Monte Cook just did an interesting post on his blog. I must say that I do agree with this position. When it comes to board games, stories are great, but it’s the gameplay that’s the real clincher. I’m a big fan of games with themes, and I sometimes make my decisions based, at least in part, on the theme of the game. Take BattleLore for example. Now, Memoir ‘44 uses the same basic mechanics, but I probably won’t buy it. Why? Apart from already owning BattleLore, the fantasy theme of the first game appeals to me quite a lot more than the WW theme of Memoir ‘44. That said, though, I’m a huge fan of the Command and Colors system that both games use, and if BattleLore didn’t exist, and I played Memoir ‘44 at some point, I’d probably like it a lot and wind up buying it, despite the theme.

And that is exactly why I love it when game designers put manuals for their games in electronic format on their websites. I suppose that you could make some argument against that, invoking things like piracy, but it would be a pretty silly argument. Reading a game’s manual, if that game has mechanics that I’ll enjoy, only gets me more excited to play the game, and makes me want the game that much more. It’s a far more powerful form of advertising for your game than simple, story-based ad copy.

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