The Story Building Game

If you have never played a TTRPG before, it can seem daunting to begin, but it's really not all that different from playing 'House' or 'War' when you were a kid.

We simply add a little more structure so that everyone has a better chance of getting a say in what happens, not just whoever is the most stubborn or the loudest.

The structure we use divides players into two categories: Game Masters (GMs) who bring the world of the story to life and play the supporting cast of your story (known as NPCs or non-playable characters) and the Character Masters (CMs) who are in charge of a single main character (known as a PC or Player Character).

In addition, the storytelling structure separates gameplay into three steps of an endlessly repeating cycle. We'll name them Describe, React, and Resolve.

DESCRIBE

The GM describes what is currently happening in the story or the scene. They continue to describe the scene until they get to a natural stopping point or until a CM asks as a question.

GM: All three of you walk into the next room, where you find nothing but four stone walls, a stone ceiling with a single glowing stone that illuminates the rest of the room, a stone floor, four wooden chairs, a table, and four stones on the table. What would you like to do?

REACT

The CMs react to the description with what they think their PC would like to do in the scene.

CM #1: I want to jump and punch the light source.

CM #2: I want to walk around the room.

CM#3: I want to take a closer look at the table to see if I recognize anything about the stones.

RESOLVE

The GM resolves the CMs' reactions to the description, determining which actions happen automatically, which actions are impossible, and which actions require a roll of the dice to see if they happen or not.

This roll is often called a "check" as we check to see if the character succeeds at the action or not. During a check, there are typically three factors: (1) the target number or the difficulty that the CM is rolling against, (2) the dice the CM is rolling to randomly generate a number, and (3) the bonuses the CM will add to the dice roll before comparing it to the target number. Typically, the GM chooses what ability is required to pass the check, and the CM adds or subtracts their bonuses relevant to that ability.

GM to CM #1: You're not able to jump high enough to reach the light source (This is a gentle "no, you can't do that" from the GM). You might be able to reach it if you stood on someone's shoulders, but on your own it's just too high (Often times it is nice for the GM to provide an alternative to the impossible action as a way of honoring the intent of the CM's reaction).

GM to CM #2: You walk around the room and find signs of scuff marks on the floor, as well as footprints (The GM has no reason to prevent the PC from walking around the room). It seems clear to you that someone has been in here recently to rearrange the table and the chairs (This is a bit of free information the GM describes to the CM, and not all actions will receive free information).

GM to CM #3: You walk up to the table and you might be able to recognize something about these stones. Go ahead and roll BRAIN for me against a Difficulty of 9 (The CM will then roll their two dice and add both of them to their BRAIN modifier. If the sum of that operation is equal to or greater than 9, the GM narrates the extra information the PC learns; otherwise, the PC doesn't recognize anything about the stones. A simple way to remember this is "meets it beats it").

REPEAT

The cycle of gameplay endlessly repeats until the game ends. Sometimes the cycle will go out of order, such as when a CM wants to React right after a Resolve phase. And that's totally fine. The structure is here to form the foundation, but as long as everyone is having fun, you're winning in our books.

While the Cycle of Gameplay provides the foundation for playing the game, the most important thing to know in order to have fun or "win" a collaborative storytelling game is this...

Listen to the energy that everyone is putting out and then contribute something that builds on everyone else's energy and that you also find interesting.

If everyone at the table can do that, you will always have a good time.

For me, winning means being able to answer yes to the following questions at the end of a session:

1. Did everyone smile?
2. Did everyone laugh?
3. Does everyone want to come back and do it again?

Here are some baseline guidelines for your table (the table refers to GM, the CMs, and the place where you play the game at).

• Don't interrupt someone else unless you are the GM.
• GMs should only try to interrupt if...
• Someone is taking way too long on their turn
• Someone hasn't said anything in a while (you can interrupt to ask if they want to do something)
• Don't tell someone else what to do unless they first ask for help or for suggestions
• Don't criticize someone else's decisions or play style
• Don't nag the GM
• Don't roll until the GM asks you to make a check
• Be consistent