The Written World on Kickstarter. The Written World is a computer-mediated interactive storytelling game (additional details available here). The authors describe it as an interactive fiction MMO, but it’s also not completely unlike a library of Fiasco-style playsets. The game provides assets — characters, character goals, possible events — embodying a story concept, but each actual experience is a two-player exchange between a Narrator player and a Hero player, a bit reminiscent of Sleep Is Death. The players participate primarily through writing, by creating descriptions of what happens next. If either of them doesn’t like what’s been done by the other, they can spend some Force to override the decision; Force is in turn earned by writing particularly compelling content.
The Written World chief Simon Fox was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about how the mechanics work. ES: What mechanics exist to help the narrator provide a well-paced experience? ES: How do characters evolve in this system? Tabletop Storygames: Shock, Fiasco. Last night, per Dan Fabulich’s recommendation, I checked out the Seattle story games meetup and played through a game each of Shock and Fiasco. Shock is about exploring social issues (whichever ones the participants choose) in the context of a science fictional future; Fiasco is about emulating the wacky, everything-goes-wrong misadventure plots typical of Coen Brothers movies.
I’d heard about Fiasco before from Stephen Granade (here’s a play report of his as well as an academia-themed playset he wrote). Both were a lot of fun and went in rather goofy, unexpected directions. Our particular play group went back and forth between actually role-playing scenes out and doing quick narration, and was really cooperative in terms of trying to get interesting, narratively satisfying outcomes for the story.
Quite a few times, one player had the opportunity to help or oppose another player’s character and made the decision based on what would generate the most aesthetically effective scene. Shock: social science fiction. Version 1.2 Shock: Social Science Fiction is a fiction game of culture and future shock. Based on the works of Bruce Sterling, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Philip K. Dick, the game pushes the players to make stories that matter to them — stories about politics, philosophy, love, and death. Create a World At the core of the world-creation system is the Grid, a method of world creation that uses social concerns and Shocks, to build a fictional world custom-built for the type of story the players want to experience.
The Most Important Character in the Universe Players are responsible for both Protagonists and Antagonists, principles with motivation and resources: they represent what you care about as a player and act in a way that highlights and questions the things you care about. The Future is Now Order your copy now through the buttons at the top and bottom of this page.
Keep abreast of Shock: news though author Joshua A.C. (Shock) Hollow Bodies. [Shock:] GDMN, the Global Distributed MindNet is working for you. Www.indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=18511.0. Bully Pulpit Games » Fiasco. As Seen on Tabletop! Honors Fiasco – Winner, 2011 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming Fiasco – Winner, Best Support, 2009 Indie RPG Awards Fiasco Companion – RPGgeek Golden Geek 2012 Best Supplement Fiasco – Judge’s Spotlight Award, 2009 ENnie Awards Fiasco – Finalist, RPG of the Year, boardgamegeek.com Praise “Fiasco … is the finest bit of writing on neo-noir I’ve encountered in years” – John Rogers, Executive Producer and Writer, Leverage. “Fiasco was one of the greatest storytelling RPGs I’ve ever played. “Fiasco is hands-down one of the best RPGs I’ve ever read. “It should be in the bookshelf of all RPG gamers, period.” – Philippe-Antoine Menard, the Chatty DM “Fiasco … is really as good as everyone says.
“The game’s design is such a thing of beauty, making so much with so little visible effort, that any game designer, especially RPG designer, owes it to himself to play enough to understand how it works in play.” – Gerald Cameron “You go from 0 to awesome in 2.5 hours. Products Reviews. Sleep Is Death (Geisterfahrer) Joseph Campbell. Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience.
His philosophy is often summarized by his phrase: "Follow your bliss. "[1] Life[edit] Background[edit] Joseph Campbell was born and raised in White Plains, New York[2] in an upper-middle-class Irish Catholic family. While at Dartmouth College he studied biology and mathematics, but decided that he preferred the humanities. Europe[edit] While in Europe, he was highly influenced by the period of the Lost Generation, a time of enormous intellectual and artistic innovation. It was in this climate that Campbell was also introduced to the work of Thomas Mann, who was to prove equally influential upon his life and ideas.
Great Depression[edit] Another dissident member of Freud's circle to influence Campbell was Wilhelm Stekel (1868–1939). Death[edit]