From my notebook and from speculating hard over the weekend, I present
Hubris
A family tragedy inspired by the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus.
Time Range: 1 session of 2 hours
Ingredients: Glass, Ancient, Emotion
Four players, no GM. Equipment: a deck of cards. 4 glasses. 40 stones. 4 Six-sided dice. A timer. No player or character sheets, no notes during the game, only narration.
In an ancient kingdom, the King returns from war. His Queen and the Heir to the throne have been waiting since he went away. Everything has changed. A lover or mistress has entered the scene.
Each player gets to play a protagonist, randomly chosen. The protagonists are the King, the Queen, the Heir (Prince or Princess), the Lover (King's or Queen's)
How long has the King been away?
How has the kingdom been ruled in the meantime?
What reasons do the protagonists have to kill one another?
Who will survive and who will die?
Who will rule the kingdom and at what price?
Game Structure
Past - where we establish what has gone before, and are introduced to the four progagonists in a random order. 4 scenes of 10 minutes.
Present - 4 scenes of 10 minutes.
Future - where we predict what will come after. 4 scenes of 10 minutes.
Note that "scene" may be comprised of more than one scene, but each scene is narrated by the active protagonist with the other players confirming or opposing the established facts in the game.
Possible supporting cast
The Maiden. The Mistress. The Lover. The Servant. The Slave. The Brother. The Cousin. The Grandmother. The Grandfather. The Elder. The Herald. The God. The Warrior. The Assassin. The Beast. The Thief.
Hubris - Nemesis (no implementation as yet, but will be)
Conflict/fact establisment is ruled by a Polaris-inspired mechanic, ie. ritualistic conflict phrases, and determined by a dice roll if disagreement between the players.
Protagonists are represented by playing cards, and so are their traits. King is King, Queen is Queen, Jack is Heir and Ace is Lover. The colour of the protagonist card determines the character's main aspect. The aspects may be interpreted by the players.
Hearts: Emotion. Diamond: Wealth. Spades: Action. Clubs: Death.
Three additional cards (from 2-10) are drawn to indicate character traits. The higher the better.
Each protagonist starts with 10 stones in her Glass of Life, and when all stones have been used, the character will die. Stones are used to narrate scenes and influence conflicts. Lost stones can never be retrieved - perhaps.
Entry: Hubris
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by rpoppe » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:37 am
Per, I love that idea. It takes a certain kind of player to do well, though - I have a friend who stutters a bit, and takes a liong time to organize his thoughts, and a game with a hard narrative time limit would be a disaster for him. Not to discourage you - I know others who would thrive with this constraint - I'd just make that clear in the rules.
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by Justin D. Jacobson » Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:31 am
Sounds promising. A great story and a great set-up that is rife with tension.
I'm curious how you'll be incorporating the ingredients. Ancient and emotion seem like lay-ups for this. I don't see committee anywhere, so it must be glass. Based on your description, the glass doesn't seem like much more than a hit-point-holder. My suggestion would be to look for a way to incorporate the third ingredient pretty solidly.
I'm curious how you'll be incorporating the ingredients. Ancient and emotion seem like lay-ups for this. I don't see committee anywhere, so it must be glass. Based on your description, the glass doesn't seem like much more than a hit-point-holder. My suggestion would be to look for a way to incorporate the third ingredient pretty solidly.
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by Doug Ruff » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:08 pm
An alternate use for committee, if your interested.
Hubris leads inexorably to Ate - divine retribution. The Furies are the delegates of the gods sent to punish. This would be a more accurate use of the word "committee" than in most of the games submitted to date.
Hope this helps.
Hubris leads inexorably to Ate - divine retribution. The Furies are the delegates of the gods sent to punish. This would be a more accurate use of the word "committee" than in most of the games submitted to date.
Hope this helps.
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by pfischer » Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:17 pm
Kenjib, Doug, thanks!
I threw out the dice and narrowed it all down to narration and Karma resolution. The highest invoked (active, paid for with Life Blood) card wins the conflict if it comes to that. I am working on a simplified version of Polaris conflict phrases, but the decision will be Karma based. (of course called Hubris here). But conflict rules are not tested yet.
Mental note: how to avoid de-protagonising?
This is the beginning of the draft game text:
Each player gets 10 stones to put in her Glass of Life.
Separate the face cards from the rest and shuffle each pile. Draw a number card each. Highest card chooses who deals. The first player to have a protagonist in a scene is the one next on the dealer's left. Shuffle the cards back into the pile.
Progagonists
The dealer deals a face cards to the first player on the left, and then continues round. If the same type of card or suit comes up again, it's discarded and another one is dealt. Eventually all four players will have a different face card with a different suuit. The suit of the card indicates the character's primary aspect.
King = The King
Queen = The Queen
Jack = The Heir (Prince or Princess)
Ace = The Lover (to the King or Queen)
Spades = Action
Diamonds = Wealth
Hearts = Emotion
Clubs = Death
The dealer then deals three cards, one at a time to each player, who are placed in a row underneath the protagonist card. When the second card is dealt to the players, it cannot be of the same suit as the protagonist card. In that case it is simply discarded, and another one is dealt instead. If a dealt card has the same suit as a previously dealt card it is discarded if a lower value or it replaced the one already dealt if it has a higher value. When all player have two cards underneath their protagonist card, a third one is dealt, same restrictions as above.
Eventually every player has a protagonist of a suit different from the other three protagonists. In addition each player has three numbered cards, each in their own suit and not the same suit as the protagonist card.
What do the cards tell us?
At a glance, the cards reveal strong and weak sides of the protagonists and indicate the potential narrative power (Hubris) of the player controlling the respective protagionist. The suit of the protagonist part is the protagonist's strongest and defining aspect.
In conflicts, the higher card will always beat the lower card, and the Protagonist card counts as the highest in its suit. When a card is used in this way, called Hubris, it's exhausted until the player who own's the card has been involved in a conflict of the same aspect, or the player has revived it by placing another Life Stone on it. An exhausted card only counts as the number of stones placed on it. The loosing card in a conflict is not exhausted. It always costs a Life Stone to invoke Hubris from a card. An exhausted card can be turned upside-down or sideways until it's ready again.
Glass of Life
Every player has 10 Life Stones, and should administer their use with the utmost care. When a player uses her last Life Stone, her Protagonist has to die in the next scene being narrated. The life stones also provide the power to invoke aspects in conflicts. Each an aspect is used in a conflict, the player has to place a life stone on it. The same aspects can be invoked as many times a the player wishes. Life stones are narrative power.
How to play
The game is played in three main sections, each comprised of four scenes of 10 minutes each. Each player gets to be the primary narrator in one scene per section. Everything has to be handled within the 10 minute time-span in a scene, and when the timer beeps, set it for another 10 minutes and shift to the next player on the left. This should ensure a constant narrative stress on the players.
Narrating scenes
Each scene features the active player as the primary narrator. The player opposite acts as the opposition, and may interrupt the narration according to the conflict rules.
Everything the primary narrator says, and that is not disputed by the opposition, becomes fact in the game's shared imagination and cannot be undone later. The remaining two players act as guides during the scene, and may offer suggestions if the primary narrator or the opposition is stuck for ideas. The guides may also remind the two active players of continuity mistakes, offer rules guidance etc.
The narrator cannot make decisions on behalf of another protagonist. Only the protagonist's player can do that. The Heir's player cannot say "The King began to feel lonely and picked himself a concubine." Something like "One of the concubines, who had laid with the Prince, sneaked into the King's chamber and offered herself, trying to charm him with stories of his son's great stamina in bed." is better. The King's reaction is not included, and the King's player can use it later.
What if the narrator then says, "At the height of the King's climax, the concubine drew forth a sharp stiletto and drove it between her ruler's ribs"? The opposition player can dispute it, or not. The King's player, if not the opposition, can argue that it should be disputed. Maybe promise something in return?
The primary narrating player must always include her protagonist character in her narration in some way, either physically present or emotionally. The scene may be told in any way the player prefers. Third person or first person, as a narrator or speaking directly as the protagonist or a mixture of these. Whatever works best for the player.
In roleplaying there are of course ways to get around "cannot be undone". A dead person can never live again, but may enter the story as a ghost or in a dream. "The King had seven sons". Fact. "One of them was a bastard son of his brother's wife." New fact that doesn't contradict the original one. Be careful here, because "but one of them was a girl" is not allowed. On the other hand "and a daughter" is. Basically, don't waste time trying to mend what has been narrated before, embellish it, dramatise it instead. If you don't like it in the first place, dispute it. Or convince another player to dispute it. Even better.
Life Blood cost
The cost of initiating a scene is 1 Life Blood, that is placed on the secondary aspect the player would like to use as a focal point for her narration, thus activating the aspect. This cost is mandatory so every scene a player narrates will cost her at least 1 Life Blood from her Glass of Life.
I threw out the dice and narrowed it all down to narration and Karma resolution. The highest invoked (active, paid for with Life Blood) card wins the conflict if it comes to that. I am working on a simplified version of Polaris conflict phrases, but the decision will be Karma based. (of course called Hubris here). But conflict rules are not tested yet.
Mental note: how to avoid de-protagonising?
This is the beginning of the draft game text:
Each player gets 10 stones to put in her Glass of Life.
Separate the face cards from the rest and shuffle each pile. Draw a number card each. Highest card chooses who deals. The first player to have a protagonist in a scene is the one next on the dealer's left. Shuffle the cards back into the pile.
Progagonists
The dealer deals a face cards to the first player on the left, and then continues round. If the same type of card or suit comes up again, it's discarded and another one is dealt. Eventually all four players will have a different face card with a different suuit. The suit of the card indicates the character's primary aspect.
King = The King
Queen = The Queen
Jack = The Heir (Prince or Princess)
Ace = The Lover (to the King or Queen)
Spades = Action
Diamonds = Wealth
Hearts = Emotion
Clubs = Death
The dealer then deals three cards, one at a time to each player, who are placed in a row underneath the protagonist card. When the second card is dealt to the players, it cannot be of the same suit as the protagonist card. In that case it is simply discarded, and another one is dealt instead. If a dealt card has the same suit as a previously dealt card it is discarded if a lower value or it replaced the one already dealt if it has a higher value. When all player have two cards underneath their protagonist card, a third one is dealt, same restrictions as above.
Eventually every player has a protagonist of a suit different from the other three protagonists. In addition each player has three numbered cards, each in their own suit and not the same suit as the protagonist card.
What do the cards tell us?
At a glance, the cards reveal strong and weak sides of the protagonists and indicate the potential narrative power (Hubris) of the player controlling the respective protagionist. The suit of the protagonist part is the protagonist's strongest and defining aspect.
In conflicts, the higher card will always beat the lower card, and the Protagonist card counts as the highest in its suit. When a card is used in this way, called Hubris, it's exhausted until the player who own's the card has been involved in a conflict of the same aspect, or the player has revived it by placing another Life Stone on it. An exhausted card only counts as the number of stones placed on it. The loosing card in a conflict is not exhausted. It always costs a Life Stone to invoke Hubris from a card. An exhausted card can be turned upside-down or sideways until it's ready again.
Glass of Life
Every player has 10 Life Stones, and should administer their use with the utmost care. When a player uses her last Life Stone, her Protagonist has to die in the next scene being narrated. The life stones also provide the power to invoke aspects in conflicts. Each an aspect is used in a conflict, the player has to place a life stone on it. The same aspects can be invoked as many times a the player wishes. Life stones are narrative power.
How to play
The game is played in three main sections, each comprised of four scenes of 10 minutes each. Each player gets to be the primary narrator in one scene per section. Everything has to be handled within the 10 minute time-span in a scene, and when the timer beeps, set it for another 10 minutes and shift to the next player on the left. This should ensure a constant narrative stress on the players.
Narrating scenes
Each scene features the active player as the primary narrator. The player opposite acts as the opposition, and may interrupt the narration according to the conflict rules.
Everything the primary narrator says, and that is not disputed by the opposition, becomes fact in the game's shared imagination and cannot be undone later. The remaining two players act as guides during the scene, and may offer suggestions if the primary narrator or the opposition is stuck for ideas. The guides may also remind the two active players of continuity mistakes, offer rules guidance etc.
The narrator cannot make decisions on behalf of another protagonist. Only the protagonist's player can do that. The Heir's player cannot say "The King began to feel lonely and picked himself a concubine." Something like "One of the concubines, who had laid with the Prince, sneaked into the King's chamber and offered herself, trying to charm him with stories of his son's great stamina in bed." is better. The King's reaction is not included, and the King's player can use it later.
What if the narrator then says, "At the height of the King's climax, the concubine drew forth a sharp stiletto and drove it between her ruler's ribs"? The opposition player can dispute it, or not. The King's player, if not the opposition, can argue that it should be disputed. Maybe promise something in return?
The primary narrating player must always include her protagonist character in her narration in some way, either physically present or emotionally. The scene may be told in any way the player prefers. Third person or first person, as a narrator or speaking directly as the protagonist or a mixture of these. Whatever works best for the player.
In roleplaying there are of course ways to get around "cannot be undone". A dead person can never live again, but may enter the story as a ghost or in a dream. "The King had seven sons". Fact. "One of them was a bastard son of his brother's wife." New fact that doesn't contradict the original one. Be careful here, because "but one of them was a girl" is not allowed. On the other hand "and a daughter" is. Basically, don't waste time trying to mend what has been narrated before, embellish it, dramatise it instead. If you don't like it in the first place, dispute it. Or convince another player to dispute it. Even better.
Life Blood cost
The cost of initiating a scene is 1 Life Blood, that is placed on the secondary aspect the player would like to use as a focal point for her narration, thus activating the aspect. This cost is mandatory so every scene a player narrates will cost her at least 1 Life Blood from her Glass of Life.
Per - FORE!
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by matthijs » Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:34 am
By the gods 
Per, we have the exact same limit & ingredients. But our games are very, very different.
I love that you're going for the serious angle. As you say, it takes a certain kind of player; but so do all games, right?
Per, we have the exact same limit & ingredients. But our games are very, very different.
I love that you're going for the serious angle. As you say, it takes a certain kind of player; but so do all games, right?
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