Malus

at several points this year i have idly joked about giving a talk or writing an essay entitled "DESIGNING TOWARDS ADHD: A MANIFESTO" about designing tabletop rpgs for people with adhd. i'll probably still write a full version of that essay! however: a few months ago, i got down an outline and shared it with some folks, at which point @keftiu told me "tbh hit publish on this; it’s ADHD-length." i think there's a degree of merit to that, so until i do publish a full version, enjoy this draft. i have changed "manifesto" to "handbook" in the interest of making the advice sound less authoritative and more autobiographical. thus i present to you the handbook:

1. IF IT IS NOT WRITTEN DOWN IN FRONT OF SOMEONE IT WILL BE LOST
   1. PUT EVERYTHING ON THE CHARACTER SHEET
   2. MINIMIZE THE NUMBER OF THINGS THAT ARE NOT A CHARACTER SHEET

2. NO MECHANICS GO IN YOUR GAME THAT DON'T ABSOLUTELY NEED TO BE THERE
   1. THEY WILL BE FORGOTTEN
   2. I'M SERIOUS
   3. PEOPLE WILL ADD THE NUANCE IF THEY NEED IT
3. PEOPLE WILL GET YOUR GAME WRONG
   1. JUST ACCEPT IT
4. MINIMIZE VERBAL COMPLEXITY
   1. CLARITY OVER EDGE CASES
   2. YOUR AUDIENCE IS NOT MADE OF COMPUTERS
   3. YOU CAN'T SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF SOMEONE ACTING IN BAD FAITH AT A TABLE YOU WILL NEVER SIT AT
5. THE ONLY NUMBERS YOU CAN TRUST WILL BE REMEMBERED INTUITIVELY ARE: 1, 2, 3, [GAME-DICE-SIZE], INFINITY, 0
   1. EVERYTHING ELSE HAS TO BE WRITTEN DOWN
   2. BECAUSE SEE ITEM 1
6. STRUCTURE MATTERS
   1. DIVE INTO DETAIL WHEN IT'S NECESSARY
   2. DON'T OTHERWISE
   3. IT IS OKAY AND SOMETIMES EVEN PREFERABLE TO REPEAT YOURSELF
7. TIME IS FAKE
   1. ONLY PROGRESS METERS MATTER
   2. "AN HOUR" HAS NO MEANING AT THE TABLE