Design Goals

• Work with tabletop rules
• Encourage interaction
• Functionality/Gameplay at GM's discretion
• Rules should be accessible for any automated gameplay
• Minimize necessary GM setup

Design Process

With this in mind, all features should be designed in this order:

1. Design for social interaction
   • Should ensure that each feature encourages interaction.
2. Add optional moderation features (let the GM control things)
   • Puts gameplay and features at the GM's discretion.
3. Design framework for simplifying common tasks (should be available to GMs and maybe users)
   • Ensures that rules are visible for automated play.
4. Use framework to build an initial set of helpful tools
   • Make sure to build tabletop-compatible tools, and tools which minimize the GM's setup effort.

Example

As an example, consider the feature for text chatting, designed in this order:

1. Design for social interaction
   • A text environment where people can easily maintain one or many conversation threads, sent in real-time for the highest level of interactivity between users.
2. Add optional moderation features (let the GM control things)
   • Allow the GM to prescreen, edit, re-arrange, or delete posts.
3. Design framework for simplifying common tasks (should be available to GMs and maybe users)
   • Implement a scripting language for building macros.
4. Use framework to build an initial set of helpful tools
   • Build macros for die rolling and other common tasks.