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Storium Theory: Tell The Story Of The Characters

I've written in the past about the responsibility of the narrator to use the details provided by player characters, and to set up challenges for the player characters chosen for the game. Today, I'd like to delve into that same general idea, but from a slightly different angle.

As narrator, you're responsible for setting up the story. You're responsible for figuring out possibilities for the game arc - the way the game will start, how it will progress, what variations could come up along the way, how open things are to being altered by the player characters and by how much, and where the story is likely to go. I've written about these concepts quite a bit, as the responsibility the narrator holds for defining the game as a whole is pretty huge.

But don't forget that as narrator, your job is also to help the stories of the player characters - the main characters, the stars - emerge.

I wrote about this in brief a while back, when I discussed game arcs vs. character arcs - a story, ultimately, is not about what happens to the world at large, but what happens to the characters we are following. Therefore, the narrator's job is not just to define the world's plot, the game arc. The narrator's job is also - in fact, arguably more importantly - to help draw out character arcs and issues.

It is all well and good to have a grand, epic game plot, or events that will affect the fate of the world, or other things that will affect a great many people beyond the main characters. That's fine. In many genres, in fact, it's pretty darn essential.

And it's fine to have a structured story, plotted out to some degree in advance, with some events set reasonably in stone. Some narrators use looser setups with greater player influence, others use more defined ones with less player influence, and those are just a matter of the narrator's particular style. As I said in my discussion of said styles, they're all pretty much fine - it's just a matter of narrators and players who like similar styles finding each other.

So that's all fine.

But what's essential, no matter how you're running the game, is that the story needs to relate to the main characters. It needs to tie in with them. Not just involve them. Any story involves its main characters. What I'm encouraging you to do is more: Go beyond involving them. Go beyond just having them affect events in the story and be affected by them.

The story needs to be about them. It needs to relate to them. Even if there are events in the tale that would have happened without them, there need to be major, major elements of the tale that directly relate to the main characters.

Elements of the main characters' pasts should impact how the story develops. Who the main characters are should matter to the tale. Who they are should be tied intricately in.

Don't just set up events that would work with any group of characters. Look at the characters you have and design events, or at least twist events, to work specifically with them. The tale should never, ever feel like it would happen precisely the same way with another group of player characters. Sure, there can be certain broad strokes that could potentially come out regardless, but the intricate details of the story, the motivations and drama? That should all emerge from who these particular characters are.

And while the responsibility for that falls in part on the players - these are their characters, after all - it can't rest entirely on their shoulders. You, the narrator, must help them. You, the narrator, must make efforts to connect your tale to their tales.

I don't think I'm always successful at this, myself, but when I narrate a Storium game, I want the players to feel like it ended up tied in very strongly with their characters. I want them to feel like their characters' personal problems, issues, subplots, nemeses, and more all got involved. Even when the events start out not directly tied to them, I want them to end up tied in. I want the story to be the story of these characters, not the story of the situation.

That's the sort of mindset I encourage you to have.

Characters have their own subplots (they even have cards for those), their own issues, their own relationships, their own details. And these are not side elements to the story. These are the heart of the tale. These are what gives a tale meaning and drama and emotion.

Do not look at the individual character elements as the things to let players do when the main plot takes a break. Do not look at them as the things players can pull in if they want, so long as they don't get in the way of your primary tale. Do not look at them as "side" elements. Do not look at them as things to be covered "between" major threats.

These are not side elements. These are not less important. These are the very center of your story.

Some narrators plot out a lot in advance. Others take things as they come. Either is fine. But in either case, let the characters guide your story. You can plan events. But plan events around the issues raised by the main characters. Maybe you have things plotted out in advance. That's absolutely fine. But plot them out around the main characters.

There should never be a point in your tale where you say to yourself, "Well, this would be a good point to let the players go explore their personal plots, because I need a break between things for the main plot." That's because the personal plots and the overall plot should be interwoven sufficiently that pursuing the personal plots is pursuing the main plot, or vice versa.

If a player character has a villain in their background who kidnapped their brother, finding that person shouldn't be a side story. That person should be intricately tied to the main story, so that by pursuing the overall plot, the character plot is also explored, and by pursuing the kidnapper, the overall plot elements are revealed.

If a player character was accused of a crime they didn't commit, witnessed a foul deed, murdered a rival, sought approval from a parent, idolized a mentor...those are not things to leave on the sidelines or just explore when you have time. Those are things to tie into the tale. Those are things, in fact, to build the tale around as much as you can. The actual culprit is involved. The murdered rival had information that could've helped. The idolized mentor tried and failed to solve the problem...or maybe is involved in it.

Again, that doesn't mean you can't have an outline to start - having an outline to start is a great narration style. But the outline should be modified by the player characters. The story should fit their stories, and call to their themes.

Remember, you aren't just telling a story - you are telling the story of the characters. Don't build a generic story and then slot them in, or fit their tales into the breaks. Interweave the characters with the tale, and the tale with the characters, as much as you can manage.

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Square Tiling Of A Sphere, Part 2/3

In the previous post I described how I learned about HEALPix because I wanted to try covering a sphere with square tiles for a game map. During that exploration I realized that HEALPix with 12 square regions is similar to cubes with 6 square regions, but HEALPix has some nice properties for numerical calculations such as spherical harmonics. I don't need those properties. Instead, I am looking for something that's simpler to program, so I explored cubes.

Earth mapped onto a cube

The goal is the same: I want to play a game on a flat top-down tile map (roguelikes, Dwarf Fortress, Factorio, etc.), but these games have one of three approaches to the map:

1. The map is finite and has borders. You can't move past the border. Most roguelikes fall into this category. SimCity, Dwarf Fortress, and most building games do as well.
2. The map is finite and but some borders allow wrapping. Civilization allows east/west wrapping (cylinder); Asteroid has both east/west and allow north/south wrapping (torus).
3. The map is infinite, so it has no borders. Factorio works this way, with a procedurally generated map.

I wanted to explore type 2, but with a sphere instead of a cylinder or torus. The usual approaches to representing a sphere with flat tiles is to use one of the 5 Platonic solids: tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, isocahedron. There are also approaches that aren't based on Platonic solids: HEALPix, Mercator-like projections, Peirce Quincucial, and others.

In the previous post I mentioned that this is a "gamejam" style project. I give myself one week to work on the topic, and then I wrap it up. If I found something interesting I'll write it up, but many times I'll discard the project. Allowing myself to discard projects removes the penalty for making a "wrong turn". This allows me to explore more quickly.

After HEALPix I decided to explore cubes for the next week's project, using cube maps from graphics programming. It turned out not to be so useful. I had made a wrong turn. That's ok! Because each of these is a separate standalone tiny project, I can easily abandon the code and move on.

The flat square tile map and also its projection onto a sphere

The week after that worked pretty well. I was able to learn how to render and also represent a square grid map on a sphere/cube.

I wrote notes about square tiles on a cube/sphere, including some animations showing how a cube morphs into a sphere, how a cube unfolds onto a plane, and how there are different ways to project a grid on the sphere.

The next "gamejam" style project will be to generate a map on this sphere.

People Behind The Meeples - Episode 229: Rebecca Horovitz

Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers.  Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before.  If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples. Support me on Patreon!

---

Name:	Rebecca Horovitz
Email:	annapurnaboardgame@gmail.com
Location:	USA
Day Job:	This. This is my day job. I am an entrepreneur hoping to make my way into the industry as my full time job.
Designing:	Two to five years.
Webpage:	annapurnaboardgame.com
BGG:	https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/240322/annapurna
Facebook:	Annapurnaboardgame
Twitter:	@annapurnagame
YouTube:	>Annapurna Board Game
Instagram:	@Annapurnaboardgame
Find my games at:	Kickstarter on the way, otherwise, it's in the Steam workshop for Tabletop Simulator.

Today's Interview is with:

Rebecca Horovitz
Interviewed on: 5/3/2020

This week I'm happy to introduce you to Rebecca Horovitz, a true all-around artist. She creates art in many different mediums, including board games! Annapurna: Leave No Trace Behind is her first game that she'll have on Kickstarter soon. Read on to learn more about Rebecca and her projects.

Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.

How long have you been designing tabletop games?
Two to five years.

Why did you start designing tabletop games?
I want to go into video game design as well and this seemed a place to show off my design skills. I fell in love with designing boardgames and plan to keep making them, even if I work on video games as well.

What game or games are you currently working on?
Annapurna: Leave no Trace Behind and a new game that involves moving parts and concentric circles.

Have you designed any games that have been published?
Annapurna is my first game, but we are almost there. We hope to have the kickstarter this year.

What is your day job?
This. This is my day job. I am an entrepreneur hoping to make my way into the industry as my full time job.

Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.

Where do you prefer to play games?
I like at home or at a game shop.

Who do you normally game with?
My roomates.

If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
Fury of Dracula, Mansions of Madness, or D&D.

And what snacks would you eat?
Almost anything.

Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
Whatever music fits the game, unless there is a lot of thinking or discussion.

What's your favorite FLGS?
It unfortunately closed last year.

What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
I don't remember the bad games, I delete them from my memory. I love playing the Firefly RPG, D&D and horror games like Mansions of Madness and Betrayal at House on the Hill.

What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
I'm not a fan of games or mechanics fully dictated by chance. A roll of the dice is one thing, but when the big end of the game is determined by it, it can feel cheap to me.

What's your favorite game that you just can't ever seem to get to the table?
I bought Cthulhu Wars years ago and still have yet to play it. I played it once and fell in love.

What styles of games do you play?
I like to play Board Games, Card Games, RPG Games, Video Games, Other Games?

Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design Board Games, Video Games, Other Games?

OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
Yes

You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.

When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
Varies. One I tried to make one game and it turned into something else. Another I came up with a mechanic I wanted to try, a few times I thought of places in the market that need to be filled, or problems. For instance the lack of games that are friendly to those with audio or visual impairments is a problem I wish to tackle with a future game.

Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
Not yet.

Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
Two. Curt Covert of Smirk and Dagger and Christoper Badell of Greater Than Games

Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
While playtesting or playing other games. Or talking to people.

How do you go about playtesting your games?
First by myself, then with friends, then at local stores or cafes, then at colleges and conventions. Sometimes I will test a specific mechanic, or look for opinions on art. Other times I will throw out the whole game and look at reactions. During, I take notes on what I had to explain or what reactions people had. At the end I will usually give out surveys.

Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I always am open to working with others. My dream is to collaborate on designs or offer assistance to other designers.

What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
Rules. Writing rules and getting people to understand them. The second, and just as difficult, is getting noticed.

If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
I honestly don't know. I'd have to have a design that fit the IP before I decided. I don't want to make a game and then throw an IP on it, I'd want to have a game that fits with the IP. Although I'd Love to work for Wizards of the Coast.

What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
You don't need to print your design and have it look pretty out the get go. Use paper and slap on some sticky notes.

What advice would you like to share about designing games?
Re-re-re-read your rules. Have other people re-re-re-read your rules. Then have a stranger read your rules. I can't tell you how many times I changed things, not because the mechanics didn't work, but because the way they worked was difficult to explain. That said, don't change the full game to fit the rules, two or three people out of twenty not understanding is going to happen. People hate reading rules, so make sure they are easy to read and reference. When in doubt ask yourself if a child could understand or misconstrue it, because someone Will misconstrue it if it's possible. And look for typos over and over.

Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
I'm planning to crowdfund: Annapurna
Games that I'm playtesting are: Spinning board game
Games that are in the early stages of development and beta testing are: Spinning race game. A modular board RPG/adventure game.
And games that are still in the very early idea phase are: Underwater in the pool game. Game for the auditory and visually impaired. Movie Design Memory Game.

Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker's Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
Yeah, there are quite a few. Some are me, some are my page.

And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I'm sure are on everyone's minds!

Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Make it so number one.

What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
I have too many. I paint in oils. I draw and write. I'm a rockhound and tumble the stones I find. I enjoy carving, and making jewelry and wire wrapping. I'm learning how to draw on my tablet and trying to get better at realism in my art. Oh, and photography.

What is something you learned in the last week?
Tabletop Simulator has a limit to the level of detail in imported models, and how to lower the level of detail in Blender so you can import said models.

Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
I like rock and metal with a slight blues or country twang, lots of music in minor keys or major keys with power chords. I'm currently watching How To Get Away With Murder, very good show. I love books, but haven't read many of late, been busy working on my own art.

What was the last book you read?
Re-reading Dracula.

Do you play any musical instruments?
Guitar

Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I work in almost every medium when it comes to art, except thread. I can't sew or use a sewing machine at All.

Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
Jumped from a second story onto a bean bag. I missed, but rolled out of it. My butt was super sore.

Biggest accident that turned out awesome?
I was spray painting some cabinets with stencils and the spray paint got underneath the stencil. It left an awesome mark. I ended up spray painting the cabinets putting textured paper on the wet paint to pull it off and leave reverse stencils on them. It looks awesome.

Who is your idol?
My Dad. He worked extraordinarily hard and built his own business from the ground up.

What would you do if you had a time machine?
Travel to numerous points in the past and draw stuff. Maybe get lessons from a painter, but probably not until I knew how stepping out would mess with causality.

Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Introvert. I love people, but being around them makes me nervous and tired.

If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
Dr. Strange. Magic yo. Immortality. Teleporting. Infinite beer.

Have any pets?
Two kitties. Athena and Artemis.

When the next asteroid hits Earth, causing the Yellowstone caldera to explode, California to fall into the ocean, the sea levels to rise, and the next ice age to set in, what current games or other pastimes do you think (or hope) will survive into the next era of human civilization? What do you hope is underneath that asteroid to be wiped out of the human consciousness forever?
Anything simple and transportable with dice or anything with records online. What will be popular? RPG's for escapism, anything with betting because gambling is a way to make money and an escape, and anything that causes laughter. I hope single use plastics and the way the current economy works gets thrown out, to that end I hope every copy of Monopoly gets destroyed.

If you'd like to send a shout out to anyone, anyone at all, here's your chance (I can't guarantee they'll read this though):
All the people going out on the daily to keep our world running while this virus is controlling our lives. Thank you.

Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions! Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?

Annapurna is on Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator and we will be at VGC Con.

The sun sets past the horizon, and I see the light fade into a promise of opportunity.

---

Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html

Did you like this interview?  Please show your support: Support me on Patreon! Or click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

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Rucksack, Game Review

Have you ever thought what it would be like to be like MacGyver? You dump out your rucksack to see what you have available and then make it through whatever situation you are faced with. You might not have all of the characteristics of MacGyver, but then again, he was a made up character for a TV show (wiki link). But Grumpy Spider Games gives you a way to get through a sticky situation with a rucksack full of odds and ends.

Rucksack is a story telling game designed by Joel David and published by Grumpy Spider Games (website). It is designed for 4–8 players of ages 12+. A game is expected to last 30–60 minutes. I was given a copy of Rucksack for review purposes.

Scenarios

Everyone is presented with a scenario. There are 50 scenario cards. The situation the players are surviving are determined randomly at the start. The variation of events can be grand adventures like, "Journey the entire length of the Amazon River" to more direct events like, "Survive a plane crash." Everyone is working on the same story scenario, but the items they have in their rucksack are different.

There are 100 item cards in Rucksack. You get a little bit of say in which items you have, but just a little. The first player draws a card from the top of the Items deck, without knowing what that card is. They can keep the card or put it face up in the discard pile. When a player discards their draw they draw and keep the next card off the top of the top of the Items Deck. That unknown card may or may not be a good one, but that is what is in your rucksack.

The next player now has an additional option. They can take the top card from the discard pile or draw the next random item. If they take the discard, their turn is over. If they draw, they have the same option of discarding and taking the next card.

Play continues in this manner until all players have five Item Cards. Now the storytelling begins. You tell how you accomplish the scenario by using all five items.

Some Items

You have a captive audience because everyone gets a concealed vote on who told the best story. You do this for three rounds of tales and then tally up the votes.

I pulled together a group of writers and gamers to see what they would come up with in this game of creative planning designs. Some of those plans were quite outrageous and everyone enjoyed what came out of the challenges.

On another occasion, we had a group of younger players, below the suggested age. We didn't worry about voting on who had the best story, just enjoyed the  crazy ideas that came from it.

Overall

Rucksack is a great game for anyone interested in creating plans that you usually only see coming from fictional characters in outlandish situations. Being the size of about three decks of playing cards Rucksack is easy to pack away and have available as a cabin game (something to break out when stuck inside while camping, etc.). You don't need a lot of space to play so it is easy to set up and start sharing how you MacGyver'd the situation.

More Items

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