Ralph Mazza​ you’re treading similar ground to something discussed recently in my circles: using board game design as a means to influence RPG desgin. I find the notion, especially from a rules/mechanical standpoint, tasty.

If I could glean rules for an RPG as quickly as I could from a board game, I’d be a happy man. And I think this especially applies to indie games more so than trad RPGs. All the rulings and handwaving is assumed in lots of trad games; not so in the indie ventures I’ve read. There is new posturing and player-GM or player-player interactions that indie games must describe that traditional games just assume you already understand (for better or worse).

Coming from a very traditional gamer background, this stuff is hard to wrap my head around. I’ve read Burning Wheel three or four times, and I’m still learning the nuances of play and trying to shrug off all those years of D&D.