Natural 7

GLÅUGUST 2026 - 5

This is a continuation of my entries to the GLÅUGUST 2026 challenges. You can review all previous posts here:

If you want to follow along, you can read the Nothic's Eye GLÅUGUST 2026 challenges here.

The following challenge is more about how you think about systems, rules, and interfacing with the game world than anything else.

Challenge the Fifth

4 - Cottonmouth your pet system so it is synonymous with one of your settings. Here is what Cottonmouth is and here is one way you could do that.

(I appreciate that this links to Was It Likely?'s longest post ever)

Brief summary: "Cottonmouth your pet system" means to describe the obvious(?) laws of your setting's reality. They are rules which could be quoted verbatim by inhabitants of the setting. They are not rules which include any game mechanics.

I think the easiest way to do this would be generating a list of "Laws of Reality" and then declaring that all those statements are true things that must be obeyed by everything they apply to.

Example: In my setting [[The Splintered Galaxy]], the Splinter is an uncrossable void horizon, where if you go in, you don't come out. Therefore, a Cottonmouth rule of whatever game system I use is this: "Anyone who enters the Splinter cannot return the same."

A False Example: In the aforementioned setting, I use FIST as my game system of choice. It is not a Cottonmouth rule to say this: "Anyone who enters the Splinter has to roll Creative or suffer the consequences."

There are several other good examples in Was It Likely's first linked blog post, about an inch down the scrollbar.

When in doubt: "It's enough to give specific, evocative suggestions about the nature of the world, the ways in which it differs from our own, the things players can rely on and master in lieu of mechanics."

Laws of the Splintered Galaxy

I'll use the Splintered Galaxy as my setting, since I've already introduced it on the blog before. I'll use FIST for my system, because that's what I used to run my games in the setting.

I'm sure I'll miss a few things since this post is becoming long enough already, but I'll try.

Of the Physical & Mental Capabilities

Of the Galaxy

Of the Politics

Final Thoughts

While reading Was It Likely's essay on Cottonmouth Laws to get a grasp on what this challenge was about, I found this amazing quote that helps describe what old school games are about:

"that's part of why that distinct strangeness of aesthetic, character, environment, and other setting elements is so common to the OSR scene: the complexities of the games rules, the stuff that requires actual calculation, is the same stuff that your characters are trying to calculate. How can we carry enough food for our hirelings. How many more hours of light do we have down here. that's Cottonmouth! elsewhere, the game has a light to nonexistent touch, so things can get dreamy and unreal."

This is the best way I have seen to describe what these games are trying to do with their rules, especially those on inventory management.

There are many other good quotes from this article, including:

"now, it's true that there is something you want to bloom in your game, a rule will not grow it for you. this is one of the reasons why we are against incentives; if you want a game with true goodness in it, you cannot get goodness with a rule. being heartbroken because it gets you heartbreak points doesn't convince anyone."

But hey, what was this post about? It was about generating the laws of reality of a setting and making a system synonymous with it. This is to say, I took the game FIST and made playing it equivalent to living in the Splintered Galaxy. Ish. I like to think I did a good job, but this is certainly a project I could imagine spending days working on. I highly recommend reading (or skimming) Was It Likely's posts on the subject.

How would you do the same with your own systems and settings?

See you next week!

Things on my radar: