Choice vs No Choice

Let’s first get it out of the way, having choice in game in good. And most games do offer you some level of choice. When we think of games without choice, kids games come to my mind. In Candyland, you flip a card and move. The only choice you get in Candyland is whether or not to play the game. Once the cards are shuffled, the winner of the game is determined.

But it does happen in other games as well. Generally not a ton in the hobby gaming space, but think of any game where you randomly flip a card and something bad happens. I don’t remember the name of the game, but there is a great example of this in a Dice Tower playthrough. One of the members of the Dice Tower flips a card and it causes him to lose his current turn, or next turn. Either way, it was a random card flip with no shot to avoid it that really ruined the game.

So even some small level of choice making is better than none. Let’s look at the Candyland and unknown game example. Candyland, you could give yourself a choice, draw two cards and pick which one to play. It’s not much of a choice but there is a choice. For the lose a turn in that other game, I believe there were character stats. Give a character a roll in a given stat, or card play between two different stats to try and avoid it. Even if it’s semi-lucky to avoid it, like a die roll, make some way.

Good Choice vs Obvious Choice

Now, those choices I give above for Candyland and the other game are choices, but are they good choices. And what do I mean as a difference between a good and an obvious choice. A good choice is one that you need to think about. An obvious choice is, well, obvious. But not just obvious, it is a choice that stands out as notably better than other choices.

Even if it takes a bit to get to that decision, if there is one decision that is much better than the others, that is an obvious choice. A good choice means that you have an option that is best for your plans for winning the game. And that there are a number of options that might be very similar and I pick which one best suits my goal for a game.

A good choice can also make it feel like you’re giving up something as well, as often times you are. You want both things, but there is only a way to do one. It makes for a more interesting game, but also makes it so that players want to come back. If I didn’t see this the first time around, I want to see it the next time. Story driven games, that offer real choice, are good for that.

Making Sub-Optimal Choices in Board Games

But, let’s wrap up here by talking about something that I appreciate in a game. And this comes up less in euro games, and more in story driven and adventure focused games. When I play Roll Player Adventures, for example, I pick what my character would do. Not what I think, out of game is the best option. Is our group reckless, then we pick the reckless option more often than not. Or in Gloomhaven, I might not think a choice is the best one, but if I’m playing an Inox and it is going to help another Inox, I might lean that way.

The best example of this, though, is a role playing game. So a Dungeons and Dragons, where it isn’t a board game. But you play as an elf with very poor wisdom. At the table, you know that it is a bad idea to negotiate for medicine with this dirty guy in the back alley. But will the elf know that? I think because of playing RPG’s, I can role play into a board game more.

Now, there is such a thing as going too far down this path. For example, if I’ve been playing Pandemic Legacy and I generally try to play riskier. If it’s down to the end of the game, or I know if I get another scar the character is gone and it might push us to lose the game, I am going to pull back. I play sub-optimally when I know it won’t hurt everyone at the table, but will create a more memorable experience.

Final Thoughts on Choice in Board Games

Choice is important in a board game. Without choice based off of something, it feels more like an activity. Candyland is an activity even though it has a winner, because the winner is determined by the deck. The Mind gets called an activity by some people. And I would put it more in that category as well because you are making a decision, when to put down a card, based off of nothing all that much. It is just how long you think it should take to play your number.

A good board game is going to give good and meaningful choices. But I do think that a good board game also doesn’t make all the choices that. If every turn is an important decision the game is going to take way longer. You want to have some wins to keep the game moving, but when it comes down to the major moments, you want to have it mean a lot. Mainly to avoid ending up with decision fatigue.

Or limit it to a few options. I like Calico, for that reason. Every decision matters but your decision space is smaller. I play one of two tiles onto my quilt. Then I pick one of three tiles to add to my hand. So, every pick really matters because it is a tight board game for scoring. But every pick is so limited that it’s less overwhelming. To me that is a great balance, where my options are limited but they matter.

What game has the best decision making space for you?

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Listen To The Players

The first step is really simple, listen to the players. You’re listening to what they are interested in doing, what storylines they are going after, what they are looking for and then building upon that. If they want to know what is happening at the mill, doesn’t matter if nothing was happening there, now something should be happening there. If the player guesses what is going to happen, for example, removing part of a ritual and the ritual explodes, let that happen as a call back to that thought later. This doesn’t mean you give the players everything they want, having the big bad be at the mill because the players want them there when it doesn’t fit into the story, that doesn’t work, but something odd happening at the mill that adds to the story, that’ll be memorable.

Give Up Control

I’ve touched on this some already, but you can just see where the players are going to take you as well. You don’t need to know everything that is going to happen to create memorable moment. In fact, for them to be most memorable to you, it helps when you don’t know what’s going to happen. An example of this actually came up just a week ago in Tower of the Gods. I had an idea for the session as to where it might go, and it ended up in a bank heist with a gnome wearing stilts and a Tiefling riding a cart of cabbages into the middle of the bank and exploding them with the Thunderwave spell. With that cart, the player asked, is there are cart or anything like that around outside, the answer to that was simply, what do you need? Give it to them even if in your minds scene it wasn’t there, because you never know what wacky thing might happen because you gave them that or epic moment might happen because you let them do something that was hard.

Describe Big

This is one that’s a bit hard for me at times. I fall into the habit of saying at the bad guy attacked and missed or hit. But that could be described in a bigger more epic way. And this is another area when you can entrust the story into the hands of the players. In the series Critical Role, Matt Mercer always asks the question of how the players want to kill a monster when they deal the final blow, and they narrate it out. Well, I play theater of the mind, so that can be done even more. When my attack misses, I can entrust the story to the player to describe how they dodge it, especially on an important attack. But describing big is something that the Dungeon Master can set the tone for. I have 3-4 bad guys in a fight, I am describing more than everyone else. And this doesn’t have to be a fight, when there is a puzzle or an important room, I can build out more of that to help the players get a clear idea of the area, but all while holding loosely so as the players interact with it more, they can get what they need from it, which is known as the “There’s Always a Chandelier” rule or Rule of Cool. Basically, if it sounds cool, let them do it, let them have their chandelier.

You Can’t Plan Them

Finally, you really can’t plan them. My tips might foster more of those memorable moments, but those are just tips. The truly memorable moments happen when the players do something that interacts with your ideas in an unexpected and cool way. Whether that’s by a great roll, or some great role play, you’ll not know until it happens. It’s hard to give up that control at times, but when it feels like something big might be about to happen, let it happen. Now, you can help foster more of these potential situations by giving a wide variety of challenges or interactions, but you never really know which one is going to have that moment that players will remember, but also that you will remember as well.

What are some of your most memorable Dungeons and Dragons or really any RPG moments?

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