On Merryshire Abilities

by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

There are game designers who quail at the sight of a lengthy skill list, who argue that brevity and simplicity is the goal of game design. 

Such game designers are, of course, cowards.

Merryshire’s ability list is enthusiastically baroque. Here’s the very first list, from 2023.

And the current list.

See, there have been simplifications over on the General side. Meddle and Mischief got combined. But like a well-tended garden, the investigative list has blossomed with the addition of Art, Architecture, Clerkage, Natural History, Puzzles, and Riddles & Tall Tales. I’ve always described investigative abilities as questions you can ask the world around you – and why not be prolix and verbose in your inquiries, even in this, the most rhetorical of queries? 

More seriously — the choice of ability names says a very great deal about a game. Putting down the classic array of Strength, Dexterity, Constitution et al. means you’re implicitly opening up a dialogue with Dungeons & Dragons. Gregor Hutton’s seminal 3:16 put its cards on the table by having two stats, Fighting Ability and Non-Fighting Ability. 

Merryshire’s long list implies that there’ll be a lot of meandering and petty distinctions (in a fun way). Just the names tell players a lot about the game – putting stuff like Cousins or Politeness and Genealogy to the forefront makes it clear that this is a game taking place within a community; abilities like Themology or Wider World give clues about context, while having Sneaking, Eavesdropping, Nosiness and Spot Tell right there on the sheet imply the sort of things the players should be doing.

The two most important pieces of real estate in any RPG – the two things even the most reading-averse player will look at – are the cover and the character sheet. They need to draw the players in, and tell them what sort of game they’re playing. Merryshire’s lovely cover by Amy Nagi hits all the marks – pretty village, check. Halfling detective in sensible clothing, check. Collecting clues, check. Hang on, why’s there an otter wearing goggles? Intriguing, drawing your curiosity, check.

Similarly, the instant the character sheet’s put in front of you, you get an idea of the sort of game this is. You may not understand all the abilities (‘what’s a Clerkage when it’s at home?’), but you get the vibe, and the vibe is all…

Merryshire is a game of halfling detectives solving crimes in a bucolic village, where your neighbours are more important than your hit points.