So I'm here watching @DichotomusPrime talking about game design things → https://www.twitch.tv/dichotomusprime 

I heard him say "crunch" and there's a part of me that used to think that when people said "crunch" all they meant was "I want to do math with the math rocks!" /1

But hearing the word today felt different. I'm pretty sure people have talked about this at length already so I'm aware this is not new, but the way I'm thinking about all of this is, so enjoy the ride.

Anyway, about my thought... /2

I used to think that crunch meant MATH, but I'm starting to think about what that math lets someone do. The numbers mean *something*, but it's arbitrary at best. It's shorthand for something.

I think maybe it's shorthand for *planning*. /3

Because deep mechanics whether numbers or otherwise gives you the feeling of being in control; if I know how the numbers work, I can make the game do what I want to a specific detail in a tangible way.

Do we need math for that, tho? Like do we? /4

Do you need three types of armor values for that? Do you need 3 d12s for that? Maybe?

Is the control in the numbers or in the mechanics in which you could, for example, state "here's what they do, here's how you can combine them. You have 20 things to combine. Have fun!" /5

Hm. Hmmmmm. I don't know if this has one particular answer, but I'm really enjoying that I can ask that question. /6