Dec 1, 2016 3:56 pm
I always thought the idea of the classic play by post round robin rather odd, if not limiting. The idea that my participation, let alone my play, was always limited to one character always made me scratch my head. Further, as a GM the blessing/burden of world-building and world-maintaining drove me to the lighter side of madness. I saw on some websites that play-by-post was also called collaborative story-telling, yet still the individual character and player remained. I thought, why not tell a story where the crafters take over any aspect of the story they wish- from taking one character, introducing an army, the contents of a character’s letter, or exploring the thoughts of an ambushing goblin?
Thus a long time ago, in a site far far away, I created a game called "The Company- A True Collaborative Storytelling Experiment" and I am wondering if I can resurrect it here. I will say this, it did not go far. Hemmed by time and the weight of the immense freedom of the writing it fizzled quick and hard- though with some pretty deep thoughts on the possibility of doing it. I came up with pretty much one rule and the thread spun off from there…
1. Before each story a few maxims are agreed upon. This means that the story-tellers would like to or not like to see certain things in the story. All players, whether they participated in the brainstorm or not, should abide by these parameters.
2. Every player puts in an investment, something you feel strong about in the story in four areas:
▪ A Person- A player character that you would like to see in the story.
▪ A Place- Somewhere that the crafter would like to see the story move to. The place could also set the tone for the tale.
▪ A Thing- A thing that the crafter would like to see in the story, this could belong to one of the character NOT your own.
▪ A Factoid- A fact about the world, its people, its fauna, anything that will go into the game's growing Handbook. Examples of this are, vampires are allergic to sun light, cigars are prevalent in the tropical regions, its tough to distinguish female and male dwarves. Something that the crafters can use but does not hugely affect the story.
3. Each crafter takes turns (deciding upon traditional round-robin for now) being the narrator. Posting as the narrator means the person can take the story and its characters further, without destroying the fabric of said story. The difference is that the narrator, unlike traditional play-by-post narrates on EVERY aspect of the story.Last night, musing about Gamers Plane, I thought why not introduce my new companions in arms here to this chaotic bliss?
Thoughts, interests, laughter?
Thus a long time ago, in a site far far away, I created a game called "The Company- A True Collaborative Storytelling Experiment" and I am wondering if I can resurrect it here. I will say this, it did not go far. Hemmed by time and the weight of the immense freedom of the writing it fizzled quick and hard- though with some pretty deep thoughts on the possibility of doing it. I came up with pretty much one rule and the thread spun off from there…
Quote:
RULES OF THE TALE:1. Before each story a few maxims are agreed upon. This means that the story-tellers would like to or not like to see certain things in the story. All players, whether they participated in the brainstorm or not, should abide by these parameters.
2. Every player puts in an investment, something you feel strong about in the story in four areas:
▪ A Person- A player character that you would like to see in the story.
▪ A Place- Somewhere that the crafter would like to see the story move to. The place could also set the tone for the tale.
▪ A Thing- A thing that the crafter would like to see in the story, this could belong to one of the character NOT your own.
▪ A Factoid- A fact about the world, its people, its fauna, anything that will go into the game's growing Handbook. Examples of this are, vampires are allergic to sun light, cigars are prevalent in the tropical regions, its tough to distinguish female and male dwarves. Something that the crafters can use but does not hugely affect the story.
3. Each crafter takes turns (deciding upon traditional round-robin for now) being the narrator. Posting as the narrator means the person can take the story and its characters further, without destroying the fabric of said story. The difference is that the narrator, unlike traditional play-by-post narrates on EVERY aspect of the story.
Thoughts, interests, laughter?
