Nerdarchy on Role-Playing Game High Concepts: Zoo Mafia RPG Design Diary #8
In this 13-minute video on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted dive deeper into the design of Zoo Mafia RPG. They explore high concepts in Nerdarchy’s roleplaying game.
The conversation starts with a closer look at what a high concept means as regards a roleplaying game. After establishing this Dave and Ted delve into the high concept for Zoo Mafia RPG. In other words they answer the question, “What do players do when playing Zoo Mafia RPG?” The very catchy Do Crime, Go Wild motto for the game sounds terrific but a high concept needs to go further.
You can witness precisely what players do through our Zoo Mafia RPG live playtest at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel. The group’s mob does indeed go wild and do lots of crime over the course of the 12-session campaign. During these sessions the high concepts discussed in the video emerge and become much more refined. For even greater insights into the design process start to finish you can subscribe to the Zoo Mafia newsletter. These subscribers will be the very first to receive Zoo Mafia RPG Quick Start rules for FREE after the campaign ends and the document is finalized. You can sign up for the Zoo Mafia RPG newsletter here.
Earlier design diary videos refrained from stating the high concepts of the game primarily because they weren’t yet fully developed. Nerdarchy likes to do things our own way and we decided to run the first playtest of the game live streamed. Because why not, right? Very early in the campaign the high concepts solidified. Those concepts brought about some fundamental rules changes as well, which Dave and Ted touch on in this video and others in this series.
With the high concepts of Zoo Mafia RPG in place and a workable ruleset the playtest continues with gusto. All of the players absolutely love the game. The fun, easy to understand rules make gameplay incredibly smooth and engaging. One of the top goals in developing this game is making sure the mechanics help steer the narrative in a satisfying way and facilitate a great roleplaying experience.
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