my mind on. I was of two minds for a long period, and in the end, I compromised for both. Which I think, in the end, was a bit of a mistake. I'm quite proud of Ozymandias, it's a game with a lot of flaws, but its also unlike most games I've made, and to be frank, unlike most games I've played. It makes little demands of you as a player in terms of understanding it's mechanics, which is a blessing and a curse. There's very few mechanics to step in and stabalize, or create an average experience of the game. Playing Ozymandias well, that is, playing in the way that I intended, is much more about philosphy and mindset, than it is about mechanics. I try to give you a lot of support in understanding that mindset, but fundamentally, there's nothing stopping you as a player from ignoring those rules. 

Which brings me to the one part of Ozymandias I really did not want to include, example events. 

In the game, there are about 6 example events I provide, enough that if you want, you could roll on a table. This is nothing close to the 52+ you get in a lot of Ozymandias' inspirations like the Quiet Year or The Ground Itself. Ultimately I included them because I thought those were the things that would help people feel like they were buying 'a real game' when purchasing Ozymandias. Example events felt like, to me, something I needed to include to feel confident in pitching Ozymandias as a product. Which is strange, because, in my opinon, they're the worst part of the game. Those six bullet points are at war with every other part of Ozymandias' design, and I think if I had more time, or more confidence in myself as a designer, I would have released Ozymandias without them. In the end, something like the 'suggested turns' in the starting sheets do a much better job of achieving what I wanted example events to be. 

Example events and turn prompts put you in a mode of playing Ozymandias that I think works against its strengths. Ozymandias is about building a world. When playing the game, I want players to be making decisions based on that world, not the game that introduced them to it. The problem with introducing example events, is they create an idea that there is a right or wrong turn in Ozymandias. By showing examples, I put a limit on the structure and shape of what players are able to do with their turns (I already do this throughout with my suggestions, but in those sections I'm able to justify why I'm making those suggestions). 

Ozymandias asks players to have a lot of faith in their ideas, and it can be really scary to do that without any support. When given a blank canvas, we often feel scared of starting out on our own. (Not that Ozymandias is a blank canvas, it might feel like that at times, but there are some hidden mechanics in there that help to steer the story in a certain direction, but I'll save that for another post). Time and time again in playtests, players would look to me (The facilitator) to figure out what happens on their turn, and one of the most difficult parts of including example events, is that players found reasons that the text would support that behaviour. I'll say it here, (and I should probably say it more explicitly in the book) if you want to know what you should do with your events in Ozymandias, look to your other players, and look to the world you've built. In the latest update, I included a few more questions focused on the agricultural and material culture of the game's societies, because the answers to these questions will invariably lead you towards vivid and specific detail. The kinds of details that will help make that blank canvas feel a little more approachable. 

The other problem with example events is how they frame the relationship players have to their own agency. In a game like The Quiet Year, players respond to the prompt. If they want a specific event to happen, it either has to be through a long term project, or through the prompt they give. This works fantastic for the Quiet Year, but is something I didn't want in Ozymandias. The flow between text and play in TQY is something like prompt  from the text-> idea from the player -> answer in response. With Ozymandias, this presented a problem. Since the conversation is starting within the game, players (generally) are only acting in response to its prompts. It's much harder for players to view  the actions of other players as prompts. This also poses a secondary problem where players expect the game to figure out conclusions for them, which Ozymandias just isn't built to do. 

I've always been cautious about releasing example events in an update, because I worry that these will close off the variety of turns players can take, and pull them away from the world they've made. If I provide an event such as 'farmers discover a new application of their crops, and rise to a new social status because of it', what I'm also doing is saying that a player can't have 'The Corn Lord's of the Eastern Plains' until that event comes up (You can always have Corn Lord's in your game). While events do save players a lot of the work of trying to figure out what happens next, that work, and that thinking are integral to how Ozymandias is played. (An unfortunate side effect of this is that Ozymandias can be pretty exhausting at times. - I reccomend people take breaks every 45 minutes. After maybe an hour and 15 minutes-two hours, take a real long break, beacuse that's the point at which things can get a little loosey goosey). These answers come a little easier when you're locked into thinking about your world, and paying attention to the ideas of other players. 

Speaking of getting loosey goosey, I think I've probably said everything interesting I could about this subject (but I could say a lot more). Maybe whatever I make next will be a little tighter in its control over player actions, a little more active in the conversation than Ozymandias, but for now, all I have is this weird little game. My advice to anyone reading this interested in running Ozymandias is to pay attention to my suggestions, and disregard my imperatives. If you have quieter players, or if you are a quieter player, and you're looking towards the game to give you an idea of what the 'correct' way to play out your turn is, speak up, say you're unsure what you want to do, and then do it. If you really need an example, check the starter sheets, which are set up with example turns that are drilled into the world you've built, and hopefully give you a good sense of how you should be thinking about your cultures. 

Meitaki maata, 
Eamonn.