My initial goal in writing Hide & Seek was to write a simple, one-page Lasers & Feelings hack. I did that, and it all worked out. It fit on the one page. It was fine.
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| H&S U-Con Ashcan |
But when I started playing the game with other people, I realized that there were some tools & thought processes I was developing to run this supposedly “one-page simple game” that made it work so much better.
Halfway through the first session I ever ran of Hide & Seek, I started to ask myself what the real difference between the game’s two explicit actions was. While it’s hard even now to explicitly draw a line where one ends and the other begins, I came up with a pretty easy rubric.
If I feel like the action that the player stated their PC would take turns toward the drama of the scene whether explicitly (“I shout in the monster’s face!”) or implicitly (“I read up on the Dogman in the elementary school library”), I consider the action Seeking. When a PC Seeks, it’s vital that the player learn something new as a result of the action; use Seeking as a prompt to get ready to give the player something new and interesting.
If, on the other hand, I feel like the action turns away from the drama of the scene – again whether explicitly (“I dash into the crawlspace to hide from the monster!”) or implicitly (“I throw sand in the bully’s eye to buy Jimmy the time he needs to get out of there!”) – I consider the action Hiding. When a PC Hides, the GM needs to ask clarifying questions to both inform the table and heighten tension. My favorite questions to ask invite the player to invent new details of the scenario at hand. “What do you think just brushed up against you in the darkness?” “What do you think he meant by that?” “Who do you think would be able to help in this situation?”
Here’s my first draft of clarifying language for the next (more-than-one-page) version of Hide & Seek, let me know what you think.
Hiding & Seeking
Unlike most tabletop role-playing games, Hide & Seek offers rules for only two sorts of action: hiding and seeking. It may be tempting to think of this rule set as limiting, as if by only having rules for hiding and seeking, that Hide & Seek proscribes all other actions, that the only actions that player characters can take is either to hide or to seek. Instead, the Gamemaster should take the perspective of interpreting every player character's action through the lens of hiding or seeking.
Hiding actions look to protect someone or something from an outside influence. We hide under the bed to escape the danger. We hide the book of secrets from the view of grownups. We hide our true feelings and don’t fight back when the bully accosts us, trying to goad us into a brawl. Frame actions that turn inward, turn away or confound the current scene as hiding. Whenever a player character hides, ask questions, especially ones that invite the player to add new details to the scene at hand. Hiding gets you out of danger.
Seeking actions look to stretch outward and learn about the world around the characters. We seek to find where Jimmy is hiding. We seek the answers in the pages of a book. We seek by going to new place and meeting new people. Frame actions that turn toward, investigate or tell us more about the current scene as seeking. Whenever a player character hides, provide them with new information they didn’t have before. Seeking puts you in danger.