[RPG]: Dirty Secrets, reviewed by matthijs (4/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13487.phtml

Matthijs Holter's Summary:

A story game about crimes - and the people who commit them. The system helps you make cool stories, and forces you to add twists.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Seth Ben-Ezra]

Thanks for the review, Mattijs!

I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the conflict mechanic. I understand your concerns, and it is probably the part of the game with the longest learning curve. My goal was actually to provide a thematic experience by analogy. What I mean is this: most conflicts in a game of Dirty Secrets are about bluff and counter-bluff on the character level. So, why not have a conflict system which is about bluff and counter-bluff on the player level? When playing Liar's Dice, you try to read your opponent's dice in his eyes. So, thematically, this connects the players to the characters.

Of course, technically speaking, you could play an entire game of Dirty Secrets without ever going to conflict at all....

[matthijs]

Yes, I sort of assumed that was the case - hiding stuff from other players is an analogy to the secrets the characters keep. For me, personally, it didn't work out that way; whether by conditioning or genetics, using conflict mechanics and numbers tends to get me out of story mode and into tactics mode (and by now, I've played enough games to be pretty certain that it's not just because I don't grok the rules, as I used to think).

I do find it interesting that this way of doing things - having relatively "heavy" mechanics for conflict play - is such a pervasive trend in U. S. indie games, while in other gaming subcultures it's almost nonexistent.

[mywinningsmile]

Nice review, Matthijs. As a big fan of noir, I definitely need to check this out!