A few words on my experience using the the Buddha games list as a design restriction for Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple:
It’s a friggin’ pain in the ass. tough but fruitful.*
For each restriction, I have to find a loophole. Just when I begin to doubt whether the work of reinventing the wheel is really worth it, I get another weird idea that I wouldn’t have gotten if I stuck with a standard system.
Still, the Fudge+ORE hack would be a great start for a dice-based system for Do. It’s got the attachment/detachment motif, the tripartite stats, and it’s easy to pick up and play. But noooo… #5 broadly states “throwing dice” as a game the Buddha wouldn’t play.
Until now, I’ve used blind bead-drawing as an alternative randomizer. I could use a bag of three colored beads to effectively produce the same results as this system, but that would require players to go to hobby lobby to buy their supplies. I guess that’s not such a huge hassle, considering they’d have to go to get enough beads of two colors anyway.
#17 says the Buddha wouldn’t play a game involving guessing a friend’s thoughts, such as 20 questions or any game where bluffing is involved. That’s why I’ve not approached any kind of blind bids in the mechanics, except for keeping the bead economy hidden in the bag where it’s not controlled by any single player.
#1 and #2 say the Buddha wouldn’t play a game on a board of 8 or 10 rows, which is unusually specific compared to #17 and #5. That opens up a giant loophole allowing the use of the Fudge ladder or any other kind of board as long is it’s not eight or ten rows.
Now, before any actual Buddhists bring this up, I’m fully aware that the Buddha games list is meant to discourage adherents from engaging in activities that serve only to stimulate the “monkey mind.” Finding loopholes in the list isn’t in keeping with its spirit, I know. But if the overall game leads to an emergent beginners’ education about the central tenets of the philosophy, then I’m willing to fudge the rules a bit.
Get it? Fudge? Nyuck nyuck.
* Shannon’s insight spurred me to request some advice over here, but I’d be more than happy to hear what folks on LJ have to say as well.
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