Game Kastle – The Blog

Even those of us who are very into role playing sometimes want a break from heavy-duty character development, plot and storyline. Sometimes, it’s more fun to just sit back and spin a good story, with the help of others around the table.

And there are games for that!

The following are games specifically designed around collaborative story telling, without being role playing games. Think of them as party games for English majors and writers.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen-
Let me tell you the story of how I came to marry the second son of the Shaw of Persia, while breeding my own line of three-horned goats. This was back many years ago, when the world was in turmoil and not at all the same place it is now. I had traveled to Persia on a dare from my third cousin Enid (who you’ll recall, in later life, discovered a rare type of jungle pear that can be refined into a most exquisite liquor)…

A refined game for noble men and women who share their experience with utter truth. The story is begun by one individual, who tells it for as long as he can. Then, either another play jumps in with a question designed to flummox or confuse the teller (But surely you must be mistake, I know for a fact three horned goats were created by the Duchess Gibardi of Rome, Italy), or the teller’s invention runs out.

If the teller can successfully field the question, he continues with his narration. If he can’t, or if he can’t think of anything else to say he pays a forfeit, and the story is taken up by the new teller.

A large part of the fun of this game is in the language of the book itself. It’s exceedingly well written, with many details that add to the flavor and help the storytellers elaborate on largely meaningless topics.

It’s written in book format, and looks like a small-sized RPG, but don’t let that fool you. There’s no characters, no character creation. It’s all about telling stories, fooling your friends and lying outrageously.

It’s also got a few alternate sets of rules. It can be a drinking game! Or, you can adapt it for young audiences!

Mad Scientist University
The group takes on the role of a student at a University for Scientists with Alternative Ethics (don’t call them mad!). One player per round is the TA, judging the submissions of the various scientists. The TA draws a card for that round’s “mission.” (Interupt over-seas communication! Create mind control! Take over the world!)

Players are then each given one item card, that will be the tool most instrumental in their evil plot. The cards vary from useful to absurd (A million miles of copper wire! Squirels! Wind turbines! Pink lawn flamingos!).

Then it’s show time. Each scientist describes, in detail, to the TA how their item will be used to achieve the round’s goal. The TA decides whose plot has the most nefarious potential.

The plots can be as elaborate or a simplistic as the players want, and the stories can be brief or verbose. All that matters is getting the job done, using your item, and entertaining the TA.

…after all, students who don’t make the TA happy may not live to graduation.

Penny For My Thoughts
Our goal at the Institute to provide treatment for conditions that traditional medicine has deemed incurable. In the case of acute global amnesia, we have come to rely on Mnemosyne, an experimental drug that allows those who take it to access one another’s unconscious memories. In the wake of this startling breakthrough, we have developed a therapy manual that guides you through the steps of the procedure.

Players take on the role of victims of broad-scale amnesia, going through treatment with a group of other patients. Everyone writes a series of “memory triggers” on slips of paper, that are placed in a bowl in the center of the table. These triggers are tangible things or sensations (an old copper ring, the smell of asphault in the rain, steam from an oven on my face, the pain of scraped knees).

One patient begins to tell the story of her life, or an important episode in it. However, given their condition, the patient must inevitably run into a period he or she does not recall. At that point, it is up to the other patients to help with the memory. Another person draws a memory trigger, and then reminds the first patient of what he had forgotten. In this manner, filling in the blanks in one another’s memories, everyone is able to recall their forgotten lives and pasts.

As with Munchausen, this game depends a great deal on the flavor of the book. It’s written as a procedural manual for therapy at the Orpheus Institute, for group therapy with experimental drugs. The game mechanics are surprisingly simple, and lead to a deep, often very dark story, told by everyone at the table.