Fuzzy Sets, Linguistic Variables and Table Top RPG’s

If you are bored by Role Playing games and are just here to hear about my writing, move along and read another post. You won’t be entertained.

Game theory has been on my mind off and on for awhile now. It’s been awhile since I’ve thought about such things- I haven’t programmed a video game RPG in about 5 years. Yet, the ideas I learned and all the cool algorythms had stayed with me (and I’ve used them in short stories and novellas for various things…including the way the ships AI thinks in Open Your Eyes and the way the ship’s cleaning bots process data and fix things that are broken).  Now that I’m trying my hand at game design systems for table top RPG’s, I’m starting to pool some of my knowledge from programming.

For example, I plied some object oriented programming techniques to Magpie. Which is why it’s super simple in Magpie to create your own classes, to modify the current classes, etc. I really liked this idea, and while some people where confused (base class and sub classes mostly) a lot of people really enjoyed the power and simplicity that the system offered.

I’ve been catching up on some odd 5 years of games that have been released, and I noticed a trend. A trend towards using Fuzzy Logic to bind narrative concepts to game rules, making them more player friendly and more imiginative.  What is Fuzzy Logic, you may ask?

Well, it’s simple. Let’s take a regular run of the mill RPG. You have stats with numbers assigned to them, giving them a weighted value of sorts.   Strength of 18, Agility of 10, etc, etc etc. These numbers give us a vague idea on how a character is at one thing or another.

This is pretty much Fuzzy Logic on it’s own. Fuzzy Logic is a varying degree of something, rather than a binary you have it/you don’e have it. It provides for a more natural feel to a game and makes sense with a table top RPG.  Now, this is only using a very primitive aspect of Fuzzy Logic, since it’s only using a number and applying those numbers to a game.

Take, for example, a person with a strength of 16.  He’s strong. How strong is he?  Well, he is stronger than someone with a strength of 12. This is very much in tune with Fuzzy Logic.  And in more modern games (anything published with the D20 system) you combine another aspect of Fuzzy Logic: assigning truth values to fuzzy sets. This is usually done with the bonuses. Usually -1 for anything under 9, 10-12 no bonus, 12+ bonus of +1.  This applies the concepts of weak (the negative bonus), average (no bonus) and excellent (positive bonus).

But until now, what games have ignored is the true power in fuzzy logic for creating a narrative enviroment.  Linguistic variables are the keys to making a system using fuzzy logic into a syetm that a narrative representation of the world.  So, instead of being -1, 0, +1, we would have the sets of weak, average and strong. This would be your rating- you wouldn’t have a number.  Just Weak, Average and Strong.

Now, some games are using stuff like this already. 4th Edition’s Bloodied is an excellent example. When a character reaches 1/2 hitpoints they are bloodied- which is a linguistic variable applied to a fuzzy set. Perfect. Or True 20′s hitpoint system, where instead of a number you have wounded, staggared, exhausted and etc.  which takes the concept of bloodied into a completely new direction.  Savage Worlds sort of does the same thing (but doesn’t give varying descriptions of wounded…to it’s more binary, you’re either wounded or you’re not…which isn’t very fuzzy).

I think this is the future of Table Top RPG’s. It makes games unique compared to their video game counterparts (which can deal with fuzzy logic, just not as well as humans), and it applies all the things table top games are good at (a narrative simulation based on a gaming concept)*.  I’m thinking over an idea for a completely Fuzzy Game (and yes, I know both Fate and FUDGE use Fuzzy Sets…I just don’t like +/- dice, or die pools for that matter) that uses all the benefits of a Fuzzy System (including linguistic variables) to describe every aspect of a character sheet.  It would still have numbers on it (since numbers are still key to fuzzy sets, it helps make it more fuzzy…).

I’m thinking a game that uses linguistic variables to a key amount (and makes certain they are memorable and describe things properly) can take gaming to a new level of player comprension.

Just some rambling ideas.  If I do this, it would be a system created for creating games of any stripe. I see it combining aspects of Object Oriented programming that made Magpie easy to modify with the structural and narrative complex/simplicity of Fuzzy Logic and Variable Names. I see it as a completely modular system, taking in a lot of what I’ve learned in video game RPG design and applying it to the table top. Creating a unique setting and unique world would be simple, easy and fast to do.

Faster than any other system out there. I’m talking hours of prep time for a complex interesting world. I’m talking quick and easy character creation that gives you the complex unique characters of 3rd Edition/Savage Worlds/etc that players enjoy.

I’m thinking of this for Magpie 2.0. A more powerful toolset for creating worlds.  But this is all in the far future. This game system is sketchy in my mind at best.